I could say much about Utah, but I won't say much now
because I will have much more to say in the future. But I don't want anyone to lose
site of the fact that I had a great first week there in Park City. My hosts,
who happened to be my good buddy Tom and his wife Chloe, were incredibly gracious hosts. Chloe's
pregnancy precluded her from participating, but that didn't stop Tommy from
introducing me to some of Park City's finest MTB trails nearly every day! Park
City is the first and currently only IMBA Gold Certified Mountain Bike Destination
which really doesn't require any more comment except to say that if you're a
d%ckhe$d mountain biker, you might be
better off making southern Florida or the Bahamas your next riding destination.
Not only does Utah offer great mountain biking, but it also
offers out of this world scenery and polygamy! Although the polygamy is
available year round, I don't plan on partaking of that and so will not be
commenting. I do plan on experiencing and commenting on the scenery. However,
at this time of the year, Utah officials are putting in calls to Hades for
advice on relieving the effects of extreme heat so I intend to postpone my
southern Utah adventures until the fall.
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| International climbing destination. |
So after getting my MTB riding legs more finely tuned I
steer Mage north to the great spud state of Idaho. Just across the border is
"The City of Rocks" (www.nps.gov/ciro). I was immediately disappointed
since I was looking forward to looking up my two old friends Fred Flintstone
and Barney Rubble, but I quickly learned they were not residents. However, if
you are a rock climber this place is a Mecca for you! It seems to have been
built for climbing and people from all over the world make it a rock climbing
destination. If you happened to be a traveler along the California Trail or the
Alternate Salt Lake Trail in the mid 1800's you might think of it as did James
Wilkins, one of the first wagon pioneers, "....granite rocks rising
abruptly out of the ground....in a romantic valley clustered together, which
gives them the appearance of a city....a dismantled rock-built city of the
Stone Age." Back then you might have also , as many did, wrote your name
in axle grease on 'Register Rock' leaving one of North America's earliest
examples of a graffiti wall.
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| Perhaps the U.S.'s first graffiti wall. |
I don't necessarily have a fear of heights, but I do have a healthy
fear of the effects that gravity has on the human body falling from heights. Therefore,
since I didn't have any climbing equipment with me, I didn't do any climbing which
required more than my own two feet. Native Americans supposedly also have no
fear of heights, so I leave the climbing to the area's native Shoshone people
and other practiced and well equipped climbers.
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| Moonrise over "Bread Loaves" |
Before heading to the next National Park I made a slight
detour to the Minidoka National Historic Site (http://www.nps.gov/miin). Visually there really isn't much
to see, but the informative markers accomplish the goal of reminding us that
blind optimism which breeds the attitude "It will never happen here!"
is a dangerously short sighted belief and it would be prudent to guard against
it. After Hitler, the world said "never again" and yet less than 30
years later it happened "again" in Cambodia. It can be argued that
similar atrocities "again" happened in Serbia and even today are happening
in parts of Africa and the Middle East.
So for me Minidoka is probably the most powerful historic site in the country. It marks the time in 1942 when The United States forgot
who it was in a wave of panicked hysteria. In 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.",
but that sage lesson apparently fell on deaf ears, including FDR's own! After the attack on Pearl Harbor the
U.S. was engulfed by fear. Fear was
allowed to dictate our actions instead of rational thought and it brought shame
to our land.
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| Minidoka Honor Roll |
Minidoka was one of many sites where Japanese Americans were
ordered by FDR's executive order to be round up and interned for the "good" of the country. Other than the
beautiful offshoot of the Snake River which meanders around the camp and must have been one of
the pitifully few things these men and
woman could look to for relief or inspiration, the only other thing to really
see at the site now is the "Honor Roll". It is a wonderfully
patriotic and appropriate example of passive aggressive symbolism. It stands there
just in front of the "V" shaped garden, which some believe stood for
"Victory" and which was created and tended by the prisoners. The "Honor Roll" proudly lists all
the Japanese Americans who fought honorably next to Italian Americans, Polish
Americans, Irish Americans, English Americans, etc.... in defense of this
nation!
Never underestimate the power of "Fear". It has
been, in fact, the leading driver of our survival, but now in a time when the
Human Races' survival is no longer in question (from a natural point of view)
it is in a word the source of all our woes. It is fear that begets greed,
hatred and jealousy. It is fear that paralyzes our spiritual nature and often
brings out the worst in us. It is what
will lead to our destruction if not subdued. Fear like all tools is a double
edged sword. It can cut one free of their bonds or fatally wound. And like all
tools it is dangerous to wield it haphazardly. We must learn to control it, and
all our tools, wisely and with clarity for the benefit of all concerned.
Forgive me while I climb down off of this soapbox and climb
back into the travel narrative.
From Minidoka I moved farther north in Idaho towards the
Craters of the Moon National Park (www.nps.gov/crmo). Everyone knows that the
moon has less gravity. So I figured I'd be better off climbing around there.
Less gravity, less chance of broken bones! Right? Craters of the Moon is,
geologically speaking, a relatively recent volcanic area of action. However
it's not the typically visualized confined conic volcano like Mt. Saint Helens.
It's actually a 52 mile long crack in the Earth's crust known as the
"Great Rift" which erupts every 2000 years or so. The area has been
described as immersed in "Black Vomit" and only fit as the
"Devil's Orchard". Geologist Harold Stearns described it as "The
surface of the moon as seen through a telescope." President Calvin
Coolidge proclaimed it a National Monument in 1906 in order to protect what he
saw as "a weird and scenic landscape, peculiar to itself."
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| Craters of the Moon Lava field at night. |
It last erupted 2000 years ago so I was really hoping I had
timed it right to get my money's worth and see a show. There was some smoke and
ash in the air, but that was only from a nearby wildfire. In lieu of an
erupting lava display, I joined a Ranger talk with appropriately named
geologist Ranger "Emerald". While discussing the colors of the
volcanic rock she innocently rocked my faith in mankind. Or at least
"science-kind".
She stated, and being a geologist I'm assuming with some
authority, that although they know the volcanic cinders/rocks contain Iron and
Magnesium, and the blue tint is "probably" titanium they have no idea
what other elements/minerals/metals are present. Curious! They boast that the
area is one of the finest basaltic volcanic examples on earth and no one has
bothered to do a total geological breakdown!? In this day and age it seems
criminal to me that such a glaring "hole" in science exists. If
scientists can't be bothered to do a basic, nearly high school level break down
of the "finest volcanic specimen" examples available in the world
then in what other areas is science being equally lazy and let's not pull
punches, negligent. Emerald states that if you know anyone with access to a lab
they would be extremely stoked to find out what the rocks are made of! Really!?
REALLY!? (Where are S.N.L.'s Seth and Amy when I need them?)
O.k., so if you're looking to get your Masters or Doctorate
in Geology, here is your golden opportunity! But, for F%*ks sake, Seriously!
This is the state of science?! In order to add some concrete (pun intended) knowledge to
our understanding of nature, we have to wait for some hungry college student to
perform basic tests! I know things are tight, but if it will help I'd be happy
to spend the gas money to drive a few rocks over to the University of Idaho's
Geology department! Scientists want Trillions of dollars to go on a wild goose
chase for the "God Particle" but they won't spend a few hundred bucks
to find out what is right in front of us, or more correctly, right beneath us?!
Wow. It really makes you think!
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| Moonrise over "Devil's Orchard" |
It sort of left a bad taste in my mouth. Actually that was
probably the Antelope Bitterbrush seed. They are a favorite of the deer and I
couldn't resist tasting one after Emerald stated they were bitter and not
poisonous. She was right, I didn't get sick so they weren't poisonous and it
was bitter. Very bitter! And it just got more and more bitter as time went by!
"That taste will be with you for about 20 minutes" Emerald tells me.
"Gee, Thanks for the heads up! You might have mentioned that before I ate
the seed!". Then again, I have to admit I would have still eaten it!
Making good use of the fumes escaping from my incredulous
disbelieving head I funneled them like a rocket and blasted off from the
Crater's of the Moon. My telemetry is set for impact further north in the
Sawtooth National Forest via Ketchum, Idaho and the Sun Valley Ski Resort area.
Wish me a happy landing!
For Photos and Videos please check out the following links:
Facebook (Just a sampling to wet the appetite before
posting to my Photography website)
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