Photo Tips USA – Zion National Park

„… and down dizzying windings of the road into the canyons depth…and away again along the canyon and the Virgin River (how sweet to see sweet water flowing here between these dizzy soapstone blocks of red) and around the bending of the River by the soapstone walls of blank fierce red and into the valley floor and trees (a little like Yosemity, this valley, yet not so lush, so cool, nor so enchanted, nor cooled by the dunblanket of towering pines, but an oasis here …).“ Thomas Wolfe, A Western Journal

• Elevation 1300 m (4,265 ft) at the bottom of Zion Canyon, surrounding cliffs rise to over 2100 m (6,889 ft), about 1800 m (5,905 ft) on the Mesa plateau to the east, 1550-2350 m (5,085-7,709 ft) in the Kolob Canyons area to the north
• About 4.6 million visitors per year
• Main visiting month is August

How, Where, What

From time immemorial, Zion Canyon, the park’s heart of steep cliffs and jade-green waters, has exerted a powerful impression on people: Native Americans considered it the abode of demons and avoided it after dark. The white pioneers, mostly devout Mormons, on the other hand, saw in its manifold forms the perfect beauty of creation and joyfully gave them biblical names. This early recognition led to the establishment of Utah’s first national park. A park of the river, the Virgin River, which fashioned it and has yet to complete it. With its great energy and consistency, it is still driving the gorge deeper into the Markagunt Plateau.

Three sections make up Zion National Park: Zion Canyon in the south, now well developed, bears the brunt of visitor traffic. Most people arrive via the dry Mesa plateau to the east. In contrast, comparatively few visitors experience the Finger Canyons in the northern part from the short park road.

Directions

If you have chosen the route so that you approach Springdale and Zion Canyon from St. George via Rt-9, the canyon announces itself from far away: The rocks grow higher, and their red coloring becomes more intense. Even from a distance, you can make out the unmistakable cream of the West Temple high above the road.

Springdale, located at the gates of the park, still has some cozy corners. The houses and stores along Zion Park Boulevard are picturesque to look at and quite photogenic against the canyon’s rocky backdrop. But the sharp rise in visitor numbers is taking its toll in the form of more and more hotels.

From here, Rt. 9 enters Zion Canyon at the southern entrance. It also goes by the name Zion Canyon Scenic Drive from the park boundary. At the junction known as Canyon Junction, it branches east to join Rt-89 at Mt Carmel Junction. This route is free to drive year-round. The section of the Scenic Drive that continues north into the canyon from the junction is closed to individual traffic from late March to early November. This measure became necessary in the year 2000 because the infrastructure could no longer cope with the constantly increasing number of visitors. During the specified period, the Zion Canyon Shuttle’s free shuttle buses are the only means of accessing the points located along this section of the park road. Imagine the shuttles record about 6.3 million boardings per year! They operate on two routes.

The Springdale Circular Service connects the village of Springdale with the park entrance. Summer schedule (19.05.-15.09.) 07:00-20:00. In the spring and autumn, the schedule runs from 08:00 to 19:00 or 18:00. Buses run every 15 minutes.
The Zion Canyon Loop Service connects at the Zion Canyon Visitor Center and serves all viewpoints along the Scenic Drive up to the Temple of Sinawava Parking Area. The round trip on this line takes 90 minutes. Timetable in summer (19.05.-15.09.) 06:00 to 20:15. In the spring and autumn, the timetable runs from 07:00 to 19:15 or 18:15. The buses run every 5 to 10 minutes.

Since the earliest sunrise falls at 06:11 on June 15, the first bus will get you into the park just early enough to capture the first rays of light on the formations behind the Zion Human History Museum. So the schedule fulfills all our photographic desires! However, you can get to the museum in your own car any time of year, as the driving ban doesn’t apply until the turnoff to the Zion-Mt Carmel Highway.

Since the parking lots at the visitor center fill up quickly in the morning, it is advisable to park your vehicle in Springdale and board the bus there. This also avoids the often long queue at the car counter at the entrance station. The free park newspaper provides information on all bus stops, parking options, and the current schedule.

The following restrictions apply to large vehicles, such as many RVs, in Zion Canyon: Vehicles taller than 11 ft or wider than 7 ft are not allowed to drive through the Zion – Mt Carmel Tunnel on Rt-9 easily. Traffic must be stopped for them to get through on the median due to the tunnel dimensions. There is a fee for this.

You can stay overnight in the south part at Zion Lodge as well as at the South Campground (first come-first served) or Watchman Campground (which offers electric hookups for RVs). In addition, Springdale has a private campground and some hotels. The northern part has no lodging facilities except for the simple campsites at Lava Point. The same is true on the Mesa.

Geographical orientation and the most photogenic times of day

The orientation of Zion Canyon is primarily north-south, allowing the warm light of the low sun to illuminate the high cliffs in the morning (the Virgins in the west until one hour after sunrise) and evening (the Watchman in the east from late afternoon). However, the sun does not reach the interior of the canyon until about noon or even early afternoon in the fall and winter (see figure …). Where possible, include the river and the trees along its banks in the picture. If there are a few clouds in the sky, it is worth waiting for sunset at the Sunset Bridge near Canyon Junction and capturing the last light on the Watchman against this backdrop.

The area of the Mesa along the Zion – Mt. Carmel Highway (Rt-9) makes no such demands because of its elevated position. Here, you can get good shots at all times of the day.

The Finger Canyons of the Kolob, as far as they are accessible via Kolob Canyons Road, run from west to east and also come into their own best in the flat light of the morning or afternoon.

Zion NP in the seasons

The highest point in Zion NP is Horse Ranch Mountain in the northern part with 2659 m (8,723 ft); the lowest point is near the South Campground in Zion Canyon with 1188 m (3,897 ft). So the maximum elevation difference is 1471 m (4,826 ft). In the high desert zone of the park, between 1100-1500 m (3,608-4,921 ft), summers are hot and dry, and winters are mild. The transition zone between 1600 and 2300 m (5,249-7,545 ft) has moderate summer temperatures, but snow can remain there throughout the winter. In the mountainous zone above 2400 m (7,874 ft), fir and aspen trees thrive thanks to the cold winters and excess water.

The wet seasons are spring and late summer (March and September). Then, violent thunderstorms have the potential to cause the Virgin River to overflow. Spring brings very varied weather, with storms and rain, but also pleasant temperatures and sunshine. Temperatures then average 7° C (45 °F) at night and 26° C (79 °F) during the day.

Wildflowers thrive between April and June. Their main flowering period is in May. At this time, yucca and cacti are already blooming in the higher dry zone of the mesa.

The summer days are very hot, ranging from 35° C to 43° C (95-109 °F). The nights at 18° C to 24° C (64-75 °F) bring the desired cooling. Between mid-July and mid-September, afternoon thunderstorms are frequent, sending many small waterfalls gushing down the cliff walls and enlivening the sky with dramatic cloud formation.

Autumn beckons with clear days and consistently pleasantly mild temperatures. Foliage color begins at high elevations in September and peaks with the cottonwood trees in Zion Canyon in late October or early November.

Winter weather differs according to the low elevations of Zion Canyon and the high elevations in the northern part around Kolob Canyons. Zion Canyon sees mostly rain and very little snow, which, combined with the soft daylight of the low sun, makes for a wonderful contrast to the red rocks. The clear days can get more than 20° C (68 °F) warm, while night temperatures range from 0° C to -6° C (32-21 °F). Kolob Canyon, on the other hand, experiences heavy snowfalls that can last several days and make the roads impassable. All roads in Zion NP remain clear during winter, with the exception of Kolob Terrace Road, which remains closed.

Photographic features

Zion Canyon creates extreme contrasts due to the surrounding 600-800 m (1,968–2,624 ft)-high rock faces. Thus, the peaks of the striking formations bathe in fine light in the morning and evening, while the flanks just a little below are already or still in darkness. Only around noon does the sun reach the valley floor in the narrower section along Scenic Drive. Nevertheless, it is these times of day that produce the best images. The analog photographer needs exact measurements with the spot meter and a set of graduated gray filters to master them. His digital colleague can work with that, too, of course, but in principle, he has it better because he doesn’t need to worry about exact values. He makes his life easier by quickly taking a series of shots with correct exposure and +/- 2 exposure levels, then combining them on the computer using Dynamic Range Increase to create a pseudo-High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI). „Pseudo“ because it is stored in 8-bit, so there are only 256 brightness levels available for each color channel. However, in order to store the actual range of brightness available, as real HDR images do, more bits, i.e., more brightness levels, are needed. Under- and overexposure should be realized by lengthening or shortening the exposure time, but not by stopping down or up. The latter also alters the depth of field, a change that is rarely desired. If the subject is moving too much, the following trick also helps when developing the image in RAW: Develop once on the highlights and once on the shadows, so that you have two images that have drawings in the respective areas. The image processing program then combines both to create a single image with the desired characteristics.

In terms of focal lengths, the Zion NP makes no special demands. Focal lengths between 20-28 mm serve the majority of overviews; 100-200 mm also bring up details on the canyon walls in a format-filling way. More far-reaching true telephoto motifs can be found at most on Kolob Terrace. Pack a macro focal length if you plan to photograph wildflowers. A tripod should not be missing if the described contrast treatments are to be used.

Minimum program and daily schedule

Spend two days exploring the diverse landscapes of Zion Canyon and the Mesa. During this time, you can hike to Angels Landing or Observation Point to view the canyon from above and, assuming low water levels, venture into the Virgin River Narrows.

Next Zion Canyon, The Mesa

Next Great West Canyon / The Subway

Next Kolob Canyons Reservoir Road, Kolob Canyons

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