I hadn't been home for 48 hours from my last Utah trip before I was packing for the next one. The return to Denver was well timed: I arrived in time to help the gallery meet its First Friday obligations, and to pick up my new travelling partner, Scott. Armed with at least four cameras, a couple of tripods, and several lenses, we set out for Utah's Cedar Mesa by way of Colorado's mountain passes, which I knew would be riotous with color.
The weather held while we made our way up I-70, into the Sylvan Lake area near Eagle, and over Crooked Creek Pass into Basalt. In Carbondale we had an impromptu lunch at a full-blown Mexican Cafe and store near Highway 82, successfully avoiding - but nevertheless intrigued by - their offering of Tacos de Cabeza and music CDs featuring groups of bikini-clad women on their covers.
We encountered our first throngs of photographers as we approached McClure Pass, who seemed increasingly serious as we approached "the back way" into Crested Butte, over Kebler pass, where the fall color was in full-swing. Unfortunately, so was one of the first storms of the season.
When the weather took a turn that evening, we opted for a Gunnison hotel room, and then continued our trek over Owl Creek Pass, which by that morning had fresh snow. We quite enjoyed this leg of our trip; the weather was making for some good photography except when the clouds - which often added so much to the scene - sometimes blocked the view.
We arrived at Hovenweep in time to set camp and walk the main loop just before sunset. I took the 5D, taking the ruin shot at the lower left at ISO 1600, 1/60th of a second, and handheld, sometime after the sun went down. I've not shot at that high a sensitivity before on the 5D, and although I'd heard good things about it's low noise, I find it pretty remarkable. Although I've not directly compared, I think the amount of noise is similar to what you could expect on the D60 at ISO 400, showing that Canon is making considerable improvement in this regard (what's more, it may mostly be due to software: The noise-cancelling algorithms on the DIGIC II processor). You can see a 100% detail of the noise here (you may need to widen the browser window).
I rather enjoy Hovenweep. It's a gradual immersion into the desert, a sort of decompression after the San Juans. You'll find the transition will be complete as you sit on the slickrock overlooking the canyon, sipping a Guiness (or two), and listening to the insects and coyotes begin the night's symphony.
I had GPS coordinates for Castle Ruin. This lies at the head of Butler Wash, near the crest of Comb Ridge. If you continue west, a sign warns you that the road you're on is about to become a bit more challenging as you're about to descend the ridge. Scott & I exited the jeep to inspect the 18" steps, at least one switchback, a sheer dropoff, and unimaginable road conditions beyond. I knew the trusty Jeep would go down fine. But I didn't know whether we'd be able to get back up if the road were impassable, below. We noticed that at least one vehicle didn't successfully negotiate the road, ultimately finding its final resting place near the bottom of Comb Ridge's severe western slope.
Instead, we backtracked and made our way toward Flame House and Mule Canyon towers - where Mule Canyon begins to open up as it heads southeast toward Comb Wash. The weather in Cedar Mesa so far was pretty wonderful, but strictly speaking, bad for photography. Invariably by the time we'd arrive at a ruin, it would be in full sun.
The next day at the Kane Creek BLM office we got walk-in permits for an overnight in Fish & Owl canyons. I assured Scott this would be an easy 12 mile hike(*), but it turned out to be one of those ankle-twisting, route-finding Cedar Mesa hikes that I happen to thoroughly enjoy. The BLM office said that the route was "recently cairned", but that's just a euphemism for a tracking exercise: Any hint of a trail is routinely wiped out by the previous season's flash floods.
(*) After returning to Denver I learned that the Fish/Owl hike is actually 16.1 miles, not 12.
Near the confluence of Fish & Owl we ran into a gentleman who turned out to be the bass player for the reggae band The iTals. He and his friend had just come down Owl Canyon and were working their way up Fish - the opposite direction from us. I told him I had some dub in the car, which seemed to impress him a little.
The next day, after exiting the canyon, we learned at the new (!) Peace Tree Julce Cafe in Blanding that our man had visited a few hours earlier, severely limping. Indeed, Fish is a bit rougher than Owl, but they had beat us out nonetheless.
After a night in Comb Wash, we went off in search of Moon House and Citadel ruins. We arrived at Moon House (in full sun of course), and were duly impressed. This is arguably one of the larger ruins in Cedar Mesa. The round trip took us until early afternoon, so our timing for Citadel ruin unfortunately didn't work out; our plans thwarted by poor cell-phone timekeeping and the wind from an upcoming storm. We dashed down the Moki Dugway to Bluff, and were blown nearly all the way back to Denver the following day.
Citadel ruin will be saved for some other time....
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