Locations close to Salt Lake City

[larryg]

South of Salt lake there is Timpanogos National Forest
Up in the mountains.   I got some nice aspen grove images
and stream shots there.   About an hour from Salt Lake

(This is near where Redford's Sundance is)

[jimhuber]

Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point parks just outside Moab are wonderful locations. Dead Horse Point I've only had good luck with at sunrise, but it's worth it. Canyonlands has lots of good views in different directions so the timing isn't as critical.

Arches has lots of great potential, too, but be prepared for desert hiking: good boots, lots of suncreen, a good hat, and PLENTY of water. I wear a 3 liter CamelBak full of water with two bottles of Gatorade in the pockets for such hikes myself.

Another long shot (about 7 hours each way) is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon - one of my absolute favorite places.

[jimhuber]

Yeah, I thought of another one...

Great Basin National Park is just over the border in Nevada, just outside Baker. Not a fantastic location but much closer at about 4 hours. I enjoyed the "Alpine Lakes Loop" hike and Lehman Caves. Lexington Arch is in the park but a short drive away down a dirt road. The only place to stay in Baker is the Silver Jack Motel, if I remember correctly, and it has only 4 or 5 rooms.

Yellowstone and the Tetons are only about 5 hours away the other direction, too.

Vail Valley, Colorado the surrounding area (Leadville, Aspen, Snowmass, Estes Park) are about 7 hours east.

Wow, I hadn't really thought about great a location Salt Lake City is before, but it's fairly central to a lot of absolutely beautiful landscapes. I hope you have a lot of weekends free...

[msbc]

I'm looking for some advise for shooting locations close to Salt Lake City. I'll be working there for 3-4 weeks starting mid-August. I'm looking for places I can get to by car on the weekends. I'm also planning on trying my hand at panorama's for the first time so places suitable would be of interest.

[ctgardener]

Can't beat sights around Moab if you're up for a 5-hour drive ... late night drive Friday, up early for sunrise Sat & Sun then drive back to SLC ... And scenery along the mountain pass that gets you from SLC to Moab, too.  In June, I flew out with 4 friends from NY to SLC (via Houston !) then drove 5 hours to Moab, got a late afternoon in at Arches, then had all day Saturday & Sunday before getting up again at 4:30 Monday to drive back to SLC.  Got a lot of good shots in a short period of time - postcard-type stuff, but it was my first trip out there:

http://kingofthebeasts.smugmug.com

On the first morning, we went on a guided 6-hour sunrise tour with Canyonlight Photo Tours (link from my smugmug page if you're interested) ... they're affordable and know the area really well and can help you get the most out of limited time in the area (and can get you offroad).  

- Dennis

[jimhuber]

Of course on the way to the North Rim is Zion, Bryce, and Cedar Breaks. A little further east is Capitol Reef, Grand Satircase-Escalante, and Glen Canyon. West of Moab is Goblin Valley. Southern Utah is absolutely littered with fantastic landscape phtoography opportunities!

www.americansouthwest.net/utah/map.html

[msbc]

Jim,

Thanks for all your helpful posts. Seems my trip has been cut short and I'll only be in SLC for 2 weeks starting September 12th. So, I actually only have one weekend. I'm going to have to decide the best way to spend that weekend.

[johnc@cole-co.com]

Just so you know, Sundance now offers a Photo workshop.  Look at www.sundanceworkshop.com