More Utah

[stig]

Not many other visitors, which was a huge relief after Zion and Bryce. Perfect for us.

I first visited Zion in 89 then again in 07.
The difference in visitor numbers was staggering.
Good thing is, they stick to the main area of the park, once we got out on the trails it wasn't bad.

These splendid pictures make me want to show it to Margot.
I think my little mountain gal would love Zion.

Burnham, that lodge reminds me of the Timberline Lodge that you showed me.
Is it built as a great depression work project, too?

 

[gf beranek]

Gota go, gota go.

Better start planning, I guess.

 

[Burnham]

I first visited Zion in 89 then again in 07.
The difference in visitor numbers was staggering.
Good thing is, they stick to the main area of the park, once we got out on the trails it wasn't bad.

These splendid pictures make me want to show it to Margot.
I think my little mountain gal would love Zion.

Burnham, that lodge reminds me of the Timberline Lodge that you showed me.
Is it built as a great depression work project, too?

Actually Stig, it was built by the Union Pacific railroad Company, along with lodges at Zion and Grand Canyon, to encourage tourism (and the buying of rail tickets ). About 1925, I think. Before the Great Depression. The UP and the Park Service actually collaborated on the lodges and parks. Eventually the railroad deeded the properties over to the US gov't.

And I have to report to you conversations with some of our fellow desert rats when we were down in AZ this Feb. Apparently the crowding at Zion has reached an even more problematic level than even just the very few years ago when we visited. We heard of chronic traffic backups at the south entrance station outside Springdale of up to three hours, and people being turned away after waiting like that because the HUGE lots at the visitor station were full.

You are of course right, once hiking on trails one usually gets some breathing room. But if you cannot even get in the darn place, well...

 

[Burnham]

Here's another GSE location that we really enjoyed. Willis Creek. Even had live water flowing, which adds something.

 

[stig]

Guess I won't be going to Zion then, just as I never go to Yosemity anymore.
That crowding sure is a problem in more and more parks.

When I went to see Delicate arch there were maybe 50 people around it.
Not my scene at all.

The worst I've ever encountered was in Israel 4 years ago.
Margot and I spent a couple of falls and winters there in the mid 70s.
Back then the Ein Gedi canyon was protected and one needed permission to hike in there.
A totally enchanted place with a spring fed creek and all kind of wild life.
Of all the times I've been there I've only met another person once.

Camped in there in 75 and had the pleasure of a leopard raiding the Hyrax colony next to my tent.

We'll Margot really wanted to visit it again when we went to Israel.
I had some misgiving, since I'd read that it was horribly crowded.

There was a huge parking area near the road with maybe 50 tourist busses and 100 cars.
The trail leading up to the canyon entrance put me in mind of old photos of Chilkoot pass during the gold rush.

One half a kilometer long line of people goose stepping up the trail.

We just got into our car and drove south.

 

[pantheraba]

Cliffs, crevasses, canyons, water...Wow! I didn't think these pictures could rival Jerry's but I sure was wrong. You two have got amazing sharing going on.

Burnham, good on you for taking the time to capture those pictures...and then sharing them around like this. My daughter did an Outward Bound session in canyons like you showed...very cool stuff.

I am like John...SO many cool places to climb, explore.

 

[stig]

That is the kind of stuff that really, really makes me happy, that I did all those years of travelling in my youth.

That meant I never got an education, so I'm just a dumb logger today.

But most of the stuff the rest of you have on your bucket list, I have already done.

 

[flushcut]

Awe inspiring scenery!

 

[Burnham]

Dumb logger.... As if anyone would ever buy that piece of fantasy, my good friend .

You or I, or many of our fellow 'Housers present and past, could have ruled the world, if we'd wished. It takes brains, brawn, drive, imagination, and something else not easily defined, to succeed in this field of work.

But no one here seems to want to rule the world, thank the gods . Much better to have lived the rich lives we did than any other path, I think.

Can you imagine what an entity made up of our group here could accomplish, if the "herding cats" problem might have been surmountable, that is ?

 

[Burnham]

Here is my last batch. From Kodachrome Basin, a UT state park mostly inside the GSENM. And a few from the surrounding countryside.

 

[gf beranek]

What striking landscape. It looks magical. What route did you take through GSENM, B?

 

[Burnham]

Let me take a look at our maps and M's journal, Jerry. I'll get back to you.

 

[gf beranek]

I already googled it, B. Ha! Gota go see it.

 

[Burnham]

Good enough. In general, we came in from the west, northwest. West of the town of Escalante. Most of the back roads run off to the south, southeast into the back country. We camped at Kodachrome Basin State Park. If you have specific questions once you get to the planning stages, give a holler.

 

[stig]

There are a couple of trails that go into Zion from the outside.
That way you don't have to deal with the traffic / tourist crap.

Last time I was there, we hiked those and didn't meet anybody.

Kind of cute, me complaining about tourists, when I'm one of them myself.

I would so love to get in on this picture show, that the two of you are having.
All my good ones, back from when I carried 14 pds of camera gear on top of all the other crap necessary for going around the world, are paper or slides.

Some day I'll get around to having them converted, and be able to run with the big dogs, here.

Keep it up, I'm simply loving it