Sunrise in the Canyonlands...the first thing that you notice is silence. Utter and seemingly total silence. Then, you notice it, a tiny rustle in a bush. A faint sound of movement and then a tiny desert wren appears and makes a nearly silent call, probably to its mate. With silence this silent, his call doesn't need to be loud. He silently flits from bush to bush searching for his morning meal as his mate joins him in a nearby bush.

The White Rim Trail a rugged 4X4 trail that snakes for 100 miles looping around and below the Island in the Sky mesa top and provides expansive views of the surrounding area. Parts of the trail are featured in this photo, visible at the lower left, one can follow the trail in the photo for miles towards Candlestick Rock. The Green River meanders it way through the canyons around 4478 ft. Turks Butte.

White Rim Trail gets its name because it basically follows the white formation of rock seen along the Colorado and Green Rivers. The 5354 ft. Candelstick Rock, seen just right of center in the image seems to sit on top of the white layer.

This image is taken at Murphy Hogsback, campground "A" about 45 miles into the Canyonlands on the White Rim Trail from our start point at the Shafer Trail switchbacks. It took us over 8 hours to travel this 45 miles in our Jeep Rubicon. We camped the night and I shot this image shortly after the sun rose in the morning.