In December, 2016, President Obama created Bears Ears National Monument. His proclamation set aside 1.35 million acres to be jointly administered by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. One year later, December of 2017, President Trump slashed the size of the monument to 200,000 acres and divided the remaining land into two …
From October 2018
Navajo National Monument on the Navajo Reservation
The Navajo Nation owns the biggest piece of Arizona of anyone except the Federal Government. Their reservation in northeastern Arizona is huge, especially compared to the Southern Paiutes in northwestern Arizona. The Navajo have the largest tribal population, so it seems right that they have so much land. After hearing about the Navajo for so …
Unexpected Difficulty Getting Back to Ohio
When Tom and I planned our month of exploring we planned one week in Utah, 10 days in New Mexico, and then a couple of days each in the various states along I-40. What we didn’t plan was unexpected difficulty that changed our route entirely. We started off okay, although we only spent five days …
Relatives in the Family of God – All Cousins
I just finished reading A. J. Jacobs‘ book “It’s All Relative.” I love how Jacobs immerses himself (and his family) in a topic. He lives it, researches it, and writes about it with a humorous perspective. I reviewed his book “Drop Dead Healthy” in 2015. In “It’s All Relative,” Jacobs uses the world genealogy trees …
Rabbitbrush: Chrysothamnus, Asteraceae, Allergic
At the beginning of September, about the time ragweed season usually hits in Ohio, Tom and I started having awful allergic symptoms. Eyes watering, nose clogged up, sinuses hurting, sneezing and coughing, gunk in the back of our throats. We considered a sympathetic allergy reaction to Ohio ragweed. But when we noticed lots of other …
Iron Horse Restaurant in Kanab, Utah
During our second-to-last week at Pipe Spring, Tom and I took some of our favorite rangers out for dinner on a Saturday night. We decided to move away from our usual “Big Al’s” and went to another Kanab restaurant with great reviews: The Iron Horse Restaurant and Saloon. We don’t eat at saloons very often, …
Peekaboo Canyon and Windows on the West Tours
After our failed attempt to rent a jeep, Tom and I decided to take a tour to one of the places everyone says is a must-see in Kanab. Peekaboo Canyon is one of the local slot canyons, similar to Antelope Canyon. But, because it is on BLM land in the deep sand outside Kanab, it …
Cottonwood Trail and Exploring BLM Land
Tom and I tried to rent a jeep in Kanab. We really did. We had places we wanted to go and we didn’t want to drive our truck with its very stiff suspension on a lot of rough roads. There are so many dirt roads that lead to wonderful slot canyons in the BLM land …
Left Behind a Piece of Myself
Everyplace Tom and I go, we try to leave it a little better off than we found it. This is especially true of the places we work. Tom and I left Pipe Spring on October 1, but I left behind some pieces of myself. We made some new friends, and I will keep pieces of …
Kaibab Paiute Tribe RV Campground
At other National Park sites, we lived on the grounds of the park. At Pipe Spring we spent the summer up the hill from the monument at Kaibab Paiute Tribe RV Park and Campground. Pipe Spring paid for our stay, as National Park volunteers. So we enjoyed the campground and the people who came and …