Heading into the San Rafael Swell...

on a mini-expedition to dig septarian nodules, explore the endless canyons and old copper and uranium mine sites, examine and photograph interesting petroglyph and pictograph panels, and generally knock around and have a good time. Several friends from Colorado will join in the big fun, taking about a week, and the weather forecast looks fabulous.

Sunset captured from the Wedge Overlook of the Little Grand Canyon of the San Rafael River, elevation around 6,300 feet. View is directly east, and the river is about 1,200 feet below the rim. I shot this several years ago during spring, immediately…

Sunset captured from the Wedge Overlook of the Little Grand Canyon of the San Rafael River, elevation around 6,300 feet. View is directly east, and the river is about 1,200 feet below the rim. I shot this several years ago during spring, immediately after an intense thunderstorm. I also recall that great numbers of spadefoot toads emerged and made quite a racket with their croaking.

An active weather day...

in Castle Valley presented this lovely rainbow spanning Adobe Mesa this early evening.

(Click image to enlarge.)

This rainbow ranks among the brightest and most intense of those I’ve observed, and lasted for about five minutes. I adjusted the contrast in the image a bit to darken the sky, but did not adjust the color saturation.

The exploration of Polar Mesa...

this past weekend with friends from Colorado was big fun, examining the geology, mining history and high elevation landscape southeast of Castle Valley.

Broad panorama showing, from left to right, the high La Sal Mountains, Fisher Mesa, the Onion Creek collapsed salt-cored anticline, and the Fisher Towers area. (Click image to enlarge.)

Still accessible uranium mine adit in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation on west side of Polar Mesa. This area was still producing uranium ore in the 1950s.

Still accessible uranium mine adit in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation on west side of Polar Mesa. This area was still producing uranium ore in the 1950s.

Descending through the stratigraphy of the Upper Jurassic-age Morrison Formation, one of the uranium-bearing strata on the Colorado Plateau. Elevation around 7,600 ft.

Descending through the stratigraphy of the Upper Jurassic-age Morrison Formation, one of the uranium-bearing strata on the Colorado Plateau. Elevation around 7,600 ft.

Still-standing headframe above an old uranium mine shaft. Based on picking around the mine dumps, the primary ore mineral appears to be carnotite.

Still-standing headframe above an old uranium mine shaft. Based on picking around the mine dumps, the primary ore mineral appears to be carnotite.

Milky Way above Parriott Mesa...

around 4:30 am MDT near Castle Valley, Utah. That’s me in the image, with my headlamp pointed straight up and held stationary during the 20 second exposure.

Tripod-mounted Canon 6D with Rokinon 14 mm lens at f/4, ISO 5000, 20 secs.

The heronry on the Colorado River...

is now open for residents this breeding season despite the COVID-19 lockdown in Grand County, visited this morning near milepost 9 on SR 128 between Moab and Castle Valley, Utah. There are about a half-dozen stick nests built by Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) over the decades right across the river from a small pullout.

This is likely the female on the stick nest in a grove of Gambel oak trees.

This is likely the female on the stick nest in a grove of Gambel oak trees.

This is likely the male, caught fishing on a gravel bar, just a short distance downstream below the nest.

This is likely the male, caught fishing on a gravel bar, just a short distance downstream below the nest.

International Space Station...

pierces the Milky Way in its orbit early this morning above Castle Valley as seen here in this 15 sec exposure captured shortly after 5 am MDT. The ISS entered the frame near Antares and continued on its trajectory across the view for about four minutes duration. There’s even a faint meteor trace in the image!

Shot during early morning twilight with tripod-mounted Canon 6D with Rokinon 14mm lens at f/4, ISO 5000.

Shot during early morning twilight with tripod-mounted Canon 6D with Rokinon 14mm lens at f/4, ISO 5000.

The time and trajectory of the transit of the ISS was predicted using Heavens-Above Pro and SkySafari apps.

Never waste a new moon...

to shoot the Milky Way, seen here from the Rocky Rapid access to the Colorado River near Castle Valley, Utah. I caught this at around 3:00 am MDT. using a very dim LED panel to illuminate the foreground.

The bright object in the lower-center is Jupiter, with the core of the Milky Way silhouetting the northern tip of Parriott Mesa. (Click image to enlarge.)