Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument is in eastern Utah, located to
the east of Canyonlands National Park on Hwy 211, 53 miles south of Moab.
This made it very easy to get to during the day, when the light was not the best
to capture images from Canyonlands and Arches National Park.

The first carvings at the Newspaper Rock site were made around 2,000 years ago,
left by people from the Archaic, Anasazi, Fremont,Navajo, Anglo, and Pueblo cultures.
The petroglyphs have a mixture of human, animal, material, and abstract
forms, and to date no one has been able to fully interpret their meaning.

The exact nature of these symbols meaning is still not clearly understood.
But they are typical of many sites throughout the U.S. in their use of
universal symbols. This is also one of the few petroglyph sites that is so
easily accessible and can be viewed and that photographed at close
range.

Take your time and give a good look at Newspaper Rock. It probably yields
more information that today’s conventional daily newspapers.

Off to Horseshoe Bend.

After finishing up an outstanding shoot at Antelope Canyon, we decided to hit
one more spot while the sun was still shining.
About 5 miles outside of Page was Horseshoe Bend. The famous meander of the
Colorado river that is always photographed.

Finding the dirt parking lot just off of Rt 89 was no
problem. The lot was almost filled to capacity with cars, motorcycles, and RV’s.

Getting to the river was a little bit more of a challenge.
You go up a steep rise for about a quarter mile to a top a a hill. Then it
is a half mile walk through rocks, and deep sand to make you way to the edge
of the cliff so you can see the river.

The overlook is at 4,200 feet above sea level, and the Colorado river is at
3,200 feet. That makes the cliff your looking over 1000 feet.

Think wide angle lenses, to get the whole picture. I used a 14mm and barely
go it all in the frame.