Category Archives: Arizona

May 26, 2021 · 7:00 am

National Parks Traveler Checklist: Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona)

*The promise of a summer storm over the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona)*

If you are planning a trip to Arches or Zion national parks in Utah over the Memorial Day holiday, then you’d better brace for crowds. No duh, right? However, if you are looking to spend time in a less-visited park that has some amazing scenery and geology, then why not take a look at Petrified Forest National Park, in Arizona. As a matter of fact, the National Parks published my latest Traveler Checklist today. These checklists I write are not the kind reminding you to bring along your toothpaste and not to forget the toothbrush, but rather what you might do during a visit to the park, what to watch out for, and maybe where to get a decent coffee or meal.

To read the checklist, click on the image above.

This image was captured shortly after my arrival at the Painted Desert portion of the park during my road trip move from TX to WA. It was summer, which is the monsoon season out in that part of the U.S., so storm clouds floated over the park, threatening to create a downpour. Never happened, though – may have been cloudy, but was dry as a bone over the landscape.

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Filed under Arizona, National Parks, National Parks Traveler, Petrified Forest National Park, Photography, Travel and Photography, Traveler's Checklist

Tagged as Ariona, Memorial Day, National Park, National Parks Traveler, Petrified Forest National Park, photography, travel, Traveler's Checklist, where the trails take you

May 1, 2020 · 8:51 am

It’s Fun Fact Friday 5-1-2020!

It’s Fun Fact Friday! Did you know that the petrified logs you see in Petrified Forest National Park range in age from 211 – 218 million years? And those saturated colors come from such trace minerals as hematite, pyrite, goethite, chromium, and manganese. Pretty cool, huh? And now, you know.

I wish I would have had one more day to spend in this national park located in Arizona. It was the very first national park I visited during my 3-week road trip move from Texas to central Washington. I’d never been to this park before, and as what usually happens, even if you’ve done prior research about a park, you still are a little unprepared for what you’ll see and what you’ll do. This national park is one of those less-visited gems, so it’s very easy to practice a social distancing along the trails. This particular trail is called the Crystal Forest Trail.

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Filed under Arizona, Canon, Fun Fact Friday, National Parks, Petrified Forest National Park, Photography, Travel

Tagged as Arizona, Canon, Crystal Forest Trail, fossil, Fun Fact Friday, geology, July, National Park, Petrified Forest, photography, summer, where the trails take you

February 23, 2020 · 9:13 am

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

A view of the Colorado River and Vermilion Cliffs from the Navajo Bridge in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona

The Colorado River begins in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and runs about 1,450 miles through several states and empties out (eventually) into the Gulf of California. I saw a very tiny segment of this river during my short, 1-hour visit to Navajo Bridge in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area on my way to the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

As part of the National Parks Traveler’s continuing series on the health of the Colorado River, a great article has been published today about how climate change is affecting the Colorado River water in Glen Canyon NRA. Definitely worth a read.

To read this article, click on the image above.

I know, I have lots of links to the National Parks Traveler, don’t I? If you are new to my blog site (or if you just don’t look at my site that often but still follow me), I am a writer and photographer and contributing editor for the Traveler. I also believe in what the Traveler does, which is to report on our national parks and protected areas on a daily basis, providing you with travel, photography, and news articles you wouldn’t find anywhere else – at least, not on a daily basis.

In retrospect, I wish I could have stayed a little longer at Navajo Bridge then driven the 6 miles down to Lees Ferry to hike along the river. But, having departed Petrified National Park early that morning (it was a little after 10 AM when I captured the image above), I was tired from driving and ready to get to my next destination (the North Rim) with time to explore *that* area.

Next time …

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Filed under 5DSR, Arizona, Canon, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L III, Canon Lens, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, National Parks, National Parks Traveler, Photography, Seasons, summer, Travel

Tagged as 16-35mm, 5DSR, Arizona, Canon, climate change, Colorado River, Glen Canyon, July, National Parks Traveler, national recreation area, NRA, photography, river, summer, travel, Vermilion Cliffs, where the trails take you

January 31, 2020 · 6:55 am

Scale And Reference In A Photo

Most landscape photographers roll their eyes at including people or anything man-made in their images. I always try to get a few shots with people or other evidence of “civilization” in them because I believe this gives a sense of scale and reference to an image, thereby helping the viewer wrap their heads around the vastness, immensity, or smallness of a scene or feature within the landscape.

This was my daily look during my 9 days in Yellowstone National Park this past autumn: bedraggled and sweaty from lugging photo gear on all my hikes, yet happy as a clam at high water to be out there doing what I love the most.

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Filed under Arizona, Canon, National Parks, Petrified Forest National Park, Photography, Travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park

Tagged as Canon, National Park, national parks, people, Petrified Forest, photography, reference, scale, travel, Yellowstone

November 12, 2019 · 9:28 am

Summer Afternoon Monsoons Over The North Rim

I’ve finished working on cleaning up and adding key words to all of the images in my Grand Canyon gallery on my website. Yay me! Actually, this is something I should have been doing years ago so potential customers could run decent searches on my photos. Now, it’s going to take months to give all my images keywords so potential customers can run searches. I’ve started cleaning up the Mount Rainier gallery … All 200+ photos in there. Hoo boy!

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Filed under Arizona, Canon, Canon Lens, Grand Canyon National Park, National Parks, North Rim, Photography, Seasons, summer, Travel

Tagged as afternoon, Arizona, Canon, canyon, clouds, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon NP, monsoon, National Park, rain, rugged, steep, summer, travel, where the trails take you

November 11, 2019 · 9:35 am

In Honor Of Veterans Day: Free Entrance To National Parks

Layered and petrified, Petrified Forest National Park

The view from Lost Mine Trail, Big Bend National Park

Sunrise over the Grand Teton Mountains, Grand Teton National Park

A forest floor of ferns, Olympic National Park

Hey folks! If you happen to be near a national park, you can enter any of the 419 units in the National Park System for free today, in honor of Veterans Day.

The images above are but a few of the national park scenes you can see.

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Filed under Arizona, Big Bend, Grand Teton National Park, National Parks, Olympic National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Photography, Texas, Travel, Veteran's Day, Washington State, Wyoming

Tagged as Big Bend, Canon, Grand Teton, National Park, Olympic, Petrified Forest, photography, travel, Veteran's Day, where the trails take you

May 9, 2019 · 7:49 am

Waiting For Sunrise In HDR

Waiting for sunrise on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

In an article I wrote for future publication in the National Parks Traveler, I mention HDR, what it is, and what it produces. I had to create an example, so I used the free download of Photomatix. I’ve used Photomatix before, pretty much with all the computers I’ve ever owned. Of course, I didn’t have it on this laptop I’m currently using, so I bought it and downloaded it in order to not have their watermark show up on the finished product. While I am not a huge fan of HDR, I will admit it can produce some very nice results, if the hand wielding the preset controls is judicious with the edits. Most of the time, though, I see more overdone HDR images than nice, naturalistic HDR images. Practice makes perfect, in everything including working with HDR, so I’ll be working on this aspect of photography a little more, hence today’s example.

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Filed under 24-70mm f2.8L II, 5DSR, Arizona, Canon, Canon Lens, Grand Canyon National Park, HDR, National Parks, North Rim, Photography, Seasons, summer, sunrise, Travel

Tagged as 24-70mm, 5DS-R, 5DSR, Canon, canyon, geology, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, HDR, July, landscape, landscape photography, morning, North Rim, photography, Photomatix, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, summer, sunrise, travel

April 23, 2019 · 7:59 am

A 1,000-Foot Difference

My latest Photography In The National Parks column has been published in the National Parks Traveler, offering tips and techniques for great photography along the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

To read the article, click on the image above.

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Filed under Arizona, Canon, Canon Lens, Grand Canyon National Park, National Parks, National Parks Traveler, North Rim, Photography, Photography In The National Parks, Seasons, summer, Travel

Tagged as Arizona, Canon, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, National Park, national parks, National Parks Traveler, North Rim, photography, Photography In The National Parks, Rebecca Latson Photography, rebeccalatsonphotography, travel

November 4, 2018 · 9:49 am

Zazzle Storefront And 2019 Calendars

Yes, yes, more shameless self-promotion. I previously listed a calendar I made with Lulu.com. I also made calendars using other websites as well, for quality control and comparison. As such, I’ve decided I really, really like Zazzle’s products much better and have set up a storefront there, with calendars representing the national parks I’ve visited this year. I’ve got a couple more calendars to go, but if you are interested in taking a peek (they make great gifts), then click on any of the images to be taken to my storefront.

And, thanks!

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Filed under Arizona, Bryce Canyon National Park, Calendars, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Holidays, National Parks, North Rim, Petrified Forest National Park, Photography, Travel, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park

Tagged as Arizona, Bryce Canyon, calendar, Calendars, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, landscape, landscapes, National Park, national parks, North Rim, Petrified Forest, photography, road trip, travel, Utah, Wyoming, Yellowstone

September 3, 2018 · 8:57 am

Where Did The Trail Take You This Weekend?

A telephoto exploration of the canyon depths at Walhalla Point
North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park

It’s the last day of the Labor Day Weekend. I hope this long weekend takes, or has taken, you somewhere awesome. This is the first time in about 3 years that I have not found myself traveling to a national park over the holiday. Usually, I’d be flying somewhere on vacation out of Texas on the Friday before Labor Day, then spending the entire week photographing in a national park somewhere West of the Rio Grande. This year, I’m instead preparing for the movers to arrive at my storage unit tomorrow to deposit the sum total of my past 20 years living in Texas. I’m just fine with that. I now live in a photographically amazing state and am within 1-1/2 hours of Mount Rainier National Park. (insert Big Happy Emoji Face here)

The shot above, is a 100-400mm telephoto of canyon detail at Walhalla Point on the North Rim. I spent the day driving the road and exploring the stops leading to the end point of Cape Royal. Luckily, I’d arrived there before the forest fires in that park had gotten so large that they had to close down this particular road for a bit.

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Filed under Arizona, Canon, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, Canon Lens, Geology, Grand Canyon National Park, Landscape, National Parks, North Rim, Photography, Seasons, summer, Travel