Someone’s Ancestors

Between 600-1300A.D. a culture that erroneously came to be called the Fremont People hunted and farmed the awesome sandstone uplifts and narrow valleys of what is now Capitol Reef National Park. What we know is that the modern Hopi acknowledge these ancient ones as...

When Rock Was Dirt

The Colorado Plateau is a geology masterclass in visual form; and nowhere on the plateau is this more in evidence than within that 70- x 45-mile ancient dome of sandstone, limestone and shale known fondly as the San Rafael Swell. Seen head-on with magnification from...

Drifting Away I Go

The contorted erosional patterns of this small watercourse are probably better known in the downstream stretches of Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons; but for me the upstream magic of Canyon X, the lesser known of the three slot canyons that Mother Nature has...

The Wild Blue Yonder

It is easy to get caught up in the present of being on top of Clingman’s Dome – quite possibly the namesake of Ole’ Smoky of Appalachian ballad fame – and overlook the cloud-filled valleys of Kephart’s Back of Beyond in the mists below...

The Flash of a Firefly

Although it is no longer called “Luftee Overlook,” nearly all of the Internet resources have not yet caught up to the fact, and they probably never will, for it has been Luftee for more generations than the mind can recall; and because it is so accurately...