Water Features – RDZ Photography

Chicago – December 2022 – Scenes from the City

In what seems to have become a fairly regular visit, we spent some time in Chicago around the holidays. While the majority are from 2022, a couple of the holiday photos are from previous years.

The CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) decorate an El Train for the holidays. We were fortunate enough once to be standing on the platform as it rolled through.

Always a couple of my favorite buildings are the two at Marina City. This close up shows the pattern that cause some to call them the ‘corn cob’ buildings.

The Van der Mies IBM building reflecting Marina City

The Wrigley Building – from a distance and a close up of the top.

The famed lateral bracing of the John Hancock Tower.

A riveting close up of the Dearborn Street Bridge.

A well decorated alley with those large Chicago fire escape stairs. This view is just off State Street near the theaters.

The Merchandise Mart is only 25 floors high, but with the footprint covering over 2 blocks it has 4 million square feet. When it was completed in 1930 it was the largest building in the world by square footage.

A Pink Line El Train crossing the river into the loop.

Chicago is a great city that is well worth the visit.

Arizona and Beyond – December 2022 – Favorites of the Year

Architecture, Art, History, Nature, Transportation, Water Features

With another year of travel and photography, with the first full year living in Arizona, it is time to highlight my favorites for the year.

Living in Arizona and the west resulted in far more nature photos than in previous years, but well worth it. But of the thousands of photos taken, I have narrowed it down to 23.

Amazingly two came from the same time in Saguaro National Park East in Tucson as the sun was setting on a January day.

A trip in April to the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert gave us a chance to stay at the campy Wigwam Motel along Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona for another sunset photo.

The final sunset photo in the series is the classic Grand Canyon shot. What isn’t shown is the 40 MPH winds that were howling in the chilly April evening.

East of Tucson is the small western movie ranch in the town of Mescal.

A bird’s nest in a cactus at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.

Monument Valley – it doesn’t get any better than here for dramatic scenery.

Western Wyoming in late May with snow still gracing the tops of the mountains.

Grand Teton National Park at dawn.

Oregon Highway 3 in the far eastern part of the state during a very rainy Memorial Day weekend.

Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.

Antelope Canyon, Arizona in Navajo Territory. It was a structured tour, but well worth it.

Palm Springs, California with a classic mid century home and an even more classic vintage Mercedes.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas.

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

Late September fall colors in Beaver Canyon Scenic Byway, Utah.

An owl at the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A receding Great Salt Lake, Utah.

Hoover Dam and another fast receding lake – Lake Mead.

Franklin Auto Museum in Tucson.

Dia De Los Muertos – Tucson.

A sculpture in a courtyard at the Tucson Museum of Art.

To finish off the year with one from back east – Millennium Park in Chicago the day after Christmas.

Here is looking forward to an even better 2023.

Hoover Dam, Arizona (and Nevada) – October 2022 – Soon to Hold No Water

Architecture, History, Water Features

A stop by Hoover Dam in the early morning light, with few other tourists around.

The well known multi decade drought and over use has resulted in Lake Mead being the lowest levels ever since the dam was completed in the mid 1930s.

The dam was built at the height of the art deco period, with examples everywhere.

While water conservation is a key component of the dam, so is the power generation. On this day we were too early in the day to take the interior tour of the turbines.

The bypass bridge was completed in 2010.

The dam remains an architectural and engineering marvel nearly 100 years after it’s completion. Let’s hope with better water policies and some rain Lake Mead returns to a more acceptable level.

Great Salt Lake Utah – September 2022 – A Unique Setting

Nature, Water Features

The Great Salt Lake is, as the name suggests, a large body of salty water.

The lake is fed by 3 rivers, and a few streams. Because it has no outlet other than evaporation, the water collects over a million tons of minerals per year.

The water has a far higher salinity than the oceans. In addition there seems to be an ever-present strong smell.

Because of the shallowness of the lake, it’s overall coverage can, and has, changed dramatically over the years, leaving the boat docks high and dry – sad for the boat owners, but interesting photography opportunities.

The views across the grasses towards the now much smaller lake provide excellent contrasts.

Since the late 1800s there has always been a large event center along the lake known as the Saltair. While the first one was an impressive, massive structure, it was eventually destroyed in a fire. Today’s building is the third on this location. It too is suffering from the receding lake levels, leaving it far from the shore.

Provo, Utah – September 2022 – Provo Canyon

Nature, Transportation, Water Features

Seemingly keeping with the Utah approach of naming everything the same (Utah Lake, Utah Valley, Utah County), Provo Canyon is just east of the city of Provo, with the Provo River running through it.

The 28 mile drive through the Wasatch Mountains east of Provo takes you through Provo Canyon.

Not far into the canyon is Bridal Veil Falls, which cascades over 600 feet down the mountain in 2 drops.

The river is crossed by numerous bridges serving the hiking/biking path, but fortunately this was not the one we had to use.

The fall colors had begun on this late September day.

U.S. Highway 189 makes it’s way up the canyon, including this cool little double tunnel.

At the east end of the canyon in Deep Creek Reservoir.

We chose to take the Alpine Loop road up the mountain past Sundance Ski Resort. Overall a nice scenic drive for a couple of hours.

Provo, Utah – September 2022 – Utah Lake

Nature, Water Features

Least you forget the name, Utah Lake is in Utah County in the state of…Utah. It is the largest freshwater lake in the state, covering approximately 148 square miles, but only up to a depth of 14 feet.

At one time there were thirteen different types of fish native to the lake, but after the settlers arrived in the late 1800s they introduced carp into the lake, along with pollution and over fishing. As a result only 1 native fish remains, the Utah sucker, with the carp being well over 90% of the fish in the lake, although birds seem to like it.

Situated in the Utah Valley (of course), mountains surround the lake.

Being the only lake around it is a popular place for sailing.

Utah Lake, Utah Valley, Utah County, Utah.

Nephi, Utah – September 2022 – Nebo Loop Scenic Byway

Nature, Water Features

The Nebo Loop Scenic Byway skirts the 12,000′ high Mount Nebo, going from the town of Nephi to Payson, Utah.

The route peaks out at 9000′ elevation, and is paved the entire distance. Having completed the Beaver Canyon Scenic Byway earlier in the day, this route was somewhat disappointing in the lack of color in the leaves, the relative ease of the drive and the amount of traffic – far more traffic here.

Still had we not been on Beaver Canyon earlier this would’ve wowed us with the scenery.

As we neared the end closest to Payson we had a great view of Utah Lake and the valley near Provo.

Our final few miles went through Payson Canyon. Overall a nice drive but if you can only choose one I would strongly recommend Beaver Canyon, even though it is about 100 miles further from the larger population centers of Utah.

Beaver Canyon, Utah – September 2022 – The Aspens Are Changing

Nature, Water Features

The Utah road trip continued north until we reached the town of Junction. From here Utah Highway 153 heads up the mountains and eventually into Beaver Canyon.

It is 40 miles from Junction to the town of Beaver, the first 20 miles is gravel and dirt, the last 20 back down are paved. With the leaves on the aspen trees, and others, changing, the drive was spectacular.

We took one last look back into the Sevier River Valley.

The drive continued until we topped out at 10,000′ elevation, about 4000′ above the valley floors.

The road passed Puffer Lake.

Utah advertises 11 scenic routes in the state. While we didn’t take them all, the others would be hard pressed to be better than Utah Highway 153/Beaver Canyon Scenic Byway.

Kane County, Utah – September 2022 – Willis Creek Slot Canyon

Nature, Water Features

Southern Utah has numerous very famous natural attractions such as Bryce National Park. In addition to those you can find some amazing places that aren’t as crowded.

One of those is Willis Creek Slot Canyon. One potential reason is the road to the trailhead is a fantastically bumpy, at times steep, dirt road. We travelled 5-6 miles down this road, and found the parking lot empty at 8 AM, although next door was a group of about 10 horses and riders who had just finished their adventure.

After chatting with their leader and getting guidance on the hike, we set off.

We quickly dropped down into the canyon and it’s eponymously named creek. Fortunately despite some recent rains Willis Creek was quite small on this day so we were able to hop back and forth across it.

It didn’t take long for the canyon walls to narrow and rise to a height of about 10-20′.

The young lady who had lead the horse riding group had advised us that we would go through 4 separate slot canyons on our hike. This first one remain with walls up to about 20′ high.

As we continued downstream we would pop in and out of slot canyons.

Eventually the creek ran dry and the hiking became easier. Most slot canyons require some level of scrambling over boulders, but not here – just a casual hike down the canyon.

Eventually the walls rose to a height of up to 100′.

After about a mile and a half we ran out of slot canyons and made the decision to turn back there. The return trip was just as interesting as the morning sun changed the look seemingly every minute.

On our return trip we passed about 6 other groups of hikers, reaffirming my belief that if you want solitude in nature get going at the crack of dawn.

Willis Slot Canyon is a great hike for anyone, with a fun drive to get there.

Hite Crossing, Utah – September 2022 – Lake Powell (What’s Left of It)

Nature, Transportation, Water Features

The comments of the severe drought in the west is true, check out Lake Powell at Bullfrog, Utah. Those white lines on the mountains on the other side of the water – that should be the water level.

In normal times there is enough water to take a ferry across, but we ended up going the long way around and crossing at Hite Crossing. While the Colorado River is present, the area between the lower canyon walls should be filled with the water of Lake Powell.

The drive up Utah Highway 95 was impressive.

Rock formations near Lake Powell at Hite Crossing.

Further north on Utah 95 is the Hog Springs Canyon rest area. The hiking trail was overgrown with grasses from recent monsoon rains, but these rains are far too little to help Lake Powell.