Arches, Canyonlands & Mesa Verde

Two weeks ago I was in Colorado for a photo charter on the Durango & Silverton and decided to see Mesa Verde, Arches & Canyonlands National Parks after the charter. ; Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate very well on that part of the trip and I only had one good sunrise and not a single good sunset in 4 days out there. ; But I did get some decent shots and learned a couple of things for next time.

We'll start with Mesa Verde. ; In the winter they offer ranger guided tours to Spruce Tree House. ; The rest of the cliff dwellings are closed during the winter, but you can see some of them from the loop roads. ; Here's Spruce Tree House from the top of the trail:



Close up of the ruins:



The two ladders lead into two Kivas. ; Mesa Verde has a great relationship with the descendants of the Pueblo Indians who lived here. ; The park is sacred ground to them and they still use these two Kivas for their religious ceremonies. ; There is also a spring along the trail to Spruce Tree House that they collect water from as well.

Here's the inside of the third Kiva on the site. ; This is the only one that they allow visitors to climb in to. ; Out of respect for the Indians, the have covered over the fire pit and one other special element that I can't remember the name of:



This one is called Square Tower House. ; I was hoping for good late afternoon light on this one, but it was cloudy all day:

 

At Arches, I had decent light the afternoon that I arrived so I got a good shot of Skyline Arch:



From there, I headed up to Delicate Arch for sunset but the clouds rolled in just before showtime so I didn't get any good shots up there. ; The next morning after I shot sunrise at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands (more on that later, I'm saving the best for last), I rushed back to Arches to get more shots before the next cold front brought the clouds back in the afternoon. ; First stop was at the Gossips:



and the Organ:



Next up was Landscape Arch. ; At just over 300ft long and 6ft thick at its thinnest spot the shear size is just amazing:



After the clouds rolled in, I went to see Sand Dune Arch. ; The clouds actually helped me with this one since it is located in a narrow space between two tall fins of sandstone, making it difficult to photograph on a sunny day:

 

As I said earlier, I got one good sunrise, and boy was it a good one! ; Mesa Arch at Canyonlands is possibly the best sunrise location in the entire Moab area and it tends to attract huge crowds of photographers so I made it a point to get there very early. ; Even though it is the off season, I expected there to be a couple of other photographers there, so when I arrived and found an empty parking lot, I was shocked. ; One couple showed up to watch sunrise, but the first photographer I saw got there just after the light had faded. ; If you look closely at the first shot, you can see Washer Woman Arch in the distance:







I am almost done editing the photos from the Durango & Silverton and hope to post them over the weekend.

 

Those are great shots! ; I can only imagine your frustration with the light when you only have so many days to play!

 

wonderful shots Michael. looking forward to seeing the rest

 

Wow, those are great! ; Can't wait to the the D&S shots.

 

stunning, just stunning, how far away from the durango & silverton is arches? i've actually been thinking about what i could accomplish in a 4 day trip out to the railroad. flying into denver

 

These are spectacular, Michael! ; I need to get back out west now that I know what I am doing (for the most part).

 

Nice! Very nice!

Yeah, weather can work for you or against you, so you just roll with the punches. When it works for you, take it for all it'll give you... And you did. Good job!

 

Thanks everyone! ;

Mapquest said 2hr 40min, but I think it was actually closer to 3hrs. ; For this trip, I flew into Albuquerque so I wouldn't have to deal with all of the mountain passes in the winter and because it is much closer to Durango than Denver. ;

4 Days might be a little tight depending on what you want to do. ; Was thinking about doing a trip where I would fly into Denver early in the morning on Day 1 and drive to Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP for the afternoon/evening. ; Drive to Moab on Day 2 and go to Arches that afternoon/ evening. ; Go to Canyonlands for sunrise and Arches for Sunset on Day 3. ; Do sunrise at Arches on Day 4, drive to Mesa Verde trying to get there around lunchtime and stay for sunset if the light is good and then drive to Durango. ; Ride the D&S on Day 5. ; Drive to Albequerque and fly home on Day 6. ;

 

4 days works well for me as i have friday,sat,sun off every week anyway, and only need to take 1 day, 5hrs time to pull together a 4 day trip, and since i can finish at 1200 wed, i have a lot of flight choices out of newark and jfk on wed pm. i'm thinking maybe in june try to pull the D & S along with that railroad that's just into new mexico into this length trip, save arches for another time, i may also try that rail trip as an early september trip, catch a little foliage color. this type trip gives me thrusday to drive there from denver, taking photos along the way, friday and saturday to do the train rides, and sunday to fly home on an am flight, that 2 hr time jump coming home is always a factor in getting home at a reasonable time sunday pm, although there is hourly train service from jamaica to ronkonkoma almost 24/7

 

If you're going to go to the Cumbres & Toltec, I recommend waiting. ; The Lobato Trestle burned last year, so Chama is cut off from the rest of the line. ; Because of the fire, they trucked all but one of the locomotives up to one of the other towns and are running a modified route until the trestle repair is complete. ; Also keep in mind that you can't ride all the way from Chama to Antonito and back in one day. ; That's a two day trip, or you can ride up and take a motor coach back.

If you are thinking about going in the fall, Sept 22-25 would be a great weekend. ; Pete Lerro is operating a charter with night session on the Cumbres and Toltec on Thursday 9/22 and then is running the night sessions for the D&S during their fall photo train weekend 9/24-25 (http://www.lerroproductions.com/photoch ... oming.html). ; It is likely that the fall photo train will be the last opportunity to see the green coaches before they get painted back to their normal "Grande Gold" paint scheme. ; It is my understanding that Pete will also be assisting the D&S staff with the selection of photo runby locations during the fall photo train as well. ;

If I had 3 more days of vacation this year I would be there for that charter, but since I don't I'm hoping that Pete does it again next year or the year after. ; I actually had it all planned out where I would fly into Albuquerque on Wednesday and drive to Chama. ; Thursday would be the CTSRR charter and night session. ; Friday I would drive to Mesa Verde to get some pictures in the late afternoon light and then return to Durango for the first night session. ; and do the charter and night sessions on Saturday & Sunday and fly back Monday. ;

Since you want to fly back Sunday, if you were flying out of Albuquerque late enough in the day, it might be possible to chase the D&S charter train Sunday morning to Hermosa Tank and then to either Shalona Lake Crossing or you could drive to Rockwood and hike in to Granite Point before heading to the airport.