Wilderness Utah

Utah's Ice Age

Utah has not always been home to humankind. Before Utah was a state, before Europeans claimed the New World as theirs, before Lake Bonneville dwindled to remnants that we call the Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake, before the first Native Americans trekked to the New Continent, the American West was home to a diverse and exotic suite of animals...

Utah Dinosaurs

During the Early and Middle Jurassic Utah was mostly desert, although periodically sea level would rise and the sea would invade this sand dune covered landscape. The great sandstone cliffs of Zion and Arches National Monument are basically fossil sand dunes. Although, dinosaur foot prints are known from many sites in Utah, no dinosaur skeletons have yet been found in these desert rocks. Marine reptiles have been found in the marine rocks near Dinosaur National Monument...

Utah's History of Gold Mining

In 1847, Mormon pioneers first entered Utah Territory and settled in the Salt Lake Valley. Their arrival heralded a new wave of migration and development that would wash across the region. Their leader, Brigham Young, was both a visionary and a pragmatist. With his razor-sharp acumen, he carved a habitable swath of land from the desert valleys of Utah. Brigham denounced mining and prospecting for precious metals. Instead he urged his people to engage in more "productive" pursuits such as agriculture, business, and establishing new satellite communities. Mining activities among the Mormon settlers were limited to those minerals required for industry, such as salt, coal, iron, lead, and sulfur. It wasn't until 1850 that a group of travelers headed for California discovered gold in Utah. The newly discovered vein cropped out among some rocks about 100 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Native Americans drove off the initial group of prospectors, and threatened any who attempted to mine the area. The allure of gold proved strong, however, and the prospectors were doggedly persistent. Small amounts of gold, silver, and lead were harvested over the following few years. Eventually this area would become part of the Gold Hill mining district...

Gold Deposits: Where to Look

Element number 79 on the Periodic Table, also known by the letter code Au, has driven people to do strange things over the years. During the gold rush, many prospectors abandoned homes and families in search of the gleaming metal. Fortunes were won and lost, and more than a few depraved and soulless acts were committed for its sake. It seems strange that a simple metal wields so much power over the human imagination. But attempts at objectivity often melt away after hefting a dense, yellow nugget in one's hand. Gold has many properties that make it desirable, but when analyzed individually, none of them seem to merit all the fuss. The metal is one of only three which have a natural color other than grey or white, the other two being copper and cesium. Gold is extremely resistant to tarnishing and corrosion. In addition, pure gold is the most malleable of all metals--a single gram can be pounded into a thin sheet as large as one square meter. Gold is mentioned in many of the worlds oldest texts, from Egyptian hieroglyphs to the Old Testament. In nature, gold usually occurs in its native state, as a metal. These deposits usually consist of small grains or microscopic particles of metallic gold embedded in solid rock. The surrounding rocks are often quartz or sulfide minerals such as pyrite. The native gold itself is usually an alloy containing around ten percent silver...

All That Glitters: Gold Prospecting in the West

Anyone who pans for gold hopes to be rewarded by a colorful glitter in the fine material at the bottom of the pan. Although the exercise and outdoor activity experienced in prospecting are rewarding, there are few thrills comparable to finding gold. Even an assay report showing an appreciable content of gold in a sample obtained from a lode deposit is exciting. The would-be prospector hoping for financial gain, however, should carefully consider all the pertinent facts before deciding on a prospecting venture. Only a few prospectors among the many thousands who searched the western part of the United States ever found a valuable deposit. Most of the gold mining districts in the West were located by pioneers, many of whom were experienced gold miners from the southern Appalachian region, but even in colonial times only a small proportion of the gold seekers were successful. Over the past several centuries the country has been thoroughly searched by prospectors. During the depression of the 1930's, prospectors searched gold-producing areas throughout the West. The results of their activities have never been fully documented, but incomplete records indicate that an extremely small percentage of the total number of active prospectors supported themselves by gold mining. Of the few significant discoveries reported, nearly all were made by prospectors of long experience who were familiar with the regions in which they were working...

Capture Top-notch Wilderness Landscapes

It's depressingly easy to come home from a trip with a pile of bad landscape photos. Even with superb scenery, random snapshots all too often fail to capture the magic. The following tips are aimed at helping casual shooters boost their panoramic prowess. Don't settle for the first thing you see. Small changes in perspective can profoundly transform a scene. Crouch or lie down, climb some rocks or a hill, or walk around the lake. Try a variety of viewpoints until you find the one that is most compelling...

Family Friendly Hikes in Zion National Park

Zion is often discussed in terms of its big adventure hikes such as the Narrows, Angels Landing, or the Subway. Hikes like these have deservingly gained monumental reputations among park visitors. They pack a maximum of authentic outdoor adventure into packages that are relatively easy for most enthusiasts to enjoy. Zion is also home to a handful of short, family-friendly hikes that pack a punch in terms of scenic prowess. Some of these hikes are more well-known than others, but they're all suitable for a wide range of age and ability.

How To See More Wildlife

Spotting an elk or antelope in the backcountry adds an intangible element of wildness to any outdoor experience. One of my most vivid outdoor memories involved staring straight into the eyes of a startled bull elk. The surrounding forest disappeared as the elk glared at me, clearly annoyed, before bounding off through the trees. I was exhilarated. Seeing a predator or a rare species of animal can have an even more profound impact on a trip. Unfortunately wild animals are usually in the business of avoiding humans. Still, there are a few things you can do to increase your likelihood of spotting some wildlife on your next trip into the wild.

Backpacking Tents: Your Home Away From Home

If you spend more than a couple of nights a year outside, your tent is probably one of the most important pieces of gear you own. For a serious outdoor enthusiast, a tent may be like your second home. Choose a good one, and it will keep you warm and dry during vicious storms and cold mountain nights. Take good care of it and your tent will probably last for years. Customers expect tentmakers to build something that is light but durable, well-ventilated but waterproof, and easy to set up yet still structurally sound. Back in the days of burlap, such concerns didn’t exist. Fortunately technology has come to the rescue. New materials and construction methods have created a plethora of designs from which to choose...

All Sorts of Stings: Bees, Wasps, and Ants

Buzzing, winged insects seem to elicit irrational fear in a large percentage of the population. That's probably because most of us have had a bad experience with bees or wasps in our past. Their stings are extremely irritating and in most cases that's the worst of it. But some people react more severely than others. Each year, roughly 50 to 100 people in the United States die from the results of a sting. Often, those deaths occur in less than an hour. The mortalities almost always result from anaphylaxis, a rapid and severe allergic reaction. Wasps, bees, and fire ants are all part of a big order of insects referred to as Hymenoptera. The name refers to the insects' membranous wings. Not all of them possess stingers, but many do. Their stings usually cause immediate burning pain, followed by redness, swelling, and finally itching. Application of an ice pack usually eases both the pain and swelling from a sting. Mild and moderate allergic reactions usually respond to oral antihistamines such as Benadryl. Severe difficulty breathing—typical of anaphylaxis—can only be treated with an injected drug such as epinephrine...

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Hiking Boots - Finding the Perfect Fit

Few things can make or break a trip like boots can. A couple of years ago I bought a new pair of hiking boots and decided to break them in on the trail. Within the first two hours of hiking, my tender feet had developed three large and painful blisters. The boots turned out to be too narrow for my feet. After a week of backpacking two of my toenails turned purple and fell off. When it comes to choosing the right pair of boots for traipsing across the backcountry, there are several things you can do to ensure a perfect fit...

All Sorts of Stings: Assassin Bugs

Despite the sinister name, most assassin bugs look pretty harmless. Most of them actually are pretty harmless. A wide variety of assassin bugs live in the Southwest. All but a few are considered beneficial insects, since they prey other, less savory bugs. Most would seldom, if ever, bite a human. Assassin bugs have a long beak-like snout, which they use to suck insect or animal blood. Only two species found in the American Southwest are known to bite humans: the masked hunter and the western bloodsucking conenose...

All Sorts of Stings: Spiders

When I was in college, my apartment was infested with hobo spiders. At one point, my wife and I were catching three or four spiders every night. We probably could have found more, but their coloring blended in perfectly with our carpet--not a very comforting fact. By all standards the little guys seemed to be looking for a fight; at least I believed so when one stared me down from across our living room and then charged. Ever since then, I’ve been plagued by simultaneous disgust and fascination with spiders. They’re incredibly interesting bugs, but I can hardly stand looking at them. All spiders are venomous, but North America is home to only three species that are considered a threat to humans. Most spiders either have venom too weak to be harmful, or teeth too small to puncture human skin. Contrary to a popular myth, “daddy long legs” spiders are not one of the most venomous species in North America. That distinction belongs exclusively to the black widow...

All Sorts of Stings: Scorpions

The Southwest is home to over 30 species of scorpions, but only one is considered life-threatening. Like many spiders, scorpions hide by day. At night, they prowl the desert floor looking for insects to eat. Their crustacean-like pincers are designed to hold and tear apart their prey...

Johnson Canyon and the Hunt for Montezuma's Gold

A few miles east of Kanab, a deep canyon slices northward through the Vermillion Cliffs of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. Johnson Canyon has an eclectic past. During the 1870’s the infamous John D. Lee, chief perpetrator in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, called the canyon home. In the mid-1900’s it served as movie set for multiple Hollywood westerns. While being featured in Gunsmoke was no doubt a prestigious achievement, what really fascinated me was the canyon’s central role in one of Utah’s biggest treasure hunts...

Gear Review: Ursack

The typical black bear has a sense of smell seven times stronger than a bloodhound's, and an appetite to match. Bears are omnivores and opportunists, always hunting for more food to pack down before their long winter nap...

Jacob City: Exploring an Abandoned Canyon

The Ford Bronco II pitched and rolled up the narrow canyon, on the only publicly accessible road into Jacob City. The Bronco’s oversized rear windows afforded a crystalline view into the emptiness of the gorge to our left. The narrow road consisted mostly of mine tailings; one material Dry Canyon certainly doesn’t lack. We were on our way up a jaw-rattling, gut-straining road that seemed to be aiming for the sky. In reality our terminus was an old ghost town encircled by the crimson and ochre-yellow tailings of the Hidden Treasure mine. The Hidden Treasure operated up until the late sixties, but almost all of the mines in this canyon dried up before 1915. Jacob City’s population, roughly 300 at its peak in 1910, had been dwindling steadily since then...

Backpacking Digitally: Choosing a Camera

Some hikers rocket straight for their destinations, while others stop to inspect every rock, tree, or snail on the trailside. Some backpackers cook five-course meals at every opportunity while others, like myself, feel like it’s a chore to boil a pack of dehydrated noodles. Obviously the most important part of choosing any gear is first deciding where your priorities lie. If photography is already a serious hobby, then you probably don’t need help deciding what to bring on your next trip. For many people though, the situation isn’t quite so clear-cut. Choosing a camera that balances quality, price, and portability, can be a daunting task. The following are a few tips for choosing a camera that will take great pictures without getting in the way...

Naturalist Basin

We were making our way along the first segment of the Highline Trail of the Uinta Mountains towards Naturalist Basin, a high-elevation cluster of lakes oft praised for its alpine beauty. A friend had tipped me off, suggesting I visit during the Uintas’ torrential spring runoff. He claimed that the cliffs above and below Jordan, Blue, and Morat Lakes sprout magnificent waterfalls during the last few weeks of June. Oblique rays of golden light sliced like laser beams between thick columns of pine. The sharp illumination at our backs etched every woodland texture into fine detail. Bright specks of dust and fluff, along with the occasional winged insect, jigged and bobbed through liquid sunshine. With dusk rapidly approaching, my hiking party and I were churning up the trail in a head-to-head race against the dipping sun. Floating detritus swirled angrily in our wake before resuming its tranquil airborne processional...

Water Trails of the Anasazi

The deserts of the American Southwest abound with ancient literature. Carvings litter the desert like windblown newspaper clippings. Countless people sweated, bled, and died on these lands, and many of them left their marks. The Southwest's ancient inhabitants worked hard to scrape their living out of the barren soil. In light of that fact, I've always believed that the figures and pictures painstakingly chipped into rock were either highly functional or highly ceremonial; certainly more than the idle graffiti of bored, shiftless teenagers...

The Dangers of Heat and Cold: Hypothermia

Every chemical reaction has an optimal temperature at which it works best. Temperatures outside a given range can make undesirable things happen in a reaction; that’s why you may find your digital camera’s battery has mysteriously lost all its power after a frigid night in the mountains. Everything that happens inside your body is the result of chemical reactions; so just as you might expect, your body operates best under a particular set of conditions. Expose it to extremes of temperature and all sorts of problems arise...

The Dangers of Heat and Cold: Frostbite

Exposure to cold temperatures causes blood vessels near the surface of the body to constrict, reducing blood flow and loss of heat to the surrounding environment. This serves as one of the body's protective measures against hypothermia, or cooling of the core body temperature. Sometimes there is an unfortunate side-effect of this mechanism, especially in sub-freezing temperatures. It is known as frostbite. When the temperature of the skin or extremities dips below freezing, the water and liquids inside and between cells begin to crystallize. As the water freezes, the microscopic ice crystals rupture and kill cells, causing irreversible tissue damage...

The Dangers of Heat and Cold: Heat Stroke

Heat exhaustion is the most common form of heat-related illness. It results when the body generates more heat than it is able to dissipate. If heat exhaustion isn't controlled, it can eventually result in a more serious situation, heat stroke. Predisposing factors for heat exhaustion and heat stroke include heat (obviously), humidity, heavy physical activity, dehydration, and hyponatremia (a low salt-concentration in body fluids). Add a few of these circumstances together and you have a recipe for heat injury...

"1.21 Gigawatts!": The Real Facts about Lightning

On July 19, 2003, Rick and Lisa Goff were enjoying an idyllic afternoon of fishing with their three children. They set up base near the shore of Crystal Lake, in the Uinta Mountains. As an early afternoon storm gathered overhead, the Goffs moved their lawn chairs under a tree for shelter. A bolt of lightning struck the tree and killed both parents instantly. For the past forty years, the NOAA has listed lightning as the second largest source of weather-related deaths in the United States. In terms of mortality, it is exceeded only by flash floods. Local news agencies seem to report at least one lightning-related death in the Uinta Mountains each year—sometimes more. In Utah alone, lightning has claimed the lives of sixty people in the last fifty years. At any given moment, there are about 1,800 thunderstorms in progress around the globe. Worldwide, lightning hits the ground about 100 times per second...

Finding History in Range Creek

My brother and I first scrambled into this canyon six months earlier merely to glimpse a piece of history untouched. For generations, this canyon remained a sanctuary. It actually wasn’t until 1885 that cattle ranching started here. The first brave homesteaders arrived in 1915. The now-famous Wilcox family bought the property in 1951. For three generations they kept greedy fingers away with locked gate and loaded shotgun. Getting too old to keep up with the ranch, Waldo Wilcox sold the land to the government in 2001 in an attempt to protect the ancient history hidden inside. After a few years, the secret went out—every news syndicate in America, and even some abroad, ran an article raving about Waldo’s heroic protection of this canyon. The media has a way of glamorizing a man when the truth is found in too many details. No doubt he played a major role in preserving this land from corruption, but it’s suspected he had some heydays of his own, including curiosity-bourn excavations with a bulldozer...

The Lakes Backcountry

Most experts agree there is no gold in the Uintas. However, two men created minor turmoil when they claimed to own a map showing the location of several lost mines. Their names are Gale Rhoades and Kerry Boren. According to their story, the maps were found on a group of dead Mexicans in 1830. Supposedly the Mexicans had been harvesting gold from one of the lost Spanish mines. They were on their way to pick up supplies and drop off some gold when they were massacred by a group of Ute Indians. The Rhoades family allegedly kept the map a secret, passing it down from generation to generation until it eventually came into the hands of Gale Rhoades. Rhoades died of heart failure several years ago while prospecting in the Uinta Mountains. His estranged friend and business partner, Kerry Boren, supposedly continued the hunt for gold after his friend’s death. To this day, Boren insists that he has personally seen one of the mines. His claims may be wild, but they fanned the fires of belief among many locals and old-timers. Since originally making those claims, Boren landed himself in Utah State Prison, convicted of murder...

Eardley Canyon

Cliff Dweller Flat is an oddly perfect place to park your transportation before you set off in search of Eardley Canyon. Old USGS topographical maps show it has an aircraft landing strip. Erosion and grassy lumps have overridden anything that once resembled a runway. If it ever actually existed, the only remaining sign of it is a remarkably straight stretch of dirt road. But, we didn’t come here seeking air travel...