The Watchman

Our camping pad today, has a great view of the Watchman, which is a 6, 545-foot sandstone mountain located in Zion National Park.

We are camping in Zion’s Watchman Campground and the Watchman is located immediately east of Springdale, towering 2,600-feet (790 meters) above the town and the floor of Zion Canyon. Zion’s park headquarters, the park’s south entrance, and Watchman Campground are situated immediately north-northwest of the mountain, which makes it one of the photographic icons of the park. The Watchman is wedged between the North and East Forks of the Virgin River which drain precipitation runoff from this mountain. Its neighbors include Mount Kinesava directly across the canyon.

Because we couldn’t get our reservations consecutively in the same location, this was the second time we had to break camp, and then set camp back up. Sort of a pain, but I am not minding the view.

As we settled into our evening, I was keeping an eye on the sky and the clouds hoping that we would get a clear evening, so I could capture the Milky Way over the Watchman, thankfully the night sky didn’t disappoint.

The above photo I dropped into Lightroom and used one of my presets on it. I had a full evening of astrophotography and the Zion National Park just kept on delivering some spectacular opportunities.