The Paria Plateau

Saturday & Sunday, November 10-11, 2012

For a little over a year now I’ve been pretty obsessed with exploring and photographing the unusual and spectacular sandstone formations of The Paria Plateau. I’ve been to Coyote Buttes North five times, Coyote Buttes South two times, and the White Pocket three times and have come back with some nice images and had a lot of fun. There is just so much to see up there I could probably spend a lifetime exploring the area and not see it all. Unfortunately, I feel it’s time for me to take a little break from this area so I can concentrate on exploring some other areas on the Colorado Plateau for a while. This will probably be my last trip report from The Paria Plateau for a little while. Don’t get me wrong, I might head back down there once or twice next year, but I certainly won’t be driving down six or seven times like I’ve done this past year.

After work on Friday, Amanda and I started our drive south down to Page once again. There were some pretty good storms moving through the area which slowed us down a little and gave us some very strong winds to drive through. We eventually made it to our hotel, just a little later than I had anticipated. We quickly got to bed so I could be up bright and early for the sunrise on Saturday morning.

Since I had no plans to get up super early and hike into Coyote Buttes North before sunrise, I decided to head over to Horseshoe Bend for the sunrise while Amanda slept in a little later at the hotel. I had the place to myself for the sunrise which was a pleasant experience. About 20 minutes before the actual sunrise there was a nice glow that lit up the sandstone.


Horseshoe Bend Dawn by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

My shadow on the golden sandstone as the sun rises behind me.


Long Shadow by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

I just love warm morning light on sandstone, which there is no shortage of here.


Sandstone Sunrise by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr