The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah about 16 miles (26 km) west of Green River, Utah. The San Rafael Swell, measuring approximately 75 by 40 miles, consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60–40 million years ago. Since that time, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into numerous valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, buttes and badlands.
Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills is one the many interesting places located in the Owen River Valley just east of Mt. Whitney and the High Sierras. The location, just a few miles west of Lone Pine, CA, was home to hundreds of old Hollywood western movies over the past 50 years. What makes it so interesting for photography are the massive boulders scattered throughout the area, the countless rock formations, and the rolling hills all at the base of the Sierra Mountains. The 15ft. natural arch, which is an easy 200yd. hike from Movie Road, provides a unique window view of the majestic Sierras in the background.
The Ibex Sand Dunes are an isolated set of beautiful sand dunes set against the backdrop of the Saddle Peak Hills at the southern end of Death Valley. The Ibex Dunes formed from sand blown east from the floodplains of the Amargosa River. The Saddle Peak Hills, a small cluster of mountains provide the stunning backdrop to the dunes; they also provide a barrier between Highway 127, and the dunes. Because of their semi-remote location, and the inability to see them from a paved road, they are one of the least visited dunes in the park. The dunes and the area surrounding them have been declared wilderness, meaning, you are not able to drive on or up to the dunes. You are free however to do the roughly 1.5 mile hike out to the them.
