October 2011
Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, UT, USA
Canon 5D MkII & EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 0.3s f/8 ISO400 @50mm
The area around the intersection of the Cockscomb fault and US route 89 contains some of the most colorful rocks of the Colorado Plateau, which is no small feat. In addition to that, all kinds of interesting rock formations pop up across the landscape, ranging from the surprising through the weird all the way to the unbeliable. Some require a lot of physical effort to reach, since they lie far away from random used clay roads that become umpassable for days on end after a rain. Others require some type of research to first find out that they exist, then determine their location, and finally discover how to get there. And still others require some perseverance or just plain old luck when applying for the limited number of permits available, which have been put in place to protect them from the hoards, and are generally awarded by lottery. And many fall in multiple of the previous categories at the same time.
But not Toadstool Hoodoo. It is located fifteen minutes from a paved road, where there is a parking lot with room for at least twenty or thirty vehicles. No sign on the road warns you of its existence, but this probably will not last long, as a well trodden path leading to the hoodoos has appeared where there was none a few years ago. Its beauty has made it a popular theme of coffee table books and all kinds of publications, and it occupies a prominent place in all guide books of the area. And on top of that, access is free and unrestricted. So you can imagine the results. Lots of people visit this place, but I doubt many of them have done it when the sky does in fact have more color than the rocks themselves.
I had already set up my tent in the area, and the sky was completely covered with clouds, so I was not even thinking of taking pictures in the evening. But a short while before sunset I noticed a gap in the clouds precisely where the Sun would be right before disappearing behind the horizon. The chances were low, but I quickly got in my vehicle and drove the few miles separating me from the parking lot. I picked up the camera bag and the tripod and ran uphill to where the hoodos are, an area I'm quite familiar with. I got there gasping for air just as the Sun revealed itself below the clouds, setting everything on fire. For a few minutes the hoodos got so red that I had problems avoiding the red channel in my pictures getting overblown. It was some of the warmest light I´ve ever experienced. When the Sun got down, I waited for a few minutes, and sure enough, then it was time for the light to hit the bottom of the clouds, resulting in what you can see above. An unbelievable scene, red sky, and red rocks. Difficult to repeat, that is for sure.