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The Desert

A Mostly Dry November Foray into Buckskin Gulch

February 20, 2020 by Amiee

We hiked from sunup to sundown and only felt the warmth of the sun on our faces for a few fleeting seconds. It was the first of November and the Paria Canyon region hadn’t seen rainfall since May. This was our moment.    Straddling the Utah/Arizona border, Buckskin Gulch is a 13-mile chasm carved deep…

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Filed Under: Featured, Hiking, The Desert Tagged With: Adventures, Buckskin Gulch, Featured, Kangaroo the Dog, Paria Canyon, Slot Canyons, Utah

Grand Gulch, Take Two

July 17, 2018 by Amiee

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….

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Filed Under: Featured, The Desert Tagged With: Backpacking Utah, Bears Ears, Cedar Mesa, Featured, Grand Gulch, Hiking Utah, Southern Utah, Utah

Visiting Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Winter

March 13, 2018 by Amiee

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…

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Filed Under: The Desert Tagged With: Escalante, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Hiking Utah, Slot Canyons, Southern Utah, Utah, Winter Adventure

Visiting Bryce Canyon National Park in Winter

March 6, 2018 by Amiee

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…

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Filed Under: Hiking, The Desert Tagged With: Bryce Canyon National Park, National Park Dogs, National Park Hiking, National Parks, Southern Utah, Utah Hiking, Utah Travel

Nevada’s Abandoned Warm Springs “Resort”

January 23, 2018 by Amiee

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…

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Filed Under: The Desert Tagged With: Abandoned, Hot Springs, Nevada

10 Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW to Support Bears Ears & Escalante National Monuments

December 4, 2017 by Amiee

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…

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Filed Under: The Desert Tagged With: Bears Ears National Monument, Cedar Mesa, Environment, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

Mansplained in the Desert

October 31, 2017 by Amiee

“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…

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Filed Under: Hiking, The Desert Tagged With: Desert, Desert Adventures, Escalante, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Mansplained, Utah

Kayaking Lake Powell: A Motor-less Glen Canyon Reconnaissance

June 13, 2017 by Amiee

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…

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Filed Under: Featured, The Desert Tagged With: Adventures, Desert, Featured, Glen Canyon, Kayaking, Lake Powell, Southern Utah, Utah

Monument Valley 50K Race Report

May 18, 2017 by Amiee

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…

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Filed Under: Racing, The Adventures, The Desert, Trail Running Tagged With: 50K, Monument Valley, Racing, Southern Utah, Trail Races, Trail Racing, Trail Running, Ultramarathons, Utah

Visiting the Great Salt Lake’s Spiral Jetty in Winter

January 25, 2017 by Amiee

“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…

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Filed Under: The Adventures, The Desert, Travel Tagged With: Art, Desert, Earthart, Great Salt Lake, Spiral Jetty, Utah, Utah Travel

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Top Posts

  • FAI Surgery Recovery: The First 6 Weeks!
  • Hip Impingement (FAI) Surgery: A Success Story?
  • Visiting Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Winter
  • FAI Surgery 5 or 6 Year Update?!?
  • The Other Side: FAI Surgery Number Two

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2019 Race Schedule

July 20, 2019 - Wasatch Speedgoat SHORTGOAT
September 6, 2019 - Wasatch 100

amieemaxwell

☕️⛰🐶🍺Salt Lake City, Utah 🇺🇸

I still don’t quite understand how one can “ow I still don’t quite understand how one can “own” a bazillion years of geological time 🤔
New obsession, desert ice! New obsession, desert ice!
Not sure if either one of us is ever going to get Not sure if either one of us is ever going to get used to these average Monday morning run views (not a fan of how close he gets to the edge though).
Was worried I’d miss the snow living in the dese Was worried I’d miss the snow living in the desert this winter. Guess I don’t have to 🤷🏼‍♀️
Took my mom on her first slot canyon adventure the Took my mom on her first slot canyon adventure the other week. She said she learned those moves watching Ninja Warriors 😂 We then ticked off another of her bucket list items and had dinner at @hellsbackbonegrill (holy moly carrot cupcake desert, no photos cuz we enjoyed every second!). Now she just needs to buy a horse or at least find one to borrow and her winter in the desert will be complete (although she still has four more months here)!
Day 41 in a tent. Temps never got above freezing t Day 41 in a tent. Temps never got above freezing today. Hotel tomorrow 😜
A few bits of fall in the desert now that I live h A few bits of fall in the desert now that I live here 🌵🍂 💛
When your dog and hubby are sporting matching @sto When your dog and hubby are sporting matching @stormykromerofficial masks and only one of them is wearing it appropriately...
Last night we played bananagrams and I only used f Last night we played bananagrams and I only used flower words. I did not win 🤷🏼‍♀️, yet I did 🎨 💐!
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Recent Posts

  • A Mostly Dry November Foray into Buckskin Gulch
  • Monday Mojo 22 – West Desert Season & Donkeys
  • Big Mountain to Beer Bar: A City Creek Canyon Expedition
  • 2018 & The Year of 100 Summits
  • Monday Mojo 21 – I Want My Mojo Back!

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