That big rock is called "The Pulpit" and it's located in the Temple of Sinawava region of Zion National Park. The trees framing the stone tower are cottonwoods, whose bright yellow fall leaves almost look like they are luminescent. A few hours after I took this picture, we came back to this area and saw someone doing a technical climb up the face of that rock. As you can see, it is pretty much straight up, flat, and smooth. I was very content to watch his progress and had no desire to try it myself.

Though the Burroughs excerpt is from his essay "Spring Jottings," this photo is quite obviously of an autumn scene - but his words still match the image. The two photos shown this month are the first ones I'll be posting from my October trip to Zion National Park, in Springdale, UT. I've been to Zion many times but this was the first visit during the fall, and we went specifically for the fall colors. The unusually dry summer and early fall meant that the trees didn't explode in brilliant color as they normally do, but were instead more subdued as you see here. For a person like myself who has spent most of his life in the eastern U.S., seeing the fall colors against the backdrop of the massive rocks of Zion was quite a treat.

If you are interested in excellent landscape photography, take a look at NATURE'S AMERICA which captures images from around the US, or Muench's book PLATEAU LIGHT which contains images from the Arizona-Utah redrock canyon country. Both are reasonably priced for photography books of this type, and you'll find them endlessly enjoyable. And if you want to see what a truly professional landscape photographer can do with the same Gunsight Butte image, look at Michael Fatali's photograph in the "Indian Country" section of ARIZONA: THE BEAUTY OF IT ALL. I have been fortunate to be able to take a couple of photography workshops with Michael, and his work is outstanding.