Ashdown Gorge, Utah

Every time we drive Highway 14 from Cedar City to Todd's Junction, we wish that we could stop where Long Hollow meets the highway. It is such a dramatic spot, and it looks like it would make a good picture. Well, this weekend we tried to get there by hiking Ashdown Creek, from Potato Hollow to the Highway. Unfortunately, we didn't give ourselves enough time. It is probably only a mile or two as the crow flies, but the canyon is narrow and rugged. We went down past the confluence with Rattlesnake Creek, but had to turn back. It reminded me of hiking in Zion: It was a lot like the Virgin River, or even the Subway. Speaking of Zion, I saw a newspaper article that mentioned the possibility of converting Cedar Breaks to a national park and adding to it the Ashdown Gorge Wilderness. I guess that is alright except then the Parkies would get ahold of it and start making you get a permit and listen to their "be sure to carry lots of water and don't touch anything" talk with a bunch of yuppies. There'd be no more rambling around that part of the country by yourself with a bag of seeds and a crappy old camera.

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Vernal, Utah

It was high time to see the cousins again, so we agreed to meet in northern Utah at a yurt on the Ashley National Forest between Vernal and Dutch John. We succeeded in finding the Lynips in the Firehole country, not too far from Rock Springs, Wyoming. We caravaned as far as we could and then loaded everybody into the Chev for the long, hard road to the yurt. It was, as you might have predicted, a disaster:

There was the mud; the back to back to back thunderstorms; numerous failed mouse trappings; a swan dive from the top bunk for Ellen at one in the morning; and finally my loss of patience with the hunters driving through our camp. We were lucky that the cousins didn't demand to go home.

On the other hand, we had a beautiful trip to Dinosaur National Monument, some good conversations, a slumber party, a few great meals, and several hours for Bluie and Pinkie the horses to work with their wrangler.

It was tough to say goodbye, but by dinner time on Sunday we were camped along the banks of the Muddy just south of Ferron in our kind of country, big and empty. We made it home early on Monday and started planning for next year's trip to North Fork, Idaho.

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Cabin Hollow, Utah

We went over to the gallery opening at Clarkes. (http://www.thegalleryatclarkes.com/) The gallery is worth a visit. But, be sure to bring your checkbook, you won't want to leave without spending at least four figures. On the way home, we got off Highway 12 at the top of the dump and drove north along the John's Valley Road. We were looking for a pretty little corner with a few rays of setting sun—maybe something for a painting. We turned west again towards Tom Best Spring and worked along the south end of the Sevier Plateau. We never got the right light, but we did make a run up the east fork of Hunt Creek and then over to Cabin Hollow where we picked up the highway again. We found this little double window in Cabin Hollow. It will make a nice shot this fall when the tourists are gone and the light is good for most of the day.

Brian Head Peak, Utah

Valerie went to Ouray, Colorado for Plein Air Southwest sponsored by the Outdoor Painter's Society (http://www.pleinairsouthwest.com/). The rest of us stayed in Utah and decided to see if we could get some good pictures of the Horse Valley Fire (http://www.utahfireinfo.gov/fire/dixie_nf/horse_valley.htm). So we went up to Brian Head Peak, but didn't have any luck. There was plenty of low hanging smoke, but with the exception of the occaisonal white puff, no well established plume. It didn't help that it was before lunch. The biggest columns, the ones visible from Parowan each day, have occurred late in the afternoon after the high temperatures and winds have had a chance to work. So we went over to Sidney Valley and walked along the creek.

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Gallatin Gateway, Montana

No part of Montana is in the Four Corners, although it does share a place on the earth with Wyoming and Idaho. In any case, the Bensons had booked a fly-fishing vacation on the banks of the Gallatin River for us, and we weren't about to turn them down, especially since they would be on hand to clean our fish and keep our wine glasses full. When we arrived, I found that I would be bunking next to the kitchen, which was overflowing with food. This provided a good opportunity for me to protect the household from mice. (Unfortunately, by the time we left, the score was 3-0 in favor of the mice.) It also proved that there was no need for me to catch fish in order to survive, which was good because that fly-fishing business looks too fiddly for me. I hear that Grandpa Benson is pretty good at it, but Chris and Matt spent a good part of each day gearing up and then untangling everything. I have enough trouble facing the ordinary frustrations of life without that. In the end, though, a couple of beautiful trout made it into the cooler . . . which is more than I can say for the mice.

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Midway, Utah

Valerie entered the Midway Art Association's Wasatch Plein Air Paradise competition this year(http://www.midwayartassociation.org/). She used the camper for lodging and we parked it at the Wasatch Mountain State Park. Ellen and I delivered her there (and picked her up). We also spent Saturday, the 27th, hanging around Midway. My, how it has grown. It was busy, busy, and busy. Of course, then we went over to Heber City and discovered what busy really looks like. Valerie said that it reminded her of Moab. I started drawing for her the nostagic picture I had in my head of Heber circa 1989. Back then, I said, you could get a haircut and a bad cup of coffee right on Main Street for about $4.50 total . . . and you could do it without being run over by a yuppie. (I sure am turning into a grumpy old man.)

Cedar Breaks, Utah

Operation Baba was in Utah this week. Unfortunately, I was working a lot, so we didn't spend much time in the mountains. Finally, on Saturday, we made a run to Brian Head and Cedar Breaks. The road to Brian Head, however, was still blocked by snow and, even with the Chev, I wasn't going to try it. So, after dodging the flip-flop wearers strewn around on the road who seemed to be surprised to find that the Utah mountains were not the right place for beach-wear (does the whole fat world wear shorts and sandals everywhere they go?), we did the short tour of Cedar Breaks. It snowed hard the whole time, but it was beautiful and Baba enjoyed it. After that, we went down through Cedar Canyon and stopped a couple of times in the vicinity of Moots Hollow to look around. I think that is a spectacular part of the canyon and would like to explore it more but, of course, Highway 14 is like the Daytona 500—it is dangerous to even take your foot off the floorboard for fear of being run over from behind. Finally, we finished our tour in Cedar City where everyone in the truck got a prize at the Thrift Store for a grand total of $2.75.

Sevier Plateau, Utah

We made the turn to Tom Best Spring at about 12:30. Ellen was tired of driving around but it probably took us another 30 or 40 minutes to find an old cowboy camp with a good view of Barnhurst Ridge. I set up the camper while Valerie made lunch. When Ellen went down for her nap, I wandered up the hill behind camp to a little sub-ridge. The Sanford Fire had burned the hillside about seven or eight years ago and the disturbance had stimulated an old aspen clone. The young stems were thicker than the hair on a dog and were obviously providing fodder for the local elk. The best way through was to follow their trails. At the top was an old stand of Mountain Mahogany that had been thoroughly burned. Coming up through the blackened stems was a patch of elderberry. Standing there, I could see the Griffin Top, Escalante Summit, Barney Top, and the Table Cliff Plateau all the way to Powell Point. It was a horizon line that fit my eye like an old friend.

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Little Creek, Utah

Not many posts in this blog during May. I guess we've been too busy at The Homestead. Actually, we've spent a fair number of days poking around in the local canyons—First and Second Left Hand near Parowan, and Red Creek and Little Creek near Paragonah. Yesterday, Ellen and I went up Little Creek and tried to circumnavigate Iron Peak. The road was pretty rough and it was slow going. The Chev didn't much like it and Ellen was tired of sitting there. So we turned back and found a place where we could skitter down to the creek. We also found a Pituophis catenifer deserticola, a Great Basin Gopher Snake.

Henderson Hill, Utah

We drove up Second Left Hand Canyon pretty early this morning. When we had a view of Noah's Ark, we dropped Valerie off to do some painting. Then we went up the road to the end. At least, we went as far as the snow would let us, which was probably a couple of miles. We got stuck only once and I was able to dig out in a few minutes. (Last time it took at least a half hour and then a guy came by in his F-250 and hooked a chain to the Chev.) We got out of the truck and scrambled up the back side of Henderson Hill until we were on a ridge with scattered hoodoos. It was sort of like Cedar Breaks or even Bryce Canyon. The sun was warm and we could hear the creek during the climb. It was a nice break after a cold week.

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