They cause untold land and riparian damage and compete with actual native animals, such as bighorn sheep, etc. Congress recently passed another stupid law (aren't they good at that! I guess that's why we pay them!) in support of "wild" horses. The impact of wild horses and burros is insig...

I was told that those white cones are part of a radio telemetry system across the country that pilots can tune into to help navigate in bad weather. Directional Radio something or other, I think. They're called VORTACs ... V ery High Frequency O mni-Directional R anging, together with the military'...

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Very nice poem. If we could rate poetry that would get a 5 out of 5. Dr. Martin is a firm subscriber to the theory that human beings were behind the megafaunal extinctions. Indeed, he is one of the fathers of that theory. Thank you for your kind words :) The megafaunal extinctions are still very co...

As a interesting and not totally unconnected sidenote, I recommend reading "1491". It (rather convincingly) discusses the possibility that the superlarge herds of buffalo the settlers saw crossing the plains were in fact an anomaly, that their populations had been held lower due to Native...

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Then they ask "What about the heat? And I explain that in Arizona, one only needs to drive to a cooler part of the state or to the top of the nearest mountain to get relief. Whenever I hear that from people back East, I always reply with ... "you're so right! It's horrible here! Just toda...

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He fell 100 feet from a cliff -- one hundred feet! -- and he's interviewed the same night on the evening news with not a scratch on him. Goodness, most people would be covered from head-to-toe with cuts and bruises, and at least a broken bone or two. If nothing else, they'd be so sore they could har...

“I’ve been treated like a felon, and I hope I’m not a felon,” he says. “I made the wrong decision.”

Oh Duh.

I'm so glad to see the Feds cracking down on this. Now about those ATV's running roughshod on foot-only trails ...

It's truly sad that so many funky old bookstores have disappeared. There used to be a place called "Wind, Water, Time" just outside Zion Nat'l Park ... maybe it's still there. I loved it just for the name, if nothing else. And "The King's English" in Salt Lake. What a wonderful s...

If you go to some of the hot springs you can even expect to see people nude, no big deal. I agree. I've been to a nude beach and you're right, it's not a big deal. Time and place for everything, and all that. What I dislike is when people presumptuously assume that if I don't think they should be n...

I don't mind the mules so much as those accursed helicopters. I won't even go to South Rim anymore because of them.

Do you like these? Normally, I find Gatorade et al to be absolutely disgusting and not fit for human consumption. However, if I've just come in from running or hiking in the desert and the temp is about 9,000 degrees fahrenheit and I'm drenched in sweat, then Gatorade is salvation sent from heaven a...

1. If you get more than half a mile from pavement, 99.9% of the people will disappear. 2. No matter which direction you're hiking it, the trail you're on will always be uphill. 3. Your hiking partner will accidently step on the one toe that's the most blistered, bruised, or generally hurt. 4. If the...

bryanmertz wrote:Desert Solitaire
not just a book, a life goal
is where I find peace

I just re-read Desert Solitaire recently. Love the story of the moon-eyed horse

joe bartels wrote:The greatest gift in this world is sharing.

Secrets are childs play or communism IMO, there's no way around it. To make it worse somebody "will" print it eventually in a book, profit on it, and somehow is then considered a "hero".

Communism??????

I wrote about this place in 2004 on another site. I last visited in 2006. I wonder if I will ever go back. I wonder when and if I am old will I think of this place. I wonder if it will be discovered and destroyed, paved over, or turned into some tourist attraction. I wonder if it will matter. I won...

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Do you have your own special "secret" places where you go to get away from civilization? Without giving the locations, of course, can you tell about them? One of my favorite secret places was the Front Range foothills above the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. In years past, whenever...