Mountain man re-enactors get together to fire black-powder rifles and relive the past at the Ogden site of Utah’s first white settlement.
A special piece of nature is set aside to hike and explore near St. George, where the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau and Mojave Desert meet. Story and photographs by Joshua Hardin
A West Valley City nature photographer travels all over the state with his camera to capture incredible portraits of Utah wildlife. Photographs by Daniel Lindhardt Story by Matt Masich
Lin Ottinger, the 95-year-old owner of Moab Rock Shop, looks back on a remarkable life of dinosaurs, movie stars and Volkswagen buses.
Preserving Utah memories
FEW THINGS CONJURE a sense of nostalgia in me more than the smell of black-powder gun smoke. When I was a kid, my dad was a Civil War re-enactor, and I often accompanied him to presentations where he would fire one of his historic muskets.
As I got older, I’d sometimes join him, dressed in my Civil War uniform. I came to appreciate just how much work went into making sure every detail of my costume and equipment was authentic to the period I was portraying – the right buttons, the right type of cloth. Being a re-enactor requires a true love for historical minutiae.
That’s why I have such an appreciation for the work of the Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men, whom we profile in our feature on page 16. At the Ogden site of the first Anglo settlement in Utah, these mountain man re-enactors gather every second Saturday of the month, attired in clothing appropriate to the fur trade era, when the fort was built.
The mountain men demonstrate frontier skills for visitors, including firing black-powder rifles. While that’s the most exciting – or at least the loudest – part of what they do, the group also holds workshops to share skills like cord weaving, metal engraving and stone arrow making.
Knowledge of how to do these things is rare in the modern world and getting rarer. The mountain men have dedicated themselves to preserving this knowledge so that the survival skills that have sustained humankind for most of its existence don’t dissolve into the ether.
Preserving traditional knowledge is particularly relevant in our current age of rapid societal change. Smartphones and other technology that were once novelties have in a few short years become the foundation of daily life. And Utah itself is changing with a growth in population that in the past decade was the fastest in the nation.
In a way, Utah Life’s mission is to help preserve the memory of this time and place. Our stories strive not only to entertain but to capture the essence of what it means to live in Utah at the present moment. We also look into the past and keep alive the memory of the way Utah was in years gone by.
Sometimes we look at the past and present in the same story. On page 54, we meet Lin Ottinger, the owner of the Moab Rock Shop, who shares stories of his many adventures. In his 95 years on Earth, Lin has prospected for uranium, worked on Western movies, discovered new dinosaur species and started a backcountry tour business – pretty much all the quintessential Moab activities.
We are proud to help preserve the stories of Utahns like Lin and the Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men. We might not know what the future holds, but we know that by capturing moments in time, these Utah stories will live on.
If there is a Utah Life story in this or a past issue that has touched you in some way, I would love to hear about it. You can write me a quick letter to the editor for our Mailbox section at editor@utahlifemag.com.
MATT MASICH Editor editor@utahlifemag.com
March/April 2023
Volume 6, Number 2
PUBLISHER & EXECUTIVE
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years of Soaring to New Heights 125 years of Soaring to New Heights
125
Over the moon about Moon’s I loved the story on Moon’s Rare Books (“Tales from the Vault,” January/February 2023). It made me of think of the time when I went to Trinity College Library in Dublin and burst into tears upon enter ing. Something about the heady mix of art and literature and history and human endeavor is so moving. It sounds like you can get a similarly powerful experience in Provo.
One thing I loved about the story is how Moon’s reverence comes through. His Show and Tell nights – they’re just about sharing, not about selling. Love that. I want to be this guy’s best friend. Also, I always thought TikTok was stupid, but this guy makes me want to get with it. I also love that Amazon can’t outrun him, and that he is protected from its endless eating of small businesses. Go Moon’s Rare Books – I’m rooting for you.
Rock art reunion
Libby Edwards Denver, Colorado
A magical place
I am already planning my trip to Provo to see Moon’s Rare Books. I loved reading about this magical place. It made me think of treasured bookstores of my youth, like The Tattered Cover in Denver, but Moon’s sounds like my best memories amplified. I am so glad places like Moon’s Rare Books exist – and I’m thankful that I happen to have family in Utah who have shared Utah Life so I could find out about this treasure.
Molly Carolyn Clyde Hill, Washington
Opening eyes to Utah
I absolutely love your magazine. When my husband is well enough, we love to go to the places you have in Utah Life. Some places we’ll not be able to go to, but we love reading about them. You’ve opened our eyes to the great state of Utah, and we love it.
Yvonne Stakebake Hooper
Last year we sent gift subscriptions of Utah Life to our kids. Most of them live out of state now, so they really liked seeing some of the places where they lived as children. The November/December 2022 issue was outstanding, as usual. The pictures were marvelous; however, my husband has difficulty reading the small text. He pointed out that many of your members are elderly, like he is, so it would be helpful to use larger font. We especially enjoyed “Stories Etched in Stone” about ancient rock art. Your story reminded us of our last family reunion. We took 24 people on 4x4s down 1,000 feet into the San Rafael Swell, The Wedge and Little Grand Canyon. It was so fantastic that the following year, we took a second family group to see them. We were awed to stand below the 130-foot-long panel of larger-than-life pictographs, all painted in red dye. Keep sending us great magazines. They remind us of just what a beautiful place Utah is to live in.
Carolyn & Sydney James Orem
Snow wonder
I have been hearing about Utah’s supposed “Greatest Snow on Earth” for most of my life, but I always figured that slogan was just hometown bias. Then I read your article “There’s Snow Place Like Home” (January/February 2023). I was surprised and proud to learn that there is an actual scientific basis for the claim. The next time
I go skiing at Alta, I will be sure to tell my friends exactly why the snow beneath our skis is the greatest. And the amazing photos that went with the article reminded me why I should get out skiing more often.
Peter Demeris Layton
Triumph after tragedy
Your recent story “In the Footsteps of Chief Sagwitch” (January/February 2023) was very moving to me. I had some vague idea about what happened at the Bear River Massacre, but the article by Scott Baxter made it hit home just how tragic it was. I appreciated how the story didn’t end on that low point. It was wonderful to see how Chief Sagwitch and his family persevered and triumphed, and that they found peace after all they had been through. I am grateful for Darren Parry for the work he has done and continues to do to keep the memory of his ancestors alive.
Dora Fedor Salt Lake City
Twilight types
I want you to know how much I love your magazine. The November/December 2022 issue with “Three Kinds of Twilight” blew me away. I never knew there were names and stages for twilight and dawn. The beginning and ending of day have always felt magical to me. Since reading the article, I have shared my newfound knowledge with all my “early morning river walking” friends
as we go through astronomical, nautical and civil dawn. Who knew? Simply delightful!
Becky Pollei Hansen Murray
Breathtaking corners
I love your beautiful magazine. So many wonderful articles and photos – I’m in awe at every one I get. My son and his wife took her mom and me on a fabulous weekend to St. George, where they treated us to Tuacahn’s Marry Poppins. We hiked Jenny’s Canyon in Snow Canyon State Park and topped it off with the delicious Veyo pies. It seems like every corner you turn in Utah has its own amazing beauty to take your breath away. Thank you for sharing with my family all those corners.
Jane Evans South Salt Lake
Charter subscriber
I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate and value your magazines. As a charter subscriber to Utah Life, I look forward to each and every issue, whether it contains poetry, stories such as Philo Farnsworth and how he invented TV or the Mountain Meadows Massacre, or great recipes for every occasion. The quality of the articles is superb, and I already ordered your Nebraska Life for my sister-in-law who lives near Omaha. I only wish that you had an edition for California, but I will still keep my Utah Life current.
Franklin Tilley Roseville, California
SEND YOUR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Thank you for reading and writing! We enjoy hearing from our subscribers around Utah and the world and hope this issue of the magazine inspires you to grace us with your words.
The deadline to send letters for the next issue of Utah Life is April 1. One lucky letter writer will be selected at random to win a free subscription renewal. This issue’s winner is Franklin Tilley of Roseville, California. Congrats! Send your “Letter to the Editor” by dashing off an email to editor@utahlifemag.com or pen us a letter and mail it to the address at the front of this magazine.
EDITORS’ CHOICE
PHOTOGRAPH BY NOAH
WETZEL
CANON EOS 5D MARK III, 1/250 SEC, F/6.3, ISO 100, CANON EF 24-70MM LENS
AS VIEWED FROM a vantage point high on the rim of Reflection Canyon in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a boat winds its way amid rocky spires on Lake Powell.
Photographer Noah Wetzel had to work hard to get this shot. The only way to reach this overlook is to hike 9 miles across shadeless terrain with no water to drink –Wetzel and his hiking companions had to pack in all the water they would need for two days. The trail peters out after 7 miles, meaning they had to use a map and compass to navigate their way the final 2 miles.
But the arduous trek was worth it for the glorious view of Reflection Canyon. Wetzel and his friends camped overnight near the overlook. He was thrilled the next morning when, just as they were about to leave, he saw a boat cruising through the canyon.
“The boat gives the spires scale,” Wetzel said, “and showcases such a surreal environment of Glen Canyon.”
This photo was taken in 2018; since then, the water level has dropped significantly. Wetzel is eager to see what previously submerged spires and formations have been revealed.
IN EACH ISSUE, Monumental Exposure features a reader’s photograph of Utah –landscapes, architecture, attractions, events, people or wildlife.
Submit your best photographs for the chance to be published in Utah Life . Send digital images with detailed photo descriptions and your contact information to photos@utahlifemag.com or visit utahlifemag.com/contribute.
Owner Miranda Bowen and daughter, Fiona, work at Natural Law Apothecary. The shelves are filled with herbs, natural remedies and even praying mantis extract.
SLC apothecary builds community around traditional medicine
by ALLIE WISNIEWSKI
On the industrial west side of Salt Lake City, Natural Law Apothecary is a welcome change of pace. The air upon entering the small storefront is filled with a chorus of earthy aromas. The walls are lined with handcrafted wooden shelves, on them are hundreds of glass jars filled with dried herbs, seeds, flowers, bark –you name it. If it comes from Mother Earth, chances are they’ve got it.
Marinda Bowen, co-owner of Natural Law alongside her husband, Michael, was born in Utah, but her mission to connect community with both the land and each other was inspired by six years living off the land on 33 acres in Vermont. They were true off-grid homesteaders – raising both children and animals, learning about natural medicine while growing their own food and herbs.
“That deep connection with nature was irrevocable,” she said. “Once we attained
that, we could never go back. But we also knew we had to come back to Utah and share everything we had learned in that space.”
Natural Law Apothecary opened its doors in 2016 and has been growing in both size and influence ever since. In addition to its plethora of herbal offerings, some of which is grown in its own on-site gardens, the shop has hundreds of teas, resins, tinctures, salves and handmade art by creators both local and international.
Michael and community volunteers have built out the space from scratch, including a stage for open-mic nights, a tea lounge area and lofted platform book nooks for talking and reading. It’s like a treehouse, sans tree, or a clubhouse, sans club. There’s a comforting sense of intimacy and belonging that permeates the shop for first-time visitors and regular patrons alike.
This welcoming environment comes
from Marinda’s deep value of creating a comfortable space for the community to gather and share ideas, skills and experiences. Their upstairs studio regularly hosts women’s ceremonies, yoga classes and private healing sessions in their sensory deprivation tank. Guests to the apothecary can always count on knowledgeable employees to guide their shopping experience, whether in search of sleep support, pain relief or a personalized tea blend that will best suit individual needs.
Many of the herbs she has in stock now were ordered after guests of a variety of cultural backgrounds came in searching for them, citing their own grandmothers’ medicine cabinets.
“Each time people come in with a story, our offerings are broadened,” Marinda said. “Over time, because we’re open to everybody’s ways of applying medicine and healing in their own lives, we’ve had the opportunity to expand way beyond what we would have had otherwise.”
Allie Wisniewski (all)
Skier uses melted snow to paint watercolors of ski areas
by MATT MASICH
Lexi Dowdall set a goal for the 2020 ski season: She wanted to ski all 15 of Utah’s ski areas in a single season. When the pandemic closed down all the resorts, putting the kibosh on her plan, Dowdall suddenly had free time to pursue a new hobby: watercolor painting. She spent lockdown honing her artistic skills.
When the ski resorts reopened for the 2021 season, Dowdall once again set out to ski all 15 ski areas – but this time, she would not only ski them; she would paint them, too. She chose to paint Alta first because, coincidentally, she had a jar of melted snow from the resort that she had saved after a particularly memorable day skiing. She used this meltwater to mix with her watercolors.
There was something so satisfying about having actual snow from the resort become part of the painting that she decided to do likewise for all 15 ski areas. She dubbed her project “Paint by Powder.”
As she visited each resort, she filled up four or five 1-gallon milk jugs with snow –enough to give her about a gallon of water, since the snow takes up more space when frozen.
“I’ve gotten weird looks from the ski patrol,” Dowdall said of her snow-collecting missions. “The Powder Mountain Ski Patrol said, ‘Take as much as you want, just please don’t drink it.’”
Dowdall succeeded in skiing and collecting snow from each ski area. This year, she has been painting what she considers each resort’s most quintessential
scene. For Alta, it was the old Wildcat ticket office; for Deer Valley, it was Bald Mountain; for Brighton, it was an adorable A-frame lodge. She aims to complete the final painting by the time ski season is winding down in April.
Once the Paint by Powder collection is complete, Dowdall plans to have a gallery exhibition to showcase them all together before selling the original paintings. She is also selling art prints of the paintings on her website. She is donating 5 percent of print sales to Protect Our Winters, a nonprofit that encourages policymakers to take action on climate change, which affects snowfall at Utah ski areas.
To see more of Dowdall’s Paint by Powder series or to purchase art prints, visit kapowder.com/kapowder-ink.
Lexi Dowdall paints Utah ski resorts using meltwater from snow she collected on their slopes. She depicts the ski lifts at Snowbird at sunrise.
Lexi Dowdall (all)
All ages are invited to rock at Kilby Court
by ALLIE WISNIEWSKI
The alley on the west side of Salt Lake City looks to be nothing special – just another side street full of graffiti and loiterers. But look more closely, and it’s clear the pedestrians between Third and Fourth streets do have somewhere to be: They’re headed for a night of music at the city’s longest-running all-ages venue.
The music venue Kilby Court is the definition of “hidden in plain sight.” It’s not a place one might stumble upon without knowing where to look, but once found, there’s a sense of discovering a thriving community.
Doors open at 7 p.m. Past the ticket booth, a wooden archway opens into a sort of makeshift lobby: Kilby Court’s iconic courtyard. The outdoor space feels like a cozy backyard. The stage itself, located in a warehouse-style garage adjacent to the
courtyard, is designed to foster interaction between performer and audience.
As the opening artist starts up, and the stage’s metal walls begin to rattle slightly with the deep rumble of bass, it’s impossible not to notice just how close the performers are to the attentive crowd. BC Bustamente, tasked with warming up the stage for headliner Bobo, even passes around a personal keepsake for audience members to examine, demanding jokingly – but not really – that he’d better get it back by the end of the song.
Intimacy like this is hard to find among city’s many live music venues – or anywhere, for that matter. At Kilby Court, it’s made possible by its physical layout, but more than that, by its values of inclusivity and creating a safe space for all.
Dana Fenster, ticket booth attendant, says their all ages policy is important in fostering a younger generation of music lovers.
Up-and-coming local bands perform before an audience of all ages that congregates in Kilby Court’s cozy courtyard, which is hidden away on an alley in west Salt Lake City.
“I see a variety of all ages here,” she said. “People need to have life experiences, no matter what age they are.”
Because of Kilby Court’s all ages policy, and subsequent status as a dry venue, Fenster feels that their guests are really showing up for the music. When you remove alcohol from the equation, what you get is a crowd of truly dedicated fans, fully present with the art that’s being shared.
“People come here because they’re not going to be judged,” Fenster said. “They’re going to be with people who are likeminded. That’s all I want – I want to be around kindness.”
There’s a sort of familiarity about the atmosphere as a whole that makes it not only such a delightful place to see and discover local artists, but to connect with fellow community members, young and old, who share a love for live music.
Joshua Hardin (all)
Book explores Utah’s quirky lingo and more
by LISA TRUESDALE
Imagine someone told you, “I sluffed to go try my new flipper crotch down by the crick.”
If you’re a Utahn, you probably don’t have to think twice – you know very well what this sentence means: “I skipped school to go try my new slingshot down by the creek.”
Not a Utahn? Don’t worry; David Ellingson Eddington’s new book, Utahisms: Unique Expressions, Inventions, Place Names & More, will get you up to speed in a jiff. This handy volume is a compendium of everything that makes Utah, Utah – from very Utah-ish foods like fry
sauce and funeral potatoes, to the origins of “what the heck?” place names, like Dutch John and La Verkin. (“What the heck?” is also quite Utah-y, the author explains, since “regular old cuss words aren’t as common in the Beehive State as they are in the rest of the United States.”)
Eddington, a linguistics professor at Brigham Young University, includes pronunciations of words and phrases that are widely accepted throughout the state with nary a head shake nor confused look, like “Golf of Mexico,” “I spelled melk” and “my playsure.” And of course he couldn’t leave out all the what-would-we-do-without-them inventions that have come out of Utah (or
from the minds of Utahns), like electric traffic lights, TVs and the Pluto Platter (later called a Frisbee).
Whether you were born and raised in Utah like Eddington (he’s a Murray native), or you’re relatively new to the state, you’ll appreciate the humor, honesty and educational value in Eddington’s explanations and anecdotes. Each chapter is self-contained, meaning you can spy something interesting in the table of contents, turn right to that page and not have missed a thing – not that you’d want to miss anything in this book.
Utahisms: Unique Expressions, Inventions, Place Names & More
By David Ellingson Eddington
The History Press 112 pp., paperback, $22
SPORTS
Test your knowledge of Utah teams and athletes.
by LUCAS McFARLANE
1 University of Utah Utes football coach Kyle Whittingham began his career as “co-head coach” during the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, sharing duties with what legendary coach?
2
When Salt Lake City’s Triple-A Minor League Baseball team changed its name from the Stingers to the Bees in 2005, it was the team’s third name in a little more than a decade. What was the team’s name when it debuted in 1994?
3 The NBA’s New Orleans Jazz kept its name when it moved to Utah in 1979, but within a few months of arriving in Salt Lake City it got rid of what enormously popular player nicknamed “Pistol”?
4
For the 2002 Winter Olympics, Utah designed four mascots that represented Native American legends. Three of the mascots’ names also represented Utah natural
resources: Powder the snowshoe hare, Copper the coyote and Coal the black bear. The fourth mascot’s name did not represent a Utah natural resource. What animal was this mascot, and what was his name?
5
Born in Roy, Utah, what former BYU quarterback – known for his sideline headband and trademark, medically necessary sunglasses – was drafted by the Chicago Bears as the fifth overall pick in 1982?
University of Utah Athletics
GENERAL
Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters
MULTIPLE CHOICE
6
Then-Salt Lake City resident Tristan Gale took home the gold medal for what inaugural women’s event during the 2002 Winter Olympics?
a. Women’s Bobsled
b. Women’s Skeleton
c. Women’s Moguls
7
One of the best power forwards in NBA history, the Utah Jazz’s 14-time All-Star and offensive leader Karl Malone was known for his consistency by what alias?
a. The Paper Boy
b. Ol’ Faithful
c. The Mailman
8
2002 Olympic snow sport events were held at Deer Valley Ski Resort, Park City Mountain Resort and what other ski resort, which hosted the downhill, combined and super G events?
a. Snowbasin
b. Snowbird
c. Brighton
9
A star at BYU, what basketball player entered the NBA with the Sacramento Kings in 2011, then went on to have a somewhat scattered, international career playing for the Chicago bulls, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, Shanghai Sharks, Phoenix Suns and Panathinaikos in Greece?
a. Shawn Bradley
b. Kyle Collinsworth
c. Jimmer Fredette
10 What was the original name of the Vivint Arena when it opened on Oct. 4th, 1991, replacing the Salt Palace as the home court of the Utah Jazz?
a. Delta Center
b. Energy Solutions Arena
c. Maverik Center
No peeking, answers on page 53.
TRUE OR FALSE
11
Nick Rimando joined Real Salt Lake in 2007 and is widely accepted as the greatest American goalkeeper of all time. Known as “the Wall of the Wasatch,” he holds the record for most career wins, shutouts, saves and overall appearances in Major League Soccer history.
12 The University of Utah’s football team has played in more bowl games than BYU’s football team.
13 While playing for UCLA, Natalie Williams, a former Taylorsville Warrior, was the first female collegiate athlete to earn All-American honors in both basketball and volleyball in the same year.
14 In 2020, French basketball center Rudy Gobert became the highest-paid NBA center of all time, signing a five-year contract worth $205 million with the Utah Jazz before being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 2022 megadeal.
15
Utah may have “the Greatest Snow on Earth,” but you aren’t allowed to ride a snowboard on it at 7 of the 15 ski resorts, as they are for skiers only.
Reuters/Alamy
Mountain man re-enactor Lyle Gill takes aim and fires a flintlock pistol during Buckskinner Day at Fort Buenaventura in Ogden.
Ogden living history museum is home to Utah’s first Anglo settlement
Story by ALLIE WISNIEWSKI
Photographs by SCOTT BAXTER
ountain are alive and at fort Buenaventura
Men well Buenaventura
THE TIME IS 8:30 A.M. at Fort Buenaventura Park, along the Weber River at the western edge of Ogden. Exiting the parking lot onto a rocky gravel trail, the park appears to be as ordinary as any, until the path opens up to a small encampment reminiscent of frontier times.
Suddenly, time reverses. Sitting around the fire is what appears to be an early 19th century family, quietly roasting sausages over a fire. A mule appears, stomping its dusty hooves, preparing for its big moment later in the day when it will act as the central figure of the mule packing demonstration. The morning is cool and crisp, a just-risen sun reflecting orange in the pond adjacent to the worn but sturdy log cabins.
Seemingly out of nowhere, at the stroke of 9 a.m., a gunshot echoes through the nearly empty park. Immersed in the convincing authenticity of the moment, one might duck for cover. Never fear, though –this historical site isn’t under attack. Those shots are exploding from the black-powder rifles of the Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men, hitting their steel targets with apparent ease.
This group gathers at Fort Buenaventura on the second Saturday of each month for “Buckskinner Day,” intended to honor and explore the customs of the Utah mountain men of the early to mid-1800s.
The story of Fort Buenaventura begins with Miles Goodyear. Born in Connecticut in 1817 and orphaned at age 4, he spent most of his youth as an indentured servant, determined to break free and explore the frontier. At 17, he left home began walking west. In 1836, when Goodyear was 19, he encountered the Whitman-Spalding Presbyterian missionary party some 40 miles out from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The group was embarking on a westward journey along the Oregon Trail.
Goodyear tagged along, but when the party reached Fort Hall in Idaho, he decided to part ways. An account by fellow traveler William H. Gray said Goodyear’s idea of liberty was “unlimited,” and he headed out into the Rocky Mountains on his own, spending the next decade trekking through harsh conditions – hunting,
trapping and trading his way into wellearned mountain man status.
As the fur trade slowed in 1845, Goodyear decided to settle down. He constructed Fort Buenaventura along the westward bend of the Weber River, completing it in 1846. With cottonwood logs, he built four log cabins, sheds, corrals for livestock and a garden, and it was from this home base that he continued to trap, trade and assist other emigrants traveling west.
By 1847, Latter-day Saint pioneers had arrived on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. That November, the Mormon High Council of Great Salt Lake City authorized James Brown to purchase Goodyear’s land, including Fort Buenaventura, the outbuildings and all the animals, excluding his horses. Officially Latter-day Saint property, the compound was soon dubbed Brownsville, which would later become Ogden.
One of the log cabins built at Fort Buenaventura Park, now called the Miles Goodyear Cabin, is known as the first permanent home built in Utah’s modern era, making the area the first permanent settlement by people of European descent in the Great Basin. The original cabin is now under the care of the Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers, having been moved to Ogden’s Tabernacle Square. Though the fort visitors to the park see today is a replica of the original, it was constructed using woodworking techniques authentic to the period.
The historical value of this largely untouched place is hard to ignore, making it the perfect venue to gather the mountain men of today. The Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men have been gathering for five years with the goal of preserving for future generations the knowledge and survival skills of mountain men.
They call themselves mountain men, but their ranks include many women and children, too. On this particular morning, Scheryl Gill and her husband, Lyle, are participating in the black-powder shoot – the source of all the gunshots. Participants use traditional muzzleloader rifles that must be loaded with gunpowder and a single lead bullet. They aim for inanimate targets like cans, playing cards, and paper bullseyes on the hillside across
The Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men gather around the campfire to make ash cakes from flour and water.
Collin Frandsen and Penny the dog enjoy the warm fire inside one of the shelters. Chuck Pepler shows off some bread he baked in primitive fashion at Fort Buenaventura's Buckskinner Day. Throwing spears is another one of the activities, though throwing tomahawks is much more common. Youngsters get in on the act, too.
the field. Everyone is dressed in period-appropriate fur-trade era garb. When one loses sight of the parking lot, it’s easy to feel completely immersed in the past as if inside a virtual reality simulator.
Someone must have hit a target; there’s some general hooting and hollering. Scheryl smiles and turns to display her gun, a flintlock rifle, which uses a flint-striking ignition mechanism to fire off a shot. As she bends down to load it, torn playing cards tucked into the brim of her hat come into view, which she explains are mementos of the bullseyes she’s hit.
Some of the fort’s mountain members, like Scheryl and Lyle, feel drawn to the organization for the opportunity to hone
their muzzleloader skills. There are similar mountain man groups all over the West, and they take turns sponsoring rendezvous events where they can all come together. Lyle, who’s been involved with mountain man groups for more than 15 years, remembers fondly a particular rendezvous at a fort in rural Idaho. Jaydell Jacques, the club’s range master, has an even longer history with groups honoring the mountain man era, having belonged to the Utah Free Mountain Trappers before it disbanded. He grew up a Boy Scout, reveled in the outdoors and later fell in love with Utah history and black powder shooting, then became a mountain man 31 years ago.
Many of his friends are mountain men, and what he appreciates most is working with his hands.
“This is a hobby where you can really build everything you use,” Jacques said. “You can’t build your golf clubs.”
Jacques plans his life around Saturdays, he said. “Even my own granddaughter says, ‘What’s more important than Buckskinner Day?’ I don’t even know what to say. I have to agree with her!”
This thriving community truly spans generations and is imbued with the spirit of rugged survival, dedicated to practicing the customs of the people without whom the West as we know it wouldn’t exist. The original mountain men hunted and
gathered, made tools and shelters to keep themselves warm and safe. They explored deep into the wilderness, helping each other and their families.
These skills have been largely lost in modern society, as the knowledge of elders dissolves into the ether without being passed on. This is exactly what the Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men are working to prevent – the disappearance of our own, very human ability to survive. Recent skills share workshops on Buckskinner Day have included milkweed cord weaving, metal engraving and stone arrow making, and they group is always welcoming new teachers with diverse abilities to share.
Fort Buenaventura Park occupies 84 beautiful riverside acres. Beyond the shooting range, it features a playground, canoeing, fishing, walking trails and a disc golf course. Jacques said there have been some mountain men who resent the manmade structures for removing them from the historical purity of the place.
“When the state owned the park,” Jacques said, “it was just us mountain men, so it was a little cooler for us.”
However, the state started cutting its budget in 2002, and Fort Buenaventura was one of the first places to close. It soon reopened under the jurisdiction of Weber County rather than the state.
“This place has to survive, and it can’t
survive just on us,” Jacques said. “We have to compromise. Occasionally, disc golfers will ask us to quit shooting, and I tell them, ‘When this target’s over, I’ll give you a couple minutes.’ ”
Looking around, passersby seem more fascinated than disgruntled with the group, who are more than happy to share their story with anyone willing to strike up a conversation with a dozen wilderness-hardened mountain people with rifles. They’re not what they appear, though, which is especially exemplified in Chuck Willis, treasurer of the Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men, who goes by Thor.
Dressed head to toe in brain-tanned, fringed leather, he’s not only a mountain
Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men
Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men
Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men
As Lyle Gill loads his weapon, James Clegg teaches his son the proper way to handle a black-powder firearm.
Fort Buenaventura Mountain Men
man, but a mountain of a man, tall and strong the way one inevitably needs to be when you have hobbies like his. He has a certain warmth to him, smiling as he recalls his origin story.
“First time I wandered into the woods, I was 2 years old in the Adirondack Mountains with my coonskin hat on,” he said. “My parents were looking for me forever.”
As a young adult, Willis would go out into the desert equipped with absolutely nothing to practice his survival skills –“just sticks and stones and friction fires,” as he puts it. When he got to Utah in 1994 and learned about mountain man re-enacting, he traded sticks and stones for a rifle and a steel knife. Willis is quite an experienced outdoorsman: He’s hiked the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails, and even climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. There’s just something about the Fort Buenaventura experience that keeps him coming back.
His passion for the organization, in part, is informed by his understanding of North American history, including indigenous practices dating back to the Stone Age.
“People need to study history, because if you don’t know where you were, then you can’t know where you are,” he said. “You can’t see the progress you’ve made. The rarest commodity back then was clean water. If they came back today and saw how we’re living, they would have no idea what we’re complaining about.”
Speaking of abundance, someone passes around a loaf of home-baked blackberry orange bread. It’s delicious, of course, a true testament to the pleasures of doing things the old way. The Mountain Men are true to their values – they really live them – and there’s a tangible sense of community and care that makes them feel more like a living, breathing village than a weekend club.
And Fort Buenaventura proves an irreplaceable venue. Pausing to survey the scene, a little imagination is all it takes to transport oneself back in time to that fateful day, when Miles Goodyear broke ground on Utah’s very first Anglo settlement, only a few hundred yards from the group gathered hundreds of years later to celebrate his way of life. The sun now fully risen, cottonwoods likely older than anyone’s great-grandfather are alive with birds and squirrels. All is quiet, save the intermittent gunshot.
Jacques sighs and looks around.
“Knowing that this is the first permanent settlement in Utah – right there – is so cool. Utah has their This Is the Place monument, and granted, that has a lot of history, but to us, this, this is the place.”
Hikers walk around a lava tube in Snow Canyon State Park, part of nearly 69,000 acres near St. George protected as Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.
Story and photographs by JOSHUA
HARDIN
TREKKING for TORTOISES
Red Cliffs Desert Reserve near St. George is a refuge for rare reptiles and hikers alike
AROCKY RIM AWASH
in the tones of ruddy boulders and blue mountains borders St. George and its bustling adjacent Washington County cities. This natural barrier not only divides human development from the desert but marks one of the nation’s rarest ecological melting pots. Plants and animals existing nowhere else in the world mingle here at a unique junction of ecosystems where the Mojave Desert meets the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau.
This is the home of the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise as well as sidewinder rattlesnakes, Gila monsters and creosote bushes. Established in 1996, Red Cliffs Desert Reserve sets aside nearly 69,000 acres in a patchwork quilt of stunning public lands to protect the at-risk species and their habitat. While providing an oasis for wildlife, the preserve also offers respite for recreating rock climbers, mountain bikers and equestrians.
Hikers especially benefit from more than 70 named trails totaling nearly 200 miles. Routes range in difficulty from easy,
family-friendly strolls on well-maintained surfaces to strenuous adventures along rocky terrain requiring route-finding skills and extensive trip planning. We present the reserve’s trails from each of its regions and elevation zones. Equipped with a map, sturdy hiking shoes and plenty of water, visitors have everything required to sample what this unique environment offers. As the fable of “The Tortoise and the Hare” recommends, a slow and steady pace will give the best chance of discovering desert tortoises and their friends.
CENTRAL
City Creek
A perfect place for visitors to familiarize themselves with flora and fauna that might be encountered in the reserve is Red Hills Desert Garden. Located on the reserve’s doorstep just north of Red Hills Parkway, the 4.5-acre garden features more than 5,000 water efficient plants, including firecracker penstemon, creosote bushes and claret cup cactus. Educating visitors about
how water is the region’s most valuable resource, the garden’s plants use an average of 5 million fewer gallons annually than a similar sized turf landscape. A meandering stream with a viewing area housed in a replica slot canyon showcases several endangered fish species from the nearby Virgin River. Additionally, the garden’s trails are accentuated with fossilized dinosaur tracks, left 200 million years ago by at least three species, including dilophosaurus, the frilled-collared, poison-spitting star of Jurassic Park.
Another accessible entry point into the world of Red Hills Reserve is the 52-acre Pioneer Park. Attractions in this rock climber’s paradise appealing to scrambling hikers with as little as an hour to spend include overlooks of St. George and the painted “Dixie Rock,” a narrow slot canyon, a small natural arch and a historic pioneer cabin. Those with more time can continue on the Pioneer Rim or T-Bone trails leading deeper into the reserve with increasingly fewer visitors and greater chances of finding wildlife.
Broken Mesa
Marked by maps and trail signage, the reserve is classified into two environmental zones based on elevation and user impact. The lowland zone is more fragile, requiring hikers to stay on established trails and in developed campgrounds. A living cryptobiotic crust, often visible as a black sheen encapsulating the soil, is composed of microbes that prevent erosion and increase humidity, but which can be killed for decades by only a single footstep. The upland zone is slightly more biologically durable. Careful cross-country, off-trail travel is permitted where hikers can ramble through the red rocks. Primitive camping is permitted in places.
Special “step-over” gates are installed at backcountry trailheads to prevent motorized travel outside of designated roads. Those looking to sample the transition between lowland and upland regions with automotive assistance may use the gravel Cottonwood Road, which ascends a mesa to access trails like Yellow Knolls, High Point and Broken Mesa Rim Trail. From the high perch of overlooks on these trails, lucky birdwatchers may spot a plethora of songbirds like lesser goldfinches and canyon wrens, or raptors such as peregrine falcons.
Some portions of this area’s trails display remnants of recent wildfires, including the 2020 Turkey Farm Road Fire – a blaze started by three teenagers playing with fireworks – which consumed nearly 12,000 acres, and a 2005 fire that scorched 7,500 acres. Both events led to widespread desert tortoise deaths, and their numbers have not recovered to previously recorded levels. Yet along these trails, nature shows its rejuvenating powers with wildflower displays of desert globemallow, sego lily and Palmer’s penstemon springing from the ashes.
On previous page, hikers use a rope and sandstone foot holes to maneuver over a pool along the Red Reef Trail in Red Cliffs. A greater roadrunner takes a breather near Red Hills Desert Garden. A Durango Delight agave grows nearby. A side-blotched lizard scampers along petrified sand dunes at Snow Canyon State Park.
Desert Reserve
The Red Cliffs Desert Reserve is the meeting place of three great ecosystems: the Mojave Desert, Great Basin and Colorado Plateau. It encompasses nearly 69,000 acres of public land north of St. George. The reserve is home to many rare species, including the farthest north populations of Mojave Desert tortoises, Gila monsters and sidewinder rattlesnakes.
Seen from the city of Hurricane, the Virgin River flows past the red cliffs of the Babylon area. One of the area’s most notable natural attractions is Babylon Arch, which is tucked into a maze of crimson sandstone fins.
1 inch = 3 miles
Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness Dixie National Forest
LEEDS
HURRICANE
WASHINGTON
ST. GEORGE
IVINS
Red Mountain Wilderness
Lava Ridge
Sanstone Mountain
Red Cliffs
Mill Creek Grapevine
Broken Mesa
City Creek
White Reef Babylon
Paradise Canyon
Snow Canyon State Park
A lesser goldfinch enjoys a nice view from its high perch in a tree along the Broken Mesa Rim Trail.
RED CLIFFS
WEST
Snow Canyon, Paradise Canyon & Red Mountain
The reserve’s western reaches exhibit some of the most precipitous separations between lowland and upland environments. Rising above the community of Kayenta and reachable from the Ivins trailhead to the south as well as a northern trailhead, the Red Mountain Wilderness is a network of canyons fed by clear mountain streams descending from high plateaus dotted with juniper and ponderosa pine. Seeps in the lower slickrock hydrate bouquets of maidenhair fern, scarlet monkeyflower and columbine. Motorized use is prohibited in the wilderness area, so opportunities abound for solitude, natural quiet and unconfined recreation.
Nearby, Snow Canyon State Park was the first public land set aside to protect a portion of the Red Cliffs. The park was named for prominent 19th century settlers Lorenzo and Erastus Snow but has been occupied since the days of Paleoindian mammoth hunters. The park’s Petrified Dunes trail is an ideal place to examine the region’s geology, which includes 2,500-foot-thick quartzite sand dunes that have been cemented into stone resembling
striped, orange creamsicles, as well as the porous, jet-black remains of lava flows originating from the cinder cones near modern-day Diamond Valley to the northeast. Other popular trails include Sand Dunes, which features a non-petrified dune acting like a giant sandbox that children love to climb, and Johnson Canyon, displaying Navajo sandstone cliffs shading a riparian canyon and a natural arch. Entering Snow Canyon requires a fee depending on the method of travel, and some trails may be closed seasonally.
Below the state park, the Chuckwalla trail connects to loop trails exploring the sandstone walls of Paradise Canyon and its weathered rock outcrops popular with climbers and boulderers. The trail is named for a black, gray and brown lizard found here. Similar looking but venomous Gila monsters also inhabit the area. Gila monster venom is lethal to small mammals like mice, but no human deaths have been recorded since the early 1930s, when an intoxicated pool hall operator allegedly died after poking his thumb into the mouth of a Gila monster. The reptiles can be credited with saving far more lives than they have reportedly taken – a peptide first discovered in their venom is now synthesized in laboratories for use in a drug treating type 2 diabetes.
EAST
Mill Creek, Grapevine & Cottonwood Canyon
Maybe nowhere else in the reserve is the separation between development and desert more pronounced than the lowland Mill Creek and Grapevine areas, where it seems that with each footstep deeper into the reserve the din of vehicles traveling on Interstate 15 becomes ever more distant. The trails here become less tread upon and fade as they climb into the sparsely visited Cottonwood Canyon Wilderness, where the topography rivals the rugged red towers of distantly visible Zion National Park.
Mountain bikers and paleontology buffs delight in a dinosaur tracks site reachable by the short Dino Cliffs trail. Another notable hike in this region is Elephant Arch, a 5-mile round trip reached by the Mill Creek and Bone Wash trails. The sandy path leads to a splendid natural arch shaped similarly to the head and trunk of its namesake pachyderm.
The road to the Mill Creek trailhead to start this hike may be rough in places, so high clearance vehicles are recommended.
MOJAVE DESERT TORTOISE
Those lucky enough to spot a Mojave Desert tortoise often mistake them for the reserve’s similarly shaped volcanic boulders, as the reptiles are suited to blending with their surroundings. Tortoises have a high, darkly shaded domed shell about 8-15 inches in length. Their limbs are stocky and covered with large scales. They spend 90 percent of their life in underground burrows or rocky shelters averaging 5-6 feet in length, though they are most active above ground in the cooler months from March-April and September-October.
The reserve has about 3,000 tortoises inhabiting a variety of shrub lands. They are most frequently found near washes remaining from flash floods or below rocky slopes. Desert tortoises are vegetarians, eating a variety of plants, flowers and fruits. Their mating season is April-October.
Seeing a wild tortoise is a rare, special experience, so fortunate witnesses should take photos and admire the animals from a distance. Tortoises may urinate as a defense mechanism if they are disturbed, losing valuable water in the hot desert that can lead to dehydration or death for the docile reptiles. It is illegal to pick up a tortoise, with one exception – if they are crossing a busy road or in immediate danger. To assist the tortoise, hold it low to the ground with both hands and move it in the direction it was headed. If there is a fence nearby, place it on the other side of the fence. Contact the reserve at (435) 680-1461 to report the sighting or to have a trained representative safely move the tortoise.
Corey Kopischke
On previous page, a small arch is found in Pioneer Park. A carpenter bee pollinates blooms at Red Hills Desert Garden. Palmer’s penstemon grows in soil disturbed by recent wildfires along the Broken Mesa Rim Trail.
Protect Red Cliffs
A cottonwood tree displays bright green new foliage along the Red Reef Trail in Red Cliffs.
Red Cliffs, White Reef & Babylon
One of the reserve’s most revered hikes is the Red Reef Trail, a 2-mile round trip leading though a narrow canyon to a small seasonal waterfall in the far northeastern corner of Cottonwood Canyon. The trail passes beneath cottonwoods whose leaves glow neon green in late spring, contrasting beautifully with the scarlet tones of the narrow sandstone walls, pleasing photographers in early morning or late afternoon light. The hike starts at the Red Cliffs Recreation area, requiring a $5 entry fee, and may be very popular in spring and fall. Other less crowded trails include the Anasazi, leading to pit houses and other Ancestral Puebloan archaeological remains, and Silver Reef trails leading to dinosaur tracks.
Southward, sights located near the White Reef trailhead include the Orson B. Adams House, a two-room sandstone abode built in the 1860s and now the sole remains of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints pioneer settlement called Old Harrisburg. Bureau of Land Management restoration crews saved the building from caving in after purchasing the land in 2001. The remains of a movie set made for the 1959 Columbia Pictures film They Came to Cordura, starring Gary Cooper, can be visited from the neighboring Cordura Trail.
Just east across I-15, 19th century mining ruins like the Stormont Silver Mill await visitors who access the Babylon area from a sandy road suitable for high clearance vehicles and hike from the Toquerville Mine, Sand Cove and other trailheads. One of the area’s most notable natural attractions is Babylon Arch, a span seemingly stolen from a Martian landscape tucked into maze of crimson sandstone fins. The arch, resembling an eye of a massive needle, reveals itself to travelers on a dusty spur trail from Sand Cove. Most hikers turn around at the arch to complete a 1.5-mile out-andback trip, but some continue farther out of the rock pinnacles to take a refreshing dip in the Virgin River at the trail’s terminus.
Red Cliffs Desert Reserve gives hikers the opportunity to experience a range of trails, from easy day outings to strenuous overnight backcountry expeditions. No matter the type of trip, visitors leave with a lasting appreciation of conservation for the enjoyment of future generations. To check current weather conditions, research routes or learn more about the reserve, call (435) 3017430 or visit redcliffsdesertreserve.com.
Spears to Spare
Asparagus adds fresh flavor to a variety of dishes
recipes and photographs by DANELLE
McCOLLUM
ASPARAGUS IS AVAILABLE year-round, but springtime is when it is freshest. Whether cooked as a side along with salmon or integrated into a flavorful orzo salad, asparagus is a welcome addition to many dishes.
Sweet and Spicy Pork and Asparagus
Ground pork and fresh asparagus are sauteed in a sweet and spicy Asian-inspired sauce, then served over rice in this unique and delicious dish. Make sure to use plain ground pork as opposed to ground Italian sausage or anything with seasoning.
In medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, water, brown sugar, cornstarch and garlic cloves. Add pork and toss to blend. Heat sesame oil in heavy, large wok or deep skillet over high heat. Add asparagus, jalapeño, ginger and red pepper flakes. Cook until asparagus is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer asparagus mixture to a plate. Add pork mixture to pan and cook until browned, using wooden spoon to break up pork into small pieces, about 3-4 minutes. Return asparagus mixture to pan. Stir in rice vinegar. Stir-fry until pork is cooked through, another 3-5 minutes. Add water by tablespoonfuls if it becomes too dry. Add green onions; toss to incorporate. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve over rice.
6 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 ½ Tbsp cornstarch
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs ground pork
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
2-3 Tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
3-4 green onions, sliced Salt and pepper, to taste Hot cooked rice, for serving
Ser ves 6-8
Lemon Orzo Asparagus Salad
Orzo pasta is cooked with turmeric for wonderful color and flavor, then tossed with fresh asparagus and a lemon vinaigrette in this delicious springtime side dish. This dish is light and easy to make, and it is perfect for taking to potlucks or brunches.
In medium bowl, whisk together ingredients for dressing: lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, pepper and olive oil. Set aside. Wash asparagus and snap off tough end pieces. Lay in a 9x13-inch glass baking dish. Pour boiling water over asparagus to cover. Let stand until water is warm, about 10 minutes. Drain water and cut asparagus into 2-inch pieces.
Meanwhile, bring chicken stock, turmeric and 1 tsp salt to boil in large pot. Add orzo and cook until tender, 8-10 minutes. Drain but do not rinse.
Place warm orzo in large bowl and toss with asparagus, herbs and dressing. Mix well. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 lb asparagus
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 cups orzo pasta
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (dill, parsley, chives, etc.)
Ser ves 6
Sheet Pan Salmon and Asparagus
Salmon and fresh asparagus are topped with a lemon dill sauce, then baked together for an easy, all-in-one dinner solution. The salmon and asparagus take about the same time to roast; thinner asparagus will cook more quickly, so choosing thicker asparagus is a good idea.
Preheat oven to 425°. Line large baking sheet with foil. Spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place salmon in center of baking sheet; season with 1/2 tsp salt, lemon pepper and thyme. Arrange asparagus spears around salmon.
In small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, honey, fresh dill, garlic, and salt and pepper, to taste. Drizzle or brush mixture over salmon and asparagus. Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes, or until salmon is cooked through and asparagus is just tender. Garnish with fresh lemon slices, if desired.
1 ½-2 lbs salmon
1 bunch fresh asparagus
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp dr y thyme
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
2 cloves garlic, minced Pinch of salt and pepper
1-2 lemons, sliced (optional)
Ser ves 4-6
What’s in Your Recipe Box?
The editors are interested in featuring your favorite family recipes. Send your recipes (and memories inspired by your recipes) to editor@utahlifemag.com.
UTAH THROUGH OUR POETS
SPRINGTIME IS a season of renewal. Our Utah poets explore the theme of renewal with poems celebrating the passing of the cold and gray and the arrival of life born anew.
Storm Me Awake
Lora Gandara, St. George
Clouds shapeshift from layers of sleepy blankets of rest to a triumphant announcement of anticipation.
Fresh young grasses shoot forth from decay, inviting me to step onto the solid ground of the awakening earth.
Crisp breezes blow away cobwebs of distortion, invoking the breath of vigor and vision.
Thunder rumbles, shaking off stiff discomfort and calling up the revival of vibrancy.
Lightning flashes, striking deadened nerves of disenchantment and sparking the power switch of reanimation.
Sun turns to face me, burning away frigid pockets of disillusion in darkness, igniting joy and potential.
Spring showers rinse away the dusty film of drudgery, revealing fresh perspective and purity.
Spirit rises, lifting my heart and soul from the quiet slumber of discontent, rebirthing the wonder of existence and exploration.
Crack me open, as from a still and silent seed, into a bursting flower bud of zeal, stretching open her petals to light and love.
Renewal from Afar
Garry Glidden, St. George
Once concealed in deep, fresh snowpacks, a majestic winter mountain shows signs of wear as warmth overtakes cold. Formerly, its brilliant, enamel-like cap of white was protected by the chill. Now, cavities of dark hollows and pits appear to disfigure the transient face of the snow-capped beauty. Coming on the same horizon is the return of the towering beast-of-a-mount. Soon, the whole mass and spread of its peaks will be exposed under a radiant sun, and we will all find renewed wonders in that season.
Glenn Randall
Renewal
Ned Ericksen, St. George
Warm golden rays of sunlight filter down thru the soft green boughs of fragrant pine.
The wind murmurs its message of renewal, assuring me that here is where I need to be.
Thin wispy clouds march across the azure sky on their never-ending journey to parts unknown. I see the soil and stone combine to form a delicate mosaic of muted colors, while Highly skilled desert plants suck their sustenance from deep within the seemingly barren ground.
Birds and bugs make an occasional sound that breaks the solemn silence.
As I look on in wonder, this beautiful wilderness absorbs my presence and we become as one.
Reawakening
– a la Whitman and Sandburg Vaughn Neeld, Cañon City, Colorado
I sing, I sing. I am a meadowlark. I sing of spring. I sing of crocuses and snowdrops pushing through late-spring snow. I sing of tulips and forsythia, of dandelions and daffodils. I sing of trees in bud. I sing of warmer days and nights still winter cold.
I sing, I sing. I am a meadowlark. I sing of spring. I sing of fresh green grass nudging past fall’s mottled leaves. I sing of longer days and shorter nights. I sing of blossom-scented wind. I sing of leaves unfurled and lawns drenched with dew.
I sing, I sing. I am a meadowlark. I sing of spring. I sing for joy. I sing for simply being.
Heirloom Garden
Cindy Fowlkes, Orem
Winter is finally over, spring’s warmth fills the air. Time to work in the garden, tend the perennials with care.
After a season of cold and darkness, gently using my pruning knife I patiently coax and coddle, gently bringing them back to life.
You see, my heirloom garden is a snapshot in time.
Given from mother to daughter, and so on down our line.
While out tending my flowers, I imagine a day
When my great grandmother might have spent her time this same way. Out watering and weeding and turning the soil,
To enjoy the emerging beauty born from her toil.
Then, small little plants given with tender loving care
For a beloved daughter’s new garden the blossom to share.
So, for me, my heirloom garden has very important powers. It keeps us all connected over time and distance with flowers.
WE INVITE YOU to submit poems inspired by Utah. The May/June 2023 theme is “Utah Pets,” deadline April 1; the July/August 2023 theme is “Sunshine,” deadline June 1. Visit utahlifemag.com/poetry-submission to submit your poems, or email to poetry@utahlifemag.com.
Paintbrush flowers bloom in Arches National Park. A Red Butte Garden visitor stops to smell the flowers.
Austen Diamond/Visit Salt Lake
A flammulated owl perches in American Fork Canyon. Photographer Daniel Lindhardt located the owl in the darkness by playing an owl call on his cellphone and waiting for the bird to reply.
into the
Photographer
Daniel Lindhardt captures incredible portraits of Utah wildlife
photographs by DANIEL LINDHARDT story by MATT MASICH
WHEN IT COMES TO
photographing wildlife, patience and persistence are just as necessary as a camera. That’s something West Valley City wildlife photographer Daniel Lindhardt has learned over the past decade as he has traveled across Utah seeking to document animals in their natural habitat.
Sometimes it can take years for the perfect shot to materialize. Such was the case with the herd of bighorn sheep in Utah County that Lindhardt regularly visited for three years, only to be frustrated with the composition of the photographs he took home. But he kept coming back, hoping to capture the quality of photo he knew was possible. Least year, his perseverance was rewarded.
“I finally got them in the snow with a decent mountain backdrop,” he said, “and one of the biggest rams I’ve seen in the area happened to pose for me as he was chasing his lady friends.”
Lindhardt’s path to becoming a wildlife
photographer began in the marshes along the Great Salt Lake, where he used to hunt ducks. He started going out to photograph the ducks as a way to study their behavior, and as an excuse to get outdoors when it wasn’t hunting season. Eventually, he gave up hunting; now he only shoots animals with a camera.
From ducks, Lindhardt started photographing other birds, with raptors – eagles, hawks, owls – being his favorite. He now seeks out any creature on land or in the air. He spends as much time as he can toting his camera up Big and Little Cottonwood canyons, American Fork Canyon, Provo Canyon, Zion National Park, St. George and elsewhere.
As wild animals tend to be skittish around humans, he has learned to be stealthy as he approaches, making sure the wind isn’t blowing his scent toward his photo subjects. Sometimes it is a matter of letting himself be seen by the animals and waiting, silent and still, until they get used
to his presence.
Lindhardt has learned to read cues from animal behavior to predict what they will do next. He knows that if a perched hawk or eagle suddenly lifts its tail and poops, it is a signal that they are “lightening their load” before taking flight. And he knows that a moose that pins back its ears and raises the hair on its shoulder hump is definitely not happy.
He has had some run-ins with cranky moose, which despite their cute and friendly appearance are actually some of the most dangerous wild animals one is likely to encounter in Utah. Once, the herd he was photographing had a couple of small bulls who weren’t big enough to compete with the big bulls.
“But they wanted to compete with somebody,” Lindhardt said, “and I became their competition.”
As the bull moose charged closer to him, he hid behind some trees. Eventually, they became distracted by something else and
A pair of moose wade in the shallows of Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was a particularly hot day, and the moose seemed to enjoy the refreshing cool of the water. A little further up the canyon, a different pair of moose charged Lindhardt.
A Great Basin rattlesnake rears up, adopting a defensive posture; Lindhardt had been driving a side road near Yuba Reservoir in Juab County when he spotted the snake in the middle of the road, so he used the snake hook that he keeps in his vehicle to move it safely out of harm's way. A rutting Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep ram aggressively approaches a group of females.
DANIEL
A mother red fox takes care of her kits at Crestwood Park in Cottonwood Heights.
Clockwise, from top left: A young porcupine dozes in a Russian olive tree on Antelope island after eating its fill of bark and berries. A long-tailed weasel in its white winter coat pops up while hunting for voles at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area. A male pronghorn – colloquially known as antelope – turns to follow some females during the rut on Antelope Island. At Layton Commons Park, a cedar waxwing prepares to swallow a berry whole. A recently hatched wood duck duckling follows after its mother at a pond near Ogden in Weber County. A blue grosbeak takes a break after bouncing branch to branch near Goshen.
A mother bobcat nuzzles its young one in Provo Canyon. Lindhardt and a friend had been fruitlessly following bobcat tracks for hours and were just about to call it a day when the mother bobcat strode out, followed by its two kittens.
DANIEL LINDHARDT
Desert bighorn sheep rams make their way up steep red rock outside of Zion National Park. Lindhardt had seen what direction the bighorns were walking, so he sneaked ahead towards where they were heading to get this shot.
moved on. All things considered, it was a fairly benign interaction.
“I wasn’t concerned for my life,” he said, “I just had to get moving a little bit faster.”
He had another scare when a bear suddenly came charging out of the brush and ran in his direction. However, it turned out the bear was just running away from another group of people.
Certain times of year are better for pho-
tographing animals than others. Mating season, for instance, presents some of the best photographic opportunities.
“The animals tend to have only one thing on their mind,” he said, “and they don’t care as much about the photographer.”
Bobcats are some of the most elusive mammals in Utah, but they can more readily be found in winter, when they leave clear tracks in the snow. On one of his favorite photo expeditions, he and a friend spent three hours following bobcat tracks on a property near a home in Utah County.
Having found plenty of tracks but no bobcats, they were ready to call it a day – but then Lindhardt caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly,
a bobcat walked out onto a path – with its two kittens following close behind. The animals began feasting on a roadkill carcass, occasionally taking a break to play with each other, not seeming to mind the humans taking photographs.
No matter whether he comes home with the shots he wanted, Lindhardt said, being outdoors in the company of wildlife is time well spent.
“As a hunter, I was able to observe the animals,” he said, “but I wasn’t able to witness the behaviors I now watch on a daily basis – courtship behaviors, interactions with moms and babies. Being able to get out and be in the presence of the animals is most rewarding.”
On Antelope Island, a bison bull still has bits of sagebrush stuck to its horns and fur after tearing up the ground and rolling in the dirt to impress nearby bison cows.
ARTS
ST. GEORGE ART FESTIVAL
APRIL 7-8 • ST. GEORGE
St. George’s historic Town Square comes alive in dazzling colors, forms and sounds as more than a hundred world-class regional artists gather to showcase, in person, their original works. The St. George Art Festival has been celebrating and elevating the arts in Southern Utah since 1980, and the event only gets bigger and better with age, typically attracting at least 30,000 visitors throughout the weekend.
Featuring thousands of works of art of all genres, styles and mediums, as well as live music and performances, local food vendors, a 1-mile fun run, a children’s station and more, it’s a mainstay occasion of the creative landscape in St. George and beyond. This year, 397 artists applied for the festival, and 150 of the best of the best will be present on Easter weekend.
Michelle Graves, deputy director of arts and events in St. George, has been over-
CULTURE. ADVENTURE. HISTORY.
by ALLIE WISNIEWSKI
seeing the Art Festival for the past four years, said she’s always blown away by the size and scale of some of the pieces artists travel with. She’s particularly fond of photography and pottery, though she references so many favorite examples it’s clear how impossible it is to pick just one.
“For me, it’s like going to 150 museums,” she said. “We see such a high caliber of art right here in our park. But the difference between going to a museum and going to a festival like this is that here, you get to meet the artist. You get to have conversations with them. You can take a piece home and know what their background is, what their inspiration is and who they are.”
While truly a fine arts show, it is first and foremost a free event for the community. The festival is special to Graves, in part, because of its ability to make local art feel so accessible. (435) 627-4503.
On Easter weekend, 150 artists are on hand to meet and mingle as they sell the products of their creativity.
WHERE TO EAT CAPPELETTI’S RESTAURANT
This family-owned Italian bistro is serving traditional Italian cuisine with an Argentine flair, including handmade pastas, in a casual, comfortable space. 36 E. Tabernacle St. (435) 986-4119.
WHERE TO STAY THE MULBERRY
INN
This late 19th century mansion is now a fully functioning luxury bed and breakfast. Each of its seven rooms tells a unique story and showcases the original charm of the home in its heyday. 217 100 West. (435) 261-7888.
WHERE TO GO
ST. GEORGE ART MUSEUM
Just a few blocks north of the art festival, the St. George Art Museum has three galleries that rotate each season, and the gift shop featuring functional artistic items from local creators is almost a gallery unto itself. 47 E. 200 North. (435) 627-4525.
City of St. George
MOUNTAINS
POND
SKIM BEACH PARTY
APRIL 8 • SOLITUDE MOUNTAIN RESORT
Ski season is hardly over once winter takes its final bows. It may not be quite swimsuit weather in April, but Solitude’s second annual spring shindig celebrates the warm spirit of the coming season. Floaties, costumes and festive props are encouraged as participants take turns barreling down a snowy slope on either skis or snowboard toward a small body of water where they’ll each show off their best “skim.” Guests don’t have to participate to show up and cheer on the brave skimmers, who might even have the opportunity to be rewarded for their failure.
The competition awards first, second and third places for best skim, best costume and best crash. That’s right – there could be a right way to be wrong. That said, competitors shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the costume, as any ties in the skim or crash categories will be settled on the basis of respective outfits. Though the event might be beach themed, costumes don’t have to be. Last year, judges saw superheroes, dragon onesies, medieval warriors and more.
The event is open to participants ages 18 and up, and a $30 entry fee goes toward Wasatch Backcountry Rescue, helping to keep local skiers and snowboarders safe outside resort supervision. Prizes include GoPros, ski goggles, backpacks and various Solitude swag.
Pond Skim Beach Party has only been around for a year, and the inaugural competition was quite the doozy. It’s only right that this year should be even rowdier. Solitude reminds even its rowdiest guests to wear sunscreen. (801) 534-1400.
WHERE TO EAT HONEYCOMB GRILL
Located on the grounds of Solitude Mountain Resort, the Honeycomb Grill is the perfect place to celebrate a Pond Skim win. Cap off an exciting day with sweeping mountain views, a diverse menu and options for vegetarians, vegans and omnivores alike.
12000 Big Cottonwood Canyon Road, Building 4 Suite A. (801) 536-5787.
WHERE TO STAY
EAGLE SPRINGS LODGE WEST
“The West Lodge” is located in the heart of Solitude and features Tuscaninspired, condo-style villas that are within walking distance to ski lifts. Simple, sweet and cozy, guests will love relaxing in style after a long day of snowy fun. 12080 E. Big Cottonwood Canyon Road. (801) 536-5765.
Participants
in Solitude Mountain Resort’s pond skim are awarded prizes for best skim, best costume and best crash.
Other events you may enjoy
MARCH
Dear Evan Hansen at the Eccles Theater
March 4 • Salt Lake City
Winner of both Grammy and Tony awards for “Best Musical,” Dear Evan Hansen is a modern classic, following a high school senior riddled with social anxiety. It’s a family-friendly, profoundly contemporary show bound to entertain and inspire. Plus, the gorgeous Eccles Theater is an experience in itself. (801) 355-5502.
Vintage Market Days
March 16-18 • Hurricane
More than just a flea market, this indoor-outdoor antique extravaganza features heaps of local vendors peddling vintage wares ranging from original art and housewares to antiques, edible treats and handmade goods. Come early on Thursday for first pickings. vintagemarketdays.com.
Spring Beer Festival
March 19 • Ogden
With the warm weather returning slowly but surely, it’s the perfect time to sample Northern Utah’s best craft beers and decide what to add to this year’s summer rotation. A general admission ticket includes three sample pours and one $5 food voucher. Live music is just the cherry on top. (385) 389-1411.
Art and Soup
March 28-30 • Salt Lake City
Community Nursing Services hosts this annual charity event, partnering with 25 restaurants and 60 local artists for a day of, you guessed it, art and soup. Vendors generously donate a portion of their proceeds to benefit underserved individuals throughout Utah. (801) 639-5418.
Jon Cook
OUTDOORS
SKINNY TIRE FESTIVAL
The Skinny Tire Festival is a four-day cycling event where participants ride a different scenic route each day. Since it’s not timed and everyone is encouraged to ride at their own pace, the festival is a tour rather than a race. This year, cyclists will relish the stunning views of Dead Horse Point State Park, the Colorado River, Arches National Park and more.
The event is a fundraiser for organizations that help people with cancer. To date, the festival has raised nearly $6 million dollars, and thousands of cyclists have participated. Festival Founder and Director Mark Griffith conceived of the event after losing his older brother, Duane, to cancer. The festival raises money for the Moab Cancer Treatment
Center, whose infusion center for local patients was funded in part by past donations from the festival.
With trained, radio-equipped volunteers standing by, Griffith has taken countless precautions to ensure everyone has a safe, supported experience. Skinny Tire Festival’s goal is to “uplift, reward, and rejuvenate,” and Griffith has witnessed many moments proving they’ve accomplished just that.
Griffith recalls coming across a man on the roadside at the top of a hill. “I pulled over and asked if there was a problem. ‘Nope, we’re fine,’ they said. ‘We’re making a toast.’ The man had finished his cancer treatment the day before. Making it to the top of the hill was proof to himself that he’d beaten it.” (435) 260-8889.
WHERE TO EAT MOAB DINER
You can’t go wrong at the Moab Diner, where friendly service and comforting, affordable eats have gone hand in hand since the 1960s. The restaurant maintains its retro charm, and it’s located conveniently on Main Street. 189 S. Main St. (435) 259-4006.
WHERE TO STAY MOAB SPRINGS RANCH
This “historic desert oasis” is perfect for cyclists, with “bike-in bike-out” access to the Moab area’s extensive network of trails. It’s shaded by beautiful cottonwood trees and features both bungalow and townhouse accommodations. 1266 N. Highway 191. (435) 259-7891.
APRIL
Easter Jeep Safari
April 1-9 • Moab
Off-roading enthusiasts shouldn’t miss the annual nine-day Easter Jeep Safari, consisting of day-long trail rides through the dynamic, awe-inspiring southern Utah desert. The event is hosted by fourwheel-drive club Red Rock 4-Wheelers Inc, but remember, it’s BYOV (bring your own vehicle). (435) 259-7625.
Wasatch Gem, Mineral & Fossil Show
April 15 • South Jordan
Get up close and personal with treasures from the earth during this year’s Wasatch Gem, Mineral & Fossil Show. Expect more than 80 vendors and plenty of hands-on workshops, including wire wrapping and gem faceting. Kids and adults alike love chatting with dinosaur diggers, gold prospectors and other industry experts. (801) 966-0639.
Red Rock ATV Jamboree
April 26-29 • Kanab
ATVers enjoy social gatherings and 15 rides a day past dinosaur tracks, ancient ruins and slot canyons. (435) 644-3696.
Trivia Photographs Page 14 The Utes line up against BYU. Jakub Fiala practices at the 2002 Olympics. Page 15 Natalie Williams of the 2000 U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team shoots.
Cedar City Historic Downtown Presents
Meet Mr.Moab
In his 95 years, Moab Rock Shop owner Lin Ottinger has discovered dinosaurs, driven across arches and lived a quintessential Moab life
By RACHEL FIXSEN
WMoab Rock Shop owner Lin Ottinger examines a specimen at his store filled with minerals, crystals and fossils. For decades, Ottinger led tours of Canyonlands National Park and Moab-area attractions in the many Volkswagen buses he has owned over the years.
HEN LIN OTTINGER
was a kid living with his aunt, he liked to play pranks on her. When Ottinger learned about the element gallium, which has such a low melting point that it will soften in the palm of your hand, he applied this property to facilitate a joke: He borrowed one of his aunt’s fancy silver spoons and made a cast of it, and then created a copy out of a gallium alloy that would melt at the temperature of hot coffee. His aunt and her guests were all surprised when she stirred her coffee and the spoon deformed.
Since he moved to Moab in the 1950s,
Ottinger has taken part in many of the industries that have formed the town’s identity: he prospected for uranium, worked on sets for Western movies, started a backcountry tour business and a downtown rock shop, climbed with famous mountaineers and first ascensionists, and discovered a new species of dinosaur. He explored the varied crevices and expanses of canyon country with an indefatigable curiosity and sense of adventure, sharing his discoveries along the way.
Lin Ottinger’s Moab Rock Shop is still a beloved stop for tourists to visit and locals to return to. It’s densely cluttered
with agates, geodes, petrified wood, dinosaur fossils and more. Now 95 years old, Ottinger himself doesn’t spend as much time in the shop or ranging the desert as he once did, but he still relishes his memories. When I met with Ottinger in his home, he was dressed as himself: His T-shirt commemorated his Volkswagen bus desert tours, and he donned a ball cap printed with dinosaur skeletons and adorned with what looked like a raven’s feather.
He was generous with stories, while direct questions received short, cheeky replies. For example, when I asked him if he remembered any of the routes he climbed
Visions of America
Lin Ottinger Scenic Tours and Annual Caravan Moab Area Real Estate Magazine/Murice D. Miller
A small but dedicated group of Volkswagen bus enthusiasts joins Ottinger on a throwback bus tour
around Moab.
Richard Kimbrough
with legends Fred Beckey and Eric Bjornstad, he said, “Yeah – the rock that goes up.”
When I asked how he became so skilled at finding interesting objects like fossils and geodes, he said, “I look where they are.”
Maybe that’s a fair response to a silly question – after all, he’s spent a lifetime looking.
In Ottinger’s kitchen, crystals and minerals sparkled on the windowsill above the sink. A curio cabinet displayed antique watches, polished rocks, fern fossils and geodes. Old oil lamps and blue glass electrical insulators shone atop a china cabinet next to it. Rocks, bones and found objects perched on and around the woodstove. Photos of movie star acquaintances, family members and desert adventures hung on the walls, along with press clippings and gifts of artwork from grandchildren.
Many of the mementos are from his decades in Moab, but some hark back to his childhood, during which he moved around a lot and sometimes had to fend for himself.
As far back as he can remember, he found ways to work and make money, doing “whatever needed to be done,” he said – he quit school in the seventh grade. Rock hounding was one of his earliest interests; he found and sold arrowheads as a young child in Tennessee.
Ottinger recounted a story about running away from home when he was around 12 years old and joining a circus, doing odd jobs for a few months. He didn’t have anywhere warm to sleep at night, so he took to curling up with the elephant.
“I’d climb up on her back, and she’d put her trunk up and rub me,” Ottinger said.
One night he woke up to a blow – the elephant had wacked him with her trunk. Miffed, he started to leave the enclosure, but was paused by an apologetic touch from the elephant’s trunk – she hadn’t meant to hurt him, Ottinger interpreted the gesture to mean. He forgave her and cuddled up with her again.
Ottinger is known for his affinity for animals. He showed me a photo of himself as an adult in the Moab desert with a collared lizard perched on his chest. The beautiful green, yellow and blue lizards are not known for being tame. I asked how he got it to be so comfortable with him, and Ottinger said he just scratched it under the chin.
Lin Ottinger and his son, Sonny, run Moab Rock Shop, though Sonny has taken over the dayto-day operations. Customers peruse the shop's offerings displayed near an old buggy. Slices of agate are colorful and popular merchandise. Jurassic dinosaur bones found near Moab sell well, too; Ottinger has hunted for dinosaur bones for many years, and he has even discovered new dinosaur species.
Moab Area Real Estate Magazine/Murice D. Miller
Joshua Hardin
Joshua Hardin (above); Moab Area Real Estate Magazine/Murice D. Miller (below)
Joshua Hardin
In Ottinger’s living room, he pointed out an old Victrola phonograph in the corner.
“Does it work?” I asked.
“It better,” Ottinger snapped. “I fixed it in about 1940.”
We had to move a replica of the skull of a prehistoric mammal to open the wooden lid. A record was set on the spindle. I wound it up, switched it on, and set the needle. Old-timey band music warbled out. Ottinger seemed pleased.
He’d found the Victrola in his aunt’s attic when he was 12 and asked her if he could play it; she told him no. He asked why not, and she said, “Because it doesn’t work.” Either Ottinger has injected his own personality into the character of his aunt, or terse replies are a family trait.
Ottinger asked permission to try to fix it and she said, “You can’t.”
“ ‘Can’t?’ I don’t know what that means,” Ottinger said.
He took the record player apart, cleaned it and oiled it with a specialty oil, and put it back together. When he showed her that it worked, she said he could have it. More than 80 years later, it still works.
When Ottinger joined the Army later in life, his knack for repairs landed him a job as a mechanic. He carried on his rock habit while in the military – he would polish stones and make them into jewelry that he sold to his fellow soldiers. Ottinger was stationed in Canada during the end of World War II, but the war ended before he was ever deployed.
Later he worked as a logger in the Northwest before an encounter at a rock and gem show in Boise piqued his interest in Moab. He saw an impressive piece of uranium ore at the show, and the vendor told him where it came from – that’s what first led him to the town that became his home.
He got his first Moab job with a mining company through a typically Ottinger combination of serendipity and skill. He was camped with his family along what is now Kane Creek Boulevard near a gravel pit; one day he overheard two mine workers arguing over who had forgotten the keys to a bulldozer parked at the pit. Ottinger resolved the issue by hotwiring the bulldozer so they could get it onto their trailer; later they returned and offered him a job.
Ottinger’s appreciation for Volkswagen buses began during a prospecting jaunt. A
would-be uranium miner who'd heard that Ottinger was the best man to find likely claims hired him and picked him up to go prospecting – in a Volkswagen bus. They passed Jeeps stuck in the mud and just drove around them. That’s when he decided that he needed a Volkswagen.
Once while driving his VW in the backcountry, he passed the movie star Clint Eastwood, who was stuck in a Jeep on his way to a set.
“Where you going?” Ottinger asked the stranded Eastwood.
“Up there,” Eastwood answered.
“So am I,” Ottinger said. “Why don’t you get in?”
After that, Eastwood was also sold on VWs and had Ottinger taxi him around. Ottinger worked on movie sets, too – like prospectors, movie producers knew him as someone who could navigate in the desert and solve problems.
Ottinger stuck with VW buses when he started his taxi and tour service, bringing clients out to Moab’s stunning scenery: Deadhorse Point, Gemini Bridges, the White Rim. He brought picnics and would find unique lunch spots, helping his clients clamber up or down to a nook or ledge. Sometimes he would send tourists with instructions on a scramble through a rock labyrinth – then wait at the exit to pop out and startle them.
Ottinger liked to take his buses to extreme places – like across Musselman Arch along the White Rim. Before venturing on wheels over the thin span of sandstone, he walked out and started picking up hefty rocks and small boulders, tossing them one by one, estimating and adding up their weights until he figured he’d removed a load equal to the weight of the bus. Then he drove the clients confidently out onto the arch.
A ranger flagged them down in alarm, saying it was dangerous.
“It can’t take the weight,” the ranger said.
“Oh yes, it can!” Ottinger retorted.
(The distributed weight of the rocks and the concentrated weight of the bus surely put different pressures on the arch – but it held.)
By his own and others’ accounts, Ottinger didn’t shy from confrontation with rangers as land designations and regulations multiplied over the years.
“I can drive it if I want to,” Ottinger remembered telling the scoldy ranger, adding, “I can chase you off it!”
After a long day of exploring Moab, we invite you to enjoy a relaxing and flavorful meal with us. Offering nightly game specials and fresh fish options.
Let us enchant you with an exquisitelyprepared meal to keep you coming back every season for years to come.
Find fossils in a private trilobite quarry. Uncover fossils of marine life 550 millions years old and take a piece of history home with you. Dig in the quarry during open hours Mon-Sat 9 am-6 pm from April-Oct.
Ottinger has spent most of his 95 years on earth exploring the wild countryside around Moab, and he continues to relish the experience.
Throughout his gigs with film productions, prospectors and driving tour and taxi buses, Ottinger continued exploring the desert and collecting rocks, fossils and other interesting things he found. He kept his rock shop stocked and gave slideshow presentations in the evenings.
Some of his discoveries made a splash, like bones from previously unknown dinosaur species, one of which was named “Iguanodon ottingeri” in his honor. He and his son, Sonny, also found a pair of human skeletons that had been fossilized into malachite. The location of the bones – essentially, buried deep in the earth and exposed by mining activities – was puzzling and sparked a lot of speculation.
But Ottinger seemed just as interested in other finds that he showed me – chunks of fossilized bone, recognizable, he explained, by the preserved pattern of the cell structure; a 100-year-old toy cast-iron Model-T he’d found mostly buried in sand in a remote area; a naturally faceted salt crystal he’d found near the potash mine outside of Moab. He also showed pictures of jewelry he’s made: polished stones set in silver, ivory pieces etched with delicate patterns.
When I asked him how he learned his skills, like repairing mechanical things and creating jewelry, he said, “I guess I’m smart. I didn’t learn it – I just did it.”
Ottinger kept working at the rock shop up until he was 93, though he turned the management over to Sonny in 2005. Sonny continues to run the shop now, along with his lifelong best friend – both of them grew up working there. Sonny’s son and grandson both work at the rock shop too.
Ottinger still has eight of those original VW buses in a warehouse, and a few have been restored. Every spring a small but devoted community of VW enthusiasts celebrates the vehicles by taking them on a throwback desert tour around Moab; there was a special gathering this fall to celebrate Ottinger’s 95th birthday. He joined the VW caravan in one of the original tour buses and visited beloved spots like Gemini Bridges. Nearly a century of exploring has not lessened the joy of it for Ottinger.
Lin Ottinger Scenic Tours and Annual Caravan
story by KERRY SOPER illustrations by JOSH TALBOT
Making Movies in Utah
Pitching plots for Beehive State-centric films
AS YOU PROBABLY know, Utah played host to some pretty famous movies in the past: The Searchers, Footloose, High School Musical, Dumb and Dumber, The Sandlot. But what have we done recently? Can we point to any cool movies that aren’t a full decade or two out of date?
I’m embarrassed to report, in fact, that our state is currently being used as a generic setting for cookie-cutter, Christmas-themed Hallmark romances. (You know, those straight-to-streaming-service flicks where a jaded, big-city career woman falls in love with a small-town hunk who wears flannel shirts and either makes custom furniture, bakes artisanal sourdough bread or trains horses with ADHD).
I think our problem is that we’ve only promoted Utah up until now as a superficial backdrop for movies. What if we could get Hollywood to embrace the culture of our state as well? I see that as a “win-win”: they get to spice up their fading franchises with some Utah quirkiness, and we get to reclaim the big-screen spotlight.
For starters, it seems like those Harry Potter movies could use some new, Utahcentric ideas. Here are some possibilities: Harry Potter and the Troublesome TikTok Mom, Harry Potter and the Awkward Herbal Supplement, Harry Potter and the Smarmy Summer Sales Bro, Harry Potter and the Perilous Potluck or Harry Potter and the Machiavellian Multi-Level Marketer?
I just sent J.K. Rowling the script for Harry Potter and the Cursed (and Carpeted) Cultural Hall, but I haven’t heard back from her yet. I’m worried the title’s a bit unwieldy, but there’s a cool climax where Harry, Ron and Hermione – who legitimately reserve the cultural hall for Quidditch practice – have to battle a group of middle-aged, male muggles in overly tight shorts who are determined to use the same space to shoot some hoops.
Hermione shows off a new spell (“Expeliarmus-Amateur-Baller-Egomanius!”); Ron discovers their opponents’ key vulnerability (“They have weak ankles!”); and Harry defeats their leader in a contest of fake swearing and passive aggressive guilt tripping.
Moving on, it seems like The Fast and the Furious franchise could also use a Utah-themed revival. How about a new installment titled The Slow and the Curious, about an elderly couple wondering why there are so many cars lined up behind them as they leisurely explore I-15’s express lane for a couple of hours? It’ll be super suspenseful, in a slow-build sort of way, but maybe there aren’t enough explosions or action scenes – unless you count the chaos that ensues when the wife tries to turn off her blinker and accidentally activates the windshield wipers instead,
startling her grouchy husband.
If those Fast movies could move beyond the world of cool cars, then the Utah options are endless: The Last and the Gaseous, about those self-important speakers in church meetings who go 10 minutes overtime; The Harassed and the Discourteous, about Utahns discussing politics in fun ways over social media; and The Miscast and the Tedious, about the 10th community production of The Music Man that you’ve had to attend in the last four years.
With Tom Cruise getting a bit long in the tooth, maybe the Mission Impossible franchise could also feature some Utah-specific missions that don’t require him to climb skyscrapers in weird jeggings, or to blow dry his hair in slow motion once again on a speeding motorcycle. For example, maybe he could be tasked
with simply getting state officials in Utah to agree on a plan to limit water use before a dried-up Great Salt Lake becomes the perfect dystopian setting for the next Mad Max movie?
I realize that the Marvel people already have a surplus of superheroes in their sprawling multiverse, but maybe there’s room for a few more with some Utah swagger: Captain Constitution –more pugnaciously patriotic than Captain America, his superstrength is his ability to wear down opponents with long rants cribbed from conservative talk radio; the Silicon Slopes Surfer – really good at surfing the web, I guess; Stormlynn, Gamoralynn and Black Widowlynn – you know, the weird names Utahns give their kids; Dr. Sunstone – a cynical egghead with an unlimited capacity to pick apart all things religious; and the Mormon Tab Mutants real X-Men, just freakishly good at syn chronized sitting and standing – and
twice yearly, really effective at putting large groups of people to sleep by singing slow songs in perfect harmony.
I’m not sure if I dare suggest any additions to Lord of the Rings canon, since they’ve already made so many of those dang movies and series, but if they ever do come to our state, we could offer them some economic breaks – like a discount on forging new “rings of power,” since we have so many flippin’ jewelry stores concentrated in Utah Valley.
The Star Wars people are also welcome to come here and use any of our deserts – which we may soon have more of – as settings for Tatooine. As part of the deal, we promise not to bring up again those awkward copyright issues about Yoda being based on one of our former religious heroes: the gravely-voiced, floppy-eared Spencer W. Kimball.
Your Gateway to the National Parks
some old classics: Dorky Dancing – you know, instead of “Dirty”; Close Encounters of the Clueless Driving Kind; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Orem – or maybe the Temple of Oquirrh Mountain, if you think that sounds cooler; Geneva Steel Magnolias; and Willy Wonka and the Crumbl Cookie Franchise.
If none of this sounds appealing to the folk in Hollywood, then maybe they can at least take a crack at putting a Utah spin on one of those dumb Hallmark movies. Like, instead of the same old story about “fatigued and middle-aged people, without kids, falling in love and then re-finding their youthful optimism,” how about a good ol’ Beehive State reversal: “young people falling in love, having lots of little kids in quick succession and then losing their optimism as they gradually grow fatigued and middle-aged”? Anyway, give us a call Hollywood – we’ve reserved the -
