Picture of the week

Robbers Roost hoodoo

A sandstone hoodoo in the Robbers Roost backcountry of Southern Utah.  Found near one of our camps while exploring the area during some evening photography.

I revisited this area the first week of May for the purpose of some more technical canyoneering with three other friends.  This is one of the more remote areas of Southern Utah.  While traveling through two of these canyons (Not Mindbender and NoMan's) we saw no other people in the canyon.  Perhaps because these canyons also tend to be more physical, with less anchors placed by others to work with, while also having a bigger effort to get back out.  We had a few sketchy situations that required more teamwork to get out from, and thus would recommend these only for more experienced folks. The third canyon featured here is in the Irish Canyons area closer to the Glenn Canyon area, known as Leprechaun (right fork), and ended up being the most photogenic, but also more traveled by others and easier.  A video has also been posted of the exploration of Not Mindbender Canyon on my YouTube channel here:

The images shot in the canyons were taken using my trusty but a little more worse-for-wear Canon G7X.  I like the results and compact size of this camera and relatively flexible and fast lens (24 - 100mm, f/1.8) and its 1" sensor.  This combination works well in the low light conditions for many of the locations. Larger camera don't tend to work to well in these tight technical slot canyons, taking too much space while also being a constant source of worry as your gear gets abused as you drag it through these relatively brutal conditions. After taking the latest beatings due to the ever present sand and dropping off my belt loop and bouncing off some rocks into a slot about 25' below (while in its case), the mechanical lens cover is starting to stick more when turning it on or off.  I had to manually open and close it while in the field until getting back home to clean it more thoroughly and retweaking the lens cover mechanism.  It seems to be operating correctly again but I am not sure for how long.  But so far I have not found another camera more suitable for this type of photography other than the newer generation (e.g. G5X mark II).  Ideally if a manufacturer could produce such a camera with the same specs but also add weather proofing and a more rugged chassis.