Harvest Moon Over Cedar Mesa

Rise of the September Harvest Moon over White Mesa in southeast Utah. (Click on image for larger version).

For this month's Full Moon I had set up my tripod at Salvation Knoll on Utah Highway 95, between Blanding and Natural Bridges National Monument.

Salvation Knoll is a high point beneath towering red cliffs along the highway (at 7,110 feet) that affords sweeping views down across Cedar Mesa and even into southwest Colorado and northern Arizona.

The weather was favorable: clear and calm. In fact a bit more than favorable, in that some haze in the air would likely give the rising moon some color. Which it did.

Photo location: San Juan County, southeast Utah.

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Sunset Rainbow At Natural Bridges

Rainbow and Bears Ears Buttes, Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah.

The weather forecast had been only 20 percent chance of showers. All day long we had sunshine and some dark clouds. Visitors arrived telling us they had come through intense rain, even hail, several miles back. We joked that they had been in the 20 percent spot. 

Then, in the evening, we got it. Rain, thunder. So peaceful to listen to the rain when you're inside and don't have to be anywhere right away. Stay dry and watch the land soak it up. 

Afterward, as sunset time was almost upon it, the rainbow appeared. Arcing across the eastern sky, with the blue-black rain clouds for a backdrop. And the Bears Ears Buttes up above us. The rainbow superimposed in front of them. 

© 2015 Stephen J. Krieg