Hello Everyone! It’s been an amazing week out here on the road in southern Utah. I’ve seen some absolutely beautiful country, driven some spectacular roads and visited some amazing archaeological sites. I did have a bit of a stomach bug midweek which wiped me out for a couple of days, but it seems to have passed. The weather has been amazing, the photography opportunities plentiful and it’s just generally been a good week all around.
I left off last week in Panguitch, a cute little town about half an hour west of Bryce Canyon National Park. When I finished up last week’s post, I wandered around town for a bit and then made my way on into the park. I’ve been to Bryce at least 50 times in my life and it never ceases to amaze me. The view from one of the many overlooks on a sunny day will rival any view, anywhere in the world for natural splendor and beauty. It truly is nature’s little fairyland. The sandstone spires of Bryce, called “hoodoos”, are mostly the result of the extreme temperature fluctuations Bryce sees during the year. Located above 8000’, it’s not unusual to have freezing temperatures any day of the year, but it can be sunny and warm and beautiful any day as well. It’s the cycle of freezing and thawing which has helped shape the landscape more than wind or flowing water. Bryce Canyon is named after Ebenezer Bryce, who you may remember built the Pine Valley Chapel which I wrote about two weeks ago. He and his wife homesteaded in the area in the 1870s and he spent many months digging a canal to funnel the water to the valley below. When asked about the canyon which would forever bear his name, Bryce was once quoted as saying “it’s a hell of a place to lose a cow”. It most certainly would be. It was quite icy out on the trails this time through, so I settled for a few nice views from the rim. After the sun went down I enjoyed a warm seat by the fire out at Ruby’s Inn, just outside the entrance to the park, where I read my book for a while before calling it a night.
Goblin Valley is another of Utah’s incredible fantasy landscapes. It’s a place that quickly captures your imagination and leaves you smiling the whole time you are there. Located in a remote part of Emery County, you have to make an effort to get to Goblin Valley, but you’ll definitely be glad you did. The “goblins” are technically hoodoos, made of soft lower layers of sandstone and capped with a harder layer which causes water to erode them from the outside in instead of from the top down. The main amphitheater has thousands of goblins and is an incredible place to just wander, especially during the edges of the day when the low light illuminates the goblins and cooler air prevails. Beyond the amphitheater are other dream landscapes to explore, including the caves known as the Goblin’s Lair and the Goblette’s Lair, the Toadstools, beautiful Wild Horse Butte and the amazing Wild Horse Slot Canyon. Most people spend about an hour in Goblin Valley, but the longer you spend, the more you’ll find to keep you busy. Thanks to the prompting of my friend, Jack, I spent the whole day there and was definitely happy that I did. I hope you enjoy these photos from beautiful Goblin Valley - Magic in the Red Rocks of Utah.
Snow Canyon State Park is one of the most stunning state parks I’ve ever seen. When I was considerably younger, I dated a woman who was an identical twin. When I met her sister, I could obviously tell that they were twins, but they were also completely different. Having spent many months of my life in nearby Zion National Park, driving into Snow Canyon felt much the same. The scenery looks so familiar to me, but it was all totally new as well. I loved it.
Located just north of St. George, Snow Canyon is a part of the Red Cliffs Desert Preserve. Much like Zion, Snow Canyon rests at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin, exhibiting characteristics of all three. The rock formations are composed mainly of sandstone. The red formations contain iron while the white cliffs do not. Unlike in Zion, there are also cool volcanic areas including several lava tubes.
Human history here stretches back over 2000 years. Ancestral Puebloan cultures passed through the area often, and later, Paiute Indians would come to Snow Canyon. Mormons arrived in the area in the 1850s. One of Utah’s first state parks, it was originally called Dixie State Park and was later renamed after local Mormon pioneers Lorenzo and Erastus Snow. If you ever have the opportunity to visit, definitely come check it out. I hope you enjoy these photos from beautiful Snow Canyon State Park.
It’s been a cold week out here in southern Utah and the snow which came down on Thursday and Friday has decided to stick around for a while. Despite the cold and wind, the skies have been sunny most of the week and it’s really hard to complain about that. I hung around St. George, avoiding the worst of the snow and then made my way out to Kanab for the Balloons and Tunes Festival. From there I cruised out to Coral Pink Sands State Park and then north to the cute little historic town of Panguitch, where I am writing this post from today. I know it’s only Monday, but I don’t think there’s going to be much opportunity to jump on the internet for the next few days so I thought I would just finish this up today and then next week will just pick up where I leave off.
When I left you last week, I was in the library in St. George. After I finished up with my newsletter for the week, I headed up the road to the old opera house to catch a local performance of the musical Kiss Me Kate. I love the fact that St. George is supporting local theater and even though there were probably only 30 people there on a Wednesday night, the show did go on. There were some parts of this show that are particularly dated, but it was a great performance and all of the actors seemed as though they were really having fun out there. The building itself dates back to the early days of St. George, having been built in 1864 as a wine cellar. It was sold in the 1870s and became a social hall and performance center, and later an opera house in 1886. During the Great Depression the building was used to process sugar beets and wouldn’t be restored to its earlier function as an opera house until 1988. It’s a cool building and I was happy to see the inside of it and I also really enjoyed the performance.
Hello Everyone!
It’s been an interesting first week here in Utah. I’ve visited some absolutely beautiful places, learned some fascinating history, and generally had a really good time. Utah is a tremendous contrast to Nevada in so many ways. The landscape is on a smaller scale with more canyons and valleys, buttes and mesas and fewer vast stretches of open desert surrounded by imposing mountain ranges. Culturally, Utah is a predominantly Mormon state so it is more modest and conservative than Nevada (in a cultural sense, not necessarily a political one as Utah is also very conservative politically). Mormons are also very serious about preserving their culture and history, especially from the pioneer days which they consider pre-1869 which was when the railroad across Utah was completed. Because of this there is a tremendous amount of information available and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers have some wonderful museums to display items from Utah’s history. Bars are few and far between and with the exception of a few drinks on Mardi Gras Day, I’ve been sober since I arrived in the Beehive State which is a good thing. But also, I haven’t been bored as there are actually things to do at night here which don’t involve alcohol which I’ve really been enjoying. The weather has gone from hot and sunny to blustery and snowy and I haven’t traveled in more than about 60 miles from the border where I entered the state. All in all, it’s been a fascinating week which has really reinvigorated my journey, so let me tell you all about it.
Hello Everyone!
I hope your summer is starting out as great as mine is. The summer solstice is upon us and I’m trying to make the most of the long days. This week I’ve been guiding a trip for two wonderful ladies from San Francisco to Las Vegas via Yosemite, Death Valley, Zion, Bryce, Monument Valley and Grand Canyon. While I definitely prefer guiding a larger group, the three of us have clicked well and have been having a good time out here. We’ve had some windy days, but they’ve also been sunny and bright and of course these parks are truly magical places to spend time.
We left San Francisco early Monday morning and made a beeline for Yosemite. I was happy that route 120 was open again after being closed due to road damage on the final decent into the valley. That closure caused me to detour around to the 140 on my last two trips, which added about an hour to the drive and threw my regular route, landmarks and commentary out the window. It was nice to do things a little differently for a change, but I was happy to fall into my familiar groove on that drive this week. Unfortunately by the time we were dropping into the valley in the afternoon, it had clouded up and there was some rain falling. This should be quite normal for this time of year, but after 20 years of drought it doesn’t feel normal. El Capitan was in the clouds and Half Dome wasn’t even visible. Thankfully the waterfalls were going strong and we stopped at a couple of viewpoints to check them out. The rain slowed to a drizzle and we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the old Ahwaneeche village behind the visitor center and visiting Galen Clark’s grave in the old cemetery. Clark came to the valley in 1851 after being diagnosed with consumption (tuberculosis) and having been given just a few months to live. He fell in love with Yosemite and decided to dedicate the rest of his life to preserving it. That life was supposed to be short, so he dug his own grave and planted Giant Sequoia saplings around it. He ended up living another 54 years but was eventually buried in the grave he dug for himself. After I told that story and we paid our respects, we headed to our hotel out in El Portal for the night.
We returned to the valley on Tuesday morning under blue skies and sunshine. Linda wasn’t convinced her knee would hold up on long ascents or descents, so we stayed on the valley floor for the day. We went out to Mirror Lake in the morning which was as full as I’ve ever seen it (it turns into Mirror Meadow pretty early in the summer most years). Then we wandered back to the Ahwanee, Yosemite’s classic park lodge. We had lunch in the Great Room and a nice chat about the afternoon. From there we made our way out to Lower Yosemite Falls which is still raging pretty hard right now and putting out plenty of spray. It’s awesome to spend some time there and the ladies really enjoyed it. Then we headed back to Yosemite Village for a coffee and then back to our hotel for the night.
Wednesday was kind of a quiet day. We chose a late start and then made our way down to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. The shuttle is finally running again, cutting out the 4 mile roundtrip hike to the grove from the parking lot. We enjoyed our visit to the big trees and then spent some time in historic Wawona, checking out some of the cool old buildings from Yosemite’s past. In the afternoon we returned to the valley for a quick coffee and then made our way back to the hotel. I’d been eating salads for a few days so I decided to grab a pizza which was nice. My knee was giving me some trouble too so I was grateful to be able to ice it and rest for the night.
Since the Tioga Pass over the Sierras is still under many feet of snow and likely won’t open until August, I had to make the long drive around the mountains to get to Death Valley on Thursday. Not only is this route far less scenic, but it also adds 2-3 hours to the drive. It wasn’t a fun or beautiful drive except at the very beginning or the very end, but we got there. I haven’t been to Death Valley in years, and we were greeted with a cool 107° when we arrived…
Hello Everyone! I know it’s been two months since last I wrote, and I’m sorry for the long pause between posts. As my tour season wore on, I began to wear out and had less and less energy to focus on anything but the job at hand. While not an exceptionally long season time-wise at six months, I ran 18 tours since May which was significantly more than I normally would. Some tours were 2-3 weeks as they would have been in the old days, but many were only 2-6 days. Each tour has a life of its own and shorter tours require a burst of energy which never really settles into a comfortable rhythm. Looking back at this past season, as I sit here warm and cozy on the other end of it at my mother’s dining room table here in Washington DC, it was amazing. I met hundreds of wonderful people from all over the world and took them to some truly awesome places. I got to see some old favorites and had plenty of new experiences as well. The summer was full of laughter and stories and joyful poses in front of the camera after long hikes led us to spectacular vistas. I found nothing but support and understanding from my new company and am already looking forward to working for them again next season. But first I have a winter full of my own adventures to plan and enjoy as I have no intention of going back to work before May.
When last I wrote, I was preparing for a 6 day tour through Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Yosemite gave us an easy and familiar start, and the smoke from summer fires had finally cleared from the valley. From there, we travelled to Sequoia National Park which had some beautiful vistas but was horrifically scarred by major fires in 2020 and 2021. I felt like a government fire assessor as we hiked through burned out forest to the lookout on Big Baldy and one of my passengers commented (humorously) that it felt like “hiking through Armageddon”. Our drive down into Kings Canyon was excellent, though, and I enjoyed this short tour with a small group of just four people.
My next trip brought me on another 6 day adventure, this time to Napa and Sonoma for a “walking and wine” tour. Eight of my nine passengers on this trip were a group traveling together from New Jersey which made for an interesting dynamic. They were all wonderful people, but it was definitely different to have such a big group within my group. We did some magnificent hikes though, especially out to Tamales Bay on the coast where we spotted coyotes and elk along the way to fantastic overlooks of the Pacific Ocean. I also enjoyed getting back to Muir Woods after many years away on this trip. I found us some delicious places to eat out in wine country and my group enjoyed several wine tastings as well.
The final trip of my season took me back to the desert for a nice eight day loop taking in Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. We spent Thanksgiving in Grand Canyon and were treated to a real feast at Yavapai Lodge. I also had the opportunity to climb Angels Landing in Zion, a hike I haven’t done in many years…
Monument Valley is a place everyone knows, even if they don't know they do. From the early John Ford Westerns to Marlboro and Jeep ads to Roadrunner cartoons, Monument Valley is the wild west of many people’s imaginations. It's a wonderful Tribal Park on the Navajo Reservation on the border of Arizona and Utah, and one of the most beautiful desert landscapes on earth. I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years and have seen it at all times of day and in all seasons. These are some of my favorite photos from my time there.
Bryce Canyon National Park is one of the most striking and beautiful places in all of North America, and I’ve seen a lot of beautiful places on this continent in my 14 years as a cross-country tour guide. My very first visit to Bryce was back in May of 2000 and I had truly never seen anything like it in my life. It felt like I had arrived on some alien landscape. Unlike Grand Canyon, it seemed as though I could take in Bryce in one sweeping view, but yet my mind couldn’t comprehend how such a beautiful and fragile landscape could exist at all. It was truly striking. The awe I felt at that first breathtaking view out over the canyon has only grown with each subsequent visit, and there have been many in the intervening years although not as many recently as I would have liked. To hike among the Hoodoos, as the colorful spires are called, is the best way to experience the park and gain a better understanding of the scale of the formations. While beautiful at any time of day, the colors are most vivid at sunrise which is definitely the best time to visit the park. Be sure to bring your jacket though because at 8,000’ above sea level, Bryce is cold even in the middle of summer. In winter it can be downright brutal, but the snow makes an incredible contrast to the pink and orange spires. Bryce Canyon is one of my very favorite National Parks and is worth the drive to get there. You can get a good feel for the park with one full day to spend there, but I would definitely recommend an overnight stay so you can be there for sunrise. To find out more about Bryce Canyon National Park, visit the park’s website here. I hope you enjoy these photos I’ve taken over the years on my many trips to the park.
