It is always hard, and increasingly so with climate change, to predict peak Fall color anywhere. Yet the week we scheduled and ran our instructional tour to Zion was supposed to be peak, and there must have been at least 8 other workshop or tour group leaders all thinking the same, as we heard or or ran into several. But the reds of the big-tooth maples were over up in the washes of the upper sandstone, and the cottonwoods in the canyon were half-green, half turning to yellow. Thankfully, Zion offers much more than just Autumn colors, and this year we were all having to look for options!

When that happens to me, wherever I am, I turn to the intermediate or intimate landscape. I am always seeking to express my own vision about the place I’m exploring, and this is one way to be unique when the so-oft photographed large landscapes leave you ‘wanting’ more.

While walking in one wash, we just happened on leaves that had dropped off the trees, and fallen into the most wonderful crevasse of the sandstone. They piled up so nicely! The swirling darker lines of different sedimentary layers drew the eye inward to the ‘trough’. It was just the kind of image I had hoped to find!

Thanks for viewing, and please visit here again soon!