Page 19 - DreamScapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2022

wilderness and find out why Kodachrome Basin State Park rightly was named after the vibrant film brand (Hint: it’s a photographer’s paradise). You’re surrounded by Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument so take a short hike to view one of the last locations in the continental United States to be mapped.
Next up are the grand hoodoo spires of Bryce Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument (the latter of which is on Utah Route 143/148), before landing back in civilization in Cedar City and its annual Shakespeare festival that runs in summer and fall.
INSIDER TIP: Avoid walking on dirt with a black crust on top. This desert cryptobiotic soil is essential to ecosystems, takes thousands of years to form, but can be destroyed with a single footstep.
DID YOU KNOW? Southern Utah is one of the only places in the world where you can see endangered California condors, the largest bird in North America.
MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS:
Salt Lake City to Flaming Gorge
As you climb east out of Salt Lake City to the glitzy ski town of Park City, the air becomes crisp and laced with the scent of sun-baked pine trees. Take a chairlift ride up the slopes to see a tapestry of aspen leaves and wildflowers. Or shoot down them at 100 km/h on one of the world’s only Olympic bobsled courses open to the public.
Next up, it’s time to see who lived in Utah 149 million years ago. Head east on U.S. 40 and then U.S. 191 to Dinosaur National Monu- ment, where you can see 1,500 or so dinosaur bones at a paleontological excavation site. Nearby are also rock petroglyphs created by the Fremont culture dating back a millennium.
Further north up U.S. 191 lands you at Flaming Gorge, where you can fish, ride horses, camp, kayak, whitewater raft on the Green River, or just drive the Scenic Byway of Utah Route 44. On the way back to Salt Lake City, a side trip on Utah 150 brings you into the heart of the Uinta Mountains. Part of the Rocky Mountains, the Uinta’s claim-to-fame is as the highest range in the country with no modern glaciers.
PHOTOS: AUSTEN DIAMOND PHOTOGRAHY | MICHAEL KUNDE | JIM URQUHART | JEREMIAH WATT
SPRING/SUMMER 2022 DREAMSCAPES 19