  
| Before we hit the trail, we drove a few miles of road in the hills above.
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| All packed up and ready to move out.
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| To four guys on a wilderness trip, this mountain looked like it was mooning us.
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| Unless someone tells me differently, I'm going to call this a Bristlecone Pine. This type of tree can get as old as 5,000 years, and are the oldest living things on Earth! Anyway, it's probably some other boring pine that's not that special except it does look pretty neat.
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| Shintavi Butte (on the end)
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| Shadows on the mountains
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| Our rest stop at campsite #3 has a fantastic view (and the last high viewpoint on the way in).
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| First rest stop at site 3
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| Another gnarly pine
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| Some type of agave I think, with the flower stalk growing up about 5 feet.
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| My new wide-angle lens wrestles with some sprawling trees in this canyon.
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| In the afternoon both days it clouded up pretty dark and we saw a good deal of lightning on the ridge in the distance (the West Rim, but not in this photo).
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| Chris aka Atlas.
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| This was supposed to be a panoramic, but it came out all curved and warped and I can't get my software to straighten it out without warping badly. I must have not kept the camera level. Use your imagination.
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| Joe laughing at something, probably Garett's upcoming AFL draft strategy.
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| A small branch near campsite 10 I think? I guess this is the work of insects.
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| Layers of eroded sedimentary rock.
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| Finally the advance scouting party (Joe and I) arrive at campsite 14. We went farther to find 15, but it was too far and the trail was rougher. We decided 14 was the place for us. La Verkin Creek runs right next to it.
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| A room with a view.
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| We reach camp at 14
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| And a nice sitting area. We're all much happier now that we've made it.
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| Which way shall we go tomorrow!
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| Sunset. I tried making a High Dynamic Range photo here, but didn't take enough pictures I discovered after the fact. Basically this is two photos combined together using Photoshop CS2. One photo exposed for the sky and one for the landscape.
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| The night sky is pretty dark here, though not as dark as Mauna Kea and there's a place in Texas darker as well.
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| We managed to capture a meteor from the Perseids, 3 nights past peak. I took some long exposures for this purpose. This is a cropped corner from a exposure of 130 seconds, ISO 400, f1.8, Canon 28mm on 350XT.
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| The Milky Way over the landscape. 30s, ISO 1600, f4.5, Canon 10-22mm @ 22mm on 350XT.
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| Before going to bed, I left the camera pointed north. I did some pretty heavy Photoshop on this one to darken the image, reduce noise, and improve the contrast. This was a 32 minute exposure, ISO 100, f1.8, Canon 28mm on 350XT.
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| Morning in Zion, Kolob Canyon
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| Dawn in the canyon
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| Mouse under Garett's hat
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| We took off down the side trail to Kolob Arch, about 1 mile and 1 hour round trip. Chris and Joe find a log like last year. No poles though, so this is UFC-style.
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| Hike to the arch
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| Kolob Arch. 287 feet wide. If you really want to know how they measure, read this paper.
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| Kolob Arch
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| It's an arch, and it's big
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| Hiking back to camp from the Arch.
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| Climb up there, get some rope
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| Lizard
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| Let's stop for some pictures
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| Looking back along the trail.
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| The watering hole near site 4. A VERY pleasant spot.
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| Chris soaks up some nature.
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| Joe filters water while soaking his feet (in the water).
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| Creek at site 4
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| From Site 3, overlook
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| Between site 3 and 2, some trees
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| Victory!
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| Headed back to the car
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