Hanging Gardens at Natural Bridges

Hanging gardens in the sandstone canyon country of southeast Utah are a true niche environment. Amazing things happen in a small space.

Alcove Columbine in hanging garden, Armstrong Canyon, Natural Bridges National Monument.

They are formed by two things, primarily. One is that sandstone is porous. Water can slowly trickle down between the sand grains, even more so down all the joints in the rock (around here they had been sand dunes about 270 million years ago).

Alcove Columbine, below Kachina Bridge trailhead, Natural Bridges National Monument.

The other is that, on the Colorado Plateau in southern Utah, there are a variety of rock layers. And underneath the sandstone, sooner or later will be a much different layer. One impervious to water. Which means the water will flow sideways instead of down. Gently seeping out the side of an exposed cliff face. And there you have a hanging garden. Specially adapted plants seemingly clinging to a cliff face, or at least at the base of it.

Alcove Columbine closeup.

Since such places tend to be wet and shady, certain plants like it there. One is the Alcove Columbine, a delicately leaved and blossomed plant. Unlike their  much taller and robust cousins growing in the high mountains, these are small blossoms. They don't show off. You have to look for them in the shade of the bright high desert sunlight. 

Another hanging garden denizen is a small shrub, the Birchleaf Buckthorn - Rhamnus betulaefolia. Its almost egg shaped green leaves are distinctive in the park. A wiry stem grows from wherever the water source is, at the base of a cliff or out a crack in a face cliff.

Birchleaf Buckthorn - Rhamnus betulaefolia

In some spots, you might even find ferns. This example is on a terrace above the streambed in Armstrong Canyon. 

Ferns in a hanging garden in Armstrong Canyon at Natural Bridges.

Why ferns in a certain hanging garden but not in others? The same question can be about where Alcove Columbines and Birchleaf Buckthorn grow. Geology and soil type? Seed source? Something to ponder as you pause in the lovely shade of an overhanging cliff in canyon country.  

Photo location: Natural Bridges National Monument, southeast Utah.

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Deer Canyon, Utah

Deer Canyon in springtime.

A springtime hike up Deer Canyon in Natural Bridges National Monument. Another hike there, I mean. I'd been longing to return there, so I did.

Down into White Canyon to begin with. Beneath mighty Sipapu Natural Bridge, sixth largest in the world, as far as we know. A very special place, that's for sure.

Sipapu Bridge, with some hikers for scale.

Down the canyon. I'm enjoying the springtime flush of leaves on the deciduous species: Oak, Willow, Cottonwood. I love the winter snows here, but when they're absent I ache for the greenery of spring. No longer; spring is here.

Sipapu Bridge, from upstream.

Especially the wildflowers. 

Claret Cup hedgehog cactus, White Canyon.

Photo location: Natural Bridges National Monument (and environs), San Juan County, southeast Utah.

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Early Snow in Southeast Utah

November snow, south end of Moab, Utah.

It has been an early winter in southern Utah's high desert canyon country. 

This morning in Moab there was new snow on the cliffs and hills around town, and of course another fresh coating on the La Sal Mountains.

Snow on the red cliffs above Moab, Utah.

I drove north out of town, to I-70. Then east from Crescent Junction to get a few shots of the white stuff while it still adorned the south facing aspects of the Book Cliffs. Lovely, lovely.

Snowy Book Cliffs, Thompson Springs, Utah.

Photo locations: Moab and Thompson Springs, Grand County, Utah.

Prints and photo products are available on my Fine Art America sales website:
http://stephen-krieg.pixels.com/

© Copyright 2015 Stephen J. Krieg

Kachina Natural Bridge, Summer

Kachina Natural Bridge from west buttress.

Kachina Bridge in Natural Bridges National Monument in southeast Utah is a massive span of Cedar Mesa Sandstone. The youngest of the three bridges in the park, Kachina Bridge is also the youngest one. That's why it's still so thick; it has a lot more stone to shed through the future millennia than its sisters, Sipapu Bridge and Owachomo Bridge.

On a hot summer day, the shade and breezeway-like air movement underneath the bridge are the perfect respite. The trail down from the Loop Drive parking lot is only 0.7 of a mile, but dropping 400 feet in elevation. The trail offers scant shade until you get to the bottom, underneath the bridge. There you feel like lingering, resting, savoring. And it's never crowded with visitors, either. Most of the time you can have it all to yourself. Take a lunch or snacks, and plenty of water. 

The bridge is so massive that, while underneath it, even an ultra wide angle lens can't take it all in. So for this photograph I took three overlapping images and merged them into a super high resolution panoramic file. 

Photo location: Natural Bridges National Monument, San Juan County, southeast Utah.

If you have a large screen, click on the image below for a much larger version.

Kachina Natural Bridge, larger version (click on image).

Prints and photo products are available on my Fine Art America sales website:
http://stephen-krieg.pixels.com/

© 2015 Stephen J. Krieg. 

Snowscapes in Slickrock Country

[Butler Wash area in snow, San Juan County.] 

A lovely mid winter storm in southeast Utah. Canyon Country, Four Corners Country. Perfect snow, and I was in the mood for roaming outdoors again.

From Blanding west on Highway 95. Such a wonderfully lonesome road. Unless you consider the seeming suicidal deer, which can instantly decide that somehow the other side of the road must be the safer side. 

On this morning, though, the snowstorm had the deer bedded down in the trees, in the draws, out of harm's way. So the highway was mine.

I had plenty of time. Thus a diversion: stop and hike the short (half mile) trail to the viewpoint of Butler Wash Ruins. 

[Snowy bench, Butler Wash] 

"Ruins," as in the remains of ancient pueblos, tucked under a massive sandstone cliff. I had visited there before, even hiked down into the Wash and up to the ruins themselves. But today I would content myself with confining myself to the trail to the overlook. It should be beautiful, and slippery enough without being even more adventuresome.

[700-year-old (or so) pueblo ruins.] 

I was the first one through the virgin snow that day. It was still so overcast, and the snow so white, that it was hard to discern the lay of the trail. So I stumbled and slid a bit, taking care not to fall. My goal was to make it to the viewpoint without putting my traction aids on my boots, just to see whether I could. 

I decided I couldn't. Or at least shouldn't. The experiment was complete, so I stretched them over my soles and enjoyed a much more confident trek.

[Pull-on traction devices, huge difference.]

At the ruins overlook, I made my photos and video of the wide mouthed alcoves in the cliff across the way. Then I started back toward the trailhead. The view to the south caught my eye, so I strayed off trail across the sandstone slickrock. The tiny intermittent stream was flowing down through the snow. Beautiful, sensual patterns in the perfect snow.

[Small pools in the slick rock.] 

[Sideways slickrock stream.]  

 

[Snowflakes on ice veneer, on pool.] 

[Prickly pear cactus in the snow.] 

Photo location: San Juan County, southeast Utah.

Prints and photo products are available on my Fine Art America sales website:
http://stephen-krieg.pixels.com/

© 2015 Stephen J. Krieg 

Cedar Mesa Sunset Skies

[Photo: Cedar Mesa sunset panorama, southeast Utah. Click on image for larger version].

The clouds built throughout the day. Not ominously, but maybe more toward the slight chance of mixed rain and snow forecast for the night. 

I've become a weather forecast pessimist. In that the precipitation, be it rain or snow, won't materialize where I am. The weather service seems to over-forecast, to cover their butts, so we dear citizens aren't caught unaware of a bad storm. Ok, so we're prepared, usually for nothing.

As evening approached I, as usual, gauged the chances for a fiery sunset. The clouds have to be in the right position. All afternoon I'd written off the prospects as being too overcast. But at 4:45 I saw a clear slot on the western horizon just north of Moss Back Butte, where the sun would set. Hmm. If those clouds stay like that, it could really light up.

My stomach got the better of me. Should I go to one of my favorite sunset spots and wait, wait, hungrily? I did not. Then while I was cooking a pasta meal, furtively glancing out the picture window, the conditions fell right into place. 

Turn off the stove and dash out there. Fortunately I have a backup sunset spot nearby, a minute's walk away. I used it. Made several overlapping images, then -- after supper, of course -- merged them into a huge high resolution panorama master file. 

I should have been at my best sunset spot, though. With a bag of chips to tide me over. Next time, next time.

[Photo: Sunset afterglow, Natural Bridges, Utah].

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Photo location: Natural Bridges National Monument, San Juan County, Utah. Olympus E-PL5, developed in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom 5.