On an early, surprisingly nippy morning in June, we were rushing along on a trail in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. This short trail would take us to the edge of the canyon and to the rim of the Mesa Arch. It was already dawn and the sun was about to rise – which was the reason we were rushing. Sunrise at Mesa Arch lights up the underside of the arch with a brilliant red glow. We wanted to try and get there to capture the sun peeping right under the arch.
The Arch itself is perched on a cliff with the entire canyon and the La Sal Mountains as a backdrop. Below is White Rim Canyon, carved over years by the Colorado River. The La Sal Mountains can be seen in the distance beyond the canyon. Sunrise at Canyonlands also offers a magnificent view of Buck Canyon below.
We were surprised at the number of people already there and the fact that there were more coming up behind us. We setup our cameras in a long line of other cameras arranged to face the arch, ready and awaiting the right moment. And then, the sun made it’s entrance !
Once we got our shot of the peeking sun, we stuck around for a while. This gave us a chance to take pictures of the entire arch with much fewer people and cameras cluttering the frame. We knew that the glow on the underside of the arch stays for a while after sunrise, thanks to a tip from two of our photographer friends who’d been here before.
The arch itself is a part of an flat topped mountain or ‘mesa’ called ‘island in the sky’. It offers much more than just the arch itself and whichever direction you look though, the view leaves you a little stunned and trying to come to terms with the power of water and the majestic masterpiece it’s carved out.
