Welcome to the land of sand, sun, sage and sunburn. This is Cedar Mesa - a high (6500') desert plateau covered with pinyon and juniper forests and cut by countless drainages. Grand Gulch is one of those canyons and is arguably the most remote wilderness area in southeastern Utah.
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| Cedar Mesa seen from Comb Ridge |
While most folks have heard of - and visited - places like Arches, Needles, Zion and Bryce, many have not heard of GG. And for good reason since there's not much here that most tourists want. Drive into the Kane Gulch Ranger Station and you won't find: 1) Free Wi-fi, 2) flush toilets; 3) Coke machines.
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| Open everyday from 8 - 4. Maybe. |
We do however have a huge inventory of hiking trails, sandy canyons, ancient Puebloan ruins and oodles of rock art; everything from archaic to Fremont to Pueblo III style.
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| Archaic petroglyphs |
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| A typical trail |
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| The Citadel |
In the next few days or weeks I will try my best to fill you in on my doings here as a volunteer ranger. For now, my duties - such as they are - are to meet and greet folks at the Visitor Center, hand out hiking permits, patrol the trails, direct people to sites and water sources and explain/encourage the concept of 'leave no trace' camping and hiking.
That, and drive around 'campus' as we call it, and make sure all pit toilets are stocked with TP. Ah, the glamorous life of Ranger Rick....
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