Coyote Buttes South (4/29/2016)

One day shy of two years after my first visit to Coyote Buttes South, I had a permit for a second visit.  This was the only day out of four that the weather forecast didn't call for rain in Kanab.  Who knows what it may be like on the Paria Plateau, where I was headed?

After an hour driving on pavement and more than an hour on the rocky, sandy roads leading to Coyote Buttes South, I arrived just in time to have lunch...a bologna sandwich and some Cheez-Its.  I could see right away that clouds were building to the north, but hoped they would stay there and bypass this area.  As I started up one of the several trails, I had a good overview of the general area, but couldn't fit it all into a single photo.  So, I settled for a photo of the area I planned to visit.  Bear in mind, North and South units of Coyote Buttes together make up more than 112,000 acres, so it's impossible to cover it all in a single day.  One has to pick a smaller area, and I didn't want to repeat the section I had done in 2014.

There were fresh tracks in the trail, obviously left by the two tour groups whose vehicles were also in the parking area, but I soon left them as I veered to the south.  Before too long, I was in the midst of spectacular, colorful formations.

There were lots of pools from all the recent rain.

The skies were getting darker, and the storm was clearly getting closer to me.  I reminded myself that bad weather can sometimes result in good photographs.

It was eerie the way shafts of sunlight came through the dark clouds and lit up certain formations, inviting me to get a photo of those scenes.

The remaining pictures are but a small sample of all those I got, hopefully showing the variety of colors, swirls and textures I found there. 

 

After the thunder and lightning began to pop all around me, and the rain started to fall, I noticed another system headed my way from the south.  I quickly snapped photos as I retreated toward the LRJ, almost a mile away.  Because of the system moving in from the south, I decided not to return or to visit another place.  I felt fortunate to have gotten what I had, so let's not push our luck.  As I started to leave, I got a glimpse of the large formation at White Pocket, several miles away as the crow flies.  While I was getting rain, White Pocket was getting snow.

Nearly an hour later, I was back near the paved highway when I spotted a small herd of horses grazing in the sagebrush.  Since there was no fence at all, and this is a National Monument, I have to assume these are wild horses.