Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #295 – Rock Your World

Published on by Yinglan

Happy Sunday! This week, Donna from Wind Kisses said, “Rock your World!” with Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #295 and I’m so glad we are talking about actual rocks and not, you know, rock n’ roll.

I feel fortunate at times to be living 4-hours within a national park. Actually, it’s not just one national park since I live in a state that boasts its 5 national parks. I can drive to any one of the 5 national parks in about 4 to 4.5 hours, depending on the route and traffic, of course.

Rocks are a regular theme in all of the parks. This photo is of the Twin Rocks in Capitol Reef National Park, by the way, which was a bonus stop on day one of my road trip at the end of 2023 when Google Maps led me to Capitol Reef as a detour to Monument Valley. I didn’t mind the detour at all, to be honest. In fact, it was refreshing to be visiting the park during its off-season when it was practically deserted.

There were some cool-looking rocks at Monument Valley. The guide called this “Turkey rock” because he said it sort of looks like a turkey’s feather. I can kind of see it, I guess. My imagination isn’t very good when it comes to trying to figure out what a rock looks like.

Of course, what’s a post about rocks without mentioning the Desert Watchtower in Grand Canyon and Edinburgh Castle in Scotland? The first thing I learned about Edinburgh Castle upon researching was that it was built on top of a volcano. How cool is that?

I should’ve done my research but I didn’t know anything about the Desert Watchtower until I arrived in Grand Canyon from the east rim and this was my very first stop. After reading a few signs along the way, I learned that this was an outpost from long ago, before Grand Canyon was even a national park. My only regret is that I should’ve gone up to take a look despite the long line.

Lastly, I cannot end this post without mentioning the amazing rock formations (hoodoos) at Bryce Canyon. I have been there at least 3 times now and seeing the hoodoos never ceased to amaze me.

10 thoughts on “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #295 – Rock Your World”

  3. Oh, Yinglan! you know I love your post with all he rocks from the SW. Capital Reef is a favorite park of mine and often not too crowded so it is good anytime…except the hot summer. Bryce is beautiful with snow, and the watchtower has fascinating history in addition to the view. Such a nice collection, and congrats on your book/guide on Utah. Great post. Thank you.

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    1. It’s my favorite national park so far since I haven’t been to many parks. I love the orchard in Fruita, always my favorite spot to visit in the park.
      I read a bit on the history of the watchtower and it’s quite fascinating.
      Thank you. 🙂

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  5. Your photos made me smile. Utah is filled with beauty and I discovered one place new to me last summer: Bear Ears National Monument. I didn’t have much of a chance to explore as the day I’d planned to spend most of there, it poured!! But I plan to go back and also re-visit many of the national parks that I haven’t seen since childhood. Have to go when there aren’t so many people, though.

    janet

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