Lately, I’ve been feeling I need to expand my portfolio.  I wanted to add a new location.  While the location I had in mind didn’t work out due to life’s intervention, I had backup plans.  I’m really glad I did because I came back with some beautiful landscape photos I didn’t count on getting.  Check out what I captured on my recent trip out to Grosvenor Arch of Escalante National Monument.

I shoot so many photos in Bryce Canyon that I felt I needed to branch out.  I live in an area which is full of landscape photography opportunities.  If I didn’t take advantage of them, I’d be ashamed of myself.  So, now I branched out and expanded my portfolio.  I’m really glad I took the time to do so.  It really paid off for me in ways I didn’t expect.

Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument is perhaps the next closest National Park Service (though joint with another agency) location.  I began exploring landscape photography options recently.  However, finding time was more difficult.  Still, I found a window of time and made the trek out to one of the more iconic sites: Grosvenor Arch.  “Trek” was also quite accurate.  Much of the road is dirt or gravel.  There’s also a small washout which contains water even during dry spells.  A low clearance vehicle can make it but a high clearance vehicle would be better.

So, I braved the washboard road out to the arch.  Thankfully, there’s signs to help you find the way.  You can also grab a map at the visitor’s center in Cannonville.  I’m sure glad I had one in the car as it helped me orient out on the dirt road.

When we arrived, we found quite the day-use site in front of us.  We even discovered a small paved and handicap-accessible trail which led almost to the very foundations of the arch.  I opted to take the unmarked trails off the paved trail and continued to the very base of the arch.  I was rewarded for my efforts with several good landscape photos of Grosvenor Arch as soon as the sun disappeared behind a cloud.

So, I thought I was done after the sun came back out from the cloud.  However, I looked up and realized that the clouds promised some color if I waited until sunset (which wasn’t very far distant).  So I stayed and waited.  When the appointed time arrived, the clouds lit up but not as much as I expected.  The truly colorful clouds were in the west and I was pointing north towards the arch.  Still, I had color in the skies.  I snapped away.

My real problem came when I produced several photos needing titles.  I could call all of them some variant of “Grosvenor Arch.”  However, that wouldn’t do at all.  So I did some research.  I learned that there’s not a lot of information out there about the arch.  So I found myself in a bit of a bind.  However, I grabbed up what scraps of information I could and found appropriate titles for each landscape photo I took.

Grosvenor Arch is just the beginning.  I’ve plenty more landscape photography sites to explore in Escalante National Monument.  When I have a chance to do so, I’ll make a point of sharing more with you.  So, what do you think of what I captured so far?  Share your thoughts in comments section below.