Over the course of the past several years Capitol Reef National Park has become one of my favorite public lands from among the many that we share. It is a wonderful amalgam of human and natural history in one of the most beautiful settings the Colorado Plateau has to offer; and that’s saying quite a bit.

There are just enough remnants from the defunct Mormon settlement of Fruita to capture our attention and imagination. Fruita was known for its orchards. Some of these are still part of the history of the landscape. Along the edge of one of the remaining groves rimmed in rabbitbrush, copses of old cottonwood trees just off the Fremont River attest to the harshness of growing conditions as they slowly in their olden age bend back toward the waiting earth.

A focal length of 262mm, medium telephoto-land, gave me the very narrowed angle-of-view I wanted along with compression and some magnification. An aperture of f/20 provided depth-of-field from the camera-to-subject distance in a relatively flat scene ; and a shutter speed of 1/6th second at ISO 100 gave me elemental stillness and an overall medium exposure.

Although there were never more than ten families living in Fruita at a given time, there were more than 2000 fruit trees of various species, nourished by the waters of the Fremont River and Sulphur Creek, truly an oasis in the Red Rock Desert, and now part of the common wealth we hold in trust for the future.