Scoff-law Landscape Photo

[Jim Dockery]

I was disappointed to find that Petrified Forest National Park closes at 6 p.m. which meant I couldn't get sunset pictures from The Blue Mesa. I talked to a ranger at the Painted Desert Inn about that and he said, "Don't tell anyone I told you, but they leave the exit gate open, and I wouldn't worry about it." My wife was nervous though so we headed out just before 6 (we were the last ones to leave the parking lot). Just as we reached Tawa pt. a gorgeous sunset developed over The Painted Desert. I insisted on pulling over, but she gave me a 5 min. deadline (which I had to push to 15). While I was shooting a ranger pick-up passed the parking area, but luckily didn't pull in to scold us. I would have stayed until the show was all over, but I met Debbie half way and drove away with just a few stolen shots.

 

[AlanLichty]

Interesting story to go along with a neat sunset capture. I like the patch of remaining direct light and the cloud colors.

 

[ckcarr]

My next door neighbor works for the park service out of the Moab regional headquarters. He told me the same thing, and yes, the gates are open at Arches & Canyonlands. The problem is if you run into a pissed off ranger who will ticket you, because he's seen abuses, or just having a bad day - and I'd heard it's up to a $1,000 fine (not sure if that's true). So, to me it's not worth it when there's plenty of other places to go anyway and these will all be back open soon enough.

I do like riding my motorcycle up and down highway 313 right now because it's essentially deserted...

 

[Mike Lewis]

Great capture, especially with the way you deftly manipulated the wife approval Important to keep the big picture in view there I would say.

Love the lighting in this, great late day sun, beautiful blue sky, and just enough clouds to really add interest!

ML

 

[Jim Dockery]

Thanks for the comments. Craig, I shot this back in February before the virus shut downs. The outlaw nature of this photo is that it was taken after the park officially closed for the day.

 

[JimFox]

Super cool Jim! I sure like that show you had.

Petrified Forest, White Sands are a few NP's that close at sunset, or sometimes right before sunset if you pick the wrong date to get there. You had gotten lucky that the Ranger was going to let you stay past sunset you should have taken advantage of it.

The gate to exit is an automatic gate, so when you drive up to it, it senses your car and then opens the gate for you. I know because I have on occasion stayed to do night photography there. It just all depends on the Ranger. Now in White Sands they are way less lenient, so that's no fun. Petrified Forest, it just always depends on who is working.

In general though, I don't know why they don't stay open until an hour after sunset. Oh, and sunrise can be an issue too. So in White Sands it's almost like extortion, but you can pay a Ranger to have them come open the gate for you an hour before sunrise to let you in.

 

[MonikaC]

Good story, great clouds & some nice light on the mesa. When my husband came with me to Iceland for a Highlands photo tour, our guide explained to him that there is "photographers' time": 15 minutes in PT translates to 45 minutes normal time.

I spent a couple of hours talking to a BLM guy (he'd been with BLM for 20-something years) some years ago in Farmington, NM who told me about his telling a Boy Scout troop where they could go to have campfires (even though they were officially banned). His rationale was along the lines of, "if they don't learn how to build & responsibly put out fires, how will they every know how to do it?". He also told me about places where he would park his truck where it was legal to park overnight, then slip under the wire to where there were really nice, but illegal, camping spots. I also know somebody who was told by a Canyonlands ranger to go ahead & slide under the barrier to take pictures of the rock art at the Great Gallery. The ranger could see that this person wasn't going to touch or vandalize the art, so he gave the go-ahead.

 

[Amy Nelson]

Wonderful shot, talk about perfect timing. That sprig of light is perfect and those clouds...well just WOW!

 

[Ben Egbert]

This is a wall hanger for sure.

 

[Bart Carrig]

Wonderful scene; thank her for us.

Bart

 

[Dean]

Jim very nice.. rules to live by- Happy Wife Happy Life

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Great view. Love the light.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Dean, you are so right, which is why we sold our simple camper van and got a new truck camper (that she loves) that we were in on this trip.