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Tag: Utah

06 August 2019

Walk with me under the Bryce Canyon full moon hoodoos

I hadn’t photographed the full moon since May, too many clouds in June, July looked good so I started to make a plan to shoot Bryce Canyon full moon hoodoos, and it worked.  I took lots of photos.  Hope you’re ready.

windows mask hoodoos Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahI’m still learning to use the Photo Pills app ahead of time for some idea of time, degrees, and direction of rise (or set) from different locations.  Plus considering which trail to get down into the hoodoos without too much distance and drop.

Hoodoos last light Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahI started down the Navajo Loop Trail about 7:15 for the 8:10 moonrise and maybe the 8:50 sunset.

looking up Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahLooking up from four switchbacks down

Couldn’t believe how many people clustered along the rim and top of the trailhead at the mostly eastern “Sunset Point” view.

hoodoos Wall Street Bryce Canyon National Park UtahWallstreet, the other side of the Navajo Loop Trail

A few folks passed me still huffing up the trail, many carrying no water.  They may have done the 1.3 mile loop, 357 feet up in .7miles.  Not for me tonight.

Thors Hammer hoodoos late light Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahI kept checking Photo Pills against the real time landscape.

windows Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

view through Hoodoo windows Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahAt first I was sure I’d get the moon rise through one of the windows in a formation I call the mask.  But alas, the app was out of calibration.

Hoodoos full moon rise last light Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahYet I knew it was close and went for a backup plan.  Wherever the moon would rise I’d surely find a good hoodoo foreground.

late light hoodoos Sunset Point Bryce Canyon National Park UtahHad to keep moving up and down the trail because the gnats/noseeums were driving me crazy, and ultimately ate me alive leaving terrible welts that got hard bumps and blisters.  Brutal.  A reaction I’d never experienced before, and hope not to again.

Hoodoos full moon rise last light Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

Hoodoos full moon rise last light Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

Hoodoos full moon rise last light Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

Hoodoos full moon rise last light Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahHoodoos full moon rise last light Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

Hoodoos full moon rise sunset Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahWith a bit of haze on the horizon I didn’t get the actual moon rise but I did get some fun shots of the full moon with the magical shapes of hoodoos.  I saw a person reading a book and someone else said a knight holding a staff or sword.  What do you see?

Hoodoos full moon rise sunset Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

Hoodoos full moon rise sunset Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

Hoodoos full moon rise sunset Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahHoodoo is a word derived from late 1800 African Americans in the southeastern United States meaning “folk magic”.  I can’t find out who actually named these crazily carved and magical shaped rocks.  Zoomed in and zoomed out.

Thors Hammer last light Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahA different view than from the top of the iconic Thor’s Hammer hoodoo.

Thors Hammer Hoodoos valley last light full moon rise sunset Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

Hoodoos full moon rise sunset Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahI had so much fun.

sunset distant view full moon Bryce Canyon National Park UtahAfter my shoot on the climb up to the rim I stopped a young boy, maybe tweenage, from driving his remote control 18-inch car down the trail.  No motorized vehicles allowed.  Even though I wasn’t in uniform, told him I was a Ranger, and he asked if he could drive it back up and I said “no, carry it.”  Which he did with no other response.  Where were his parents?

last light view East from Fairyland Point Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

last light on hoodoos Boat Mesa from Fairland Point Bryce Canyon National Park UtahTo avoid crowds and for someplace different, the next night I went to Fairyland Point.  For the first time I found a place to park in the tiny lot.  Arrived at 8:25 for an 8:49 sunset and 8:58 moon rise.

last light Fairyland Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

last light Sinking Ship from Fairyland Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahThe trail had obviously been walked on when wet and was lumpy and uneven which made for unsteady slow walking.  I should have brought my tripod and used it as a walking stick.  Thank goodness a light breeze kept most of the bugs away.

trees hoodoos sunset Fairyland Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

trees hoodoos Earth Shadow from Fairyland Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahScoped a couple places out with Photo Pills but didn’t feel like I could trust it 100% even with recalibrating the previous night.

reverse sunset Fairyland Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

hoodoos sunset Fairyland Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

trees hoodoos Sinking Ship sunset Fairyland Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahI would have had to walk a little further than I wanted to get below the hoodoos for the shots I imagined.  But with the hazy horizon I didn’t catch the first rise anyway.

Sinking Ship Hoodoos valley full moon from Fairyland Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahA young woman and her “Sherpa” coming up the trail with “$1000s in camera gear” hadn’t even seen the full moon.  She joined me setting up her tripod.  Hope she got some better shots than I did as darkness deepened.

full moon hoodoos Fairyland Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahI like to walk a trail under full moon light, to see the shadows, and wished for my tripod to take more photos.

Hoodoos full moon rise sunset Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahProcessing these shots took a lot of time, going from silhouette to pulled shadows for a little more color.  I most time preferred the dark silhouette.  How about you?

Hoodoos full moon reverse sunset Navajo Loop Trail Bryce Canyon National Park UtahThis experience gave me the idea for a Shooting the light full moon walk about balance in nature, photography, and life.  Possibly in September.

red hills Tropic valley Blue Cliffs Aquarius Plateau sunrays rainbow storm clouds from Bryce Pt Bryce Canyon National Park UtahBut now that monsoon has finally arrived it’s rather hit or miss for clear skies to full clouds.  Yet I’m still working on a plan for August Bryce Canyon full moon hoodoos.  I’m off work the 14th for an 8:17 moon rise five minutes before sunset.  My work schedule on the 15th has me closing the visitor center at 8pm so I’ll probably miss the 8:20 sunset but should be able to make the 8:51 moon rise somewhere behind the hoodoos.

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Bryce Canyon National Park, full moon, Utah Bryce Canyon NP, full moon, hoodoos, trails, Utah 33 Comments
07 May 2019

The mishaps of moving two RVs

snow hoodoos valley Table Top Mesa Bryce Canyon National Park UtahI know it’s crazy because I travel solo and it isn’t easy moving two RVs but one is my home and the other my glamping toy.  Thus the tale of mishaps moving to Bryce Canyon National Park for the summer.

truck 5th-wheel leaving Yarnell ArizonaAt first I tried to find someone local to move the 5th-wheel but eventually called the person who lives in Utah and had moved it before.  He and his wife have professional and personal experience with RVs so I trust them.  The original plan was they would pick up and tow the 5th-wheel on Wednesday from Yarnell to their property in Kanab, Utah.  They only made it as far as Flagstaff and after fueling at Sam’s Club, on the way out of the parking lot heard a bang and saw a rear tire smoking so pulled back in the lot.  A rear spring had broken, or exploded into several pieces.  The local mobile service couldn’t get the part until the next day so they spent a chilly night.  Repair happened Thursday and just after noon they were on their way.  I am terribly sorry this happened to them, or at all, but am glad it was them and not me.  I’d have been totally stressed out.  Plus so grateful that it didn’t happen on the highway.  Why did it happen is difficult to say.  I’ve been bouncing that RV on roads for seven years.  Maybe it was an unavoidable pothole on I40.  Yes even though it’s under construction and being repaved it has almost more holes than before.  Was truly a relief to me these competent people had the problem under control.

propane tanks truckcamper Peeples Valley ArizonaI rolled out of Yarnell as planned on Thursday morning with a stop in Peeples Valley to fill propane tanks on the truck camper.  These are the new horizontal 5-gallon tanks I had to buy a few months ago because the originals from 1998 could no longer be re-certified.  However, this new design is a nightmare.  They are impossible to fill while in the camper even with my 90° adapter, the guy tried.  Finally called where I bought them and was told they have to come out and be filled vertically.  That is truly a pain in the you know what and I’ll never be able to lift them out and in because of my bad shoulders and lack of upper body strength.  Bless this guy’s heart he stuck with it.  But they won’t even fill all the way full.  Took him over an hour to sell me four gallons of propane.  That’s total in two tanks.  Not going to work.  I am not happy with this arrangement and now far away from the B&B Auto where I bought those in Congress.

sign leaving Prescott National Forest SR89 North ArizonaAfter a brief shop stop in Prescott I hit the road north about the same time my 5th-wheel left Flagstaff.

truckcamper treees clouds Coconino National Forest ArizonaMy thought was to camp at Sunset Crater’s Bonito campground but it was still closed for the season.  So I went boondocking not far away along with a few others who had the same idea and camped just out of sight of each other.

trees sunrise clouds Coconino National Forest Arizona

trees Sunset Crater sunrise Sunset Crater National Monument ArizonaAwoke in time to catch a soft sunrise in camp then buzzed to a trailhead in the national monument to see the sun rise over Sunset Crater.

Wukoki ruin Wupatki National Monument Arizona

Echo Cliffs clouds SR89 North to Page ArizonaAfter breakfast in the parking lot, I drove the loop road to Wupatki National Monument.  Stopped at Wukoki ruin then onward to Page where I dropped off some outgrown uniform pants for a friend.

sign Welcome to Utah SR89 Utah

Escobars Kanab Utah

Next stop, Kanab and an early dinner with Bill at my favorite restaurant in town, Escobars.  Mexican food that can’t be beat.

Later, while admiring the pruned fruit trees in Bill’s back yard I notice three flowering lilac bushes, lavender, white, and deep purple.  I love these and grew up playing under large hedges of them in Illinois.  So I buried my nose and breathed deep.  Might have been a mistake as I woke in the middle of the night unable to breath through my runny stuffed up nose.  Even allergy pills didn’t help the next day.

Saturday I blew through at least one box of kleenex and took a two hour nap.  Before the nap I called my tow people and was told the 5th-wheel would need three new tires as this break had screwed them up badly.  That couldn’t be done until Monday morning and afterwards the 5th-wheel would be towed up to Bryce.

sign Forscher German Bakery Orderville Utah

trees red cliffs SR12 East Red Canyon Dixie National Forest UtahRed Canyon Dixie National Forest

I left Kanab still sniffling on Sunday about 10am.  Made one stop along the way at the Forscher German bakery in Orderville.  I was starting to feel a little better but looked forward to a nap once parked in Bryce.

truckcamper trees site #4 Bryce Canyon National Park Utah

RV window view trees horses corral Bryce Canyon National Park UtahMy new home RV site was plenty big enough for the truckcamper but looked small and a tight fit for the 36-foot 5th-wheel with three slide-outs.  Thank goodness someone else was backing it in.  The forest view includes a corral with horses, mules, and at least one donkey.  The signal was just OK and intermittent.  I took a nap and didn’t go out until work in the morning.

truck 5th-wheel site #4 Bryce Canyon National Park UtahTwo motorhomes parked to my right, one where my truck was

Around 10 Monday morning I received a text that the 5th-wheel was pulling into the park so I left work to lead it in.  Took almost two hours to get the beast into site #4, an up-size from from my originally assigned #2 which is impossibly small.  Once in, it fit fine.  There are six sites, only four filled so far and the rest will be also.  Most national park site campgrounds, public and staff, were built long enough ago when RVs weren’t the beastly size of today.  Sadly, there is no money to update.  On the upside the site is level and has 50amp service.

After work I moved Sierra inside the 5th-wheel closing her in the toilet room so she couldn’t get out with open doors needed to transfer stuff from the camper.  I hooked up the fresh water dreaming of a shower in my own house.  But before I even turned the water heater on I saw water dripping from the bottom front and sides.  I opened the basement doors looking for pipe leaks and didn’t see anything obvious so turned the water off and went inside to find wet floor by the door and base of the stairs.  A very unhappy Sierra let me know she wanted out of the closet-sized space and when I opened the door I saw water flowing onto the floor instead of into the toilet.

That night I watched a couple of YouTube videos about repairing and replacing RV toilets and decided it was time to change this one out so ordered a new one from Amazon.  That means no running water until the new toilet is installed.  Also ordered a cat tree for Sierra.

snow trees corral sunrise clouds Bryce Canyon National Park UtahAwoke to a light dusting of snow on Tuesday and complete ground cover Wednesday.  Welcome Spring at 8000 feet.

inside 5th-wheel Bryce Canyon National Park UtahToo tired after work to unpack the house, I lived with the mess for several days.  On the weekend I made the space livable and discovered I own way too much furniture.

It is a lot of work moving two RVs but will be so worth it when I explore the area on my weekends.  Which, BTW, after another week of training is over will be Monday & Tuesday one week, and add Wednesday the next week.  Sure hope these are enough RV mishaps for a long while.

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16 October 2017

Fall and winter travel plans

clouds sun rays Wotans Throne from Cape Royal North Rim Grand Canyon National Park ArizonaMy summer season at Grand Canyon is over and  I’ve been thinking about fall and winter travel plans.  I’ve tried for a fall Pacific Northwest trip for several years.  But with all the fires there this last summer I’m going to pass on that journey once again.

Capitol Reef National Monument UtahCapitol Reef National Monument

Instead, I see southeastern Utah in my future with a long list of national parks, state parks, and whatever else catches my fancy.  Keeping an eye on the weather because as you know I’m not keen on cold and snow.  When that happens it’s time to head further south.

Sipapu Bridge Natural Bridges National Monument UtahNatural Bridges National Monument

I’ve been getting a lot of ideas from some of you RV bloggers yet you know I’m always looking for suggestions, even though I love to research and plan.

RVs #9 Abbey Road North Rim Grand Canyon National Park ArizonaI’m putting the big 5th-wheel into storage in Kanab for the winter, someone else is hauling it tomorrow from the North Rim.  Thank goodness I don’t have to take the truck camper off and then put it back on again.  That’s a real pain.  So I’m moving into the truck camper for about six months.  Of course there is less space and I’m struggling with what can go and what is left behind.

Curvy road Zion National Park UtahZion National Park

After a stop in Kanab and stocking up on groceries I plan to visit a friend in Zion National Park.  Lisa is an artist in residence there and was at Grand Canyon a few years ago when we still had the program.  I’m hoping the Zion won’t be such a zoo in the fall as it’s been reported to be this past summer.

Wooden Shoe The Needles District Canyonlands National Park UtahCanyonlands National Park

Then I plan to cruise to Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges and whatever else catches my fancy along the way.

Delicate Arch Arches National Park UtahArches National Park

If the weather gets cold or these places are too crowded I’ll head further south.

Heck it was crowded enough at the North Rim this season.  Visitation just never slowed down.  And as much as I love my job, I am happy to be done working for the season and getting on the road again.

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Hi, I’m Gaelyn, the Geogypsy

I retired after 29 summer seasons as a Park Ranger, traveling solo for 40+ years. My passions include travel, connecting to nature, photography, and sharing stories.

I started exploring US National Parks in 1977 and 20 years later became a seasonal Park Ranger.  I’ve lived full-time in a RV for 30 years working summers and playing winters.  I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow old, other than grow up.

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