From the very first time I stood high above Monument Valley on the precipice of Hunt’s Mesa, journeys there have been spiritual experiences.

Each trip unique, some yielding spectacular results photographically; other times shut out by light but nonetheless deeply appreciated for the drama of monsoon skies
with claps of reverberating thunder and diamond-like strikes of lightning. Combined with a harrowing, two-hour 4x4 drive up and down what can only charitably be described as a ‘jeep trail’
and the quiet serenity of camping under wondrously starry skies miles from worldly concerns, an overnight on Hunt’s Mesa is a photographic adventure of the highest order.

The opportunity to capture that magnificent view in winter was literally and figuratively, icing on the cake! ‘Twas an endeavor to be sure:
tent camping with temps in the teens; overnight winds gusting to 40 mph; wind chill below zero; and eight inches of fresh snow.

Ah, but what a morning!!

As the storm passed to the east, light streamed in, illuminating the monuments and mesas draped in white. Unlike summer trips with fellow travelers,
I was the lone photographer this day, a very special experience. Busying myself with photographic concerns (batteries, blowing snow, keeping lenses and filters clean,
and equipment, including me, warm and dry), I stopped every once in a while to take it all in. By the time my friend and expert Navajo guide Tom Phillips graciously brought me a cup of hot coffee,
it was, as my wife Teri often reminds me . . . “all good.”