What Is Stud Horse Point And Where Is It?
Stud Horse Point is located near Lake Powell on the western shore of Lake Powell. It is located inside of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. There are partially paved and partially not paved roads approximately opposite Lone Rock that head up to Stud Horse Point. A regular 2wd passenger car can make it fairly close up a more heavy duty vehicle can drive up a bit closer.
There are some cool hoodoos up around Stud Horse Point. They aren’t huge and aren’t as impressive as the Wahweap Hoodoos and may be about on par with the Toadstool Hoodoos. Since they are pretty cool but not a major highlight and a bit far out of the way, they don’t get a lot of social media attention. As a result, there are often few if any people up at Stud Horse Point to see the hoodoos there.
What Is It Like To Travel To And Photograph The Stud Horse Point Hoodoos?
If you are in the area of Stud Horse Point chances are you came to the area to see other sights in the area. You may be here to see Horseshoe Bend, The Wave, Buckskin Gulch, Coyote Buttes South, the Toadstool Hoodoos or some other awesome sight in the area. While Stud Horse Point is not a huge draw, it it does have some cool hoodoo formations that you might want to add to your photo collection.
If you are gong to some of the above sights, chances are you’ll be driving along Highway 89 between Page, Arizona and Kanab, Utah. Stud Horse Point is located much closer to the town of Page, Arizona than Kanab, Utah. The best place to stay and spend the night if you want to go to Stud Horse Point is Page, Arizona or the little town of Big Water, Utah. Page has the most services of the two and a much larger selection of lodging options. Big Water often has the cheapest gas in the area.
To drive up to the Stud Horse Point area, you may best served by asking the park rangers at Glen Canyon the best way to get there, and how close you can drive given the weather and road conditions and the vehicle you are driving. The roads up there can be a bit gnarly and most likely you’ll have to do some hiking but probably not much more than a mile or so round trip depending on how far up the roads you can drive.
Once you are up there, there are a number of different hoodoos and perspectives from which to shoot. There is one that looks like a British soldier. The others are pretty standard hoodoos with cap rocks on top. Sunrise or sunset may be good times to go up there but when I was there, I was generally off doing other things are sunrise or sunset.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of The Stud Horse Point Hoodoos?
The biggest challenge to getting wall art quality photos at Stud Horse point is just finding out about the place and getting there. It is a cool photo spot but not one that I’ve ever seen mentioned on social media or on Instagram. It’s only got two Google reviews so not many people have been up there.
Sunrise or sunset will probably be the best times to photograph it as some of the rock formations will catch the nice softer light at those times of day. When in this area I spent sunsets at Horseshoe Bend, probably 30 or more of them. That was back when parking was plentiful, free and anyone could go there anytime on a whim without having to pay parking fees or take a shuttle bus. Sunrises were spent at random other places getting early starts to hike to The Wave, Coyote Buttes South or other cool spots in the area around Page, Arizona and Kanab, Utah.
There are opportunities for wide angle shots, both closeup and distant. You may want to get closeups of the hoodoos or include more of the surrounding cliffs and landscapes. There is one hoodoo up there that looks like a British Soldier and others that are just pretty cool looking formations but not unlike other hoodoos you will see in other parts in this area of the desert southwest in southern Utah and northern Arizona..
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing The Stud Horse Point Hoodoos?
If you want to come away with wall art quality photos from Stud Horse Point that can be made into nice prints you’ll want a decent DSLR or mirrorless camera. When choosing lenses you’ll probably want something that is a pretty wide angle lens. Something like a 24-105mm zoom lens could be an all purpose lens to take up to Stud Horse Point but something even wider than 24mm will provide more opportunities to photograph the hoodoos. Due to the lay of the land you’ll probably be standing pretty close to some of the hoodoos. A really wide angle lens will give you more options when photographing in this area.
If you will be photographing at sunrise or sunset, you’ll be well advised to have a tripod with you to keep the camera steady for low light conditions. A circular polarizer may come in handy for making the landscape or the skies more vibrant.
While I didn’t make use of any panoramic photo gear at Stud Horse Point, there may be opportunities for cool panoramic shots in the area. It is not much of a hike from the car to the photo location so hauling any additional panoramic photo gear with you would not be a big burden or take a lot of extra effort.
What Is The Story Behind This Photo Of The Stud Horse Point Hoodoos?
During the winter of 2014 I found myself wandering around southern Utah and northern Arizona. As was the case most years, I planned to spend at most two weeks in the area before moving on. Two weeks often turned into two months or more because there is just so much to see all over southern Utah from Yant Flat around St. George all the way up to Capitol Reef, the famous Mesa Arch at Canyonlands and Delicate Arch at Arches National Park.
Anytime I was in this area of the country I’d always try for a permit to The Wave and usually get it though sometimes I’d have to go to the in person lottery 10 times before my number was drawn from the bingo ball at the Kanab BLM visitor center. After exhausting most of the other sights in the area, I decided to head up to Stud Horse Point since I’d never been there before. It was in a photo book I had. It didn’t look like the most impressive place in the world but it was something new.
The book warned that the road up might be a little sketchy. but would probably be OK in a Subaru Outback. The weather forecast was looking a little iffy and it did start to rain a little bit before I was back down off the back roads and back down on Highway 89. I hopped in the car, looked for the turn off and followed the road, made a few turns, passed through a gate or two and came to an area that looked like a parking area. There wasn’t room for may cars up here but I was the only one up there. Great to have the place to myself, not so great if I got stuck or had any issues hiking around the area.
The hike to the hoodoo area as a relatively easy one. I had to climb down a little bit but the terrain wasn’t too difficult. I found myself on a plateau of sorts with plenty of room to climb around on but I was pretty close to the hoodoos and glad to have a wide angle lens. I spent about an hour up at Stud Horse Point enjoying the views an photographing the hoodoos. As I stayed up there to shoot, the skies got a bit darker and it looked like rain might be on the way.
Though I thought about staying up there for sunset, the thought of driving back down unpaved roads with a lot of sand in some places wasn’t particularly appealing. The drive up wasn’t bad but it wasn’t totally smooth sailing either.
After a couple hours there, I headed back down the road. The Wahweap Campground on the edge of Lake Powell where there was a laundromat with an open wifi connection. That laundromat was my second home for many evenings spent in this area as it provided a somewhat comfortable place inside to use a free Internet connection to work on and upload photos.
Thanks to the power outlets I could use an electric kettle to make hot water for Ramen Noodles. Before heading off to the Wal-Mart parking lot to spend the night, I’d use the coin operated showers. Back then I think the showers were $2.00. In the absence of an actual bed to sleep in, a shower would help keep me feeling refreshed for at least a couple days and make it easier to sleep in the drivers seat of the overstuffed Subaru Outback.
What Formats Is This Stud Horse Point Hoodoo Wall Art Print Available?
This print of the hoodoos at Stud Horse Point is available in sizes up to 40×60 inches. It comes on paper, canvas, acrylic, wood and metal. If you’ll be hanging it in an area with diffused lighting, any print with any finish will look great. The shinier, more reflective surfaces like metal, acrylic and glossy or metallic papers or canvas will be brighter while a matte canvas or paper finish will be a bit more subdued. If it will hang in an area with bright light or exposed light bulbs, a canvas or paper matte finish will probably look best. A matte finish will not reflect bright light like a shinier finish will.
If you’d like to decorate your bathroom, this print looks great on a high quality shower curtain and can be ordered with matching bath towels. It looks great on a Sherpa fleece blanket that can be a practical and scenic was to keep warm on a chilly day.
If you’re in need of something to replace plastic shopping bags, there are great quality canvas tote bags available. The larger ones make for big shopping bags and can even works well for beach bags to carry a bunch of stuff. If you’d like a smaller item, this image comes on a variety of phone cases as well.
Finally, if you like puzzles, this image can e ordered on a jigsaw puzzle with either 500 or 1,000 pieces. The image comes printed on the box so you’ll have a reference to see exactly what it is you are working to piece together.
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