Brian Head and Ashdown Gorge, Dixie National Forest/BLM

Photographed and hiked Friday and Saturday, July 30 and 31.

On Friday morning, I left the Los Angeles area and headed for Cedar City. Unfortunately, due to traffic on I-15, I didn't get to Cedar City until around 6pm, local time. I caught one serious downpour while still in California, and could see heavy monsoon rains in the mountains above Cedar City. Nonetheless, by early evening, I figured I might as well drive up and there and hope the rain would stop.

The picture I really wanted was at the Ramparts Overlook, in Cedar Breaks National Monument. I wanted to shoot a bristlecone pine, outlined against the Milky Way. Unfortunately, the heavy rains left the rim extremely slick, and it didn't take me long to determine that walking out there, even after the rain had stopped, about a half-hour before sunset (although the sun was invisible), was not wise. So I returned to my car, and decided I'd just shoot at the overlooks, and maybe drive up to Brian Head.

I eventually did make it up to Brian Head, but first listened to a good part of the rangers' night sky talk, at Northview Lookout. The sky was still mostly cloudy. But, as the sky darkened, it also cleared. By around 10pm, it was looking pretty clear, so I left the talk and drove up to Brian Head. Had never been up there, before, despite my many visits to Cedar Breaks.

It stands at about 11,300 feet above sea level, with a stone structure at the summit. But it's a complete drive up, except for the last 50-75 yards. So I drove up in the dark, and started taking pictures from the summit.

I got to use my Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens, which I bought on Prime Day for $250. It's manual focus, but for the tiny fraction of the cost of anything comparable, and since I was probably only going to use it for night sky photography, when you need to manual focus, anyway, it's a relative steal.

I decided that, because of its ultrawide field of view, I could likey shoot for 60 seconds without significant trailing, and I was right. That's the first picture in this post. The second one is with my 20mm f/1.8. Because it's a faster lens (more light gathering power), I shot at 30 seconds with this one. Both were "wide open," and at ISO 3200.

The next day, I took a short walk up Ashdown Gorge. That's off of UT-14, the road from Cedar City, up the canyon and towards Cedar Breaks. Because of all the rain the previous night, the water was high and muddy. Lots of work to make my way upstream. And I forgot to toss a bottle of Powerade in my pack. So I gave up after two miles of zigzagging and backtracking. The return walk took 1.5 miles, and included me bailing on the river crossings, and just charging up to the roadway. About 3.5 miles of total walking. Did not make it to Flanigan Arch.

Very scenic gorge, though. I will likely try again if I get back to the Cedar Breaks area, perhaps in the fall.

Still many hikes to blog. Just thought I'd do a short writeup of the last one, so I stop falling further behind.