a former gymnast with a neverending case of wanderlust
Sometimes I think I should have been a pilot. I’m not actually sure the realities of that job would be the best fit for me – and I love my actual job – but I know for sure that I’d never get sick of gazing down at our beautiful planet from the air. I’m forever… Continue reading Snapshots from the sky: Denver to Los Angeles
After seven wonderful days exploring the red rock desert of Utah, our trip was coming to an end. We would be spending the night at a hotel in Green River, setting us up for an early morning start for our drive back to Denver. But before checking in for our final night away from home,… Continue reading Squeezing our way through Little Wild Horse Canyon
We pulled into the mostly empty parking lot around 8:30am and stepped out into the chilly November air to take in the view. On the way to the overlook, we stopped to read a sign. “Like nowhere else,” it read. I looked up at the bizarre landscape in front of me. Back down at the… Continue reading Goblins and goblettes – Goblin Valley State Park, Utah
As I mentioned briefly last week, Capitol Reef gets the ‘reef’ part of its name from the fact that, from a distance, the towering line of colorful cliffs appears to be an impenetrable barrier. This 100-mile (160 km) long wrinkle in the Earth’s crust is called the Waterpocket Fold. Sometime between 50-70 million years ago,… Continue reading The Waterpocket Fold – Capitol Reef National Park, Utah (part II)
Capitol Reef National Park is the least visited and most underrated of Utah’s "mighty five." And I sort of understand why. It’s not as archey as Arches or as canyoney as Canyonlands. It doesn’t have Bryce’s hoodoos or Zion’s Angel’s Landing. But you know what? Capitol Reef is a really cool place that is absolutely… Continue reading Orchards, cliffs, and petroglyphs – Capitol Reef National Park, Utah (part I)
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is a hidden gem. Spanning two million acres of mostly undeveloped wilderness, this national monument preserves a vast expanse of red rock desert in southern Utah. The monument is part of the Grand Staircase… an enormous span of rock layers that represent nearly two billion years of geologic history. These layers… Continue reading A waterfall in the desert – Escalante National Monument, Utah
After two wonderful days of hoodoos, we departed Bryce Canyon and began the 90 minute drive to our hotel in the small town of Escalante. I’d planned some extra time for the drive knowing that we’d be following Highway 12, which is a scenic byway. We would also be driving past three state parks, though… Continue reading Land of the sleeping rainbow – Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Utah
Despite its name, Bryce Canyon is not a canyon. It’s a sequence of amphitheaters located on the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. This name was given to the plateau by the Southern Paiute people, who lived in and around Bryce Canyon for hundreds of years. The word hoodoo is also derived from the Southern Paiute… Continue reading Among the hoodoos – Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah (part II)
Thank you to Ken Burns’ The National Parks: America’s Best Idea documentary series for this gem of a quote. If you haven’t watched this series, I highly recommend it. We really enjoyed it! The quote is attributed to Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon pioneer who homesteaded near Bryce Canyon in the 1860s and began taking visitors… Continue reading “It’s a helluva place to lose a cow” – Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah (part I)
After spending the other days of our long weekend exploring Dinosaur National Monument from above, a guided whitewater rafting expedition now afforded us the chance to see the Utah side of the monument from below. Our one-day trip took us along 9 miles (14.5 km) of the Green River through Split Mountain Canyon. The geology… Continue reading Riding the rapids in Split Mountain Canyon – Dinosaur National Monument, Utah
Handstands Around the World 