Sometimes ya gotta suffer for your art.
Linda didn't really want to get out of bed for yet another crack of dawn adventure in landscape photography,
so she stayed in bed while I got up at o'dark-thirty to take pictures of the sun coming up through Mesa Arch.
Apparently, other people had the same idea. This was the most people I've seen here.
Sunrise through Mesa Arch.
The two rock pinnacles on the lower right are called the Washerwoman and the Monster.
A view through Mesa Arch. I didn't get a chance to walk across the top of the arch like I did in 2005.
Since I was by myself and had some time to kill before I had to be back in Moab, I decided to have some fun.
I hopped in the Jeep and headed for the Shafer Trail. I drove down to the bottom of the switchbacks, turned
around and headed back up to the top, as it was faster to return via the paved road rather than the White Rim Trail.
A handy Park Service sign explaining why there is a Shafer Trail. I would have liked to have seen it when it was just a cowpath.
On the way down. I saw neither car nor bike on this trip.
Yes, this is the road...
...and so is this.
Next...Across the San Rafael Swell