Frozen river - wet feet.

Paria River Canyon is one of my favorite places to shoot in Utah. The windows in the rock are absolutely beautiful. One shot I took last year has taken more awards in shows than any other piece I currently have. The textures here are just beautiful - cracked and rippled mud, striped sandstone walls, deep "windows" in the high walls of the canyon... It's incredible. This time, the river was frozen. We have neoprene water shoes that keep our feet warm (but not dry), so we were able to cross the river several times even though the ice broke under our feet with every step. We were standing in icy water up to our knees in some places, but we never felt particularly cold. I love those water shoes - they've been in waterfalls in France, rivers from Utah to West Virginia, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans... they do their job very well.

We loved shooting the amazingly intricate patterns in the ice. It was truly beautiful - and entirely different from our last trip. What a place!

We met up with a startled coyote on the way back to the car. He thought he was being pretty stealthy about crossing the river near us... until he fell through the ice with a loud crack... the poor bugger was scared out of his soggy wits and darted up the hillside like a bat out of hell. Probably scarred for life. :)