Most meals included – (B,L,D) denotes Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 1 (D)

Arrive in Moab, Utah. Please meet in the lobby of our hotel for an orientation and welcome dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Day 2 (B,L,D)
This morning will be our earliest of the week as we head to the Islands in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park to capture perhaps one of the most iconic desert landscape photos in Utah. Sunrise at Mesa Arch is an incredible experience and should be on every landscape photographer’s bucket list. We’ll photograph this icon as the sun crests the horizon, making for stunning images of the arch, canyons and rock features below with the La Sal Mountain range on the horizon, complete with a Starburst. We’ll remain here following sunrise as the arch provides a “surprise” to those willing to wait for a while a while. As the golden hues fade from underneath the arch, we will pack up and head back to Moab for a short break until lunch.

Following lunch, we’ll set out for Arches National Park, and an afternoon hike to Sand and Broken Arches. Here, we’ll be immersed in the geology of the park as we stretch our legs and photograph the two arches, fins and other features that dot the landscape here.

Directly after our hike we’ll press on to our evening’s sunset shot, Balanced Arch. This is one of the most iconic features in the Park, and also one of the most photographed. We’ll photograph Balanced Rock from a spot most don’t. As the sun has fully set and we capture the last bit of glow, we’ll return to Moab for a delicious dinner at a carefully selected local restaurant before retiring for the evening.

Day 3 (B,L,D)
We will depart our hotel early this morning, heading for nearby Castle Valley. Here, in the foothills of the La Sal Mountains, we’ll find Castleton Tower and the adjacent ridgeline known as the Rectory. These rock features have been seen in television and film for years and have become uber famous in the rock-climbing community, as well. As optimal light fades, we will head back towards town, stopping along the Colorado River at different vantage points as the great river carves its way through the towering canyon walls.

We’ll have brunch at our hotel and break shortly to rest up before heading out for our afternoon activities. We’ll either hike or check out Newspaper Rock and have a picnic along the way.

This evening we’ll head back towards Canyonlands, and the Island in the Sky District, where we’ll find a few late afternoon vantage points overlooking the famed Shafer Canyon before settling in for our sunset shot of the expansive system of canyons below our perch up high on the cliffs. We’ll soak it all up as the setting sun turns the rock features and canyons below a fiery red. Upon our return to Moab, we’ll dine at one of Moab’s most famous restaurants before heading back to our wonderful hotel for some much-needed rest.

Day 4 (B,D)
Today is all about Arches National Park. The ‘Windows’ section of the Park offers a stunning selection of rock features. Turret Arch is viewed by many as perhaps the best sunrise spot in the Park. The angle of this dynamite feature positions it perfectly to catch the glow of the morning sun as it crests the horizon. We’ll find a nice choice of compositions here.

When we’ve had our fill, we’ll check out nearby Double Arch and the Parade of Elephants before moving on to Park Avenue, an area (and possible short hike) that is a perfect spot to continue our discussion on the geology of the rock features here at Arches.
We’ll take this afternoon off to provide time for you to see and experience the town of Moab, as well as get some rest and relaxation before the most physically challenging evening of our tour.

We will likely get a mid-afternoon start in order to head back into Arches National Park, this time to shoot Delicate Arch at sunset. The arch is 1.5 miles (3 miles roundtrip) from the road, so we will have to hike with all of our equipment over a moderate trail of slickrock. Bring a headlamp, as typically the best views of this magical location are after the sun has just dipped below the horizon, lighting up the La Sal mountain range in the background.

Day 5 (B)
Our final shot will be at the Devil’s Garden section of Arches National Park, and the famous and enormous Landscape Arch. We’ll have a nearly 1-mile hike to get to the arch, which stretches roughly 300 feet! Landscape Arch is the largest natural span in the Western Hemisphere, and this thin sliver of free-standing rock is a sight to behold as it seems to defy gravity and time. Once we’re satisfied with our sunrise images, we’ll check out neighboring arches as we hike back towards our vehicle.

Back in Moab we’ll have brunch at a local coffee shop, reveling in the successes of our time together before saying goodbye after a wonderful tour of the Canyons of Utah: Arches & Canyonlands National Parks.