The Art of Exploration · a diary of day trips, natural places, and miscellaneous adventures

Utah

The Art of Exploration archive is where you'll find my past writings and thoughts. You are currently viewing a list of articles about Utah.

A Change of Plans
A Detour to Arches 1
One of the things I find most appealing about road trips is that you can change your plans at any point. When we decided to leave Mexican Hat early, we revised our itinerary to accomodate a quick trip to Arches National Park.
Mexican Hat
Mexican Hat
Bridge Mountain
Bridge Mountain
Uncomfortably Numb
Uncomfortably Numb
Scout Lookout
Scout Lookout
When we set out this morning, we had planned to hike the Zion Narrows as far as we could from the bottom up, starting at the Temple of Sinawava.
Emerald Pools
Emerald Pools
By the time we got to Zion National Park, I had racked-up what I can only characterize as a rather measly post-op hiking record. I had completed just two modest hikes, both of which had left me entirely wiped me out.
Shoulda Woulda Coulda
Shoulda Woulda Coulda
Every time I visit places west of the 100th meridian, I realize how much I miss making art. There is something about the light and the colors in the rock and the warmth of the sun that makes me want to be outside sketching and painting and drawing.
Canyonlands
Canyonlands
Island in the Sky—a vast slab of rust-tinted sandstone 1,000 feet higher than the surrounding landscape—is not the ideal place to find yourself during a lightning storm.
Lotsa Redrock
Lotsa Redrock
This is one of those vistas that made me think of the scene from Lawrence of Arabia in which TE Lawrence and Sherif Ali stood at the edge of Nefud Desert, which of course they had to cross in order to attack Aqaba by the land.
The Hike to Delicate Arch
The Hike to Delicate Arch
Have you ever had that dream where you’re hiking to the Moon? Maybe not. But anyway, it was a bit like that, like hiking to the Moon. Or Mars perhaps, because it certainly was a long way. And red.
Wolfe Ranch
Wolfe Ranch
Wolfe Ranch is located near Salt Wash in Arches National Park.
Fiery Furnace
Fiery Furnace
In what amounts to another illustration of the fact that I should never be allowed to name a national landmark or monument, I thought “Fiery Furnace” looked more like “Box of Melted Crayons”. All red crayons of course, but still.
Parade of Elephants
Parade of Elephants
The thing that struck me about Arches National Park was that it so plainly illustrates the vast number of ways there are to erode a rock. There were wind-warn rocks, water-sculpted rocks, and crumbling-from-beneath rocks.
Devil’s Garden
Devil's Garden
By the time we reached Devil’s Garden we were pretty much exhausted. We wondered if we had the energy for another hike. We inspected the map to determine what was out there.
Balanced Rock
Balanced Rock 1
There’s a path around Balanced Rock that is all fine and dandy when you’re on the one side, which I shall here refer to as the Sunny, Balanced Side. Simply put, Sunny, Balanced Side is the side toward which the rock isn’t leaning.
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