Bert Gildart: Writer and Photographer

©Bert Gildart: From winter to spring, that’s what the day was all about. Winter in Ogden, Utah, yesterday morning and, then, spring-type weather (at least if you’re from Montana) half a day later.

And so, following a six-hour drive, passing around Salt Lake City, then dropping several thousand feet from the huge cedar plateau for which Cedar City and Cedar Breaks National Monument derive names, we arrived in Zion National Park, temperature about 55 degrees. We parked in Springdale (1/2 miles from the park) in a commercial campground, and then spent several hours organizing.

Zion is like an old friend and over the years, I’ve contributed a number of stories to various magazines, but perhaps most notably, chapters to a Sierra club book on national parks of the Southwest. The book is still in publication and my chapters concerned Bryce and Zion. Returning to Zion is almost like returning to a former home.

Janie and I love hiking the canyons here, and that is one of our reasons for returning. Once in fall, Janie and I hiked much of the Virgin River canyon, famous for its narrow but towering walls. We hiked the river in late summer, when the river was warm.

Yet another time, I took my son, David, out of school for a week and, together, with a young friend of his, hiked 50 miles though the park. At the time, David and Kyle Bristol (son of the man with whom I climbed Mount Rainier this summer) were about 14.

But this time, Janie and have no particular agenda, just to gather more photos and stretch our legs after two long days of driving. Our campground is located at the base of The Watchman, and the mountain can be a challenge to photograph.

Last night, however, the light was perfect. The sun was low enough in the winter sky that it created warm, dramatic side lighting.

Then I waited until the shadows moved up from the base of the mountain, helping to further dramatize the mountain’s craggy nature.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 5:55 am and is filed under RV Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.