In my former life as a tour guide, I took a small group to Yosemite and San Francisco. After leaving Las Vegas, the first stop we made was at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park. It’s a nice two minute walk from the road up a small hill that has this beautiful vista. It was a beautiful spring morning and I was enjoying my first visit to Death Valley. I saw this view, and I was in awe at the beauty of the desert.
Enjoy
Going through my archives tonight, I asked myself-where was I in late March, and early April a decade ago? In doing so, it hit me like a ton of bricks that it has been 10 years since I was a tour guide for a company in Las Vegas, NV. This trip to Yosemite National Park was actually my very first solo tour with this company (it will remain nameless), and my first time visiting Yosemite National Park. It was a five day whirlwind tour of Grand Canyon South Rim, Monument Valley, Zion, Bryce, Death Valley, Yosemite and ending in San Francisco. It was still early spring, so the only way into Yosemite was the north entrance. It was a beautiful drive. During this tour of Yosemite, I was able to do some photography and took this image of Half Dome.
Enjoy
“I want to see mountains again, Gandalf! Mountains!” – Bilbo Baggins
I’m participating in the online adventure travel and outdoor photography magazine Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggersThis week’s Challenge is: Mountains!
I love the mountains! There’s just something special about mountains, either looking up at them, or down from them. They are majestic, timeless and breathtaking. Sometimes it helps to get away from it all in the mountains just to contemplate existence and life in general.
Here is a tribute to John Muir and his favorite place: Yosemite Valley, specifically Half Dome and Yosemite Falls.
Of course, a bit closer to home (but not quite) is the famous Horseshoe Bend. This is looking off the mountain at the Colorado River, just south of Glen Canyon Dam.
Here is a very famous vista of Zion National Park, the Watchman Mountain.
The only way to really appreciate the size and majesty of mountains is to get up close and personal. Here is a view of a mountain from the West Rim Trail in Zion. The ponderosa pine tree is about 60-80 feet tall. The cliff face is about 2000-3000 feet straight up. This gives a nice scale to Zion.
Here are a couple of mountains from the West Rim Trail:
This is the view from Deer Trap Mountain, one of the less popular trails in Zion. This is looking at Lady Mountain and into Heaps Canyon where the Emerald Pools are located.
Here are the Eagle Crags, just outside of Zion, one of my favorite cliffs.
Kelly Guymon Photography 