Between The Parks

Whilst the focus of our travels is the National Parks in the USA, there are many, many other great sights we see on our travels, like this one today. We left Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park this morning and headed further south east into Colorado to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Along the way there were many spectacular views such as this view at Curecanti National Recreation Area. Still masses of snow around, and now wonder as we spent most of today at a higher elevation than Australia!

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Red Rock Sunrise

After quite a few days with no clouds in sight, this morning in Capitol Reef National Park in Utah there was a spectacular show of colour and clouds. The waning moon is still making a regular appearance and adds a nice extra element into the sky in this image taken in a cold 0 degrees. 
We have left Utah behind and have made our way into Colorado where we will be visiting Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in the next day or so......its up pretty high so I'm expecting some snow and exciting conditions!

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Not So Grand

We are seeing some amazing grand vistas on this trip, and none more so than in Capitol Reef National Park in Utah where we are at the moment for a couple of nights. However, a couple of smaller intimate landscapes caught my eye recently, including this amazing set of icicles we found on the Neck Spring Trail in Canyonlands National Park a couple of days ago, and then this morning on the way into Capitol Reef I was looking for the Freemont River Falls...when we found them there was a huge barrier barring any access. I couldn't resist the tempation to venture a little further and I'm glad I did...the top area of the falls was fantastic with the reflected golden light. Just goes to show its not all about the big picture!

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Golden Arches

No, not McDonalds! We are in Moab, Utah at the moment, a great central point for visiting Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park. Each park has an iconic view assciated with it.....in Arches its Delicate Arch with the snow capped La Sal mountains in the background - its a 5km round-trip hike that is best done just before sunset. In Canyonlands, Mesa Arch is equally famous, and best captured very early in the morning. Both parks have many spectacular views and are quite different from each other. The weather has been quite warm during the days here, a marked contrast from earlier in the trip, and clear blue skies all around.

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Another Canyon Morn

Our last morning at the Grand Canyon really reached its peak just as we were warming up the car for the drive to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. With plenty of snow and ice to thaw away, we let the car sit for a while whilst we made a last visit down to the rim of the canyon were some great light and atmospherics were really putting on a nice show. I've been thrilled with my GC images from this, our 4th visit, no doubt my best so far....got plenty more amazing images to share when we return home.

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Canyon Morn

A quick post from this morning's sunrise here at the Grand Canyon. The morning dawned clear and crisp and very cold, and the light across the canyon was magic, constantly changing as the sun got higher and higher. Its pretty nice when this sort of view is only a few minutes walk from where we are staying! 

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Let There Be Light.......

After continuous snow for all the day, and another 2 hour hike in at times cold and windy conditions, we were chilling out in our room when around 5pm a slight lightening in the sky had me, and Debbie a few minutes later, rushing over to the rim of the Grand Canyon where we were treated to an amazing display. Fortunately we are only about 2 or 3 minutes away from the rim's edge, though it takes a few minutes to put all your warm weather gear on as well! A huge bonus end to the day as the forecast was firm that there would be no sun for another 2 days. This is a quick post to show you what we were fortunate to witness. There was a real buzz around the place as everyone was so excited to finally see into the canyon after a constant white-out through the day.

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