Utah, 2024

We now return to our boys’ “Go West Old Man” tour as they leave Wyoming and the Grand Tetons.

The overwhelming visual of the Tetons is the vertical explosion of the mountains from the valley floor. It feels strong, vigorous, and youthful. Granite and gneiss are the hard materials of that area, but heading south into Utah, that changes to softer sandstone. The landscape begins to feel weathered, tortured, then ancient, and arid.

Temperatures vary from hot day to cold night. Moisture condenses in nooks and crannies, in the slivers of niches of sedimentary rock. Freezes. Expands. Erodes. Sloughing skin. It’s easy to see things–figures, faces–in the rock, without peyote. It’s the kind of landscape that warns you there are consequences for being careless.

For a new gallery on Utah, with Arches NP, and Bryce Canyon NP, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index/G0000FtBvSxK5CmY