The [canyons] are calling and I must go.
August 17, 2016 12:02 PM Subscribe
What should we read/listen to as we hike and bike our way through Utah?
My partner and I are going on vacation in Utah's national parks region (mostly) and would like to load up the iPod with relevant reading/listening material so we can learn and be entertained as we go. We will be in Canyonlands, Bryce, Arches & Grand Canyon.
We are hoping to find engaging Bill Bryson-esque narratives and passionate John Muir-ish love letters and detailed Ken Burns-ian facts. (I have downloaded a pdf of Burns's National Parks section on Grand Canyon.)
What we're not interested in:*
- Blogs/first-person travelogues (Moth-type stories excepted)
- Photo-heavy content
- Polemic pieces about the parks' imminent destruction by human hands
What we are interested in:
- Regional/cultural/political history written by historians
- Info about the flora/fauna/landscape/climate written by naturalists/geologists
- Travel writing by researchers who have both knowledge of and reverence for what they're writing about
A pre-follow-up question is for anyone who knows the area well - we will have a vehicle so please share any recommendations for towns to stop in & walk around, get fresh food, enjoy some A/C, wander through thrift shops, take a pic of your childhood home for you, spend a bit of money locally, etc.
*If you can't stop yourself from recommending something along these lines because it's just that good, we will check it out before the trip.
My partner and I are going on vacation in Utah's national parks region (mostly) and would like to load up the iPod with relevant reading/listening material so we can learn and be entertained as we go. We will be in Canyonlands, Bryce, Arches & Grand Canyon.
We are hoping to find engaging Bill Bryson-esque narratives and passionate John Muir-ish love letters and detailed Ken Burns-ian facts. (I have downloaded a pdf of Burns's National Parks section on Grand Canyon.)
What we're not interested in:*
- Blogs/first-person travelogues (Moth-type stories excepted)
- Photo-heavy content
- Polemic pieces about the parks' imminent destruction by human hands
What we are interested in:
- Regional/cultural/political history written by historians
- Info about the flora/fauna/landscape/climate written by naturalists/geologists
- Travel writing by researchers who have both knowledge of and reverence for what they're writing about
A pre-follow-up question is for anyone who knows the area well - we will have a vehicle so please share any recommendations for towns to stop in & walk around, get fresh food, enjoy some A/C, wander through thrift shops, take a pic of your childhood home for you, spend a bit of money locally, etc.
*If you can't stop yourself from recommending something along these lines because it's just that good, we will check it out before the trip.
With the caveat that these are both darker than what you requested, I can't stop myself from recommending, because they're both that good:
Desert Solitaire, or many things by Edward Abbey, are a must.
Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer.
posted by Dashy at 1:16 PM on August 17, 2016
Desert Solitaire, or many things by Edward Abbey, are a must.
Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer.
posted by Dashy at 1:16 PM on August 17, 2016
Seconding Edward Abbey. Terry Tempest Williams also writes beautifully about the desert Southwest.
posted by charmedimsure at 1:42 PM on August 17, 2016
posted by charmedimsure at 1:42 PM on August 17, 2016
Best answer: Your question reminded me of this thread from 2013--a very similar question with many recommendations, you might want to take a look.
Reading through that, I was like, "Oh, yeah--here's a REALLY GOOD answer." And of course it was mine. So you will be happy to know that I still agree with myself. Here is a slightly edited version of that list. FYI my parents, grandparents, etc all grew up in this area and I have never lived there myself, but spent at least a few weeks nearly every year visiting, traveling, etc.
I recently came across this history of the Goshute Indians of Utah/Nevada (a bit northerly of where you'll be visiting, though) and you might find other helpful historical summaries of places and peoples on that same site. For example, history of the Navajos is very relevant to many of the places you'll be visiting.
posted by flug at 2:09 PM on August 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
Reading through that, I was like, "Oh, yeah--here's a REALLY GOOD answer." And of course it was mine. So you will be happy to know that I still agree with myself. Here is a slightly edited version of that list. FYI my parents, grandparents, etc all grew up in this area and I have never lived there myself, but spent at least a few weeks nearly every year visiting, traveling, etc.
- Angle of Repose, a novel by Wallace Stegner. Also by Wallace Stegner: Big Rock Candy Mountain as well as (non-fiction) The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail and Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West.
- Quicksand and Cactus is a fascinating autobiography by a woman who grew up in Bunkerville, Nevada.
- Basin & Range by John McPhee is an amazing book for people who live in that area or know it well. It covers both the geology of the region and the fascinating people who study it. The book was later collected as part of McPhee's Annals of a Former World.
- Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty is a southwest classic.
- You might also enjoy John Fitzgerald's The Great Brain series which is set in a small southern Utah town as well as Papa Married a Mormon - both have a lot of autobiographical elements.
- Levi Peterson's The Backslider is one of my personal favorites, and definitely a very Utah-located book.
- The Roadside Geology of Utah or something similar (maybe one of these) is a very helpful adjunct to any road trips you may take in the area. One of the treats of traveling in the Southwest is you have layer after layer of geology just laid out there right in front of you as you're driving (or hiking, floating, etc). But you need some kind of a comprehensive guide to help you put it all together so that it makes sense.
- The Giant Joshua by Maureen Whipple
- Children of God: An American Epic by Vardis Fisher
- The Evening and the Morning and Where Nothing Is Long Ago: Memories of a Mormon Childhood by Virginia Sorensen
- Under the Cottonwoods and other Mormon stories by Douglas Thayer - very autobiographical about growing up in a small-town Utah
- Saints by the infamous Orson Scott Card
I recently came across this history of the Goshute Indians of Utah/Nevada (a bit northerly of where you'll be visiting, though) and you might find other helpful historical summaries of places and peoples on that same site. For example, history of the Navajos is very relevant to many of the places you'll be visiting.
posted by flug at 2:09 PM on August 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
Best answer: A few more. Unfortunately, many of the best are not available in electronic format, but I've marked that ones that are.
posted by flug at 2:44 PM on August 17, 2016
- Landscape of Desire: Identity and Nature in Utah's Canyon Country by Greg Gordon
- There Was a River: Essays on the Southwest by Bruce Berger
- The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons (Penguin Classics) by John Wesley Powell, Wallace Stegner ed. (Kindle) Powell was the first European to explore, map, and write extensively about the Colorado River, Grand Canyon, etc etc etc so one thing many visitors do is bring a copy of Powell and look up what he has to say about whatever place you are visiting. A bit like traveling the Lewis & Clark Trail and reading relevant excerpts from their journals along the way.
- A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell by Donald Worster (Kindle)
posted by flug at 2:44 PM on August 17, 2016
Best answer: As far as specific places to visit, my only thought is you might consider the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, as opposed to (or in addition to) the more famous and more often visited South Rim. The North Rim is more remote, has fewer visitors, generally less "touristy" and has a flavor all its own.
If you go that way, I highly suggest a stop at Pipe Spring--one of the first National Monuments and one of the best interpretive sites I've been to recently, as far as giving a good idea about what life was like in this region before the Mormon settlement and for the first 75 years or so after.
I recently visited there and nearby Moccasin, where my grandmother grew up. That was very interesting to me, especially because we got a personal tour of her childhood home, but I'm not sure it would be to a random person, unless you just like to see what very small, remote villages with no services or amenities look like. There is a monument to my ancestors at the corner of Main & Center Streets, the house my great-grandfather built (now on the National Register of Historic Places - you can see the plaque from the street easily) at the western end of Center Street, and some interesting pioneer artifacts in and around a nearby barn (also easily viewable from the street). There is probably some amazing hiking and possibly even mountain biking in the surrounding hills but you'd have to ask a local and/or just take your chances.
If you go this way, you'll probably also want to stop in at Colorado City, just to get a glimpse of one of the region's strangest sub-cultures. Read up here first.
Vermillion Cliffs Natl Monument is also in the area. Vast, remote, stunning scenery, relatively little known (in comparison with Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, etc), no services. Some hikes require a permit. More info here.
And the entire Arizona Strip area is one of the most remote and sparsely populated regions in the continental U.S., with many opportunities for exploration if you are intrepid and like vast arid landscapes.
posted by flug at 3:22 PM on August 17, 2016
If you go that way, I highly suggest a stop at Pipe Spring--one of the first National Monuments and one of the best interpretive sites I've been to recently, as far as giving a good idea about what life was like in this region before the Mormon settlement and for the first 75 years or so after.
I recently visited there and nearby Moccasin, where my grandmother grew up. That was very interesting to me, especially because we got a personal tour of her childhood home, but I'm not sure it would be to a random person, unless you just like to see what very small, remote villages with no services or amenities look like. There is a monument to my ancestors at the corner of Main & Center Streets, the house my great-grandfather built (now on the National Register of Historic Places - you can see the plaque from the street easily) at the western end of Center Street, and some interesting pioneer artifacts in and around a nearby barn (also easily viewable from the street). There is probably some amazing hiking and possibly even mountain biking in the surrounding hills but you'd have to ask a local and/or just take your chances.
If you go this way, you'll probably also want to stop in at Colorado City, just to get a glimpse of one of the region's strangest sub-cultures. Read up here first.
Vermillion Cliffs Natl Monument is also in the area. Vast, remote, stunning scenery, relatively little known (in comparison with Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, etc), no services. Some hikes require a permit. More info here.
And the entire Arizona Strip area is one of the most remote and sparsely populated regions in the continental U.S., with many opportunities for exploration if you are intrepid and like vast arid landscapes.
posted by flug at 3:22 PM on August 17, 2016
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posted by enn at 12:52 PM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]