Canyonlands National Park – Candlestick Tower and Buck Canyon

Our next two stops driving the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands were Candlestick Tower and Buck Canyon.  This entire section is one huge mesa above the Green and Colorado Rivers, and there are fabulous views along both sides of the road.  In the images in this post, you can see how wonderfully photogenic the stormy skies overhead were!

Wide View of Candlestick Tower

One of the things I most love about the Western area of the US is how grand the views can be.  In this image, the Candlestick Tower is off on the right side of the image in the distance.  The lighting at this point was really interesting – mainly cloudy and waiting for the rain, with just a touch of sunlight off the left of the Tower.  Just looking at this image, I can almost feel the promise of rain in the air.

Buck Canyon Overlook

A bit further down the road and on the opposite side of the road from Candlestick Tower, lay Buck Canyon.  I love the way the canyon sort of cuts thru pat of the canyon floor, seeming reaching out to us standing at the overlook area.  I also love the big view in this image – where you can see to the mesa in the distance.  And, if you look to the far right in this image, you can just barely see some rain falling in the canyon.

Rainfall

Here’s a better view of the rain falling in the canyon.  Because the views are so grand and expansive, you can really see the individual showers.  I grew up in the city, and throughout my childhood, I assumed that if it was raining where I was, it was raining all over because when I looked up, all I could see was rain.  But, here, you can truly see that rain in one location is just rain in that location!  I don’t know that I’ll ever get tired of seeing that!

Enjoy!