“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.” John Hope Franklin
The Four Hoodoos in Devil’s Garden. — Wikimedia photo
Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument
It was an April day in 1997, just a few months after the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I was on assignment as a reporter to write a story about this wild Southern Utah Landscape. And for four days, I wandered through its nearly 2 million acres* of mostly wild, uninhabited lands.
The explorations included a drive on the then unpaved Burr Trail, about which I wrote about the impressive silence away from the hum of refrigerators. Another day, I drove the Hogsback stretch of Highway 12, which some have called the most beautiful road in America. The Hogsback portion follows a narrow high mesa flanked by deep canyons on either side. If you’ve ever driven it you can never forget it.
It was an amazing journey and I was one lucky reporter to have been assigned to write about this magnificent landscape.
Metate Arch in Devil’s Garden. — Wikimedia photo
This day, my last before heading back to Ogden in Northern Utah, found me in a place called Devil’s Garden, located off Highway 12 about 17 miles southeast of Escalante. Except for the photographer accompanying me on this assignment, and he was off somewhere on his own, I was alone in this isolated place of strange red rock formations.
There was a slight breeze that made the day a bit too cool in the shade, and a hot sun above that made it a bit too warm outside of it. The undersides of the few fluffy clouds overhead were pin-tinged, a reflection from the red rocks, I assumed. The shadows among the rock formations were deep as if holding a mystery that demanded to be explored..
Occasionally I would hear a bird chirp, but mostly it was silent. It was peaceful. I was content. All the cares of the world, my hectic life, my worries. The didn’t exist. It’s nice to go back to that place every once in a while — if only in my memories.
*In 2017, President Trump reduced the size of the Grand-Staircase Escalante Monument to 1.3 million acres
Bean Pat: Derby Poo Ponds http://www.10000birds.com A great place to find birds.
Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Pepper. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder and is always searching for life’s silver lining. Check out her book Travels with Maggie, available on Amazon, to learn more. She can be reached at patbean@msn.com
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Gorgeous area. You were indeed blessed to be on assignment anywhere near there!
I was indeed K.J. Thanks for commenting.
Do you still get to travel as much Pat? You are a lucky girl to have seen such beauty.
Hii Hootie. I don’t. I call myself a non-wandering wanderer these days, but doubly enjoy any opportunity that takes me on the road again.
Oh dear, I completely missed this place!! I did the hike to Delicate Arch but didn’t have time to do another hike, which I think Devil’s Garden is? What a shame… perhaps I’ll get a chance to go back!
Makes me ill what Trump is doing to our natural wonders including Grand Staircase Escalante and Bears Ears. I went to a talk where some Native Americans were discussing what that land means to them. Heinous.