Utah, 2004, 2024

Timing is everything, no less true for being a cliche.

In January of 2004 I was driving from Phoenix to Denver, trying to hit what natural high points I could along the way, in the 5 days I had to make the trip. I had just finished making some sunrise photographs of the Mittens and was headed north, just crossing into Utah on US 163, when I saw the top scene in my rear view mirror, looking south, back toward Monument Valley.

The road had very recently been resurfaced, with new lane markings, and there was no traffic. I could easily lay down in the middle of the road to take this and not worry about how much time I might need to get back up. If you could see the pavement a couple of feet below the bottom of the photograph, it would be the normal, sun-bleached grayness of so many western roads, like in the bottom image.

Twenty years later, on our “Go West Old Man” tour last year, my friends and I came back through, to find that this rise is now on maps as the Forrest Gump Point. I particularly like the two blue highway signs along the right side of the road. The first says “Scenic View 1000 Feet.” The second says “Scenic View” with an arrow, in case you weren’t sure.

For more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index