2009 Canyonlands Trip - Horseshoe Canyon

Along the road from Green River to Horseshoe Canyon were scores of black, wooly cattle, who watched us suspiciously as we drove past.

The landscape south of Green River, Utah, looking in the general direction of Arches National Park.

Rugged and desolate as a John Ford movie location.

We managed to sneak past these two when they weren't looking.

A suspicious steer casts a wary eye on us as we drive from Green River to Horseshoe Canyon.

Juvenile delinquent cattle, hanging out by the roadside and looking shifty.

Arrived by overnight order they day before, which meant I had no time to try setting it up or test the size before having to use it for the first time. I ordered it online because none of the tents in stock at the outdoors stores in Denver were long enough. My concerns that I was ordering "too much tent" to be on the safe side turned out to be wrong, as this one was just the right size. After coming back, I came across this picture showing the same campsite two days earlier, but looking the other direction (I'm standing in front of the firepit, whose shadow is visible at the lower right corner here).

My first attempt at taking star pictures with the Nikon D80, using the remote (on bulb) and a tabletop tripod. Not entirely successful, but not bad. Didn't realize the stars would move so quickly in a 6 minute exposure. Cropped off most of the reverse-vignetting (?) in the upper corners and boosted the contrast to bring out a few of the fainter stars.

Looking down the 15-foot-deep gully next to my tent.

Looking towards Horseshoe Canyon (beyond the rise in the foreground) and the crescent moon, just before sunrise.

The gully below the campsite at sunrise.

The gully below the campsite, at sunrise. Notice the long shadows cast by the plants.

An interesting mish-mash of sedimentary layers near the Horseshoe Canyon trailhead.

With some human foots for comparsion. The footprint is the three-pronged(?) depression in the middle of the circle of stones, heel on the near side, toes on the far side.

Like the Grand Canyon in miniature.

Plant life and beach sand.

"Beachmark" patterns in the rock, indicative of fatigue failure in a brittle material - in this case, too many freeze-thaw cycles in the rock. (View at largest size to see the patterns more clearly.) I don't recall ever seeing as many rock formations showing beachmark patterns as in Horseshoe Canyon...they were everywhere.

The broad (and fortunately dry) riverbed at the bottom of Horseshoe Canyon.