Foggy Mountain Trail Down

Clouds of fog rolled over the rock formations as we descended the Observation Point Trail in Zion National Park on Wednesday, September 11, 2013. This image, taken at 10:00 AM MDT, shows the fog shrouded Angel's Landing (background, right), with the so-called (pipe) organ formation at right foreground, below and beyond the evergreen tree. At center is the Virgin River. At this point our objective was the nearby Hidden Canyon Trail, which forked off from this trail a short distance ahead.

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Hot Wind Farm

Hot desert air drives many of the wind turbines located at this wind farm in front of San Jacinto Peak just north of Palm Springs, California around 8:10 AM PDT on Sunday morning, September 8, 2013. The image looks west just east of North Indian Canyon Drive. Temperatures here would rise above 100 degrees F on this day.

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Precarious Position In Echo Canyon

These dark and foreboding images of Echo Canyon in Zion National Park weren't without apprehension. This point of the Observation Point Trail in the canyon narrowed at a very low area which allowed water to pool to a point where it blocked the trail to a depth of about 2-3 feet. With the prospect of very wet feet beyond this point--not even halfway along the four-mile trail--my wife and I decided to turn back. This probably proved to be a prudent choice--hours later continued rain caused a blast of flash flooding further down the trail. The area in the images above most likely would have been blocked by deep and fast flowing water, stranding us above it. The top image, taken at 9:45 AM, MDT on Wednesday, September 11, 2013, looks past the blocked point and shows pools of water draining into it. The bottom image, taken a few minutes later, looks back toward the direction we had hiked from--and reluctantly returned to. The bottom image also shows fog that prevailed throughout Zion on this day.

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Cumulus Formation Over San Jacinto

Essentially the same image as my previous day's posting, only during the day. A cumulus cloud forms over hot terrain and above San Jacinto Peak near Palm Springs, California around 2:32 PM PDT on Sunday, September 8, 2013. The peak appears to the southwest in this view from just in front of Dillon Road, 15 miles away in Desert Hot Springs.

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San Jacinto Moon

This image captures a waxing crescent moon setting behind the 10,834-foot-high San Jacinto Peak, located near Palm Springs, California. The peak is located about 15 miles to the southwest of this position along Dillon Road in the nearby town of Desert Hot Springs. A small light seen at left on the mountain is the top of its tramway. The photo is a 25-second exposure at f/6.3, 500 ISO and 52mm focal length, taken around 8:15 PM PDT, Sunday, September 8, 2013. The bands of light along the image's bottom are from automobile headlights and taillights, created from the extended exposure.

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Pea Soup In The Park

These views of the beautiful Zion National Park rock monolith known as Angel's Landing were clouded by heavy fog as seen from the park's Observation Point Trail around 10:12 AM MDT, Wednesday, September 11, 2013. The fog would lift, bringing near-clearing, then close back in again.

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Descent Into Oblivion?

The top image is my favorite taken in Zion National Park in Utah. My wife Sue and I had just emerged from a low-lying trail inside Hidden Canyon, much of the time concerned about the potential for flash flooding while we negotiated it. From there, the trail takes a quick upward climb then back down, along the sandstone wall, assisted by mounted chains in dangerous places. In the top image, Sue makes her way down the trail with a fog-hidden abyss of about 1,000 feet just beyond the trees in front of her. As the couple in the bottom image appeared and carefully made their way up and around us, the man exclaimed, "You're not one of those who take people's pictures and then charges them for it, are you?" From here, the trail takes a horseshoe shape to the right and down. Images were captured at 11:23 AM MDT, Wednesday, September 11, 2013.

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