2016 Utah Road Trip
Southern Utah has a special place in my heart as that is where I spent five years attending Southern Utah University in Cedar City. Though I didn’t take advantage of living in such a beautiful place while I was there, sadly. Sarah and I hopped on a flight to SLC to rectify that situation. We met up with our good friends Adam & Stacha in Salt Lake and made our way down to St. George to start our 1129 mile loop of Utah’s (and a little Arizona) best sights. Below you will find my favorite images from our trip, mostly digital but you’ll find some film images hiding in there as well.
Some of the hero images can be purchased as prints here: https://kford.pw/shutupprints
If you see one that you’d like a print or canvas of that isn’t on the gallery, please let me know and I’ll add it for you.
Zion National Park
Zion Canyon
Very much the best bang for your buck view in Zion; a short, mostly flat hike to the viewpoint offers spectacular views for minimal effort.
Angel’s Landing
One of the tougher hikes we did on the trip was the most breathtaking. Once you navigate the chain assisted climb around a busy trail what you are greeted with is a view that I couldn’t even dream up. A different look down Zion Canyon from a great height and sheer drop off on three sides of you is a humbling experience.
Horseshoe Bend
Another very easy walk from the road leads you to a massive view of the iconic Colorado River scene. Visitor after visitor approached behind us, nearly everyone gasping at the grand sight that just smashed their retinas. Most images you’ve seen are huge panorama’s that are beautiful but seriously fail in depicting the scale of this view. Go there!
Monument Valley
From the iconic road shot to the fantasy-Esq buttes erupting from the valley floor. The fact you can camp with the mitten and Merricks buttes right in your face was one of my favorite nights of the trip.
Dead Horse Point State Park
Very easily overlooked, as this amazing canyon is nestled up right next to Moab and Arches National Park. I enjoyed watching the sunset here with my friends as well as shooting a couple of rolls of film while the light was fantastic.
Mesa Arch
What a shit show! Seriously one of the craziest locations we visited. We woke up at 3:30 to ensure we got a good spot to view the sunrise illuminating the arch but we were far from the first people set up. Once sunrise approached a tour bus of tourists offloaded and our nicely spaced set up became a cramped, awkward mess. Many of them trying to set up tripods in front of ours and complaining that people were in their way. Still, despite the craziness, I’m elated with the photo I have from here.
Arches National Park
Well, just like Zion, you could easily spend a week here and not get enough. We spent the day exploring some of the lesser popular locations and enjoying the non-rushed day as the rest of the trip had been very tightly scheduled.
Delicate Arch Hike
I may or may not have fibbed and misremembered how long this hike was. The first time I was here I was on a fire assignment nearby and had just enough time to sprint up the trail to catch the sunset, here. I knew it was long but I didn’t remember how steep the beginning of this was and the girls were not happy with me. It was also so damn windy, which led to some visitors losing some water bottles down the bowl and jackets flying around. Also some fun images of Sarah in the wind.
