"The View" Revisited

I planned this excursion to The View to follow my Canyonlands and Arches visits and push the time on target more or less towards the end of the day, thinking the colors and shadows would be interesting features of any pictures I stopped for. On my previous trip here (2010) I drove this road (Utah 128) in the opposite direction, from I-70 to Moab, about mid-day. I didn't remember there being a lot of pull-offs so I started off taking advantage of them as I came upon them.

This shot is looking upriver from just 3 miles or so out of town, entering Moab Canyon. The water looks pretty muddy, but here at least it's open enough to reflect the blue sky.

A little farther on, where the canyon was in deep shadow, I stopped for a bit to relax and eat the second half of my sub from lunch. Sunset was still a long way off, so I was in no hurry and the shady canyon was probably 10 degrees cooler than out in the sun on the sandstone griddle.

This pull-off is just west of Castle Valley, home of the Moab - Castle Creek Winery. Here, looking straight across the river, which is lined by steep mesas, there's little chance of reflecting any blue sky. When you see this much sediment in the water and know it's picking up more every foot downstream, it's a little easier to believe the Colorado really did carve the Grand Canyon.

I actually didn't remember Castle Valley from my last trip. I was hot to trot, looking forward to the highlight of that trip, the exploration of The Island in the Sky and not paying close attention to what I was cruising past. After all, I had already taken my first shots of The View.

This shot is from the same pull-off as the previous one. I didn't notice whether the conglomeration of building next to the  river are part of the winery or not. It appears to be cabins, but they're awfully close together. The main winery buildings are beyond the trees, and Castle Vally proper is beyond the red volcano I discovered and off to the right. In the background on the left is Parriot Mesa.

You can just see the snow on the LaSals past the right slope of the volcano; that means I'm getting closer to The View and I'm getting excited.

We're not quite there, but this is close. The lineup of rocks in the foreground,  the river, the Fisher Towers, Fisher Mesa, and the LaSal Mountains is right on. No clouds obscuring the LaSals helps too. They were partially obscured when I blew through here in 2010.

It's still too early to get excited about the light changing towards sunset, and I'm running out of steam (again) so, as usual, I'll shoot what I've got. I'd like to stay and see what happens in "the golden hour", but it ain't gonna happen. I may dawdle a little on the way, but the proper viewpoint for The View is only another 2 1/2 miles upstream. Ready?

Heh, heh. . . yeah, I'm still dawdling. After all these years, I still take pictures of airplanes when I see them - even when they're too high to identify. Can't help it.

On my first trip through here I stopped and took shots - versions of The View - every time all the elements I was looking for lined up - probably about five times in this 2 1/2 mile stretch. This time, I already knew the geometry I was looking for.

Well, this is it. All the elements I mentioned before are here. But, while the azimuth angle is the same as before, the 2 1/2 miles extra distance and 60 ft more elevation changed the geometry. Now the Fisher Towers appear shorter in relation to Fisher Mesa and both the towers and the mesa don't hide quite so much of the LaSals, making them look larger even though they're farther away. And finally, the narrow valley, especially when in shadow, focuses the viewer's attention like a telescope or a soda straw.

It might have been better if the sun was lower, turning the mesa wall on the left golden and the Fisher Towers blood red. Maybe some high cirrus catching color and adding another element. But you'll make yourself crazy fretting about that kind of stuff. In fact, I'm pleased to have the composition right, with all the elements from the foreground to the horizon in focus. I wonder how far I could get starting with this shot and applying some judicious Photoshop lighting manipulation...

You'll find a few more pictures of this drive up the Colorado River if you click HERE and look in my Flickr album.