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HIKING HAPPENINGS May 2007

The articles written by Rory Tyler as well as articles written by other Moab Happenings writers can be found by title and date in the Archive section of moabhappenings.com. - webmaster

Wilderness needs no defense, just more defenders. -- Ed Abbey
by Rory Tyler

The odometer on my ’83 Toyota quit working at 283,000 and I can no longer calculate the mileage to trailheads, so this column, my 36th, is my last for the Moab Happenings. When I started writing these columns I had two objectives. First, to produce something that might amuse tourists killing time in hotel rooms, coffee shops, laundromats, or wherever. Second, to point the way to the unbeaten track. As a result, most of my columns have some solid information suspended in a froth of supercilious drivel. As I reviewed the columns (a sometimes painful experience) I thought it a pity that so much that might be useful should be obscured in a fog of blather. That’s when I came up with the idea of an Index. Now, you can go to the Moab Happenings’ archives and slog through a minimum of excess verbiage in order to get information you want.

This is also an opportunity to reveal my hidden agenda. In my fourteen years in Moab I’ve been fascinated by the Indian rock art, especially Basketmaker art, and what it might tell us about those ancient people. I believe that it’s highly representational and I’ve developed several hypotheses about what some of it might mean. Whether or not these hypotheses are plausible is probably irrelevant, but they are novel and make for good discussion. The pertinent columns include Here Kitty, Kitty (8/04), The Staff of Life (6/05), Interactive Rock Art (9/05), The Look (6/06), The Guard and the Guardian (11/06), and Gimme That Old Time Religion (3/07). The last column discusses the possibility of Hidden Valley being a solar calendar and, although the results aren’t in yet, things look promising. The next observations will start around June 17. Call me.

Some other columns I liked include two describing a rarely visited but wonderful area, the Burkholder/Rill Divide at the top Sand Flats Road (5/04 and 7/05). The Great Sand Sea (11/05) is about Navajo Sandstone and is also my tribute to the late Fran Barnes. And last, Have a Nice Hike, Dick (7/06), an elegy for Dick Webster, one of the nicest people I ever met.

Thanks to Moab Happenings publisher, Theresa King, for letting me write basically whatever I wanted to, Lola McElhaney for hardly editing me at all and for putting some of my photos on the cover (a real thrill!), and my long time hiking buddy, Jose Knighton, for sharing with me so much of what I’ve had the privilege to share with you. Lastly, thanks to all the readers in Moab and elsewhere who said such nice things to me and encouraged me to keep on truckin’.

Index of Rory’s articles: December 2003 to April 2007

Amasa Back, 3/04, 10/05, 10/06
Anasazi, 12/05
Archeoastronomy, 3/07

Arches National Park:

Broken Arch, 2/06;
Courthouse Wash, 1/4, 4/04, 2/06, 5/06;
Entrada Sandstone, Moab Member, 2/04, 3/04;
Freshwater Spring Canyon, 2/04;
Herdina Park, 2/06;
Park Avenue Overlook, 3/04, 2/06;
Seven Mile Canyon, 12/06;
Tapestry Arch, 2/06;
Willow Springs, 2/04;
Windows, 10/05;

Barnes, Fran 11/05;
Barrier Canyon (see Desert Archaic);
Basketmaker Indians, 8/04, 12/05, 11/06;
Burkholder/Rill Divide, 5/04,7/05;
Cane Creek, 12/03, 9/05, 12/05;
Upheaval Dome, 10/05
Corona Arch, 12/03
Culvert Canyon, 12/03, 1/06
Day Canyon, 4/04, 4/06
Dendroglyphs, 7/04
Desert Archaic, 1/04, 6/05, 12/05
Desert Varnish, 4/06
Dinosaur Tracks, 2/04, 5/04, 10/05, 2/07
Dump Wall, 1/04, 10/05
Fisher Mesa, 5/04
Geronimo 10/05
Gold Bar Arch, 1/06
Hellroaring Canyon, 6/05
Hidden Valley, 8/04, 12/05, 11/06, 2/07
Jeep Arch (see Gold Bar Arch)
Johnson’s-Up-On-Top, 8/04, 3/07
Kokopelli Trail, 7/05

La Sal Mountains

Burro Pass, 8//06;
Gold Basin, 8/05, 8/06;
La Sal Pass, 8/06;
Moonlight Meadows, 8/05;
Oowah Lake, 7/04;
Peterson, Charles 8/05;
Rudolph and Ramone, 8/06;
Trans LaSal Trail, 7/04, 8/05;
Warner Lake, 7/04, 8/05

Moab Rim Trail, 1/07
Mill Canyon, 12/05
Mill Creek, Left Hand (North Fork) 12/03, 6/06
Mill Creek, Right Hand (South Fork)
   Lower, 4/04, 6/06; Upper, 5/04, 8/04, 3/07
Mill Creek Parkway, 6/04
Moonflower Canyon, 12/03, 3/06
Navajo Sandstone, 10/05
Negro Bill Canyon, 5/05, 5/06
Old Folks’ Home, 1/07
Ottinger’s Triple Arch, 1/06
Pocket Arch, 10/05
Porcupine Rim, 7/05
Potash Road, 1/4
Rice Grass, 6/05

Rock Art

Bartlett (ET) Panel, 6/05;
Cane Creek, 9/05, 12/05;
Eddie McStiff’s, 8/04;
Hidden Valley, 8/04, 12/05, 3/07;
Johnson’s-Up-On-Top, 8/04;
Mill Canyon, 12/05;
Mill Creek, Left Hand, 12/03, 6/06;
Moab Mammoth, 12/03;
Moab Panel, 1/04;
Old Folks’ Home, 1/07;
Owl Panel, 9/05;
Polka Dot Man, 1/04

Sand Flats, 1/04, 11/05, 9/06
Seven Mile Canyon, 12/06
Slickrock Trail, 10/05
Webster, Dick 7/06
Wildflowers, 4/04
Wingate Sandstone, 4/06

 


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