What Is Grosvenor Arch And Where Is It?
Grosvenor Arch is a towering sandstone arch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. It is a double arch as you can see if you look closely at the photo. It sits atop a HUGE sandstone rock formation more or less out in the middle of nowhere in Utah.
The arch is located on road 400 in Utah, also known as the Cottonwood Canyon Road. The Cottonwood Canyon Road that starts up around Kodachrome Basin State Park and comes out on Highway 89 that runs between Page, Arizona and Kanab, Utah. Cottonwood Canyon road can be anywhere from a rough gravel road to impassable when wet.
The safest way to get to Grosvenor Arch is to start out at Kodachrome Basin State Park and drive Cottonwood Canyon road out to the arch. If you drive up from Highway 89 you will absolutely need to check the road conditions before making the drive. It is advisable to have a higher clearance 4wd or AWD vehicle when visiting Grosvenor Arch but may not be necessary.
What Is It Like To Travel To And Photograph Grosvenor Arch In Utah?
If you go to Grosvenor Arch, chances are it will be part of a longer trip or road trip through the Utah National Parks and BLM land in the area. Bryce Canyon is the closest national park to Grosvenor Arch and Kodachrome Basin State Park is the closest state park to Grosvenor Arch.
If you are flying into the area you’ll probably want to fly into the Salt Lake City Airport, the Las Vegas Airport or the St. Georg, Utah Airport. You’ll need a rental car and when driving around Grand Staircase-Escalante you’ll be well served to get a pretty rugged rental car with some clearance and 4wd or AWD. You probably won’t need it to get to Grosvenor but you might.
If you’re on a camping road trip, the most convenient place to stay when you go to Grosvenor Arch is the Kodachrome Basin state park campground. It will cost you at least $25/night to stay there. It is a nice campground, a nice park and they do have showers. If you don’t want to pay to camp you can probably just park and sleep in your car somewhere out around Grosvenor Arch but you’ll want to check the current policies to see where you can do that.
If you want to stay in a hotel, there are some in Cannonville, Utah nearby and many more up around Bryce Canyon National Park a bit farther away. The campgrounds at Bryce will be the cheapest places to camp but will not have showers.
Once you have all your travel arrangements in place, you’ll just drive along the Cottonwood Canyon Road about 12 miles, hang a left and Grosvenor Arch will be there on your left. There is plenty of parking, a walkway from the parking area to the base of the arch and some signage to give you information about the arch and the arch. The hike from the parking area to the arch is very short and flat. Anyone can do the short hike or just view the arch from the car.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of Grosvenor Arch?
If you want to get a nice wall art quality photo of Grosvenor Arch you’ll just need a camera and some creativity. Walk around the base of the arch, look for some unique perspectives and hope for some cool clouds to light up the scene even more.
When driving and photographing in this area you always have to watch the weather. A flash flood or even a hard rainstorm can make roads impossible to drive. Look for days with little to no rain in the forecast. If the forecast is for cloud cover at sunrise or sunset that may facilitate fiery skies be mindful of any rain and how much rain may fall during the time you plan to head out there.
When I was there in the spring of 2015, the days available to go to Grosvenor were clear and dry. The only option was blue skies as there was no rain in the forecast.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing Grosvenor Arch?
When you head out to Grosvenor Arch, chances are it will be dry, bright and clear. A good DSLR or mirrorless camera will do the trick. While a tripod is always advisable to be able to precisely frame up the exact scene you want, you can certainly hand hold the camera for any daytime shot of Grosvenor Arch. If you’ll be out there at sunrise, sunset or for night sky shots you will definitely want a tripod to keep the camera steady and get a nice sharp photo.
The rock formation of which Grosvenor arch is part of is HUGE! A lens zoom range between 17mm and around 100mm is a good range to have with you. A rally wide angle lens will facilitate some closeup shots but there is plenty of room around Grosvenor Arch to zoom with your feet to make use of most any lens that you have.
Grosvenor Arch is large enough to use a panoramic setup if you want to be able to make really large prints. Regardless of what pano setup you have or how heavy it is, the distance between the parking area and the arch is so short that it will be no extra burden at all to bring and use photo gear to shoot stitched panoramic views of Grosvenor Arch.
A circular polarizer can be useful to help get some nice deep blue skies and is also worth bringing with you to Grosvenor Arch.
What Is The Story Behind This Photo Print Of Grosvenor Arch?
During the spring of 2015 I was back out on the road for the 6th year of road trips to experience and photograph the National Park and other amazing places around the US and Canada. After the first visit to The Wave in Coyote Buttes back in 2011, the Page, Arizona and Kanab, Utah area was one I returned to every year. I’d hang around that area until I got a next day permit for The Wave and then go wander around Bryce, Zion, Grand Staircase-Escalante and elsewhere.
In 2015 I returned to Bryce Canyon and spent some time camping there. While at Bryce I didn’t get a shower (because there are none) and before Bryce it had been a while since I’d taken a shower. When looking for a place to gt a shower, I discovered Kodachrome Basin State Park not too far away from Bryce. I went down for the day to check it out and decided to spend a night there that of course turned into a few nights there.
The sights in Kodachrome Basin are pretty cool but not as spectacular as much of the rest of southern Utah. I spent a few days wandering around and hiking at Kodachrome Basin. One night I was looking back through the travel and BLM brochures I’d picked up along the way and noticed Grosvenor Arch. I asked the park staff about it, figured out where it was and wasn’t sure it I should try to drive back to see it. As is often the case with the BLM folks, they can make roads sound worse than they actually are. This probably deters some people from going but it also prevents people who are unprepared for one reason or another from going into areas they may not be prepared for and may need to be rescued from.
I got mixed signals on the road to Grosvenor Arch but finally decided to strap on a paid and head out there. The road wasn’t in great shape but it was dry and I had a Subaru Outback that had never gotten stuck anywhere in the last 5 years. During portions of the drive out I thought I might crack tooth driving over the graded area that were full or small rolling bumps.
After a cautious 40 minutes drive with all of my teeth in tact, I spotted the road to the left that went up to Grosvenor Arch, took the turn and pulled into the parking lot. There was nobody else there. The arch and the whole formation around it towered over me an left me with a feeling of awe. Today, seeing something like Grosvenor Arch is no big deal because I’ve seen so much all over the US and Canada but at that time it was an incredible sight!
When I got there, the sun was blazing down and the temps were on the way up. I guzzled a bunch of water, downed some Pop-Tarts and grabbed the camera gear to go shoot. First I used the wide angle lenses but then decided to step back and take some panoramic shots with the heavy duty Nodal Ninja pano head setup. Anytime there was a pretty static landscape I’d shoot panoramic shots to facilitate HUGE prints. This was one of those times and the photo highlighted in this article is one of those photos.
It was a beautiful day and I was tired from the recent stretch of either dry camping or sleeping the car. Most of the day was spent out at Grosvenor Arch enjoying the solitude, the awesome sight in front of me and wandering around from time to time to try to come up with new photo compositions of this massive sandstone arch structure.
Had I not had a campsite at Kodachrome, I might have just stayed out there all night and driven out in the morning. I considered staying out till after sunset but there were no clouds in the sky, the road back wasn’t treacherous but wasn’t particularly good either. With enough time to make it back to the campground and the campsite before dark I hoped back in the car and headed back along the Cottonwood Canyon road to Kodachrome Basin State Park. Upon arrival at the campsite I enjoyed a gourmet dinner of Beefaroni followed by a desert of Pop-Tarts and soon drifted off to sleep.
In What Formats Is This Panoramic Photo Print Of Grosvenor Arch Available?
This panoramic photo print of Grosvenor Arch is available in sizes up to 72×42 inches and comes on paper, canvas, metal, acrylic and wood. If you will be hanging it in any area with diffused lighting, any material with any finish will look great. A matte finish on a paper or canvas print will be a bit more subdued while anything with a glossy or metallic finish will b more vibrant and shiny. If you’ll hang it in an area with bright direct lighting or exposed light bulbs, a matte finish print will probably be preferable to prevent glare and reflections when viewing the print.
If you’d prefer bathroom decor, a high quality shower curtain potentially paired with some matching bath towels could give your bathroom a nice Grosvenor Arch theme. For the living room or bedroom a Sherpa fleece blanket makes a nice accessory and can be paired with matching throw pillows.
If you’d prefer something to use on a daily basis, you might opt for a high quality and very durable canvas tote bag for your grocery shopping or even to use as a beach bag. A cel phone case for the latest Samsung or Apple phone is a nice option as well.
Finally, if you are into jigsaw puzzles, this image is available on 500 and 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles. The puzzles come in a nice cardboard box with the image on the box for reference when completing the puzzle.
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