Paper Covers Rock

In the game most of us played as children, “Rock Breaks Scissors” the winning sequences are Rock breaks Scissors; Scissors cut Paper; and Paper covers Rock. I was reminded of that old game several years ago as I stood on the rim of Black Canyon of the...

A Magnificent Hole in the Earth

As the sun readies to slip below the western horizon it highlights the massive structure of Brahma Temple crowning the grand ditch above the junction of the main canyon and its auxilliary scar of Bright Angel Canyon cutting its way toward North Rim Lodge. As it does...

Following a Red Rock Line

One of my new Very Favorite Places in the Red Rock Country is Snow Canyon State Park in Washington County, Utah. It is an amazing world of lava flows and eroded sandstone formations with an accompanying realm of petrified sand dunes to hold it all together. Looking...

Where Once the Bulls Did Roam

Bull Creek Valley backs up to the Elk Mountains below Elk Pasture Gap and Craven Gap; but it actually refers to the last buffalo (eastern bison) bull seen in the area, which was hunted in 1799 by Joseph Rice. From Tanbark Ridge the view into the valley and eastward...

The Henrys and Long Canyon

For all of the years I have been photographing the Colorado Plateau, there are two thoughts that come quickly to mind: I never, ever tire of seeing the land; and it’s almost always an matter of perspective. I am constantly surprised to top some hill or go around...

The Lore of Tanbark

Once upon a time in the Appalachian Mountains the bark of certain tree species, particularly hemlock and a couple of the oaks, was valued for the process of tanning leather.  Such bark was frequently known colloquially as tanbark and mountainsides rich in these...