Photo Challenge: Dirt

It’s time for another Brenda Photo Challenge! The current theme is Dirt. That’s right, we’re digging up dirt today and taking a really good look at it! And some of the prettiest dirt I’ve ever seen is out in the western USA states. Instead of plain old drab brown, it has color, texture, and grit. For this challenge, I immediately thought of Bryce Canyon National Park, where the dirt is about as colorful as it gets!

Bryce is famous for its hoodoos, which are spires of rocks created by years of erosion. With base skirts of colorful clay and minerals (aka, “dirt”), the hoodoos are a sight to behold as they pose along the canyon floor. In this picture, you can see part of a hiking trail that winds its way through the hoodoo maze. The park is named after Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon pioneer. His famous quote about the place is that it was a “hell of a place to lose a cow”! The camera settings for this image were f/5.6, 1/500 second, and ISO 200.

While we were taking sunrise pictures, we saw a few brave hikers on a trail below. If I had a good knee at the time and proper hiking equipment, I would have ventured into the magical countryside to get another perspective too. Ah, maybe we can go back again sometime! These young folks were coming back up from the canyon bottom, and they were trying to hurry along. Even though our visit was in April, it was a very brisk 18 degrees that morning! After about an hour, we practically ran back to our cabin for some hot coffee. The image was taken at f/5.0, 1/100 second, and ISO 200.

The park features such primitive beauty, with wild, expansive vistas all along a rim trail. Time stops. The usual clutter of your thoughts vanishes. You feel the wonderment of how the landscape was created. You notice the quiet, the wind, and yes, even the dirt at your feet. And before walking away, you tuck away an image in your mind, like the one below, to forever keep in your memories and your heart. Scenes like this are what make the journeys worthwhile.

The camera settings were f/10, 1/400 second, and ISO 200. A background layer was applied during the image processing to give it an antique look.