Chicago

You can probably guess that I flew into Chicago. Photos taken out of the windows of airliners are not always very useful. This one turned out pretty well, especially since it was taken with my iPhone 7 Plus. You only have a second or two to take a photo when the plane is traveling at a high speed, low over a city.

Snow Geese Flocks in Delta, Utah

It looks a lot like a bunch of white dots on a gray background, but it is really a huge flock of snow geese making a lot of noise. It was a cold and overcast day with a breeze blowing off and on. We worked our way around the Gunnison Bend Reservoir to see if there was a better vantage point, but the birds were careful to remain quite a distance from the shore. Even with a 500 mm lens on my camera, getting a close-up shot was not entirely possible. We finally got a few shots with my Sony 50x zoom lens.

Snow Geese in Delta, Utah

Every year in February, Delta, Utah holds its Snow Geese Festival to celebrate the arrival of the Snow Geese on their way back to the North. It was a cold day with temperatures below freezing, but the geese seemed to enjoy their rest and swim around the Gunnison Bend Reservoir. We had an enjoyable afternoon watching the birds and taking a few photos.

Ghost Town: Mammoth, Utah

Mammoth, Utah should really be classified as a semi-ghost town. There are still a few people living out here. This is a really isolated place and you would have to want to go to it to see it. Here is a quote about the site from the Wikipedia article on Mammoth, Utah.

The Mammoth Mine was discovered around the same time as the settlement of Eureka in February 1870. Miners rushed in and began a boomtown. The area was remote and the environment harsh; no water was to be found nearby. The mines piped in water for industrial use, but residents had to buy drinking water for ten cents a gallon.

Mines in the area around Mammoth produced ore, silver, and gold. The Mammoth Mine was in production for around seventy-five years. Considered part of the Tintic Mining District, with other communities and mines in the area, the area around Mammoth played a vital role in the mining economy of the Utah Territory and later the State of Utah.

Ghost Town: Knightsville -- Old Mine Shaft

I do not have much of a motivation to explore old mine shafts. Usually, the shoring and support was furnished by local timber and has deteriorated over the years making any entrance extremely dangerous. However, I must admit I have explored a few mines that were cut into solid rock. If you are looking for minerals, I would note that these mines are usually still privately owned and entry into them can constitute trespass. I do appreciate all the work it took to cut these tunnels into the rock.

Ghost Town: Knightsville Abandoned Mine Tower

The clouds and the snow give this image depth and help to define the scene. Utah has a lot of abandoned mines, as does Arizona. I have my own abandoned mine stories, some of which could have had tragic endings. One thing missing from an image like this is the strong wind that was blowing from the west. Within two days of the day this photo was taken, Utah was back into winter with a heavy snowstorm.

Utah Ghost Towns: Knightville

Not being among those who are stopped by cold and windy days, we decided to take a trip out the West Desert of Utah to visit some ghost towns. The first was the most difficult to find. It is called Knightsville and was a mining town in the late 1800s. This image shows the remains of the large schoolhouse that are located on a hill above the rest of the town. Quoting from Wikipedia:

Knightsville is a ghost town located in the East Tintic Mountains on the northern slope of Godiva Mountain, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Eureka, in the northeastern corner of Juab County in central Utah, United States. A silver mining camp, Knightsville was established and operated as a company town by local mining entrepreneur Jesse Knight. The town was inhabited from 1896 until approximately 1940.

It is interesting how quickly the desert takes over and even the cement ruins start to disappear. Here is a little bit of the history of Knightsville.

Jesse Knight came to the Tintic Mining District in 1896, with little money and no previous mining knowledge or experience.[2] Against the advice of experienced geologists, he sank a mine shaft that quickly reached a rich body of ore. In response to those who had doubted, he named it the Humbug Mine. Opening about a half dozen mines in the east Tintic area, Knight became one of the region's richest mine owners. His membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was conspicuous in an industry dominated by non-Mormons, and his successes brought him the nickname "the Mormon Mining Wizard".[3] 

Knight disapproved of the drunkenness and other vices of the typical mining camp lifestyle. He decided to build his own model town to house the miners near the Humbug Mine.[4] He started Knightsville by having 20 houses built on Godiva Mountain.[2] He soon expanded to 65 homes[3] and two boarding houses.[2] There were stores, churches, hotels, and a post office.[4] But Knightsville became known as "the only mining camp in the United States without a saloon"; as the landowner Knight would not permit a saloon to operate in town.[3]

Porter Rockwell Cabin

This is the authentic Porter Rockwell Cabin. It has been moved from Cherry Creek where it was built in about 1867 to the main street of Eureka, Utah. We have driven through the town quite a few times, but never stopped to look at the old cabin. Porter Rockwell is a well-known, early Utah pioneer and once served as the "bodyguard" for the Prophet Joseph Smith. Much of his life has passed into legend.

The Old and the New

On the extreme left-hand side of this rock art panel, you can see some faint writing that dates back only a few years. All petroglyphs in the Southwest United States are protected by law, but there are still some people who feel that their right to expression overrides any concerns about historical preservation. But on the other hand, graffiti is almost a universal human urge. We protect the ancient rock art with laws that prosecute those who do the same thing in a more recent historical context.

A Balancing Act

Utah is an interesting place to live. There is almost a saturation of the media promoting Utah's natural wonders as a tourist destination and millions of people, heeding the advertising, flock to the National Parks and Monuments in such great numbers that there a danger that their popularity will destroy the very objects of their adoration. At the same time, the entire state seems to resist adding any further "protection" to areas that are even more vulnerable. In the past few years, two huge areas of the state have been added to the roster of National Monuments, both bitterly opposed by some of the residents of the state.

As an example, in 2006 there were 2,589,250 visitors to Zion National Park in south-central Utah. By 2016, that number had grown to 4,317,028, just in that one National Park. Tourism is booming. The Utah Tourism Industry Association statistics for the Fall of 2016 show spending by tourists in Utah to be $8.17 billion dollars and 8.370 total visits were made to Utah's five National Parks. Despite this obvious incentive, the State of Utah seems to be turning its back on taking further advantage of this huge state benefit. Much of this money comes from people who live outside the state and do not require state supported services.

The opposition to the newer National Monuments seems entirely focused on the narrow issues of the expansion of activities that are not calculated to benefit the state at all, such as increased coal mining while alternative energy options are growing. Interesting.

An Abundance of Flowers

The iconic photo of fields of flowers shows a solid splash of color. High up on Colorado Plateau in the drying winds of Spring and Summer, seeing this many flowers in one place at one time constitutes and abundance. Scarcity imbues the scene with an appreciation for the effort each one of these beautiful plants had to undergo to flower under conditions of constant drought. Consequently, I appreciate every individual effort and the combined effort of all those who bloomed at the same time.

A Mysterious Pipe

Southern Utah has some of the strangest rock formations in the world. This strange formation is a pipe. So far, the origin of these rock pipes has eluded scientists. But for those of us who like to hike around in the desert, they are a destination worth the effort.

Dots and Dashes in Sandstone

This is an actual clay/sandstone formation found in a road cut along the Henrieville Creek, just south of Cannonville, Utah. It seems to be almost impossible. The dark brown clay is very crumbly and the lighter white clay is much harder. The vein extends for several yards in both directions and is partially visible in the cut on the other side of the road.

Old Growth Forest

The forests in Utah and Arizona can be heavily wooded but they are a far cry from this Canadian Old Growth Forest. The layers of vegetation here are almost unbelievable from the perspective of an old desert dweller. This is really a rainforest in the MacMillan Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

RootsTech 2017 Cake Competition

One of the bonuses from attending the RootsTech 2017 Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah was the chance to see the cake baking competition. This is one of the winners. The cakes were fantastic. This cake is by Betheny Tomseth of Cake Happens. You can read her blog at The Apothecakery.

Fern Wood

This is not Utah. We have some lovely forests here in Utah, but none of them are as wet as this one in Canada. This particular area is not one conducive to off-trail travel. I love the colors and the texture of the plants both dead and alive.

The Rugged Wasatch Mountains

The Wasatch Mountains of northern Utah are notable because of their close proximity to population centers. 85% of Utah's population of approximately 2.2 million people live within 15 miles of the Wasatch Mountain Range. I happen to live about 2 hundred yards from the mouth of an impressive canyon. See Wikipedia: Wasatch Range. The highest mountain peak in the range is Mount Nebo at 11,928 feet above sea level. My view to the south, where Mount Nebo is located near Nephi, Utah, is blocked by the bench created by the Bonneville Lake Shoreline. The most dramatic feature of the entire mountain range is the Wasatch Front. This is the west side of the range that faces a string of valleys for approximately 120 miles that are filled with contiguous cities all along the front.

Return to Summer

This has been a cold and snowy winter here in Utah and for a little respite, I return to some of the photos of summer. This is Stewart Falls. This is an impressive waterfall for the mostly dry state of Utah. It is located a short distance from the famous Sundance Ski Resort, home of the Sundance Film Festival. Like all hikes in the Wasatch Mountains, the trail is rugged and steep in places.

The Color of the Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs is continually changing. Local seismic events can radically change the rate and path of the hot spring water. The combination of the minerals in the water and the heat-loving bacteria create a dramatic effect. Access to the formations is limited to parking areas around the perimeter and there are a few boardwalks and paths giving additional access.

Mammoth Hot Springs Landscape

There are few places that look as unnatural and desolate as the great shelves built up by the Mammoth Hot Spring in Yellowstone National Park. You would have a hard time reconciling this barren image with the lush forest stands barely visible on the hillsides in the distance. Over the years I have visited this site, I have seen the entire landscape change and evolve into to entirely different forms.

Yellowstone's Minute Geyser

This hot pool in Yellowstone National Park qualifies as a geyser because it erupts almost constantly. However, what you see is what you get. I like the color and texture of the heat-loving bacteria that live the perpetually hot environment of the pool. The changes in coloration are due to the distance from the vent. As the temperature of the water cools, the bacteria can no longer live and the coloration turns to white. You can tell that the landscape and the thermal formations are always changing by the two dead trees in the foreground.