Day 355: September 15, 2005 - Sunrise

by Christian Williams
I got up early and headed out to East Zion for a view of the early morning light. This photo is looking west toward Bridge Mountain and East Temple. Note the tunnel that cuts directly through the rock in the bottom right corner.

Day 216: April 29, 2005 - View Across Hwy 9

by Christian Williams
Conceptually, I divide Zion into 4-5 main parts. Parunaweap Canyon; which is off limits to most visitors (special permit), East Zion, Main Canyon, Kolob, and the North Creek/Coalpits Wash area. I spent most of my time in East Zion, because it's very rugged with few hikers or tourists due to the lack of publicized trails. With Highway 9 running right through the middle of East Zion it's also very easy to be completely away from civilization, even though the car is only a short walk away.

Day 179: March 23, 2005 - Reaching Tree

by Christian Williams
This photo has an interesting perspective. I like the way the branch is reaching out at you from the center of the picture, yet at the same time you feel drawn in toward Bridge Mountain in the background.

Day 117: January 20, 2005 - Sunrise Attempt

by Christian Williams
I woke early in the morning and headed to Zion to take pictures at sunrise. I set up my tripod, and shot some photos, but they didn't turn out as nice as I had hoped. Sometimes even the best laid plans don't go how we want them to.

Day 100: January 3, 2005 - Snow Capped Mountain, Foggy Valley

by Christian Williams

I spent this foggy morning taking pictures in East Zion. As I traveled toward the tunnel into Main Canyon, I stopped to take in the view of this twisting canyon with snow capped Bridge Mountain in the background.

by Christian Williams
On my way home the fog rolled in to cover most of Long Valley, the area a few miles east of Zion National Park. The dreamy beauty of this scene had to be captured. Although not technically in Zion National Park, the mountains of this area also are spectacular, with a similar geology.

Day 62: November 26, 2004 - Mount Spry & Bridge Mountain

by Christian Williams
The wide open valley in main canyon offers a great pespective on the magnificent towers and peaks of Zion National Park. The two large bolders in the foreground, with a juniper tree sandwiched in the middle bring to my mind the phrase "stuck between a rock and a hard place".

Day 42: November 6, 2004 - Three Peaks

by Christian Williams

I love Zion in the morning, and often choose to hike early in the day. This is one of my favorite areas to hike in Zion. This morning I was struck by the dramatic lines created by the bright sun cutting across the shadows.

Day 19: October 14, 2004 - Sunrise Silhouette

by Christian Williams

The Eastern part of Zion National Park is my preferred hiking area in Zion. Although there are plenty of tourists nearby, it's possible to be completely isolated from the crowds by hiking away from Highway 9.

This time of year, there were few people in the park, and even fewer in East Zion. I returned the area where I was the previous week in an attempt to capture the Bridge Mountain illuminated in sunlight and silhouetted by a ponderosa pine tree. It's not the most amazing photograph I took that day, but I enjoy it because of the amount of work it took to get the shot.

Day 12: October 7, 2004 - Bridge Mountain Sunrise

by Christian Williams

After spotting a herd of mountain sheep on the previous day, I returned to a similar location in Zion hoping to find the herd again. I hiked further up the next side canyon, and did not see any trace of the herd, but I was intrigued by the shadows spread at sunrise across the canyons of Zion. The canyons and Bridge Mountain (top left) emerge from the blackness below. I tried to position myself in a location to get a Ponderosa Pine tree to line-up directly in front of Bridge Mountain, but wasn't able to get in the right spot on this day.