I recently went back through and converted a number of my shots from last April’s road trip into black and white photos. I wound up giving the conversion to four from Coyote Gulch in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, including this one. This was one of my favorite shots of the whole trip and in going back through this one, I was delighted to see that it would actually work as a black and white as well.

Coyote Gulch is probably one of the most memorable places I visited and I’m planning on getting back there this fall, both to revisit it, and also to spend more time down there exploring even farther into the canyon. It’d be nice to also reach the confluence of the Escalante River as well.

On the first leg of my trip, I hit an unexpected cold front. Since I was only a couple of hours away from Zion National Park, I decided that that would be the best place to wait it out for a couple of nights since it was much lower in elevation than where I was, and thus, warmer. The next day I made the best of it and spent the entire day hiking around Zion Canyon, warming up at Weeping Rock, where this photo was taken, then moving on to Hidden Canyon, The Emerald Pools and finally, after a nice lunch and break, heading up Angel’s Landing.

To put it simply, don’t let the weather ruin your day, or especially your entire trip. Sure it may rain for a bit, but rain is always moving on and leaves plenty of dramatic weather and scenery in its wake. Some people pout in their tent, some people pack up and go to a hotel. Personally, I love finding intense weather because the photo opportunities are endless and all of a sudden, familiar sights look completely different. Allow the weather to open up the possibilities that its there for. See the familiar sights in brand new ways. Marvel at the drama heavy clouds with sunlight poking through can bring. "Bad" weather isn’t just nourishment for the ground and vegetation of the area, it’s nourishment for your photography. Even if you’re not a photographer, getting out there and smelling the rain, watching water pour over cliffs, seeing creeks and rivers rise and flow with more power, it’s there for you to witness to get you back in touch with the whole reason you’re probably taking a trip out there. It gets you back in touch with nature in ways only dramatic weather can provide. Live it up because the next time a storm comes through, it’s going to look completely different. That’s the beauty of storms and big cold fronts: they provide an unending beauty that’s new and unique with each incoming storm.

During the course of my trip, I had plenty of time to myself which, looking back in hindsight, isn’t something I’m particularly used to. In most of my earlier life I yearned for the company of others. Before moving to Jackson Hole I was living with my girlfriend at the time. Currently, even if it’s just a few, I interact with people on a daily basis. Even if I’m working at the computer, I still occasionally connect with other people via email, Twitter and Facebook. While it’s great to have camaraderie among friends and family, whether in person or digitally, we’re still inundated with other peoples’ thoughts, even if we share our own opinion of them in agreement of disagreement.

On my recent road trip, spending roughly two weeks by myself in the southern Utah desert, I noticed that I seemed to have a better flow of thoughts, ideas or personal revelations that I was greatly inspired to write down. Perhaps I was afraid that such a powerful thought in my own personal development would be lost and forgotten, increasing the motivation to mark it down on something more permanent than my short-term memory. Regardless, I was able to find time at a campsite here and there and get them written down, this being one such moment.

In this particular instance, I wondered why I was so driven to pen down these particular thoughts with a motivation that I don’t usually experience. It dawned on me, especially on this trip, that I was on my own time all 24 hours of the day. I was by myself, which meant that I wasn’t sharing any thoughts with anyone else, or as it is with standard employment, engrossed in doing someone else’s work. In allowing my thoughts the freedom to express themselves and grow, I began to see how historical figures such as John Muir, Henry David Thoreau and Benjamin Franklin, just to name a few, were able to distinguish themselves. They had all the time they wanted to devote to themselves and their ideas, thus allowing increasingly intelligent thoughts to evolve. They weren’t contradicted by anyone at the point of that thought taking form. They were free to explore it, to expand upon it and to nurture it. In modern times, we tend to want to share a thought as soon as we think it, and chances are there’s someone nearby either physically or digitally that we can share it with. Most times, the thought gets rejected for one reason or another. "It’ll never work." "That’d cost too much." "Nobody would go along with that." These are all typical responses we get when we share what seemed like such a good idea just seconds ago. If it’s not one of those responses it’s a personal criticism or fear that keeps us from even speaking about it and letting it grow. Fears of criticism, poverty and death are three of the most common reasons people refuse to try new things.

Famous historical figures and authors, however, never let those fears or even the typical life that society deems successful weigh them down. If they did, they broke away from it and started over, exploring places they loved and writing down any and all thoughts that crossed their mind. They had more time in any given moment than most people nowadays know what to do with. This allowed any revelations they did have to develop and to grow into something more. I was fortunate enough to be able to tap into this freedom during my two weeks on the road. When you’re able to disconnect from computers, cell phones and espcially any responsibilities you have in your day-to-day life, there’s a sense of pure freedom that you open up that allows in truer and more fulfilling thoughts than you might even think you’re capable of. These thoughts allow you to tap into the feelings that allow you to overcome fears, appreciate nature in a new way and restore a child-like innocence and curiosity that brings you into a complete state of bliss.

It seems that in modern times, people are so determined to find a respectful employer that pays well, that they’re unknowingly willing to sacrifice one of the most important parts of being human. They devote so much time and energy to doing someone else’s work for so much of the day that when that day is done, they want nothing more than to either drink it all away with like-minded friends, or to just sit in front of the TV so they don’t have to spend the energy thinking for themselves. In doing so, they’re slowly letting that stream of powerful thinking trickle away.

This is why I find extended, solo traveling not just enjoyable, but essential to harnessing that very energy and thinking that makes us human. It allows you to see life for what it’s really for: to discover what’s out there; to erase any form of an agenda and to let life blow you away with one surprise after another! That’s living!

Another site on my trip I was anxious to get back to and get some new, updated shots was Zion National Park in southern Utah. I was trying to get there before a big cold front was coming there and upon driving south on Highway 89 to get there, I discovered I didn’t quite beat the cold front. From out of nowhere it began snowing just as hard as anything I’ve seen here in Jackson Hole. Given that it was snowing all the way in, I was excited to get into the park and get some shots of it covered in snow, something I had yet to see and had always wanted to see. By the time I reached the entrance station however, the biggest part of the storm had passed and the snow was melting fast! By the time I had gotten through the tunnel, all the snow had melted from Zion Canyon and was still only in the eastern part and the higher altitudes.

Regardless, I was still happy to see the canyon streaming with waterfalls around every corner! I set up camp and took a shuttle up to the end of Zion Canyon and got this shot of one such temporary waterfall. This is just one of many that I was able to capture and had an overall great experience in Zion National Park.

As mentioned in a couple of earlier posts, I had never heard of Lassen Volcanic National Park before Ken Burns’ National Park series, however after looking into it a bit I put it high up on my list of places to see on my road trip I started two months ago today. Lassen Volcanic National Park immediately became one of my favorite places along the trip and a place I’d love to get back to soon. While there I did the King’s Creek Falls trail which is a very scenic trail along King’s Creek that climaxes at a 30 foot waterfall.

On one of the nights I was in Yosemite National Park I headed up to the Tunnel View Overlook to get my shots from that scene that have become quite famous by now. With no clouds in the sky, I was hoping for some nice colors in the sky itself, which I got a little bit of, but not quite as much as I was hoping. I was also planning on sticking around till after dark but I wasn’t quite prepared for the cold so this was one of the last shots I got before heading back to camp.

One of the hikes I did during my stay in Yosemite National Park was to Upper Yosemite Falls. The easy thing about it was the trail started practically right in Camp 4, which was where I was staying that night. I also wound up timing the hike just right getting there right before a couple of spectacular rainbows vanished due to the fading light. It’s a great hike and provides some great views of Yosemite Valley as well along the way. Definitely a highlight during my wonderful stay in Yosemite National Park, but as always, way too short!

Going back a bit for another shot taken along the Sweet Creek Trail just outside of Mapleton, Oregon. It almost felt like the trip actually started here since there wasn’t a whole lot that I wanted to see in Idaho. Eastern Oregon was interesting and scenic, but everything I was really looking forward to started once I left Eugene, Oregon, and of course began this short and easy hike.

The King’s Creek Falls hike in Lassen Volcanic National Park is quite the scenic hike! A three-mile round trip takes you along the creek as it cascades its way down to the main falls. The route splits where you can either take a smoother, more gradual descent, or you can opt for the steep route that takes you along the King’s Creek Cascades, of which this photo is from. Some nice fall leaves also made it a bit more scenic.

Another from Havasupai in the archives. This one is of the more famous Havasu Falls, one of the most photographed waterfalls in the world. Havasu Creek pours over a 100 foot cliff into spectacular turquoise pools in the midst of a high desert canyon. The area now, however, looks nothing like this. Floods from the summer of 2008 have completely changed both the pools below and the waterfall itself. I’m hoping to make it back at some point to see the changes first-hand.