I've always said that this park was my favorite one out of the "Big Five" Utah national parks. It maybe doesn't have the distinctive arches, crazily-shaped hoodoos, or world-famous hikes that make some of the other parks so popular, but that (to me at least) only adds to its allure. My mom wanted to visit one of the parks that she hadn't seen yet, so this one became an easy choice for me even though this was probably my fifth or sixth time visiting. What was unique about this visit was 1. my Mom joining me, 2. camping inside of the park for one night, and 3. my decision to tackle the Navajo Knobs hike on my own on the last day. The latter of these three is pictured in the panorama below. I felt incredibly shaky, aware of my altitude, and full of equal parts excitement and fear as I took the many images that were later stitched together to form this image.
After arriving at the park around 3:00 pm on the first day of our trip, we set up our campsite and pulled out some food for a picnic dinner. This has become one of my favorite parts of camping - the picnic meals in beautiful surroundings. I turned on my camera for a few camp closeups. As I've discussed before, I enjoy these little details as much as the sweeping landscapes. To me, they help to capture the feeling of the trip in quiet, colorful, and simple compositions. All most importantly bathed in whatever dreamy natural light as available at that time in space.
Another unique part of Capitol Reef are the historic buildings and farm infrastructure. I enjoy how they play against the dramatic rocks and coexist fairly picturesquely. We stopped inside the famous pie shop for a few souvenirs and took a few walks around some of the barns and fruit vineyards.
I was so incredibly proud of my mom for being willing to do a good amount of hiking with me. In total, on our main day of hiking, we walked a cumulative distance of 9 miles together! My gratitude for her physical capability to still join me on all of these crazy endeavors cannot be overstated. From her I learn that by slowing down and taking my time, I can notice and appreciate so much more of the beauty around me.
Something I enjoyed experimenting a bit more with on the post-processing end of these images was black and white. In some of these more high-contrast situations, I feel as though removing color from the photo only enhances its beauty.
One of the extra special perks of this trip was staying at my friend and coworker Cortney's family cabin. The warmth and sense of coziness that this log home provided were almost nostalgic to me even though I had not grown up here. It reminded me in little ways of my Grandma Brand's cabin back in New York State. This was more than enough to make me feel welcome and comfortable. It also compelled me to capture a series of images focusing on some of the unique details, both for myself and for Cortney's family.
Some people might think that you would not need three days to spend in Capitol Reef, but I can really confidently say we fully filled those three days and there is more still that we did not see. We combined hiking with scenic drives, ranger talks, and star-gazing. A little bit of everything - some sunrises, some sunsets, some days taking it easy and others pushing ourselves a bit more physically. It really is a pleasure working to find that balance. Also working with the way the present moment plays out and shifts while traveling. Sometimes all the planning in the world couldn’t take the place of one moment of spontaneity and adventure.
A few more fun details that I'd love to share have themes of texture, shape, and kisses of light. The little things that catch my eye and beg me to focus on them for just a second longer. I love when a photo can almost make you feel the roughness of twisted wood, the porous surface of a desert stone, or the delicate flowers on a dry bit of brush that could fizzle away into nothing at the slightest friction. I seek to capture the vastness of a desert landscape from the perspective of the smallest of its inhabitants.
I will end this blog where I started. With the final hike I decided to tackle on my own on the morning of the day we were to leave. The Navajo Knobs hike had always intrigued me, but had also been just too long to tackle without proper planning. Since I had hiked about half of the trail the day prior, I felt confident about going twice the distance to a total of 9.4 miles. I was the first one to the trailhead parking area at about 6:30 AM, and did not see another human soul for the entire ascent. I did, however, happen upon three bighorn sheep in an interaction that felt like it lasted forever before they walked away. The final scramble up the highest most exposed "knob", was just a tad frightening for me. It also made me so happy that I had done this on my own, though. I took the image of my feet at the edge of that small precipice in an attempt to capture that feeling. The image with the crudely-drawn red circle highlights this final place that I climbed up to from further back on the trail.
In conclusion, this trip filled my cup in so many ways. Going through the photos afterwards was honestly also something I looked forward and thoroughly enjoyed at each step along the way. Think this is something I will continue for the foreseeable future!