Utah & Arizona Photo Workshop Tours
Save 15% by registering 60 day early, enter discount code "60days". Returning clients, receive a 10% discount, or 25% discount if registering 60 days early. E-mail me for a discount code.
Bryce Canyon & the Grand Staircase Escalante
Most of Utah lies on a plateau higher than 4,000 feet above sea level. The geology of this region takes on an amazing variety of shapes and colors. Elevations rise and fall dramatically in the shape of mountains, buttes, and plateaus, the highest reaching over 13,000 feet! Within this varied landscape are hidden treasures, numerous National and State Parks, Recreation Areas and National Monuments as well as many wilderness areas. This photo tour features two of those stunningly photogenic locations, Bryce Canyon National Park and the northern section of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah. We will also take a few side trips to several of the local state parks in the area as well. The first half of the week we will be based in Bryce Canyon City and we will concentrate on photographing Bryce Canyon. We plan to visit all the major view points of the main amphitheater including Sunrise and Sunset Viewpoints, Inspiration Point and Bryce Point as well as points north along the main access road to Yovimpai and Rainbow Points and the many stops in between. We will also go on a few short hikes (2-3 miles) into the heart of the amphitheater along the Navajo and Queen’s Garden Trails as well as the Fairyland Trail. Outside the main park we will take a short hike to Mossy Cave and the short spur trail to a perennial waterfall among the red spires. We will have a full moon while in Bryce Canyon so we will try our hand at some moonlight and night photography assuming we have clear skies. Time permitting we will also visit Red Canyon which is often referred to as Bryce’s little brother, but offers some different formations and most notably more intense reds than can be found in Bryce. That concludes a busy first part of the week as we now relocate about an hour to the east to the town of Escalante. From here we will explore the many slot canyons, hoodoos, arches and waterfalls of the Escalante River drainage in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Highlights include trips to Devil’s Garden, Zebra and Tunnel Slot Canyons, Neon Canyon, the narrows of the Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch, Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Slot Canyons, Calf Creek Falls, the Hundred Handprints pictograph panel, Hell’s Backbone Road with dramatic views of the Death Hollow Wilderness and the Burr Trail. Hikes in this segment will be 6-8 miles mostly on flat terrain with a few steep sections in and out of drainages. Time permitting we will take in a few local state parks including Kodachrome Basin, Escalante Petrified Forest and Anasazi State Parks. It sounds like a lot, and it is, but we will be going from before sunrise to well past sunset in order to take it all in and capture some of the most unusual and varied landscapes of Southern Utah. Join me for an image packed adventure through Bryce Canyon and the Grand Staircase Escalante. This 7 day photo tour is available in its entirety at a discounted rate or you may purchase either 3.5 day segment of just Bryce Canyon or just the Grand Staircase Escalante.
$1,299 ($1,104.15 early registrants) Full Tour • $699 ($594.15 early registrants) Half Segment Tour
For more details or to register on-line, please click here:
May 1 - 7, 2014
Kanarra Creek Slot Canyon Narrows
Kanarra Creek is a beautiful little canyon on BLM land north of the Kolob section of Zion National Park, located above the Hurricane Cliffs just east of the little town of Kanarraville. We will hike up this creek into the narrows section where it is most photogenic. As the walls close in the water deepens to just below waist-high but for most of the hike we will be in ankle to knee deep water. Soon after the start of the dark slot section, we will reach the first major obstacle of the hike: a 15-foot high rock-jam waterfall that must be climbed over. Typically, some sort of ladder aid is in place to help folks climb up the waterfall, but the quality of the aid varies from year to year. Just above the first waterfall is a boulder waterfall that can be bypassed by scrambling up the right side of the canyon. After several more beautiful turns in the canyon, a few minor obstacles and a few narrow sections of near waist-deep water, we will reach the second major rock-jam waterfall obstacle that may also have a ladder to help aid upstream travel. Beyond this obstacle, the upper canyon shallows out and becomes less photogenic. This is our turnaround point and we will retrace our steps back the way we came. This is a moderately strenuous hike due mainly to the rock jam areas and ladder climbing. You will need some water shoes and neoprene booties, I use my Keen water shoes and O'Neil surfing booties with a pair of shorts. If you don't have any water shoes they can be rented at the local adventure sports stores in Springdale. The water is cold but tolerable and you quickly warm-up after exiting the narrows section. We should complete our round-trip hike in 4-5 hours. This tour makes a great addition to the Zion Canyon Tour below as you will already be in the area. Join me for a little slot canyon fun as we hike and photograph the Kanarra Creek Narrows.
$149 ($126.65 early registrants) • For more details or to register on-line, please click here:
Nov. 5, 2014
Zion Canyon & Narrows in Fall Color
and optional hike to the Subway
Zion National Park is a top fall foliage destination this time of year. The maples are a brilliant red, the cottonwoods and aspens are bright yellow and the oaks will be shades of orange. Since the number of visitors increases dramatically on the weekend, I have choosen a Thursday and Friday for my workshop which avoids the crowds and leaves you free to explore other parts of the park on the weekend. We will spend a full day photographing the fall foliage and rock formations along the Virgin River of Zion Canyon from sunrise to sunset and we will make a trip to the east side of the park for some classic sandstone and fall color images. Wildlife is also commonly seen throughout the park this time of year with numourous sightings of deer, wild turkey, foxes, various birds of pray, many song birds, ravens, taranculas, coyotes, cougars and Desert Bighorn Sheep. While we may not see all of these species you should definitely plan to see the majority of them. The Virgin River Narrows is one of the longest, deepest and most beautiful slot canyons in the Southwest. We will spend another full day photographing the Virgin River Narrows as we hike up river to the Orderville confluence where the walls tower 2,000-2,500 feet over head and a mere twenty feet across. With the sun at a low angle this time of year we will have good reflected lighting throughout most of the day, it will be hard not to get great images in this location. There will be numerous photo opportunities throughout this hike all accented by gorgeous fall colors. The hike into the Narrows is moderately strenuous and requires you to be in good physical condition. The water will be cold this time of year and you will need neoprene socks and canyoneering shoes, a drysuit or pants and have dry bags for your gear which can be rented from a local Sprindale, UT adventure outfitter. Join me on what is sure to be two full days of photographic nirvana.
$499 ($424.15 early registrants) • For more details or to register on-line, please click here:
Nov. 5 - 7 2014
The optional hike to the Subway, while not part of the official workshop we will hike as a group to Zion's Subway for some additional image making opportunities on Saturday, November 8th. You will need to be in good physical condition as the hike is very strenuous. The Subway section of North Creek is approximately a 9 mile round trip hike with little flat easy ground. That said, the reward is more than worth the effort as we near the Subway we will encounter several terrace waterfall areas, the crack and finally the Subway (see images below).
White Pocket & Coyote Buttes South
The White Pocket area is a spectacular exposure of red, yellow, pink and white contorted sedimentary rock layers. The bedrock here consists of the Early Jurassic age Navajo Sandstone. The Navajo Sandstone is composed of frosted, well-rounded, fine-to-medium-grained quartz cemented by calcium carbonate. The Coyote Buttes Wilderness is a protected area of simultaneously gnarled, polished and twisted rock. This extraordinary remote area has been overshadowed by the more glamorous and famous Wave (lower right image) which sits in the Coyote Buttes North. That is unfortunate because the South has much more to offer and is one of the most remarkable landscapes on the Colorado Plateau. In order to shoot both locations at sunrise and sunset one must stay overnight, therefore, this workshop tour will run from 12 Noon Sunday to 12 Noon Tuesday and includes high clearance 4x4 transportation to each location, professional guide services, professional photographic advise, tent, sleeping pad and bag, all meals and water. South Coyote Buttes is a large area and we plan to hike approximately six hours at a leisurely pace on a loop through this area stopping often to capture images. There are no trails through this area so we will be traveling over slick rock and sand as we explore this remarkable landscape. For our morning shoot we will make a shorter trip into several areas known to have good early morning exposures. The White Pocket area is much smaller and can be circumnavigated in 2-3 hours at a leisurely pace of exploration. Travel is relatively easy as it is mostly on rock with only the first two tenths mile over deep sand from the parking area. That mean we will have time to explore during mid-afternoon looking for our shots to return to for sunset and sunrise. These two areas sit relatively close to each other but are extremely remote and difficult to find and get into and out of with no services what so ever available, not even a porta-potty. You need to be comfortable roughing it for a few days in a remote wilderness area if you plan to join us. That said, you will be blown away by some of the most spectacular and bazaar landscape formations you'll likely witness in your lifetime of travels. Due to the additional planning, required permits, remoteness of the location and additional guide services this tour requires a minimum of four adventure minded photographers to make happen. All four participants must be registered by Sept. 15, 2014 for this tour to move forward, so register early. Should we not reach quorum by this deadline full refunds will be issued. Heavy rain immediately before or forecasted to arrive during our tour dates will also cancel this tour as roads will be impassable, again; full refunds will be issued. Join us for a one-of-kind photographic adventure found nowhere else on the internet, but here, at Greg Clure Photography Photo Workshop Tours.
$999 • Registration deadline is September 15th, please click here to register on-line:
(Early registration discount does not apply to this tour)
Nov. 9 - 11, 2014
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