Sunday, October 5, 2008

Grand Staircase

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is just under two-million square acres of remote land in the southeast corner of Utah.

It's one of those places where you can get lost in nature because the deep portion of the Grand Staircase - the portion where few people travel because the roads are "impassable" or just plain rough - is very remote. 
A drive into this part of America feels very much like a trip back in time. There are still undiscovered fo
ssil beds and I watched Peregrine Falcons swoop
 from the ridges onto their prey below. 

You can spend many weeks here and never cover the same ground twice. However it's never a bad idea to have a winch and full range of recovery gear onboard because you'll inevitably need it when (not really "if") you get stuck.

There is a sense that comes with true isolation of
 kinship with the world that surrounds you. Coyotes call in the night and the stars are so bright and vivid in the dry night air free of light pollution that you can almost reach out and touch them. Food tastes 
better. Water tastes sweeter and all senses resort to the primeval. 

Grosvenor Arch (right) is on the edge, the borderline of the monument and you can get there without much trouble. Even so, it's worth a visit - worth a moment in a life - to sit, and look at as clouds drift overhead against the cerulean sky.

2 comments:

AmandaFienPhotography said...

One day when I am not pregnant and Griffin is old enough for trips, we can all go somewhere together...camping would be fun!- Amanda

LL said...

By that time, baby Griffin will have another brother or sister - your job, Amanda, is to have babies/grandchildren to amuse me. I can't wait until they're old enough to go out on the trail with grandpa!!!

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