Randomized Photo Destinations Pt. 3 - Kanarra Creek Canyon

[AlanLichty]

Our next destinations after the San Rafael were on the west side of the state so we moved camp from Green River to the Duck Creek Campground near UT Hwy 14. The next day we headed to a plot located on the slopes just above Kanarra Creek near Kanarraville. The destination was rather lackluster for scenery although we did encounter some lithic tool debris so ended up recording the find. That also means I won't be including any images of that plot with this day's set.

The nice part was that Kanarra Creek is a rather nice day hike that includes a neat little slot canyon. I had never heard of the place before our visit so had no clue it was there until we were looking at it. We were lucky in that by late fall the creek was quite low so there were no deep wading excursions necessary to get through.

The Kanarra Creek Slot.

The bad news for me was discovering that my camera's light meter battery died about a mile into the day's hike so I had to wing it with no meter. This was probably the only time I have ever actually unfolded the little instruction page that used to come with every roll of 35mm film to read the suggestions for exposure values. I extrapolated my speed/f-stop setting on the fly based on their tables for light and quite a few shots did work.

This trail is apparently quite popular these days so there is a lot of info in the internet about it. It is not uncommon to encounter almost waist deep water through the slot area according to the interwebz. I really didn't even get my boots wet.

The view up.

Kanarra Creek Slot Canyon

• AlanLichty
• Feb 27, 2018

A small but picturesque slots canyon near Kanarraville in southern Utah.

Lots of nice views along the creek.

Interesting rock formations along the trail after the slot opens up.

Looking up at the canyon walls just before we headed up out of the canyon to our survey plot.

C&C always welcome.

Next up - the high forests above Cedar Breaks.

 

[Ben Egbert]

This is a place I have meant to get to, but never leave enough time in my travels. Very interesting to see it this way, normally all we see is the falls.

 

[JimFox]

Now that's an adventure with no light meter! It sounds like you made the best of it, but metering is one those things that while it did meter the light, with landscapes having such a wide array of light in a scene, often exposures were just best guesses. I know I had gotten to where I had a note book where I kept track of my exposure data, a manual Exif data recorder if you will. Then when I got my film back, I would match up slide/neg with the data, and then on another sheet I would record what I felt were the best settings, specifically this was helpful with twilight and low light shots were the light meter was of little value as the light was so low. I eventually printed up a small sheet that I laminated and kept it in my camera bag so when I was out hiking/camping I would have a reference and wouldn't have to always guess in the low light.

Anyway, back to these. A very cool series here. That's nice in the slot, and I especially like that rock wall as you were exiting the slot.

 

[AlanLichty]

I like the notion of a laminated card in the bag. Our present day cameras are pretty dependent on having working batteries so not certain we would even be able to shoot at all under the same conditions. My trusty old Pentax SP-500 was completely analog except for the meter. I have certainly encountered the low light conditions you describe so it would be helpful there.