Moonset Over Navajo Mountain

Full Moon moonset at dawn over Navajo Mountain.

I was on the southern rim of Cedar Mesa in southeast Utah for the August Full Moon.

The weather was pleasant enough for this time of year, breezy and not very hot. Wonderful for mid August. But it was semi-overcast on the eastern horizon, so my moonrise shots were brief, through a gap in the clouds.

I was camped on the rim, 1,000 feet above the San Juan River valley near Mexican Hat, and for most of the night got to enjoy a moonlit night.

At dawn it was clear, so I got up and waited for moonset. It looked like the moon was going to set right behind Navajo Mountain far to the southwest in Arizona.

And just as the almost risen sun tinged the moon a slight pink, I made this shot. I waited to see if I could get one of it actually starting to disappear behind Navajo Mountain, but a thin cloud bank on the western horizon made the moon disappear that much too early.

Photo location: Cedar Mesa, San Juan County, Utah.

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg