Roadtrip Images

The Many Pools Trail on Zion’s east side has some wonderful reflection shots. The view off in the distance isn’t bad either.

Zion has several sections although most people only experience the main canyon where Angel’s Landing and the Narrows are. There are some amazing view there no doubt and we photograph in the main canyon every trip we make here. But there’s more to Zion than that. Driving through the Zion-Mt Carmel tunnel takes you to what seems like a different park. The east side as it’s called has some very different colors, rocks and side canyons to explore. It’s not as busy as the main canyon and as a result you can drive your car there year around. The main canyon requires taking the shuttle bus system due to the number of visitors.

The side canyons are where the east side really shines. Hiking back into these brings a solitude that’s frequently not possible in the main canyon. Once you get a few hundred yards off the road, few people are encountered. It also gets very quiet as any road noise gets absorbed by the twisting canyon walls. Each one has a different feel to it. Many also have maple and cottonwood trees that turn vibrant shades of yellow and red during Fall. That’s one of the key reasons we come over here. Fall color in Zion is pretty amazing when contrasted against the warm red and brown hues of the canyon walls.

Most of the side canyons on the east side have names. We got a tip from a ranger at the entrance station about Many Pools. He told us it was one of his favorite hikes and how to access it. They are no signs and the park maps don’t really call them out either. In the case of Many Pools Trail the closest parking is about 100 yards up the road. If you didn’t know it was there you’d drive right by.

It’s name comes from, you guessed it, the many small pools that cascade down from higher elevations back in the canyon. The first part of the trail is somewhat uninteresting and makes you wonder if you got bad advice. As you continue to hike back and up into the canyon the interesting parts of the trail become apparent. If there has been some recent rain, the pools will have standing water that make for excellent reflection shots.  Since you are surrounded by peaks there are reflection opportunities in all directions. I’ve posted another one below.

There are also some that form nice leading lines into the composition that culminates into a distant mountain peak. That’s what caught my eye and is the featured image above.

Most of the making of the image is just seeing it. You can easily walk right past these reflections and not notice. Once it catches your eye however, you need to decide how to frame it. In the case of the featured image at the top, I initially was looking for a leading line into the distant mountain peak. As I walked around the pool to see if that would work I noticed the reflection of the clouds in the dark pool. Then it was a matter of balancing the pool left to right and including enough of the surrounding rock as well as the distant mountain peak. I also wanted to include a few of the pine trees on either side as framing elements to further guide the eye into the scene.

Since the composition went from very near to very far I knew I would need to focus stack the image in order to get all of it sharp. I took four frames but ended up only using three. One for the very near rock between the camera and the pool, the second for the mid ground and the third for the distant mountain. From an exposure perspective I was able to capture the entire scene in one frame. No blending required.

In the second image I decided to just include the reflection and not the mountain itself. I shot it both ways but I like just the reflection better. It a personal choice.

We enjoy Zion a lot. It’s an amazing Park with features not found anywhere else. Unfortunately so do millions of other people. Zion’s attendance keeps setting records each year and this is creating a serious logistics issue for the park and the nearby town of Springdale. This is one of the reasons we always come in the off season. Summer is just too hot here anyway. The east side of Zion is another way to beat the crowds. There’s still lots of people, especially at midday, but it’s much less than the main canyon. There are also tons of unique views and features to photograph without being the millionth and one image of the Watchman from the bridge.

As always, you can see higher resolution images on our Facebook page. Please give us a like while you’re there.

Nikon D850 with Nikkor 24-70mm at 31mm. f/11 at 1/25 of a second. ISO 64. (First image)

Nikon D850 with Nikkor 24-70mm at 44mm. f/11 at 1/20 of a second. ISO 64. (Second image)