Jornada del Muerto

a Spring 2006 Desert Photojournal
On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound

-Horse with No Name, America
Watch the Jornada del Muerto QuickTime movie here
My original plan for this trip was to start at The Great Gallery. Canyonlands National Park is divided into three districts, The Needles, The Maze, and The Island in the Sky, and also includes a detachment, a separate area called Horseshoe Canyon, which, in addition to being a decent hike, contains some outstanding examples of ancestral Puebloan pictographs, culminating in The Great Gallery. Horseshoe Canyon, formerly known as Barrier Canyon, lies in the nearly inaccessible San Rafael Desert. A 34-mile washboarded dirt road leads from Utah 24 to the trailhead. The hike is 3.5 miles one-way, leading through a magnificent, deep and secluded canyon to four excellent pictograph panels.
Posing at the Great Gallery
Like a lot of my travels out west, this one started with the 11-hour drive to Farmington, New Mexico. The next morning I headed north into the heart of the Four Corners area, passing this sign in Shiprock, New Mexico along the way.
As I moved northwest through the southeastern tip of Utah, state highway 95 took me across the Colorado River on this elegant steel bridge.
This was the kind of stop I make when I tell myself, or anyone traveling with me, that we are in "The Zone." The main rule in The Zone is that I will stop to shoot anything anyone wants to shoot, without regard to schedule. I felt this was an excellent stop. I climbed down a little ways to get this shot with my 12mm.
After crossing the Colorado and the Dirty Devil River, there is an overlook that affords this view. Despite somewhat subdued light, it was a beautiful scene.
At the end of the modestly-signed dirt road in the desert is Horseshoe Canyon, home to The Great Gallery. This pictograph panel is one of the most-recognized of the American west. It is featured at the beginning and end of Godfrey Reggio's brilliant film Koyaanisqatsi.
These panels are filled with ancestral art that remains very compelling and mysterious. The hike in Horsehoe Canyon is definitely worth the time and effort.
I stayed in Green River, Utah, and the next day drove south, hoping to hike in the San Rafael Swell. To my chagrin, a rare rainy system had moved in, rendering the roads in the Swell unsuitable for my car. Instead of hiking, I drove some of the scenic highways in the area, finding various items to photograph, like this abandoned cement mixer.
Riddled with rusty bullet holes, it was obvious this vehicle had been in this same spot on Utah highway 24 for many years.
A local café owner took advantage of the opportunity.
With the rain came very subdued light, so I tried to concentrate on shape and shadow.
An oddity of rain in the desert is that the soil is dry almost as soon as the rain is over, as in this image along Utah 24 near the junction with Interstate 70 west of Green River.
The San Rafael Reef marks the eastern edge of the Swell, seen in this view from Interstate 70 looking south.
Abandoned brick structure near Caineville, Utah.
Lonely highway: Utah 24 near Goblin Valley State Park.
A little farther down Utah 24; a cluster of sandstone hoodoos with the Henry Mountains in the background.
On the third day of this trip, I was confined to my hotel room, frustrated by persistent rain. At midday, there was a short period of sunshine, so I made a very ill-advised jaunt to Sego Canyon. While hunting petroglyphs there, I managed to get my car stuck in some surprising deep, slick mud. Ultimately I managed to wrest it from the mire, but in the end, the day was shot.
I awoke on the fourth day feeling encouraged, especially by the light I saw here, on the Book Cliffs north of Green River.
I spent the day hiking at Capitol Reef National Park. The hiking isn't as good as, say, Canyonlands to the east, but the park is very beautiful and interesting.
This view looks east from Capitol Reef's Rim Overlook Trail, showing the Waterpocket Fold and, in the distance, the Henry Mountains.
From the edge of the Rim Overlook, you can see the road and visitors center 1500 feet below.
A spur option from the Rim Overlook leads to the large and impressive Hickman Bridge, a natural arch which measures 72 feet high and 133 feet in span.
After Capital Reef, I took the "long way" back to Green River. State highway 72 took me above the 7500 foot snow line where I photographed this pristine snow field.
Looking southeast from near Deer Peak along Utah 72, with the Henry Mountains in the distance.
As the afternoon light began to wane, I stopped along Interstate 70 to make a couple of images in the heart of the San Rafael Swell, like this one near Eagle Canyon.
"Ghost Rock" on Secret Mesa in the San Rafael Swell.
Day five was mostly a driving day. I drove from Green River, Utah, to Socorro, New Mexico, stopping on the way to photograph the Abo Ruin in the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument at sunset.
By the time I arrived, the visitors center was closed, and I had the place to myself.
The New Mexico sky was spectacular.
Traffic makes its way along U. S. 60 in New Mexico, with Landron Peak in the distance.
The timing of this segment of my trip was to allow me to visit the Trinity Site, which, as the sign explains, is where the first atom bomb was exploded. In the middle of the forbidding Jornada del Muerto desert and the White Sands Missile Range, the 51,500-acre area was declared a national historic landmark in 1975. The Site is open only on the first Saturday in April and the first Saturday in October. No reservations are required, but I would urge visitors to arrive early - there was a surprisingly large contingent of tourists waiting at the Stallion Gate on the north end of the WSMR when it opened at 8 a. m.
The spot itself is a very unremarkable piece of desert, but I liked seeing this slice of history.
I capped off this trip with a passing visit to White Sands National Monument. I visited White Sands twice before, once when I was 11, and once in 2000 on a photo trip. I was in the area so I thought I'd see what I could get. It was very windy, and a significant sandstorm was brewing just a few miles north of the monument. My chances for golden hour images evaporated when it clouded up late in the afternoon. It was still a nice end to an interesting trip.
All content Copyright 2009 by Richard R. Barron and Abby S. M. Barron