Utah

I hadn’t mentioned but some 50 miles before I arrived at Great Basin, cell reception had completely disappeared. It wasn’t until some 50 miles up the road after departing Great Basin that I entered cell reception again.

I’d taken note of quite a few places I’d like to explore if I were to pass through again with a travel companion, both on the road to Great Basin and upon leaving. Some places, hikes…and ghost towns…are better explored with company in such isolated surroundings.

The drive from Great Basin to Bryce Canyon National Park seemed to take no time at all. Fueled by great coffee from the Lectrolux Cafe in Baker, Nevada, distracted by baby cow road crossings and having an hour less to drive than I anticipated thanks to changing time zones…all made for a very decent trip.

I think every person I’d ever talked to, EVER, who had been out west had told me I had to visit Bryce Canyon. And they weren’t wrong. Its a stunning place. The campgrounds, the hikes, the drives, the viewpoints…all of it.
Its also very high in places. My campground was at about 8000, but I was also wandering around at higher elevations:

I spent the afternoon exploring and keeping an eye out for where I wanted to shoot sunrise.

I actually can’t remember which specific location this was:

I had planned to be up at 5 in the morning, but my inner clock said ‘nahhh, lets do 4 instead!’, so I was early in being up and about. As I was driving to higher elevation, my cell phone’s clock told me I had gone back to Pacific time, so it was actually an hour earlier. And I couldnt quite figure out for a while which time zone the sun was in! haha Sunrise happened when it was supposed to – in Mountain Time – and I ended up fitting in more than one location. I *think* the images I captured at Natural Bridge will make me happy. My cell phone, though, doesnt fair to well with sunrise light, so this is all you get for now…