The Beauty of Southeastern Utah

The following is a guest post from this week’s contributor, Nick Sullivan of Reuters. Nick shares his amazing time-lapse video of southeastern Utah with us below.

For first-time visitors to the desert Southwest, the Moab region in southeastern Utah is a truly breathtaking sight. Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, as well as Dead Horse State Park are all within a 30-mile radius from Moab and each offers surprisingly varied geological wonders and almost otherworldly vistas. For those who have seen the area, we know it can take multiple visits to take it all in, if that’s even possible! 

Arches National Park, just north of Moab, has more than 2,000 natural stone arches. Many of these spectacular arches are easy to see by driving through the park and some are even reachable on foot for closer looks. Seeing photos of formations like Double Arch, the “Park Avenue” walls, and the Windows arches can give you an idea of what to expect, but photos don’t do the landscape justice. The sheer size, scale, and beauty of these formations is stunning!

Just a few miles away at Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse State Park, the terrain changes as the arches give way to magnificent deep canyons, carved over the years by the power of the mighty Colorado River.

Surprisingly, always in the eastern background of all three of these parks are the snow-covered La Sal Mountains. In the foothills, you can find a colorful array of the sage green shrubs, juniper trees, and desert flowers.

Just as the sun sets, the rocks glow a bright reddish-orange. At night, the ink-black skies light up with a million stars.  Seeing the day turn to twilight, watching the stars multiply and the Milky Way rise – while surrounded by a profound silence that will make you step lightly and speak in a whisper – is an unforgettable experience. Enjoy my time lapse video of Southeastern Utah below!

Here are 2 more short videos detailing the beauty of Moab, Arches, historic rock art, as well as the night sky.

Thanks Nick, for sharing your amazing work with us!

Happy Travels!

Julie

Author’s Bio: Nick currently lives in the Philadelphia area and is retiring in the fall from Reuters, where he has been a writer/editor for a number of years. Nick took up video and photography in 2012 and branched out into time-lapse. His work can be seen here, at his Vimeo link.