I was on the road and in the air for much of August, including a long drive from Phoenix to Midway, Utah at the beginning of the month. I have made that trip several times and never tire of the spectacular scenery found along the entire route. My greatest frustration in driving those roads is not being able to stop every time I see something I’d like to shoot. It’s a drive that can normally be completed in 10 or 11 hours, but with several detours along the way, it took us the better part of two days. If I had stopped every time I wanted to, I’m sure I could have spent a week or more meandering my way north.

One of the detours we made was through the Valley of the Gods, located just north of Mexican Hat, Utah. We had spent part of the previous day driving the heavily traveled loop through Monument Valley, which is beautiful, but a little overrun by tourists. By contrast, the Valley of the Gods, which I think is equally as dramatic as Monument Valley, was empty. I think we may have seen one or two other cars during our several hour drive through the valley. I was experimenting with a GoPro HD camera, which I attached to my headlight with a suction cup, so I didn’t take many still images of Valley of the Gods, but I will post some video once I have a chance to edit it.

Here are a few of the images from the road trip:

Moonrise in Monument Valley

Cairns mirroring geological formations in Monument Valley.

A fisherman on Deer Creek Reservoir, Utah

A wakeboarder on Deer Creek Reservoir, Utah

A skeleton (deer?) by the side of the road.

Derelict gas station – Arizona SR 163

A detail from the derelict gas station on Arizona SR 163