The Last Super Moon of 2020

Last Thursday night was the last super moon of 2020. It seemed like a good idea at the time to go out and get photos of it. In retrospect, next time I will go to higher elevations for reasons you will soon discover. I asked Siri when the moon would rise that night, and it said 21:03 (or 9:03pm). I thought that would be fantastic, so I grabbed my equipment about 8:45pm to set up everything to capture the moon. It wasn’t too much longer before it got dark. I checked my astronomy app for the position of the moon, and sure enough, it was just coming up over the horizon. I knew I had time to kill, so I decided to take a couple of star shots before the moon came up. According to my app, the bright star in the center is Antares.

After about a half hour, I realized that I was going to be there a while, because I’m looking at a 2,000 foot cliff waiting for the moon to come up over the horizon and peer into this deep canyon. Finally, I was rewarded for my wait. Three hours later, the moon started its rise over the cliffs about 12:30am, way past my bed time, but the wait was absolutely worth it!

The moon was illuminating the trees on the top of the cliffs just before it came up.

Slowly, but surely, the moon made it from behind the cliff, and it was an amazing sight to behold. Check it out!

I went to bed not long after, basking in the pleasure of seeing the last super moon of 2020 rise over the cliffs of Zion National Park. I found out later that the super moon peaked at 6:30 that morning. It was tiring but fun. Enjoy!

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May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 by Kelly Guymon Photography Categories: astronomy, landscape, nature, Photography, solitude, wildernessTags: Antares, astronomy, cliffs, full moon, Moon, night photography, supermoon, Zion National park Leave a comment

Wild Weekly’s Photo Contest: Mountains

“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.

April 18, 2013April 18, 2013 by Kelly Guymon Photography Categories: hiking, PhotographyTags: California, cliffs, Colorado river, eagle crags, Gandalf, Glen Canyon, Half Dome, hiking, horseshoe bend, John Muir, Ponderosa Pine, United States, West Rim Trail, Yosemite Fall, Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Valley, zion, Zion National park 2 Comments