Southern Utah Trip - April 2009

Dan Denson · #1 11-07-2009, 06:14 AM

Last April, I volunteered at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in southern Utah. I flew from Austin to El Paso to Las Vegas, and then drove to Kanab, Utah which is near the sanctuary.

First, here are a few views of El Paso from the plane. El Paso is situated around the Franklin Mountains and is located adjacent to the US/Mexico border at the westernmost tip of Texas. At its closest point, El Paso is only 375 miles from the Gulf of California, but is as far as 765 miles from the east Texas border in the piney woods.

Approaching Las Vegas over the westernmost part of the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, and Hoover Dam:

Landing in Las Vegas, I wasn't able to get good photos, as the wing was in the way. By the way, this was the most turbulent approaches I've ever experienced. Once I arrived at Las Vegas, I didn't get a chance to take any photos, as I was running late and had a four hour drive to Kanab, Utah.

The next few photos were taken at Best Friends sanctuary, located on 33,000 acres fairly close to Zion National Park. This is the sanctuary where Dog Town takes place (the show on the National Geographic Channel). The scenery right at the sanctuary is beautiful. This was one of the best experiences I've ever had.

Here are some pics of the little tourist town of Kanab, just south of the sanctuary. This is where most people stay when volunteering at Best Friends. It's a very nice looking town with some great restaurants and motels. I stayed in the little retro motel shown in one of the pics.

I did a side trip one day to Zion National Park. The east entrance was only 45 minutes from Best Friends. There's no way to really describe Zion. You have to see it to believe it:

I hope you enjoyed the tour!

mSeattle · #2 11-07-2009, 09:14 AM

Nice get-away. We hardly ever see El Paso on the forum. Good aerials.

KevinFromTexas · #3 11-08-2009, 08:13 PM

Beautiful photos, Dan. I love those aerials, especially over El Paso. Very cool. It's neat seeing mountains in Texas.

stepper77 · #4 11-08-2009, 08:40 PM

One of my friends from work was talking about going to volunteer at an animal sanctuary in Utah. I wonder if this is the same place? Beautiful scenery. Thanks for sharing!

Dan Denson · #5 11-09-2009, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stepper77

One of my friends from work was talking about going to volunteer at an animal sanctuary in Utah. I wonder if this is the same place? Beautiful scenery. Thanks for sharing!

It's probably Best Friends sanctuary. They have a large number of paid staff, but also rely a lot on volunteers. When I was there in April, there were volunteers from all over. I made friends with a couple from Germany.

Dan Denson · #6 11-09-2009, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Beautiful photos, Dan. I love those aerials, especially over El Paso. Very cool. It's neat seeing mountains in Texas.

Thanks, Kevin. From what I'm seeing on Google Earth, it looks like the Franklin Mountains in El Paso top out at about 7,000 feet, or about 3,300 above downtown. The Guadalupe Mountains about 90 miles east of El Paso are much higher (about 8,700 feet), and what I like about them is the forests at the higher elevations.

The mountains in southern Utah are just incredible. Not only are they high, but the vertical drops (e.g., in Zion) are like nothing else I've ever seen. You could spend months in southern Utah and still not see everything.

KevinFromTexas · #7 11-09-2009, 05:25 AM

Have you ever been to Rocky Mountain NP? Some pretty cool mountains there.

Seriously, Longs Peak especially is awesome. Some of those mountains there are pretty much sheer walls in some spots.

Dan Denson · #8 11-09-2009, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Have you ever been to Rocky Mountain NP? Some pretty cool mountains there.

Seriously, Longs Peak especially is awesome. Some of those mountains there are pretty much sheer walls in some spots.

Oh yeah...Rocky Mountain National Park is beautiful. Longs Peak appears in paintings I've seen, and it is one of the most photographed peaks in the world. And I've been on top of Pikes Peak in a lightning storm. Pretty amazing. In the early 80s I did some atmospheric science studies on top of Boardinghouse Peak in Utah, and it was like being on top of the world. My favorite view was toward Mt. Nebo to the west, a monster of a mountain. I never tire of the American West.

delts145 · #9 11-10-2009, 09:57 PM

The scenery in Southern Utah is surreally beautiful. I'm glad you had a great time, and thanks for sharing the great pics. Next trip plan a little day excursion to Lake Powell and Rainbow Bridge. There's nothing quite like it in all the world.

Dan Denson · #10 11-11-2009, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by delts145

The scenery in Southern Utah is surreally beautiful. I'm glad you had a great time, and thanks for sharing the great pics. Next trip plan a little day excursion to Lake Powell and Rainbow Bridge. There's nothing quite like it in all the world.

I went to Lake Powell when I was about 16. We stayed in nearby Page. On that trip, we went up to Bryce Canyon (incredible place).

One place I haven't been is Monument Valley. I really need to locate it on a map and make sure I go there next time I'm in that part of the country.

A friend of mine is from Salt Lake, and her husband is from Price. We were at a party recently and they told me about a road called the Hell's Backbone near Boulder and Escalante, Utah. They said it's the scariest road they had ever been on. I think I found it on Google Earth, and it does look scary!

TonyAnderson · #11 11-11-2009, 10:01 PM

Southern Utah is so strikingly different from the rest of Utah - and beautiful. One of the reason's St. George has become such a booming place. Thanks for the pics.