I look forward to surveying and photographing the creeks and other low-lying areas at Ellington Agricultural Center. I would imagine the beaver dam has been washed away, and that the mallard duck nest with seven eggs photographed late last week in the Ellington marshes has probably been destroyed, though I certainly hope not.

More soon!

The first thing I looked at were the reviews: the composite review (average of many major reviews) is a B+, which is quite good in comparison to most flicks.

Next I started reading reviews to learn more about the movie (but not wanting any spoilers). Based on a true story, the protagonist, Chistopher McCandless, flees civilization despite a promising upper-middle class life and drives his beat-up Datsun as far as he could take it — which was to be the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. This location sounded familiar to me, and upon googling I saw why: it was in close proximity to our stomping grounds during a wonderful nature trip with Dad, our trip to Utah.

I decided to Google-map it to see how close Lake Mead is to Zion National Park. When I started zooming in on Zion,I noticed that, along with roads, hiking trails were showing up. Soon thereafter, I was viewing — and reliving my hike on — the incredibly strenuous and beautiful Angel’s Landing trail in the heart of Zion.

Peace and greetings to my fellow nature lovers. Perhaps you are here because, like me, you feel a stronger spiritual connection on the trails than from any sort of human construct. Whether this is true for you or not, it is my sincere hope that you will find some useful and/or entertaining information on this site, or at the very least, a few photos that will be appreciated and maybe even awe-inspiring.

As I write this paragraph it is Sunday evening, July 10, 2004, and I, Stephen Frasier, proud hiking addict, have just returned from the glorious Zion National Park in southwest Utah, just north of the small but beautiful town of Springdale, Utah. My father, Charles Frasier, and I try to take some sort of nature trip about every other summer, often around July 4th. Having been to some of the parks listed at left (Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks — ed.) several times, we decided it was time to experience trails we haven’t hiked. My request to take in Yosemite was duly noted and overruled by he who funds.

Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path leading wherever I choose.

— Walt Whitman

I am adding photo galleries to include Zion National Park in Utah, Bryce National Park, also in Utah, and a few from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon where only a short time was spent. Zion was the focal point of this year’s excursion.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park :: Zion section of National Park Service website
Zion National Park :: Utah’s site
Zion National Park :: Wikipedia’s Zion National Park entry
Springdale, Utah — Zion NP :: a services-centric website; lodging, etc.
Another Zion site