The White Rim is a storied location. Vast and wide and mysterious. Gateway to an unknown wilderness, edge of the Maze, an alien world of ancient ghosts and impossible canyons. As I rode the trail this spring I gazed out at the landscape feeling small, awestruck and otherwise soaking up the Abbey-esque...

There is a place, near Moab, but not Moab. A place that is nestled between the mighty Porcupine Rim, and the looming Adobe Mesa. A place watched over carefully by The Priest and The Nuns, with Sister Superior keeping a watchful distant eye. It is a wide open valley, sitting quietly at the base of the...

Thanksgiving weekend, 1995. Moab.

I discovered Edward Abbey long after I ought to have. A native of Utah, and someone who traveled to Moab, and other desert locations, since I was a child, I grew up with a deep love for that improbable landscape. And yet I had never heard of Edward Abbey until only a few years ago. Within the first pages...

I stumbled across the March 1955 issue of Desert magazine. I was fascinated by the articles, the photography and the ads. Nearly every page had an ad for a Geiger Counter, with an accompanying promise to strike it rich prospecting for Uranium. It reminded me of the story of Charlie Steen , or the legendary...

Salt Lake City, from Ensign Peak Utah is an interesting place. It was settled in the 1840's by Mormon refugees. And still today Mormons arrive here from everywhere. They come, some of them without the intention of staying. "It's just so I can go to BYU" they say. Some keep their word...

Kokopelli Moonrise. 5/16/08 "I’m not a big believer in all the techniques of “positive self talk” or affirmations and so forth. Just train hard, train with good technique, use visualization (which works with the subconscious), and the quality of performance will reflect the preparation. I recommend...

In 2006 I rode from Moab to Fruita in 17 hours and 25 minutes. Saturday I will repeat the feat. Or at least I will attempt to repeat it. And while I don't think my fitness is quite where it was in May of '06, I do think I am a smarter rider. Which means I feel good about the prospect of besting...

"The far off horizon impressed me no less. Once again, as in childhood, I saw the soft blue distance inviting me like an open door. And once again I was overcome by the feeling that I was not born for the life of a perpetual stay-at-home among my fellow men in towns and houses, but for pilgrimages...

Hitting the snooze button... Saturday, the second day of the back to back white rim rides started and ended in much the same way--with me lying in the dirt. I awoke groggy, a little sore. No, I was very sore. My ankle was inexplicably swollen and painful. I was snug and comfortable in the bivy sack....