This one is called Parley. Most of the Parley landmarks in the state are named after Parley Pratt, Brigham Young's right-hand man and one of the first members of the Quorum of the Twelve. I don't know about this one, but it might be Apostle Pratt's? It is a beautiful canyon; unfortunately, the light today was flat and I couldn't get a good picture. On the other hand, pictures aren't everything: Much of what I like about places like this is the silence.
We got enough moisture this week to freshen the snowpack. I went to the summit at Avintaquin and found a good place to pull off the highway. The map said that I was on the road to Trail Ridge, but the farther I skied, the less certain I was about the road, the ridge, or my location. Not that it mattered: The forest was Douglas fir and limber pine, and the snow was pristine.
I reached a summit at 9,100 feet, dropped into a small bowl, and continued along the ridge for another mile. At that point, though it was neither dark nor dangerous, I felt tired from breaking trail, so I turned around and retraced my track. When I reached GC2 at 5:30p, I had been out for about two and a half hours and had covered four miles. The Trail Ridge Tour.
The Dixie Invitational at the Sears Art Museum kicked off this weekend. VSO sold the painting above on Friday evening when the doors opened. As far as I know, the painting below is still available. So, if you're in St. George before April 2nd, stop in and take it home.
This week, I went down to the La Sals for a tour of the winter recreation program at Geyser Pass. With Brian, I skinned up the road towards Gold Basin and looked at the yurts, the weather stations, and patterns of burned forest following the Pack Creek Fire. Remarkably, after nearly 50 days of sunshine, a small storm rolled through and we got about two inches of new snow. It blocked the famous views of Moab, but added a fresh, soft layer underfoot. The most beautiful and otherworldly part of the day was the downhill run—floating on the skis through blackened trees with the snow coming down.
Today we went out to bump around between Clawson and Rock Canyon. With VSO, I scrambled up a couple of broken ridges (above). When she left for Parowan, I continued in the washes (below). It is very nice country but shows itself best at low light. Probably the thing to do is to bring the sleeping bags so that we can set up the tripod and the easel late in the day, without the pressure of needing to return to Price or Parowan by dark.
According to the USGS 7.5 minute topographic map for Hiawatha, Utah, this is Chris Otteson Hollow. There is an old trail in the Hollow. It is difficult to say whether Chris built it, and it has lately fallen into some disrepair. At any rate, VSO and I scrambled up it for a couple of hours this afternoon. Beautiful and rugged. Winter has gone from the sunny ridges, but in the bottom of the Hollow there is quite a bit of deep, crusty snow. Not only does it make hiking difficult, but it makes it slippery. On the way down, I ate it like a rat and got some road rash. Otte rash?
Winter is half over. I can tell by looking at the calendar. But, I can also tell because there is so much daylight each afternoon. I like to go out on the trails after work, but during December and January I had to bring the headlamp. The way it is now, I've got sunlight until nearly 6p, and daylight beyond that. I've swapped the headlamp for sunglasses.
