“The Subway is a colloquial name for a uniquely shaped slot canyon in Zion National Park. It is located between two peaks called the North and South Guardian Angels, deep within the Left Fork of North Creek. It is part of the larger Great West Canyon system, which includes both the Left and Right Forks of North Creek. The Subway is so named for its tube-like, undercut slot canyons. This segment of canyon is less than 0.25 miles in length, but long approach and exit hikes are necessary for access.”

This is what you get to see after roughly 5 miles of strenuous hiking through 45°F water. I’ve been meaning to get to this area since 2005. Finally, after ten years, it worked out. What your seeing here is a stitch of four images at 14mm. Each image consists of 7 bracketed shots to fully cover the massive dynamic range present. I’ve seen dozens of images from this spectacular area, but none of them encompassed the entire view. When I arrived I could see why. It’s MUCH bigger than I imagined. I wanted to capture then entire cavern, including the all of the green pool.

Having been to Zion a couple times, and finally getting out to the remote North Creek area, I have to say it was so rewarding and quite worth the effort.

Processing / blending these shots was tricky. Stitching together 14mm images is not easy IMHO. As for the 7 exposures... I typically start on one end of the histogram, and manually adjust one stop at a time encompassing the entire exposure range without clipping the highlight or shadow points. For this shot it took seven exposures. Yes, I could have gone with possibly two images, but in my experience, the image turns out much more natural and clean in the end. The colors are slightly enhanced, to create more chroma separation from all the amazing hues present. In fact, recalling the experience to this wonderful location is like a dream.