Utah Monsoon on the way to CRNP

[Mike Lewis]

So on the way to Capitol Reef NP it became obvious that the skies were going to be overshadowing the landscape for drama in many cases. While it was this type of weather that caused all the flash flooding that closed Cathedral Valley at the park and crippled I-70, it did make for some jaw-dropping views. Here are 3 captured along the way to the park.

Things were getting interesting with many different types of clouds in the same sky all at once:

At the pullout to Factory Butte things were really dramatic. Here is Factory Butte being dwarfed by some amazing storm clouds: I am including both the color and then the B&W conversion to see which is preferred:

And then, in another direction from the same spot this was taking place. This 'cloud plume' was really dramatic in person.

Comments and critiques welcome.

ML

 

[AlanLichty]

Always a thing of beauty at a distance. My favorite is the color version of Factory Butte (#2).

 

[Ben Egbert]

Great set of images, another vote for Factory Butte. Did you get out to skyline overlook.

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Spectacular ages, Mike.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Ben,

Did not get to skyline overlook - I confess to not even knowing about it! Disappointing, as it looks like an amazing place. But in reality since we had a small camper we were towing and only at CRNP for 2 nights it might have been a challenge to get over there as going when we had the camper in tow would have been non-ideal, and otherwise we were a little pressed for time. It will be on my radar for next time though as the drive looks pretty easy. I imagine these skies would have been just otherworldly from there.

Brings up another good point though - good idea to ask on the forum before going on a trip somewhere in case someone has a good recommendation for a place to go. I think I'll go do that right now for our next upcoming trip! Thanks Ben!

ML

 

[Jeffrey]

Very nice Mike. This is what I crave. Heading to AZ next week for some of that.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

That are some fantastic clouds Mike. Both the factory butte images are outstanding.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Right skyline is about 5 miles from FB and easy roads. But I have to admir that I did FB at least 3 times before I found Skyline

 

[JimFox]

Ben,

Did not get to skyline overlook - I confess to not even knowing about it! Disappointing, as it looks like an amazing place. But in reality since we had a small camper we were towing and only at CRNP for 2 nights it might have been a challenge to get over there as going when we had the camper in tow would have been non-ideal, and otherwise we were a little pressed for time. It will be on my radar for next time though as the drive looks pretty easy. I imagine these skies would have been just otherworldly from there.

Brings up another good point though - good idea to ask on the forum before going on a trip somewhere in case someone has a good recommendation for a place to go. I think I'll go do that right now for our next upcoming trip! Thanks Ben!

ML

Mike, we have been talking about Skyline Overlook for years here, there are tons of posts with photos of it. Every year we make a trip there as a group which is spearheaded by Ben.

You got to Factory Butte, you were almost there. So close.

 

[JimFox]

My favorite is the last one, that cloud plume is insane, and must have been totally awesome in person.

Do you have a tighter shot of #2 with Factory Butte? That really cool cloud structure is kind of getting lost with the flat clouds at the top of the image. You could even crop #2, as you should have enough resolution with the R5.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Jim,

Well somehow I forgot about Skyline Overlook. But as stated above, the only time we really had there was driving to and then later from the park - in either case we were rushed for time and would not have wanted to make the drive with our camper in tow, so it just wasn't going to happen in this trip in any case.

I checked and while I have a very wide shot of the butte and the sky I did not take anything tighter than the shots shown above. Here is a pano style crop of the above image that is perhaps along the lines of what you are talking about?

ML

 

[JimFox]

Jim,

Well somehow I forgot about Skyline Overlook. But as stated above, the only time we really had there was driving to and then later from the park - in either case we were rushed for time and would not have wanted to make the drive with our camper in tow, so it just wasn't going to happen in this trip in any case.

I checked and while I have a very wide shot of the butte and the sky I did not take anything tighter than the shots shown above. Here is a pano style crop of the above image that is perhaps along the lines of what you are talking about?

View attachment 41907


ML

Yep, I think your crop is a lot stronger, I like it Mike. It lets the eye focus on Factory Butte and that cool cloud and the eye doesn’t get lost in the sky now.