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….
Southern Utah
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…
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…
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…
Kangaroo the Dog Does Little Wild Horse Canyon
Little Wild Horse Canyon, located close to Goblin Valley in Utah’s San Rafael Swell, is probably the best entry level slot canyon in Utah for families with kids and four-legged buddies. The main narrows of the canyon can be reached in just a short 10-15 minute walk from the trailhead. Follow the sandy wash for…
Hiking Road Canyon and Fallen Roof Ruin
I’ve been darned near obsessed with the Cedar Mesa area after my four-day backpacking trip through the Grand Gulch last spring. I had wanted to explore the gulch for years so I was thrilled to finally find a partner as enthused about the trip as me. A bartender at the Moab Brewery once warned me…
Sunrise at Goosenecks State Park
The sunrise at Utah’s Goosenecks State Park was just um… okay. For one I could find very little information about the park online. The park’s website warns that there are no hiking or biking trails within the park, but the park is pretty much just a gravel parking lot, an outhouse, and a view. Don’t…