J got up earlier than usual and was all excited to go shooting — something was wrong because she's not a morning person! I was happy though and quickly jumped out of bed and got ready to go. I made a mug of my regular coffee and J started a mug of tea steeping, and we left in the Jeep around 6:40 — before the approximately 7:05 sunrise! :)

I had Clif Bars for breakfast as we headed towards Cascade Springs and then took the road into Wasatch Mountain State Park along Deer Creek. We were looking for good fall color and were pleasantly surprised to find two moose near the campground, a bull and a cow, lying down in a meadow surrounded by fall color. We stopped, set up to shoot, and the moose stood up for us. :) The bull (below left) was smallish, but it was still great to see and photograph him in such great surroundings. Then we continued up Deer Creek Road and came across two Blue Grouse on the road. They were a little skittish, but after I followed them on foot for a while they posed very nicely by the side of the road (below right). The hen stopped atop a nice rock to show off her feet and the green background is the opposite side of the valley, at least half a mile away. It doesn't get much better than that!



As we continued up Deer Creek Road, the cloud we had been watching finally lined up with some nice color down in the valley and we stopped to photograph the magnificent scene (left).

We came back along Snake Creek into Midway. Midway has some ski resorts, and the buildings are styled after those in the German and Swiss Alps.

We went to the Sidetrack Cafe in Heber City around 10:20. J was hungry for breakfast and we were both looking for some Wi-Fi. I didn't want J to eat alone, so I had an O'Pete Sa Lisa Breakfast Wrap (eggs, Italian cheeses, grilled onions, roasted peppers, spuds, garlic & sausage wrapped in a white tortilla topped with lettuce, onion, olive, salsa, & sour cream) with no sour cream, and J had Mediterranean Quiche (eggs, feta, Italian cheese medley, with assorted Mediterranean veggies). We both enjoyed the food. The Internet connection went down shortly before the food arrived, and the owner/waitress did something to get us back online. After I finished eating, I did some computer work. We had decided to stay in town during the day instead of heading back to the RV so that we wouldn't have to drive up and back on the narrow winding roads.

We ordered lunch around 1:45. I had a Lenny Boy Sandwich (turkey, sprouts, guacamole, and other stuff I don't remember because I didn't take notes while I was there), and J had a slice of Lemon Bar. The sandwich was good and J said the Lemon Bar was to die for. (The owner/waitress said it was like a party in your mouth.) We settled the bill and left around 2:55.
We took US-189 southwest out of town, and it went through some wonderful fall color. We got on I-15 heading south after going through Provo and right by the campus of Brigham Young University — "The Y."

We went to the WalMart in Payson around 4:15. I picked up some Clif Bars and a Remington Large Accessory Organizer to hold my Lee Filters Multi-Filter Pouch, my Lee Filters Foundation Kit and adaptors, and my LowePro screw-in filter holder. The Lee Filters Ten-Filter Holder measures approximately 8.25x6.25x1.75 inches (21x16x5 cm), and is too large to fit into my jacket pockets, and I've gotten tired of either holding it between my legs or putting it on the ground while I shoot. J picked up some cashews. We left around 4:35 and J was tired — not a good sign.

We took I-15 down to Nephi and then got on the Nebo Loop heading north around 5:05. There were some nice patches of fall color not too far up the road, but they were nice to look at — not to photograph. Then the road ascended steeply and left the maples behind and far away. We stopped at the Devil's Kitchen area, a small area known as a "mini Bryce Canyon." I'm not sure I'd go that far because the area was extremely small and the rock that was eroding was filled with round river rock — quite different from the smooth red sandstone in Bryce. While stopped there, I learned that Mt. Nebo is the highest mountain in the Wasatch Range at 11,928 ft (3636m). It's to the west of the loop, so the back lighting and heavy haze didn't make it very nice to look at. The road finally descended among the maples, but there weren't any obvious photo ops.

We checked out Maple Lake, hopeful that it would be a lake surrounded by maples. It was — kinda. The man-made lake had some nice maples behind it, but there was a walkway around the lake and the lake itself was covered by patches of brown scum — not vert photogenic. :(

There was an overlook between the lake and the main road and we stopped there so I could photograph. J took the Jeep to find something else to photograph. The thin clouds developed some color at sunset, but it was subtle (left). The various layers, including Utah Lake, really helped make the image work. The image was created from two exposures to capture detail in the bright sky and dark foreground and that were combined by hand in Photoshop. J came back to pick me up and we headed for home.

We stopped at the Chevron in American Fork to fill up the Jeep at $2.799/gal.
We returned to the RV around 9:25 and there were lots of people camping near us now, and some of them were really loud. :( J went to bed almost immediately and I downloaded and downselected images from today before going to bed.