Southern Utah

I hadn't heard of Hanksville, but apparently all the other landscape photographers knew what was there. This October I drove about 4 hours from Salt Lake City and went to see what I'd been missing just south of me. Hanksville, Utah had more cows than people in the town, unless you count all the photographers on workshops at Moonscape overlook. It was pretty busy at sunrise, but for the most part I didn't see a ton of people around. I have some vertigo so I didn't get too close to edge. I flew my drone but there were so many of them I couldn't really tell which one was mine and it was really too windy for my mini drone. At least I didn't drop my camera off the edge or anything this trip. I did get a huge bruise from slipping in a slot canyon with muddy water. Luckily I could walk away from it ok.

I'd been to Capitol Reef another time to hike. This fall I liked the yellow cottonwood trees around there. The park wasn't too busy (unlike Zion's). I stopped at Bryce Canyon on my way home and was lucky to find a car leaving so I could park. There were tour busses and mobs of people there. I liked the red rocks and unique views. I was pretty tired driving back and didn't hike much, but I went on the Navajo trail. I'll have to explore more another time. Maybe in the winter when it isn't so busy.

I did have 2 epic sunrises and a couple nice sunsets in Escalante and it was amazing!!

What I love to do is hike around without crowds and take my time exploring. I've learned I'm happy seeing the small scenes close to my neighborhood and I'm easily entertained with my camera. I'm planning to go back to goblin valley for astro photography next year. I don't have any international trips planned next year since 2024 was my bucket list year and I traveled more than I ever had.

Here are some favorite photos from my trip. Let me know what you think.