Three long exposures of the Virgin River, long may it flow. The Narrows, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah
Zion Narrows IX
highwater?
Tag: Ephemeral waterfall
Zion Narrows VIII
highwater?
Anywhere outside the water challenged southern Utah desert the Virgin River would be a creeks. The volume of flow does not exceed our Fall Creek, the largest stream of the Finger Lakes Region. Here I present two identical long exposures of the river backed by cross bedded Navajo Sandstone. The Narrows, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Zion Narrows VII
highwater?
Mysterious alcoves through cross-bedded Navajo Sandstone, 15 feet, or more, above the streambed. I use mysterious in the sense I wished the formations were mysterious, standing there with nowhere to climb, witnessing the effects of floods that high above. The location is The Narrows just above Orderville Canyon junction, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Zion Narrows VII
laying around in The Narrows
This polished basalt, the product of volcanic eruptions and eons-long weathering, is common on the Virgin River bed. Zion National Park, of The Narrows just above Orderville Canyon junction.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Zion Narrows VI
long and narrow
I combined two 50 mm exposures for this view of an interesting rock and beetling canyon walls. Upstream from here it is a day’s walk to reach ground safe from flash floods, downstream at least one hour. Narrows of Zion National Park, Utah
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Zion Narrows V
narrow and tall
This long exposure blurs the two distant human figures looking downstream toward junction of Orderville Canyon, around corner. Narrows of Zion National Park, Utah
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Zion Narrows IV
cross-bedding
Careful attention to hidden boulders is essential when hiking the Narrows of Zion National Park, Utah
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Zion Narrows III
cross-bedding
The pronounced cross-bedding (diagonal layering) of this Navajo Sandstone wall exposed by Virgin river erosion is the effect of wind drifting sands of the largest known sand desert formed in the Jurassic era lasting for 56 million years (185 million years ago). This photograph contrasts the ever new Virgin River with this ancient rock, deepening shadows suggest the depth of time.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Zion Narrows II
more Narrows information and perfecting the photograph
My research for Zion Narrows I included a useful map. Perusing the the National Park Service web site I could find nothing for the Narrows. This week, while perfecting the three file merge, I kicked around in “google” and found this map hidden away in a section devoted to dedicated canyoneers planning multiple day backpacks through the entire canyon. These trips are from the “top down” and, I suppose, they do not want to expose the information to day trippers.
Anyway, I downloaded the map and present it here. You can either click on the hyperlink or click “download” to view the map. The file is a 2.5 MB pdf, if you want to download it. The trail accessible from the park proper starts from the bottom. Pam and I made it to just beyond where Ordway canyon joins, about 2 hours from the start. Note there are NO places to escape a flash flood beyond this point and, below, we learned from observation there are few places and many of these were for hikers more, lets say, nimble than Pam and myself.
The following is the result of several hours work merging the three files of Zion Narrows I. Click on the image to open a larger version in a new tab.
This is a comparison of the before and after photographs. Enjoy!!
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Zion Narrows I
Virgin River at work
Our first day was spent hiking up to the narrowest section of Zion Canyon, called “Wall Street,” where the gorge walls are 1,000 feet high. There, the river is 20 feet across in places and not much wider anywhere. There is NO high ground to escape flash floods, only the high, unforgiving canyon walls.
As we were planning to venture beyond the tame sidewalk of “The Riverside Walk”, our first stop was to an outdoor supply store in Springdale to rent canyoneering shoes, to wade the river comfortably and safely, a sturdy stick to improve stability and free advice on current conditions for the potential of flash floods. You can see the stick in this portrait, mid-narrows. This was July, with a danger of torrential downpours, and we were nervous about this; however, proceeded anyway.
Several miles in, I set up the Manfrotto 468Mg studio tripod with the Kodak DSC pro SLR-c (the “c” specifies compatibility with Canon lenses) and the Canon 50 mm f/1.4 USM lens. Here we look downstream, the way we came. I waited for a clear shot w/o fellow hikers coming up from behind. This was before investing in a wide-angle lens. My plan was to stitch the three shot together.
Click on each photograph for a larger view, in new tab.
The work remaining on the rough draft are to match the edges as close as possible, smooth out the differences until the joins are indiscernible.
Here are the same photographs as a slide show. I enjoy how the long exposure blurred water lead the viewer into the gorge walls.
Captured with a Kodak DCS Pro SLE/c dslr and a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4 lens stabilized with the Manfrotto Studio Tripod model 475 and the 468 Hydrostatic ball head.
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 
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