Yesterday, I drove up to Sedona, about 1-1/2 hours north of Scottsdale. As it turned out, it was a good decision. Temperatures in the Phoenix area reached as high as 100 deg F, so Sedona was a welcome relief from the heat at a relatively cool 85 deg F.
I went to hike and photograph an interesting area in the Oak Creek Canyon between Sedona and Flagstaff. The area is called West Fork, referring to a branch of Oak Creek. The West Fork Canyon is a slot canyon, hundreds of feet deep and moderately narrow from the start. The streamway is wooded, overgrown, shaded, and filled by many fallen trees and old logs, often lying across the creek. Red is the dominant rock colour; most of the cliffs are composed of reddish-orange Coconino sandstone, topped by white Kaibab limestone much higher up. The sandstone rocks are multi-layered, often eroded into many curving shapes and forming frequent short, tunnel-like passages around the stream bed.
The trail follows the creek very closely and every bend in the stream offers a new and interesting photo opportunity. Far too many to capture in a single hike. Today’s pictures are a few that I hope will give you a sense of what I saw.
This shot was taken looking back downstream toward a bend in the creek. It shows the canyon walls and brightly coloured rock. I like the mix of shadows and light. They were quite pronounced at this time of day and made it challenging to get the picture. I used a graduated, neutral density filter to diminish the brightness of the upper areas of the photo. This enabled me to increase the exposure and make the shaded areas in the foreground much more visible.
This picture is a close-up taken at another bend in the creek. It clearly shows how high water flows undercut and shape the rock face on the side of the canyon.
I like the lighting in this shaded area and the colours in the water. I slowed the exposure to 4/10 sec. to get the smoothing effect you see in the stream.
The two final shots were taken at serene looking bends in the river. The combination of the quiet of the wilderness, the softly shaded light and the gentle movement of the water contributed to that serenity. What is surprising is that the parking lot at the entrance was full and I did not spend more than 3-4 minutes without meeting other hikers. Fortunately the canyon is large enough for all these people to disappear from view when I wanted a photograph.
Neat spot!