Stars rise four minutes earlier each day, so that over the course of several months, Orion goes from a "winter constellation," which means it's visible during the convenient evening hours, to a rare pleasure glimpsed just before dawn gathers to itself the black of night and slowly spreads in its stead the blues, oranges, and finally the reds of the impending Sun. In a corner of Navajoland made famous for its buttes and spires, the eager Sun will arrive too soon and rob me of one last look at Orion before the chase for sunrise begins in earnest.
Basking in the warm glow of the setting Sun as temperatures plummet around us, we keep an eye downvalley, at the rainfall that may or may not sweep over us. Photographed March 2022.
Trees perch precariously in this hanging valley in Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park.
