The comparative geography...

of my typical bike rides, in Utah and in Washington state. Both maps shown below are represented at nearly the same scaling.

Track for a 25 mile ride with 1,700 foot vertical ascent in Castle Valley, Utah.

Track for a 21 mile ride with 460 foot vertical ascent in Cheney, Washington.

Two full years ago...

I was caught out on a plague ship at the leading edge of the Covid crisis and this is the epic story of my repatriation.

The Silver Explorer expedition ship, operating in the icy fjords of southern Chile, March 2020, the day before the lockdown.

Me in a N95 mask driving a Zodiac from the Silver Explorer to an awaiting ferry at the beginning of our dramatic escape under the cover of darkness. Read the linked story! Image credit: Ross McDonald.

Savoring the last few days...

on the trail with beautiful spring-like weather and near perfect trail conditions before heading north to prep for travel to Iceland.

UPDATE 15 March 2022: Rode my final ride today, at least for a short while. Twenty-five joyful miles. It’s that fun and conditions are that good. I will miss this place for the next month.

A helluva great time...

was had in Hellroaring Canyon today with a group of about a dozen intrepid explorers seeking an audience with the Comet Thrower. The short hike involves a very sporting and exposed downclimb into the canyon via a series of ledges in the canyon wall.

View westward into Hellroaring Canyon, with the Kachina Towers on the left.

The magnificent Comet Thrower pictograph.

View eastward towards the Kachina Towers. The red circle marks the location of the Comet Thrower on the enormous Wingate Sandstone wall.

Rock art savant Rory Tyler mind-melding with a spooky anthropomorphic equinox marker.

Klondike Bluffs...

sits in a remote corner of Arches National Park and was the focus of a long hike today in search of hidden pictographs somewhere in the complexly jointed terrain.

View south towards the La Sal Mountains.

Stratiform malachite mineralization (Cu₂CO₃₂) in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic).

Look closely at this image to see petroglyphs carved over the older pictographs.

GPS track overlain on Google Earth for the 9.3 mile (1,300 foot vertical) exploration.

A wild goose chase...

in an obscure part of Arches National Park took a small group of us to the compelling and relatively unknown Goose Panel, depicting a variety of bighorn sheep and geese and goslings.

The Goose Panel.

An abundance of chert in the area was likely a large draw for the ancients to this location.

The four, tall, long-necked figures to the right are interpreted to be geese, with the smaller glyphs beneath them thought to be goslings.

Eye of the Whale Arch...

was the primary objective of a 20 mile ride today on Willow Springs Road, one of the back roads into Arches National Park. It was the second ride by my neighbor, BH, on his new eMTB, a RadRover 6, the successor to my RadRover 5. It was big fun and he was ecstatic.

View through the Eye of the Whale.

View towards Balanced Rock, The Windows and the high La Sal Mountains from Willow Springs Road.

Balanced Rock.

RadRover 6 (left) and RadRover 5 (right) at the unattended back door entry station to the park.

Seven Mile Canyon...

north of Moab, Utah was the location of a walkabout today in order to examine petroglyphs with local rock art expert Rory Tyler.

“Supplication Panel” detail.

Local rock art whisperer Rory Tyler and a bighorn sheep petroglyph.

Here’s a link to Rory’s new website, under development: moabrockart.org

The snow drought is over...

in southern Utah, with nearly six inches (15 cm) falling this morning in Castle Valley. The National Weather Service forecast for this location: “Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.”

24 Feb 2022 UPDATE: The day after the winter storm, where another inch of snow fell overnight in the valley. Clear and cold now.

The La Sal Mountains gained between 14 to 23 inches (35 to 58 cm) of snow in the last 72 hour-long winter storm. The snow water equivalent graph shown here is for the mid-elevation SNOTEL site, now at 89% of normal. (Click on image to enlarge.)

A nice hand specimen...

of a trachyte porphyry from the La Sal Mountain laccolith (Eocene) showing euhedral orthoclase phenocrysts 1-4 cm long.

The dark phenocryst in the center of the image shows clear zoning. The groundmass consists of orthoclase with minor plagioclase, biotite, hornblende and augite.