We drank yellow death water and I nearly shot powdered goat milk through my nose. We saw a lifetime’s worth of Anasazi ruins and unadulterated rock art sites and we wanted to go back before the current Bears Ears hooplah completely flooded the area with #monumentsforall toting tourists and backcountry permits were difficult to score….
The Desert
Visiting Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Winter
Of all the things I wondered about on this land, I wondered the hardest about the seduction of certain geographies that feel like home — not by story or blood but merely by their forms and colors. How our perceptions are our only internal map of the world, how there are places that claim you…
Visiting Bryce Canyon National Park in Winter
Peering out of the hotel window President’s Day morning I saw light flurries blowing horizontally and a good few inches of fresh stuff on my car. I could either hop back into a warm bed for another hour or two or brave the elements and make the 10 minute drive to Sunrise Point in Bryce…
Nevada’s Abandoned Warm Springs “Resort”
I love natural hot springs. I love their obscure locations, the peculiar geological formations they create, and the eccentric characters they attract. There’s something about hot effervescent water bubbling up from somewhere deep within the Earth’s core that fosters a sense of wonder and respect towards our natural world. My search for strange and wonderful…
10 Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW to Support Bears Ears & Escalante National Monuments
I remember the moment I became an environmental advocate. I must have been 5 or 6 and was watching an episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks, seriously. Alvin is trying to save an eagle’s nest threatened by development and he travels to Washington DC and sits on Lincoln’s lap and asks for guidance and then…
Mansplained in the Desert
“They don’t know where they’re going,” man guide says to 8-10 adoring clients as blood bubbles up into my throat. We were on a route finding adventure in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and having a blast. We had very loose directions on a sneak route into Lower Death Hollow, a spot that typically requires a…
Kayaking Lake Powell: A Motor-less Glen Canyon Reconnaissance
Just what I need, another hobby. My friend Wheels read about this 85-mile kayak trip across Lake Powell Brendan Leonard and crew took in winter a few years back. She’s been wanting to head out on a similar trip and I, having zero experience in a sea kayak, was her willing partner. Last year’s attempt was…
Monument Valley 50K Race Report
Beelined it to the desert after work on a Thursday arriving just in time for a short hike to Mesa Arch and a spectacular sunset in Canyonlands National Park. Crawled into the back of my car and slept like a baby like I always do in the back of Rubes. A crazy tight Achilles and…
Visiting the Great Salt Lake’s Spiral Jetty in Winter
“The lake [Great Salt Lake] is too difficult to approach to be taken for granted; the tang of surprise and the shock of recognition are a part of its character.” ~Dale L. Morgan After nearly an hour of white-knuckled, totally unplowed, ice-covered and drifted dirt road travel, we arrived at Rozel Point, the home of…
A Night at the Stansbury
Since I had been out of town every weekend the month of October, I vowed to stay in town until at least Thanksgiving. I almost made it through the second weekend before my stir craziness got the best of me and I headed out to the island, Stansbury Island. Stansbury Island is the 2nd largest…