I’ve got most of the photos that I was happy with from the road trip up on my website, and in looking back through again, definitely have all of my favorites up. I may post another couple here and there but I’ve got plenty of other projects that need my attention as well as new images waiting to be processed. So to officially put the trip in the past, I put together a gallery of my personal favorites in no particular order. Some I haven’t posted to the photoblog yet, others you’ve seen if you’ve been keeping up with the posts.

Though I would have liked to have come back with more shots, some circumstances were out of my control, such as the weather. However despite being required to overcome a few challenges (which always makes a trip more memorable!), I would easily say this whole trip was a huge success and certainly one of the best I’ve taken. I’m much happier overall with the images that I did come back with, I was able to learn all kinds of new things both in photography as well as in my own personal developments and I was able to see and experience all the new sights and places that I wanted to see while at the same time finding dozens and dozens more to return to.

Some of the new places that stuck out heavily in my mind were The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Coyote Gulch in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Colorado National Monument. Having been to Zion Canyon in Zion National Park a number of times now, I can now say in certainty that my next visit won’t involve the canyon at all, and if it does it will merely be a launching point for a backpacking trip up to new places throughout the park. I was also happy to finally get a good sunrise shot from the Grand Canyon’s South Rim. Given that I always tell people how much more I enjoy the North Rim though, I’m going to make an extra effort to get there instead next time since it’s been several years since my last visit and I don’t have any great photos from it. Three places I didn’t get to explore nearly as much as I had hoped I would: Capital Reef National Park, Dinosaur National Monument and Cottonwood Canyon Road in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Did you have one particular favorite that stuck out? Do you have any memorable experiences from any of these places?

One thing to remember when shooting a dramatic sunrise or sunset is to look all around you, including the exact opposite direction. Most people are so fascinated by the sun rising or setting over the horizon that they could be missing the best part of the show taking place right behind them. Such was the case while I was watching sunrise at Yavapai Point at Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim in northern Arizona. I captured a couple of quick shots of the sun itself once the it was immediately above the horizon and then went against the masses to an overlook roughly 30 yards or so west and was all alone in catching this dramatic scene, leaving behind dozens of people staring into the sun that had already come up.

So the next time you’re watching or photographing a dramatic sunrise or sunset, make sure you check all around and see what’s happening where no one else is looking. You might just get the best shot of the moment!

After getting a bit of a late start from Phoenix, I realized that despite visiting the Grand Canyon over a dozen times, I somehow don’t have many good shots from there. Since it’s only a four hour drive from there, I decided to make that my first destination on my way back to Jackson Hole with the specific intent to get some sunset, sunrise and even a few night shots. Sunset left a little to be desired and I’m still debating the moonlit shots, however sunrise definitely didn’t disappoint and was a great show! The canyon walls lit up nicely shortly after the sun came up and watching them glow in the sunlight was especially nice to see.

I’ve been preoccupied with a number of things lately so I have to go into the archives again. This shot is from one of my favorite, if not the, favorite hikes of mine in the Phoenix, Arizona area: The Echo Canyon Trail of Camelback Mountain. I hiked this as much as I could while living down there for a few reasons: 1) it’s a great workout; 2) it’s an incredibly beautiful hike for being in the middle of Phoenix; and 3) there was always plenty of options for great photography. I almost always had my camera with me on that hike and whether it was a dramatic sunset or a barrel cactus along the trail, such as this one, I always loved (and still do love) going back to Camelback Mountain.

I’ve been pretty busy lately with not much free time so I had to dig back in the archives for this one. One thing I miss about Arizona is hiking in the desert. For eight months of the year the entire region has perfect conditions for hiking and with an average of 300 sunny days a year, you can bet the weather will be good. Some days the weather can turn what some might call ‘nasty’, but on the contrary, I say it just adds drama. Plus when you’re going hiking with a group of people, most are still set on going. Picacho Peak in Picacho Peak State Park is one of my favorite hikes around Phoenix, Arizona. It’s located between Phoenix and Tucson and shoots out of the ground along I-10. It’s a very difficult and challenging hike, however I personally loved hikes like that which is why it remains one of my favorites to this day. Plus the view from the top gives you a full 360 degree view of the surrounding desert.

Upon waking up in Monument Valley, I climbed out of my tent in my pajamas, looked up toward my car and saw a rather large group of photographers trying not to stare back down at me. Apparently the primitive campgrounds at Monument Valley Tribal Park also doubles as the most scenic spot to take photography tours. I can’t blame them though, it was a very scenic location and the sunrise was quite scenic that morning.

The last night of my trip I stayed in Monument Valley in Northern Arizona. I had only driven through so seeing the sun set and rise over the landmark buttes was a new experience for me. There’s a primitive campground in Monument Valley Tribal Park and some of the views that can be found there are fantastic! The reason this wound up being my last night was because upon leaving Capital Reef National Park the next day, I was stricken with a bad case of homesickness and wound up booking it all the way back to Jackson, WY from Monument Valley via Capital Reef. I was literally driving from sunrise to midnight.

The Usery Mountains near Phoenix, Arizona are by no means a spectacular nor a very imposing range. However they are very easy to spot and a locally loved landmark due to a large limestone stripe waving its way across the mountains near the top of the main range. It can be seen from dozens of miles away and is one of the first landmarks to spot from the top of any mountain west of it.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do nearly as much photography as I was hoping while in Phoenix, Arizona. I think it came mostly as a result of catching up with so many friends, and probably also just general fatigue from driving having been rushed through much of what I wanted to see from the weather. However while in Phoenix I was able to make a couple of small outings, one to the Usery Mountain Regional Park north of Mesa, Arizona, a suburb east of Phoenix. The main foreground subject are barrel cacti, but in the background you can also see some cholla and saguaro cactus as well. This was taken along a hike that I hadn’t done in a few years that I wanted to revisit in the park called the Wind Cave Hike. It’s a relatively easy hike that climbs a mile and a half up a mountain to a sort of overhang that’s been carved out of the limestone from wind.

This is another of the new prints that I just recently released. It was taken in the spring of 2008 in the Phoenix Mountains Park and Preserve in Phoenix, Arizona. I hike I would frequent is the Peak 2429 summit trail, from which this was taken. I certainly love living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming now, however the sunsets in Arizona are definitely something special and were frequently unparalleled.