Cornering Consciousness

I believe it was Squaw Creek that began a recurring dream I have. I used to hike it during the summers I spent as an adolescent at Squaw Valley, California, every time connecting to something that pushes one on to see what’s next, what’s on the other side, of anything. The dream is discovering something incredible just beyond the scope of my known world. Living in the suburban sprawl of the Bay Area I get that, but living here in Southern Utah there’s three hundred sixty degrees of what looks like the end of the world, geology that is not only daunting if not prohibitive to traverse (the slice of I-15 notwithstanding), and it challenges you to imagine what’s on the other side. I’ve realized the dream a number of times, Toroweep , The Barracks , The Grand Staircase , and over this past weekend, our first foray into exploring and writing a series about the Parashant National Monument, the Grand Canyon’s lesser known sister. And I’m taking a risk here in violating that lesser kno...

Tuweep is a place that delivers you proportionately. Big earth, puny human. Like her not-so-distant relative, the North Rim, this more obscure Grand Canyon overlook shuts your mouth and opens your senses and your mind.  We were there only eleven months ago, the end of April last, to try out our new gear that we’ve since journeyed with throughout Utah, Nevada, California and Oregon . This trip capped off my Spring Break, setting things right again since our errant overnighter a couple of weeks ago on The Barracks trail .  This would be Ginger and Mary Anne’s first legit camping trip, having tricked them on that three-hour tour. This time we packed accordingly, and I rebuilt the front end of the Montero, repairing the damage from Barracks trip. From Saint George, Tuweep is about a 90 mile drive south, all of which is off-road at the Utah-Arizona border where we aired-down putting my latest Fathers’ Day Gift to use, the ARB deflator. Beats the back ache o...