Bill
.
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2012
- Messages
- 991
In March of 2012 I made a short but sweet visit to White Pocket and was totally amazed with the area. After returning from that trip I knew that this was somewhere I wanted to take the family to spend a few days exploring all the different formations and in October of 2012 we made that happen.
April, our three boys, and I started the trip off on a Thursday morning with a long drive south to Kanab. We met up with the Tanners and their 2 boys for lunch while the rain poured outside. We checked the weather maps and figured the south end of the house rock valley road had a better chance of staying drying so we drove south to Jacobs lake and then took dirt roads north towards White Pocket. The road was completely dry and soon we were on the sandy pine tree side road stressing out over the various sand traps. After awhile we made it to White Pocket and setup up camp just on the other side of the fence of the main parking area. We walked the 200 or so yards to the sandstone where we spent the rest of the afternoon chasing the kids around the various domes and formations.
After a few hours of scrambling we fed the boys dinner and walked back over for an uneventful sunset. We spent the rest of the night around the fire and the milky way made a brief appearance between the clouds. One of the main reasons I wanted to camp at white pocket was to shoot the Milky Way and light paint some formations but I was too picky this night and neglected to shoot anything aside from a few shots around camp with hope that the sky would be clearer tomorrow.
Early Friday morning around 1am the weather got a bit crazy, the wind and rain pounded the tent and Parker (11mos) was up for most of the night. It continued to rain well past sunrise but soon the clouds parted and we came out of our tents. I fed the older boys some oatmeal and then took them over to White Pocket. We found the entire area full of puddles and even a bit of flowing water with dark clouds over head. We spent the day dealing with the storms that came and went. We experienced high winds, rain, snow, and a down pour of hail that covered everything. There was almost a sunset … but not quite.
Saturday morning we woke up to a cloudless sky. I shot sunrise and then we started packing up camp. We drove out the pine tree road and the headed north on the house rock valley road to highway 89. We stopped at the rim rock hoodoos for a short hike and lunch then drove north up the cottonwood wash road towards Kodachrome basin. The Cottonwood Wash Road had a dozen or so large puddles and unavoidable mud holes. It was pretty sketchy to cross them and by the time we hit pavement our Montero was completely covered in mud. We never got stuck but it was reassuring to know that the Tanners were with us in their Land Cruiser just in case. It was a nice drive I’d love to spend more time doing someday. We setup camp in Kodachrome, took showers, ate dinner, and went for a sunset hike not far off the road near the entrance of the park. For the first time on the trip we had a spectacular sunset.
Once the kids were in bed Jake and I went for a long walk down the road to shoot photos of the Milky Way on the Monoliths near then entrance of Kodachrome basin state park. This was my first real test of the high ISO power of the 5dmkIII.
Sunday morning we packed up camp in Kodachrome basin and drove to Escalante to the Upper Calf Creek Falls trail head. We ate lunch and loaded our day hiking packs for a hike down to the Upper Falls. We had hoped to do a bit of swimming but the water was very cold. The kids waded a bit, Jake pulled off two pretty sweet front flips into an upper pool before we hiked back up to the trail head.
After calf creek it was getting late in the day and we made the call not to set up camp again and just make the long drive home.
Featured image for home page:
April, our three boys, and I started the trip off on a Thursday morning with a long drive south to Kanab. We met up with the Tanners and their 2 boys for lunch while the rain poured outside. We checked the weather maps and figured the south end of the house rock valley road had a better chance of staying drying so we drove south to Jacobs lake and then took dirt roads north towards White Pocket. The road was completely dry and soon we were on the sandy pine tree side road stressing out over the various sand traps. After awhile we made it to White Pocket and setup up camp just on the other side of the fence of the main parking area. We walked the 200 or so yards to the sandstone where we spent the rest of the afternoon chasing the kids around the various domes and formations.
After a few hours of scrambling we fed the boys dinner and walked back over for an uneventful sunset. We spent the rest of the night around the fire and the milky way made a brief appearance between the clouds. One of the main reasons I wanted to camp at white pocket was to shoot the Milky Way and light paint some formations but I was too picky this night and neglected to shoot anything aside from a few shots around camp with hope that the sky would be clearer tomorrow.
Early Friday morning around 1am the weather got a bit crazy, the wind and rain pounded the tent and Parker (11mos) was up for most of the night. It continued to rain well past sunrise but soon the clouds parted and we came out of our tents. I fed the older boys some oatmeal and then took them over to White Pocket. We found the entire area full of puddles and even a bit of flowing water with dark clouds over head. We spent the day dealing with the storms that came and went. We experienced high winds, rain, snow, and a down pour of hail that covered everything. There was almost a sunset … but not quite.
Saturday morning we woke up to a cloudless sky. I shot sunrise and then we started packing up camp. We drove out the pine tree road and the headed north on the house rock valley road to highway 89. We stopped at the rim rock hoodoos for a short hike and lunch then drove north up the cottonwood wash road towards Kodachrome basin. The Cottonwood Wash Road had a dozen or so large puddles and unavoidable mud holes. It was pretty sketchy to cross them and by the time we hit pavement our Montero was completely covered in mud. We never got stuck but it was reassuring to know that the Tanners were with us in their Land Cruiser just in case. It was a nice drive I’d love to spend more time doing someday. We setup camp in Kodachrome, took showers, ate dinner, and went for a sunset hike not far off the road near the entrance of the park. For the first time on the trip we had a spectacular sunset.
Once the kids were in bed Jake and I went for a long walk down the road to shoot photos of the Milky Way on the Monoliths near then entrance of Kodachrome basin state park. This was my first real test of the high ISO power of the 5dmkIII.
Sunday morning we packed up camp in Kodachrome basin and drove to Escalante to the Upper Calf Creek Falls trail head. We ate lunch and loaded our day hiking packs for a hike down to the Upper Falls. We had hoped to do a bit of swimming but the water was very cold. The kids waded a bit, Jake pulled off two pretty sweet front flips into an upper pool before we hiked back up to the trail head.
After calf creek it was getting late in the day and we made the call not to set up camp again and just make the long drive home.
Featured image for home page:
