Crack Canyon

IntrepidXJ

ADVENTR
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
3,479
Saturday, November 7, 2015


Tafoni lines the canyon walls and a sunburst peeks out between two rocks in Crack Canyon.

On Saturday morning Diane and I left home early and drove west into Utah to go hiking in the desert. Our destination was Crack Canyon in the San Rafael Reef which is not too far away from the much more popular Little Wild Horse Canyon and Goblin Valley State Park. After getting off the highway and following Temple Mountain Road through the reef, we took the Behind the Reef Road to Crack Canyon and drove down the wash to the Wilderness Study Area boundary. We parked here and started hiking down the canyon. It was a beautiful canyon with interesting tafoni everywhere and a few short sections of narrows. There was nice reflected light bouncing off the canyon walls so I took my time taking plenty of photos along the way. We hiked through the reef until we reached the intersection with the Chute Canyon Trail where we turned around and returned the way we had come. We didn’t see anyone else all afternoon until we were on our way back to the trailhead, and even then we only ran into a family of four and another solo hiker. The high temperature was probably in the low 50’s and it turned out to be a great day for hiking in the canyon!

There were even a few cottonwood trees in the canyon hanging on to their fall colors.



Beginning the hike down the canyon before it started to get narrower.



Diane hikes ahead of me.



A very cool crack in the sandstone that we got to hike under and through.



Exiting the crack.



The sun peeks out over the rim of the canyon as it widens out a little.



A short section of narrows with nice light.



After down-climbing a tricky ledge, Diane poses for a photo.





This is shortly before the canyon exits the San Rafael Reef and starts to open up.



This was the narrowest, deepest and darkest section of slot canyon that we would pass through.



Large boulders strewn along the wash.



Lines & Light



Rough-looking narrows after a short down-climb off the boulder in the foreground.



A twist in the canyon.



A more abstract photo of the lines and textures found in the canyon’s walls.



Another colorful cottonwood tree.





Light & Shadows



Tafoni and lines everywhere!



>> Crack Canyon Photo Gallery
>> The Original Trip Report on ADVENTR.CO
 
Nice shots. I hiked Crack with one of my boys last winter, it's a pretty great place. I had a worrisome moment where I lowered myself down that one drop (the tricky ledge in your pics) and then found it harder to reverse than I had anticipated. Turns out there's an easy bypass though.
 
Lovely pics Randy. Can you share how you get such great sunbursts. My only way once was taking loads of photos pointing at different things
until I just struck lucky with one as the sun overexposed out most of the photo on the others!
 
Lovely pics Randy. Can you share how you get such great sunbursts. My only way once was taking loads of photos pointing at different things
until I just struck lucky with one as the sun overexposed out most of the photo on the others!

Getting a sunburst like the ones in my photos are mostly dependent on the lens you use. Some lenses create better sunbursts than others. These were all taken with the Canon 16-35 f4 which creates a pretty good sunburst. The only lens that I think creates a better one is the Canon 16-35 f2.8, which I also have, but haven't used as much since I got the f4 version. Then it's just a matter of stopping down the lens to a smaller aperture to create the sunburst. f16 and smaller is usually a good start.

Another trick to getting a good sunburst is composing the shot so that most of the sun is hidden behind an object in the scene except for a small part. You can play around with how much the sun is peeking out for different effects.
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
CaptnKidd Black Dragon Canyon, Crack Canyon, Little Wild Horse (2011) Hiking & Camping 4
Desertrat Crack Canyon Hiking & Camping 2
Tyler San Rafael Swell - Crack Canyon, Skylight Arch, Hiking & Camping 6
Ugly That Infamous Crack Backpacking 4
Nick Who wants to have 2 nights at White Crack in March? General Discussion 0
b.stark Crack In Rock - Fall 2016 Backpacking 6
L Crack in the Wall shuttle Trip Planning 0
Dave White Crack to miner's camp Resource Discussions 0
Dave White Crack to confluence overlook? Trip Planning 34
Ericephoto Coyote Gulch via Jacob Hamblin Arch trail and Crack in the Wall Backpacking 11
J Reflection Canyon Trip Planning 3
fossana Found: prescription glasses near the top of the Flipoff Canyon approach General Discussion 5
Spud Salt Creek Canyon question Trip Planning 11
B Buckskin gulch/Pariah canyon Carpool Trip Planning 0
TractorDoc Paintbrush Canyon / Cascade Canyon Loop -- Grand Teton NP September 11, 2023 Hiking & Camping 9
Kullaberg63 15 day canyon route Backpacking 13
Titans Tricked in the canyon! Hiking & Camping 5
TrailScot Dayhiking the Under-the-Rim Trail - Bryce Canyon NP - October 2023 Hiking & Camping 4
Janice Such a GRAND Canyon - Deer Creek / Tapeats / Thunder River Backpacking 21
M Mee/Knowles Canyon Loop, Grand Junction Colorado Backpacking 4
OldBill Short hike at the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania Hiking & Camping 1
S Paria Canyon- Whitehouse to Lees Ferry, Oct 18 to 21, 2023 Trip Reports 0
scatman Yellowstone's Thorofare, Headwaters of Thorofare Creek, Majo Pass, Younts Peak, Bob's Canyon, and Cub Creek - August 9, 2023 - Days 7 through 10 Backpacking 34
scatman Yellowstone's Thorofare, Headwaters of Thorofare Creek, Majo Pass, Younts Peak, Bob's Canyon, and Cub Creek - August 9, 2023 - Days 1 through 6 Backpacking 56
A Bowdie Canyon Trip Planning 10
TheMountainRabbit Silas Canyon (Popo Agie Wilderness) - August 2023 Backpacking 3
J Paria Canyon - One Day Trail Trip Planning 10
Bob The New Grand Canyon Trip Planning 1
WhozWutz Invite Horse Canyon Needles Meet Up (Members Only) 1
BJett Part 3 - Tour de Canyon Country. Lower Escalante Loop Hiking & Camping 0
BJett Part 2 - Tour de Canyon Country. Swell Times Hiking & Camping 0
BJett Part 1 - Tour de Canyon Country. Cedar Mesa. Hiking & Camping 8
Gretchen Millward Trachyte Creek via Woodruff Canyon, April 2023 Backpacking 9
F Grand Canyon hermits rest to granite rapids to bright angel Trip Planning 10
gnwatts Stillwater Canyon On The Water 11
shredhiker Kings Canyon July 2022 Kearsarge, Rae, & Sixty Lakes Backpacking 8
J Info needed: Bown's Canyon, Long Canyon Trip Planning 8
Gretchen Millward Cheesebox Canyon, Oct. 2022 Backpacking 14
Stickerbumper Fold Canyon Middle Exit Trip Planning 9
Janice Professor Creek / Mary Jane Canyon - mid April? Trip Planning 0
D Horseshoe Canyon or San Rafael Swell? Trip Planning 9
scatman North Ridge of City Creek Canyon - February 4, 2023 Hiking & Camping 17
scatman South Ridge of City Creek Canyon - January 28, 2023 Hiking & Camping 4
NorthwestWanderer 8 Day High Sierra trek : Humphreys Basin, Star Col, Granite Park, Lake Italy & Piute Canyon 6/25-7/2/22 Backpacking 7
T Amazing Discovery in Utah-Glen Canyon Trip Planning 65
Titans What’s your unfinished business? Hard canyon access, mtn peak, you name it! General Discussion 54
SteveR Big Spring-Elephant Canyon dayhike. With free bonus vacation pix! Hiking & Camping 13
Stephanie B Dirty Devil River Impassible at Poison Springs Canyon Off Road 0
LarryBoy Is there anything technical in White Canyon above the Black Hole? Trip Planning 16
dennisrodman A week in the Grand Canyon / Boucher / Hermit / Tonto Trail Trip Planning 4

Similar threads

Back
Top