2021 Spring Tour of the Southwest, 3.31.21 - 4.14.21, Part 10 of 11, Arches National Park
One of the things I most wanted to do on this trip was to try and shoot the Milky Way. I have been using an app called Photopills to help learn and calculate how to go about this and rule number one is to shoot it with the least amount of light pollution as possible. This means getting away from cities and picking a time when there is no moonlight (new moon phase). Arches National Park on Sunday night was the place and the time for that. I stressed over where to shoot from. Certain spots would either have lots of other photographers or light pollution from cars making their way through the park for sunrise photography. A Google Earth search led me to a group of rock formations east of the Windows section in Arches. No official trails went out that way and it was far enough from any named features in the park to not be a bother to anyone else. However, finding the location in the black of night at two in the morning would be a challenge so Bridgit and I decided to to a reconnaissance mission early Saturday morning before the hordes arrived in the park.
We drove the half hour to Arches and arrived just as the sun was coming up. A stop was necessary at one of the first pullouts, La Sal Overlook to capture the morning sun bathing the Three Gossips and Courthouse Rock. It would probably be even better an hour later than sunrise since Courthouse Rock blocked the sun from fully lighting up the Three Gossips.
Dawn at Arches National Park
The most iconic and sought after photo in Arches is the incredible Delicate Arch and it is so spectacular it deserves its fame. However, Delicate Arch is not in a position to be lit up at sunrise. For a sunrise photographer, the most sought after shot is to capture the blazing dawn light on the back side of the North Window with a sunlit Turret Arch perfectly framed in the North Window. This is another spot similar to Mesa Arch in Canyonlands where on any given morning you could be battling with dozens of photographers for one of the few coveted spots and I wasn’t going to mess with that. But we arrived at the Windows parking lot shortly after dawn and had to hike past the North Window anyway to get to my shooting location so I figured it would at least be worth checking out. There were several people already there when we arrived. I knew from my research how to get to the photo spot. I climbed through the North Window, down a little rock hill and then scrambled up to a rock ledge behind the window which had room for maybe three tripods. I was the only one there since all the sunrise photographers had already gone. When I reached the ledge and set up my tripod, to my amazement, not only was the light perfect but there was only one family sitting in the window and Bridgit. She knew exactly what I was aiming for so she very kindly in her Bridgity way asked if they would be so kind as to move around the corner just for a minute so I could get my shot with no one in the frame and they very kindly obliged. I knew my opportunity would be short as more people were certainly working their way up to the North Window so in less than a minute or two I shot off a bunch of photos. The result was that without battling with the sunrise photographers I managed to get the very shot I thought would be impossible and I couldn’t have been happier about that!
The iconic shot of Turret Arch through the North Window
Once I finished shooting from that spot we left the Windows and headed east over slickrock and sage with no trails. The spot I was looking for was about a half mile further than the Windows between two groups of rock formations. In my Photopills app I had been able from home to pinpoint the exact spot I wanted to place my tripod. Knowing that the galactic core of the Milky Way would rise in the southeast at 2:14AM and be visible until 5:15AM, I found the spot where a huge rock wall was on my left, another on my right and in between was a tall slender rock pillar. The low horizon surrounding the pillar was exactly where I expected the core of the Milky Way to be visible on Monday morning. Another reason I liked this spot was that I had hoped to wait until sunrise after shooting the Milky Way so I could shoot sunrise photography in the opposite direction with presumably no other people around. This would have meant a two or three hour waiting time between Milky Way photos and sunrise photos. Thankfully, on this recon day we arrived so early that the morning light was spectacular so I got all the morning shots I wanted without having to wait.
Early morning sun looking west from the Milky Way shooting spot
Looking back at Turret Arch from near the Milky Way shooting spot
Turret Arch and the South Window
Turret Arch
It was such a pleasant morning Bridgit and I spent a couple of hours just wandering around with no other people in our Milky Way shooting area. On our way back to the car we stopped by to see Turret Arch close up.
Turret Arch
South Window
After our recon mission we were right next to Double Arch so we had to walk over to check it out. This is the highest arch in the park and it was very impressive!
Double Arch
Sun rays on Double Arch
We would have liked to have hiked out to see Delicate Arch since Bridgit has never seen it but the hordes had arrived and we wanted to get out of there. I am sure we will go back again and when we do Delicate Arch will be on our to do list for sure.
After a stop in Moab to indulge in Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs at the Moab Diner, we headed back to meet Mike and Sandy at the Not So Secret Spot. Since the girls hadn’t come along when we shot sunrise at Dead Horse Point and since our entry pass was good for two days we decided to take them back in the afternoon so they could see the views from there. The afternoon light was much different than it had been at sunrise and we wandered around the point a bit before heading back to camp for dinner.
Looking southeast from Dead Horse Point
The Colorado River from Dead Horse Point
Stay tuned for Part 11…