October 17

2016 New Mexico & Utah Trip

Monday, October 17

Moonset

I got up with the sun this morning. Of course, this time of year and in a deep canyon, that's only 8:00. I had been "shut out" on every moonrise or moonset attempt this trip, but today I got a moonset--sort of. It was a day after prime time, so the sun was already up and the moon was pretty dim. But it was better than any of the other attempts this trip. When we first arrived at Capitol Reef, the fall color was at peak. Now, a week later, most of the trees are dull yellow or have lost most of their leaves. I managed to find one cottonwood with some color and used it in the foreground to give the moonset some color.

A few clouds appeared in the late afternoon, so we drove down the Scenic Drive about 5:00. The light on the canyon walls was warm, and the white cumulus clouds provided a wonderful contrast to the canyon walls. Buttresses of reddish Moenkopi Formation form the base of the cliffs, and the Chinle Formation creates a soft gray stripe, which is topped by the towering Wingate Sandstone. Clarence Dutton (an early explorer of Capitol Reef) must have been looking at the canyon walls on a day like today when he said, "...the light seems to flow or shine out of the rock rather than to be reflected from it." Just before sunset, the canyon walls seem to glow."

We stopped at the viewpoint at the top of Danish Hill to shoot southeast toward Grand Wash. This is my favorite stop along the Scenic Drive because you can also shoot down toward the campground. Today the best view was to Grand Wash and the white Navajo Sandstone pyramid atop the fold.

Although the sun had dipped below the ridge, we continued down the Scenic Drive to Capitol Gorge. The road left the relatively flat base along the canyon walls and dropped into a narrow slot canyon carved by flash floods down Capitol Wash. In places, the road narrowed to barely more than one lane, but it was recently graded and well-maintained. We drove to the end of the road where the Wingate Sandstone walls towered 100 feet above us on each side, and the Navajo Sandstone stood above that. It was too late to hike down Capitol Gorge, so we returned to camp and settled in for the evening.