Monday, July 6, 2009

Moab & Arches National Park - June 2008

Earlier in the year the artist Antoine had planned to travel from her home in Indiana to do a nude photo shoot around Utah. (Lee had helped her plan it.) PJ was excited to participate, but we decided we couldn’t really afford to participate, except to perhaps guide one day at the San Rafael Swell. As the time for the shoot arrived, at the last moment, Antoine discovered that all of her “female” models had cancelled, and she asked our help – she’d pick up our costs. So after meeting at a local Mexican restaurant in Sandy, Utah to discuss her plans, we quickly grabbed a few things (naturists don’t need much), and headed south with her and Lee for the first day’s shoot in Moab.

We got stated late, so didn’t arrive at the inexpensive cabin/camp ground that had been rented just north of Moab until after 1:00 am - so our first night was short. Still, we arose early and drove into Moab, and then east along the Colorado River to a canyon area Lee had visited in the past. (On the way we passed the ‘nude beach’ area on the Colorado River that only a few years ago been quite active. Sadly, it is no longer a naturist area; it has been replaced by a textile camping area.)

We got a little lost, so missed the area Lee had planned to visit. That turned out to be fortunate as we discovered a truly amazing red-rock wash instead. The wash was a little difficult to access (although we again lucked out by finding an easy access point by climbing over a small hill), so there was no chance we’d run into any textiles.

We freehiked up the wash for some distance, stopping frequently to take photos. PJ found some interesting holes to crawl into. Lee found a way up a high cliff wall. - the photos of him standing against this amazing rock backdrop reminded me of the old “Where’s Waldo” pictures – where’s Lee in this photo?

The deep-red cliffs on both sides of this slot-like canyon, the sparse juniper trees, and the contrasting blue skies above offered unbelievable scenery. And that is all in addition to the warm sun on our naked bodies. It was all wonderful, and Antoine didn’t mind hiking clothed through this beautiful area with three fun naturists. (We couldn’t persuade her to join in the naked fun - she was concentrating so much on finding just the right shot.)

We freehiked as far as we could until more cliffs blocked the way, although we certainly could have climbed over these cliffs - the canyon seemed to go on forever. But we were hot and tired so we turned around and hiked down the wash to the dirt road where it met a small stream near our car. PJ and I immediately splashed in and lay down in the wonderfully cooling water. Wow! Cool water, spectacular scenery, warm day, and all naked - what a refreshing feeling.

After, we drove into town for a nice lunch. There was still time to visit another area, so we took Antoine to Arches National Park. We saw several natural arches and found several areas that were private enough to shoot some photos. Some of Antoine’s best photos during the entire shoot were taken in the National Park.

Finished at the National Park, we still had time to visit one additional area, so we drove back to the area Lee had originally wanted to go – and found it. We had a nice freehike and took even more fun photos as the sun set. Then we returned to stay again at the cabin/campground, looking forward to our second day, shooting photos at the San Rafael Swell, but that’s a report for another day.

Here is a link to some of the photos taken in the Moab area, the first day of our Southern Utah photo shoot: http://imageevent.com/kenandjane/sutahantoinephotoshoot

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