Utah Photo Expedition - Day 4

After exploring Cathedral Valley loop on Day 3 in the northern section of Capitol Reef, we went south on Day 4 to explore parts of the nearly 100-mile-long Waterpocket Fold.

The Fold is a monocline, where the crust of the earth has been uplifted, revealing many different layers of sedimentary rock laid down over a period of 200 million years.  If you would like to read more about this geology, click here.

Bruce and I were interested in whatever photographic opportunities the geology provided.  So once again we headed out early to catch the dawn light on the east slopes of the Fold.  

As on Day 3, the moon was setting in the west, so we included it as long as we could:

Then we turned to the shapes, textures, and colors of the rock formations:

But the most interesting part of the day was a hike into the Fold itself:

Spaces between sections of the Fold form canyons with multi-layered (and multi-colored) walls 200-300 feet high, made of sediments laid down millions of years ago:

Not far from the mouth of the canyon, the walls get closer together to form a very dark and narrow slot canyon:

(Feeling claustrophobic yet?)

The slot canyon runs for about 75 yards, then opens up into another huge area:

This section of the canyon is filled with beautiful desert textures and colors in rocks and plants:

Eventually, however, we reached the end of the canyon . . .

. . . so we retraced our steps back to the car, 

then returned to Torrey for one more night.

If you would like to see these images in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!