There were two places I wanted to photograph in Canyonlands National Park, which was about an hour drive from Moab. One involved the Milky Way, the other involved sunrise, so I just planned to stay out there all night, rather than drive an hour back just take a quick nap, then turn around and go right back to where I came from!

My first stop was at False Kiva. This trail is not marked on any park map, but if you just Google it, you’ll find it. The trailhead is not officially marked by any plaque, or even a parking area, but the trail itself is easy to see. The reason for this is that the park doesn’t want thousands and thousands of visitors to this place. I can’t find a whole lot of information on it, and I believe it’s because there’s a lot they don’t really know about it. I do know that it is an archaeological site, so they are likely still trying to figure out more about it. A kiva is basically a wall of stones in a circle. They could be used to live in, or have spiritual ceremonies. This one is called False Kiva because its origin and exact use are unknown.

I had seen good shots of this location at sunset, as well as at night with the Milky Way, so I wanted to get both. I set out about two hours before sunset. All of the info I had read put this hike at about an hour. That would give me plenty of time. Most of the trail was well-defined, flat, and easy. There was one section of slick rock where it was difficult to determine where to go, but I could see where cairns once stood, and as I went I stacked these rocks back up to make new cairns so that I could find my way back in the dark!

The hard part comes at the end of the hike, where you actually descend below the alcove where False Kiva is, then pass it, then have to climb back up to it. That brought out some sweat! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that when I was eating dinner prior to leaving Moab, I checked the temperature and it said 109!

When I got to the site, I noticed a metal box sitting behind a big rock. I opened it and found some information on the site, some rules, pens & a notepad that a lot of other hikers & photographers had signed. I went ahead and signed that notepad myself!

Sunset was beautiful from this spot! The last light hit those cliffs and turned them red, and the hazy air allowed the horizon to generate a beautiful orange hue, while further up the sky remained blue. Gorgeous!

Okay, I have a confession to make. I screwed up on the Milky Way shots! First of all, I didn’t realize how far to the left the Milky Way would be as it first became visible, so I had to move my camera from this spot, and I really didn’t like that angle. Also, what I should have done was take a shot of the canyon prior to full darkness so that I could create a two-image composite with a visible canyon, and visible Milky Way in the sky. I did not, and without that, you really can’t discern any part of the canyon. Add to that the fact that most of the sky became obscured with cloud cover after the sun had set.

Being at this place… wow. I was a little bit anxious, to be honest. I was looking forward to getting back to my car! I was a bit worried about finding my way back in the dark, and it just felt odd being out there all by myself. The only sign of any human life out there were the planes flying overhead. It was a little eerie, so when it appeared the clouds were going to be around for a while, I decided I didn’t want to wait any longer, and around 11 pm I decided to hike back.

I made it back to my car without any issues, and from there took the very short drive to the Mesa Arch parking area, where I would try to get some sleep in while waiting for morning. I wasn’t quite sure what time I needed to get up and hike to the arch, as I had heard people start getting set up HOURS before sunrise to get a good spot! I set an alarm for 3 am, but to be honest, I barely slept any.

The sky ended up clearing not too long after I got there. I did get to enjoy quite a few meteors, and a seriously dark night sky, with a bright Milky Way clearly visible. This was pretty amazing! I just love being out in the middle of nowhere looking at the stars on a clear night.

The first car pulled up about 2 hours before sunrise. That was my que, time to get my stuff and hike out to the arch! Those two French guys would beat me there, and in fact I got a little lost on the trail trying to find it! The trail is a loop, and I ended up doing the loop, missing the part where you turn off the loop to go to the arch! Eventually I found it, and was glad to find they weren’t set up where I wanted to be anyway!

Slowly but surely other photographers started trickling in. We didn’t like what we saw in the sky… clouds! There was a very brief period where the sun had a clear part to shine through, and the shutters went off like machine guns!

There was still plenty of room for me to take the camera off the tripod and get some different angles, so I took advantage of that. The best use of the D500’s 10 frame per second speed for me is handheld HDR bracketing! I can fire off three consecutive images with very minimal movement of the camera, allowing them to easily line up in Lightroom later. I did a lot of that on this trip.

After just a few minutes, the sun was gone behind the clouds. I wondered if that would be it, but I wasn’t even thinking about leaving just yet! I was taking a close look at the clouds, and figured there would be a chance of the sun poking back out once it got higher in the sky. I wasn’t sure how much orange glow would be on the bottom of the arch at that point, but I sat and waited. Others did not, including those two French guys who were there first. They gave up, packed up and left! BIG mistake, because the clouds cleared 10 minutes later, and this happened:

YES! This is what I came here for! That orange glow on the bottom of Mesa Arch is just incredible, and you know what? I’m glad we had those clouds, because it adds some interest to the rest of the sky in the photos! I left Mesa Arch feeling great… really tired… but great, knowing that I had gotten the shots I came here for!

Before going back to Moab, I stopped by Dead Horse Point State Park. It was right off the road that went to Canyonlands anyway, and I figured morning would be a good time to be there. To be honest, I’d rather have been there earlier, but that wouldn’t have been worth missing the magic at Mesa Arch!

There’s actually a poster of this place hanging on the wall in our office right behind me where I stand at my computer. However, it’s just a view of the canyon, so I didn’t know about all these Juniper trees along the ledge! I was happy to see that, as I’m always looking for some foreground interest to add to these vast landscape photos. It definitely makes for a more interesting photo!

I couldn’t leave without doing my signature selfie, though!

I was SO tired at that point, but it was all worth it! I got back to Moab, and after eating some breakfast, hopped into bed!