Utah is often passed over as a travel destination for many people who visit the USA. Utah is flat out underrated and often gets associated with things other than its sheer beauty, but the fact is Utah embodies all that the Southwest of the USA is. It’s the wild west. The thing that drew me to Utah was a place called Monument Valley. Sacred to the Navajo Nation, Monument Valley has these massive towering buttes creating an impressive skyline of natural rock formations. We had made our way from Las Vegas, crossing from Nevada into Arizona and then the state line into Utah. In order to reach Monument Valley we needed to pass through another of Utah’s jewels in the crown – Zion National Park and at the park entry was a great little town called Springdale. The original plan was to stay in Monument Valley for 2 nights at one of the best hotels in the world – The View Hotel. But after passing through Springdale and Zion, we knew we had to go back there for a night and explore Zion a little more. If time wasn’t a factor, I’d say I’d still be there now.
So with effectively less than 18 hours in Monument Valley I went to work setting up time lapses, planning night shots, hiking around and I’m pleased to say mission accomplished. Utah was awesome and if you ever visit the USA, do yourself a favour and check it out.
Great body of work Matt. I spent a few days in Moab back in 2009, Arches, Badlands, Monument Valley, it all blew me away!
I loved looking through your Utah work. We really need to get back and do a digital tour of this area again – our photos are all from the chemical era. We also travelled onto Arches and Canyonlands and managed to get Bryce and Zion in snow – I agree with you that not many people travel to the deserts – its their loss and our gain. Lovely work.