Among the unfamiliar landscapes that call Utah home, the Dark Spire is one of my favorites.  This little Southern Utah canyon owns an impressive expanse of eroding soft dirt and rock that turns immediately into clay with the first sprinkles of rain.  Not entirely difficult to get to unless wet, the Dark Spire, officially mapped as Long Dong Silver Spire, is a distinctive geological formation of gray-blue shale and bentonite clay.  Located near Hanksville, the remote, desolate jutting tower requires a 1.5 to 2.3-mile round-trip hike through the Utah desert badlands.

To get this sliver of light on the spire required me three separate trips to get it right: time of day, angle of light, and weather cooperating.  It finally worked out as the light softly landed on the spire along with shadowing from clouds on the remaining landscape.  And just like on the day-to-night panorama of this area, the light was entirely the most important element of this shot.