While growing up...

In the Bronx, our early American history lessons were geographically eastern based. It was all about the Original Thirteen Colonies strung out along the Atlantic Ocean side. 

It wasn't until I made the great leap west in 1978, did I begin to realize there was heaps of White Folk history on the other side of this continent. The only difference was the White Folk spoke Spanish instead of English. 

In 1776, (isn't that year significant in U.S. History?) Fathers Dominguez and Escalante left Santa Fe, New Mexico in an attempt to find a route to the Catholic missions in Monterey, California. They endured hunger, cold, thirst and other hardships while traversing a harsh landscape. They were the first Non-Natives to see a significant part of the Colorado Plateau country. They left behind a few names of the rivers they crossed: the Dolores, the San Miguel and the Mancos. Their brave efforts failed to gain them the prize they sought. They returned to Santa Fe to a less than warm welcome. They were looked upon as losers.

So, it's a little ironic that the one River they didn't ford or even see is named after Father Escalante. Kudos to Almon Thompson who mapped and named the river in 1872. This humble river (only 90 miles long) was the last waterway of its size to be discovered in the Lower 48. Thanks Almon for not being a suck-up and naming the river after your boss - John Wesley Powell. 

I forded the Escalante River today over and over. I have photos to prove it too. Please don't look at me as a failure for not making it to Monterey. 

There is so much to see in the 1.9 million acre Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument. I'll be doing some exploring in the days to come. Anyone interested in backpacking here this fall?

In the final photo, a few knockoffs of Casey Nocket left their sign in a beautiful alcove. Shame on them. http://jeffsambur.blogspot.ae/2014/11/the-case-against-casey-nocket.html

Be nice out there. 

Jeff

BTW. The W,W Jew blog just scored its 15,000th page view. So what, if many of those hits came from Eastern European hackers! Maybe they read my stuff in between sniffing around for my password. 

Why can't we all just get along? 

"So, Mama don't take my Kodachrome away..."

Kodachrome by Paul Simon.

It was a chilly, blustery day at Kodachrome Basin State Park. I donned tights, lots of layers and a Windstopper jacket to brave the elements for my ramble. I miss my shorts and tank tops! 

So Jeffy, how did this park get named for a now extinct Kodak color film? I'm glad you asked because I'm in Cannonville, Utah (Yawn!) and I have plenty of time to expound.

Back in 1948, a squad of National Geographic Society photographers descended upon the area. One Jack Breed piped up, "It was a beautiful and fantastic country...we renamed it "Kodachrome Flat" because of the astonishing variety of contrasting colors in the formations."

Personally, I think "Mostly Mud-Colored Rock Flat" would be more accurate, but Jack was here first. 

At that time, Kodachrome film was fairly new on the scene. (Maybe NGS was scoring some payola from Kodak!). In 1962, the land was deeded to the Beehive State for use as a park. A little later, Utah was granted the OK by Kodak to use Kodachrome as the name. Why not? Free advertising! 

In 2009, Kodak discontinued production of Kodachrome. Digital cameras made film obsolete. Future generations will one day say, "Daddy/Mommy! What's Kodachrome?"

You're a Baby Boomer if you know what a Brownie camera is!

The wind can stop anytime now...

From downtown Cannonville, Utah, yawn...

The Land of Giddy...

If Zion National Park is the Land of Make-Believe http://jeffsambur.blogspot.ae/2015/04/a-make-believe.html than Bryce Canyon National Park is a Land of Happy Hikers. Grins are  prevalent except on the steep climbs. The visitors aren't happy then. But when they halt mid-stride and look around, they'll usually smile again. It's a place to let your imagination run wild. 

Didn't that rock look like a camel's head? Wasn't that Queen Victoria over yonder? Is that a couple in the act of coupling to the left of that pine tree? The Hoodoos (the name for the eccentric rock formations) won't say.

The Paiute Indians believed the stones were the Legend People. However, they were evil in nature. The trickster Coyote turned them into crumbly columns for their digressions. The story is a Native American knockoff of Lot's Wife and the Pillar of Salt. I guess humanity has only so many yarns.

It's a park in constant transition. The rock is sedimentary and soft. Every time it rains (like today) or White Death descends from the sky, a little more is flushed away into the Paria River drainage. So you better hurry to catch this whimsical place before its a geologic memory. 

BTW:  the park is not a canyon, it's an amphitheater. In the 1870's a Mormon pioneer named Ebenezer Bryce helped build a road to the rim and its bounty of timber. His neighbors called it Bryce's Canyon.

Old Ebenezer is credited with describing the nearby turf this way, "it's a hell of a place to lose a cow!" 

From rainy Tropic, Utah.

It's Saturday, (the Hebrew Sabbath) this Wandering, Wondering Jew is taking a day of rest here. 

Hark! Is that an IPA calling me?