Partial Turret (or what I did on New Year’s Eve)

Arches National Park, Utah (Kyle Jones)

During the break between Christmas and New Year’s this year I made a quick trip to Moab, Utah. Since I had never been there before, my main goals were to see the area and scout a little bit. There are a lot of iconic scenes in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, with Dead Horse Point State Park wedged in between them. Since I was only there for about 24 hours, I didn’t have time to really explore so I picked a couple of locations that I most wanted to see. I visited Delicate Arch for sunset and decided to visit Mesa Arch for sunrise on New Year’s Eve.

An unexpected snow storm rolled through the area that night, leaving several inches of fresh snow on the roads and the surrounding countryside. Photographically this was great luck, as fresh snow on the red rocks is beautiful. Logistically, this was a little problem as I only had a 2WD compact car to get around. I dutifully got up at 4am and very carefully made the drive to the Mesa Arch parking lot. There were tracks from one other vehicle in the snow which helped my navigation and I really took my time. It was still snowing when I arrived at the trailhead and I remained skeptical about the skies clearing enough for sunrise. I put some short spikes on my shoes for traction and several layers of warm clothing for the 12°F temperatures and hiked out to the arch. The sunrise turned out glorious – picture below!

Canyonlands National Park, Utah (Kyle Jones)

From Mesa Arch I wanted to check out Dead Horse Point State Park on my way back toward arches. Even though I was in somewhat of a rush, I had to stop at this viewpoint to see some of Canyonlands:

Canyonlands National Park, Utah (Kyle Jones)

When I reached the turnoff to Dead Horse Point I was a little discouraged by the amount of snow on the road. Once again I decided to proceed slowly. I was rewarded with a beautiful morning view over the Colorado River:

Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah (Kyle Jones)

It was now about 10:00 in the morning and my flight home was scheduled to leave Salt Lake City at about 5:15PM. One location in Arches that I really had wanted to see was the view of Turret Arch as seen through the North Window, but I still had a 4 hour drive to the airport. I decided to give it a shot and made my way to Arches. My first issue was the long line at the entrance gate. I had a pass but I still had to wait for the couple dozen cars in front of me. The roads in the park were covered in snow, although they had been plowed by this point. I silently (at least to the outside world) stressed as I followed cars going 10-15MPH watching the minutes tick away. I finally made it to the trailhead just before 11am. My rushing and stress now led to a series of bad decisions (and it had already been a long morning).

First I decided to just grab my camera and tripod and walk out to the viewpoint (only a quarter mile away). Usually I walk with both hands free with my camera in my backpack and the tripod strapped to it. I figured this was a short hike (even though I hadn’t made it before) and just grabbed my gear. Similarly I left my gloves and spikes in the car. As I rushed to the viewpoint I must have knocked my camera and lost my lens cap. When I finally made it to the North Window arch I learned that I needed to scramble up an ice covered hill to reach the viewpoint that centers Turret Arch in the window. With only one hand free, no gloves, and no spikes I couldn’t safely get there. So this was as close as I could get, with Turret Arch just peeking through the window. Lesson learned – don’t let feeling rushed and frustrated lead me to shortcuts in the future!

Arches National Park, Utah (Kyle Jones)