0 PHOTOGRAPH PARTICULARS 0 Our Navajo guide drove the tour pickup truck like a demolition race driver, but played the native flute in the slot canyon, like a prince. The three Japanese photographers, who completed the “client” group, with Ed and me - were fun, polite, and dedicated to their photography. Upper Antelope slot canyon is a short canyon. It seemed little over 100 yards long to me, but the tour pamphlets list it as longer. I’m glad I went. The lighting in Upper Antelope was far too challenging for my photography skills and stubborn refusal to use a tripod. A sturdy full size tripod is pretty much a requirement to get “good” photographs in this canyon. I’m not a “tour group” guy (I’m the antithesis), so I much preferred my 2008 experience with Lower Antelope slot canyon. It was prettier, better lighting, you could drive to it yourself, no guide required, and no time limit on how much time you spent in the slot canyon. So, I offer up a few snapshots, taken hand held with a point and shoot Canon for my memories, and to give any thinking of doing the same tour, some glimpse of the experience. 0 ACTIVITIES DAY NINE OF TWELVE 0 Making one motel reservation after another and staying one night allowed us to cover a lot of territory. We stayed in Motel 6s whenever possible. It is easy to make reservations and if plans change, they have a generous and easy to achieve cancellation policy. That said it was a real treat when we made reservations for two nights in a row. We did this at Moab and we did this at Page. You get a lot more quality use out of your rooms this way and it nice to break up the constant long distance travel each day, even if you are seeing lots of cool stuff. So when we left our motel rooms Tuesday morning, we left most of our stuff at the motel and took only what we needed for the “Wave lottery” and the Upper Antelope slot canyon tour, with us in the Jeep. There were some nice photo ops driving to the Paria River Rangers’ station that morning. The sky was clear and the morning sun is always great hitting the sandstone cliffs and mesas. We were not successful in winning a spot for Wednesday morning to hike the Wave. Only ten people get the walk in permit by lottery and there were 52 of us there hoping to get one. We shrugged off the attempt and headed for the tour guide headquarters for our Upper Antelope tour. By the time we had finished the Upper Antelope tour I was disappointed and considered it the least desirable stop of the entire road trip, along with the Zuni Pueblo visit. But time puts things in perspective. Now I’m glad I went. The Martres photo guidebook I had along with me, warned that taking good photos in Upper Antelope was a “challenge” and I knew I would be using either my Canon G9 or G10 and stubbornly refuse to use a tripod, though I took a small metal tripod with me. When the company switched us from the promised ride in the Suburban to the back of a bouncy exhaust fume filled pickup truck I was irritated, but not too much. The ride up the wash was kind of fun, despite the fumes. Then when we got inside Upper Antelope, Ed and the three Japanese clients with their expensive and cameras and tripods accepted that I was along for the hike and didn’t let it bother them at all that I was going to try to take photos with an advanced point and shoot rather than a DSLR with correct lens, and sturdy tripod. Our guide however asked to see my camera when we were a short ways into Upper Antelope and before I knew what he was doing he started changing all the settings on my camera saying “too many automatic settings”. Well I kept my cool but it really made me mad. I asked him to return my camera and to return ALL the settings he had changed back to those I had on “my” camera, before he started making all the changes. From then on all got better. The guide accepted me as an old stubborn, (probably stupid), hiker and snapshot artist, instead of a serious photographer. All of us got along famously and I was really pleased to see Ed in his element with some serious photography challenges and opportunities. The three Japanese were first class all the way, letting me take my turn at photo ops and always smiling and enjoying the canyon photo ops experience. By the time our time was up in Upper Antelope Canyon we were all happy. Our guide played his flute inside the slot canyon and did a great job of it. The flute playing “fit” and added to the experience. Out of the photos I took in Upper Antelope Canyon more than half of them were badly blurred, no matter how steady I thought I was holding my camera with the slow shutter speed required of the reduced and contrasting light. BUT the photos that did come out are memory makers for me. It will remind me of the fun time I had despite the “rocky” start. In 2008, Ed, photographer friend John, and my youngest son, all visited Lower Antelope Canyon. Here you can drive your own vehicle to the trailhead; no guide required; no constra

0 PHOTOGRAPH PARTICULARS 0 After sunrise that warm soft morning light of day started reaching the sandstone formation along highway 313 as we headed for the Island of the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. With scenes like this, we were constantly pulling Ed's Jeep over to the side of the road and bounding out with our cameras. 0 ACTIVITIES DAY THREE OF TWELVE 0 We had rooms reserved at the Moab, Utah Motel 6 for Tuesday and Wednesday night. This would serve as our “base camp” for visits to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands and to Arches National Park. Taking only camera gear and day hiking packs, we left Moab just before dawn on Wednesday morning for our visit to the Island in the Sky area. We stopped on the way into Canyonlands to photograph the sunrise and to look over and photograph the Shafer trail from the rim. In the 1980s, I had ridden a dual sport motorcycle (Honda XL500) along the White Rim road and up the Shafer trail. I was hoping that the road might be in good enough shape to travel it on this trip with Ed’s Jeep. After stopping at the Shafer trail overlook we made our way to the Mesa Arch TH parking. We were pleased to find nobody else there. We would not see one other person on the hike in or out nor doing our stay photographing Mesa Arch. A pleasant surprise. After Mesa Arch we drove to Grandview Point and took a few photos there. Then backtracking we took the side road to the Upheaval Dome trail. It was the first of several geological formations that geologists have yet to agree on as to what formed it. It appears as a giant crater with a light colored “sharp” dome, rising out of its center. I tried some side by side shots there so I could stitch a panoramic photo together later. We stopped at the Canyonlands visitor’s center on the way back and found that a free “permit” was required these days to drive the Shafer Trail and the White Rim road, so we obtained our pass and headed down the fun, interesting, and exciting route off the Island in the Sky plateau, down the old Shafer cattle trail to the White Rim road, which then runs along an esplanade above the Colorado and Green Rivers. Traveling down the Shafer and along the White Rim roads in the Jeep, with windows rolled down, was a real treat. There are some rough spots on the White Rim road so it took us awhile to work our way back to Moab (for a mid-day meal). That afternoon, we drove into Arches National Park headed for the trail to Delicate Arch. The weather came apart on us by this time and the gusting winds were absolutely fierce. Ignoring the blasting winds as best we could we made our way to Delicate Arch. The bad weather kept the number of people down, but the lighting wasn’t the best - - and staying upright in the high gusts of wind took some work in places. Still, we had come to see Delicate Arch, up close, and the hike there was well worth the time. Leaving the Delicate Arch trail, the wind dropped down a little as light faded over Arches NP. We drove to the Windows Section of Arches and then out of the park as the sun began to set. Somewhere near the Petrified Dunes viewpoint area of the park, Ed sensed excellent sunset light in the offing, and we parked the Jeep off the side of the road, and climbed a small ridge for some photographs. Ed’s intuition was perfect. Though the winds got cold, we got some of the best light of the entire day for photography, with warm red sandstones in dusk light and the snow covered La Sal Mountains in the distance (Mt. Peale at 12,720’ is the highest peak in these high desert mountains). A bright moon peeked through the cobalt blue evening skies and storm clouds traveled quickly across the sky. So that is how the third full day of our Four Corners road trip ended; photographing the golden sunset light inside Arches National Park. Fun. 0 3,875 MILE/12 DAY ~ 4 CORNERS ROAD TRIP OVERVIEW 0 At the start of year 2011, I made tentative plans to take a two week solo “road trip” through the Four Corners area (The Colorado Plateau), during the last half of March. Then, if my wife could get the time needed off from her part time job, I also planned a “road trip” vacation to the Southwest, in April with her. When I put the plan together for the March trip, I decided to see if an old friend of mine, Ed (Flickr’s: OldWrangler), might be interested in joining me. I volunteered to take my old four wheel drive pickup truck and split the gasoline expense with him. We would each get an inexpensive motel room on the road to serve as “base camps” to hike, photograph, and explore back roads in the Four Corners area. Not only did Ed accept but he also proposed that we take his brand new 4-door Jeep Wrangler instead of my old pickup truck. That didn’t take any thinking on my part. I LOVE Jeeps and Ed and I have always got along well (decades ago, I worked for him and we had taken a fun road trip together back in 2008, along with my friend John and my youngest son). The deal was