Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos

Though the ages aren't estimated for individual trees at Patriarch Grove, Bristlecone Pines can be as much as 4,000 years old. Though this tree looks dead, it isn't -- there was new foilage on the opposite side. Taken at Ancient Bristlecone Pine Reserve outside Big Pine, CA

August wild flowers, Patriarch Grove, Ancient Bristlecone Pine Reserve, outside Big Pine, CA

Lake Las Vegas development near Lake Mead and Las Vegas, taken from east of the development.

Development at Brian Head ski area.

The summit of Brian Head can be reached by car, though the road was unplowed and snow-covered in late June, so it was necessary to hike the last half mile. This puts you above the top of the ski lift. In the back ground is Cedar Breaks.

On the south rim of Cedar Breaks is a 1 mile trail to Spectra Point. While a two mile roundtrip hike seems easy, the 370 foot elevation gain when at 10,000 feet is literally breath-taking. The point gives beautiful views down into the breaks, but my goal was actually the grove of bristlecone pines at the point. The pines are the ones closest to the point and on the other side of the ridge.

This one is quite amazing -- it seems to have a very tenuous connection to the earth. (The peak in the background is Brian Head) Unfortunately, very few visitors to the point seemed to be interested in the bristlecone pines, or to reflect on the fact that these trees had already been here for 500 to 1100 years when Columbus 'discovered' America...

Utah 12 cutout of sliprock, near Escalante, Utah. The road was built by the CCC

From Utah 12, looking back towards Boulder. Utah 12 between Boulder and Escalante is a particularly dramatic stretch of highway. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 30's and is referred to as the "Million Dollar Road To Boulder" Unfortunately, there are some spectacular stretches where it is impossible to find a place to stop and take photos.

Along the Burr Trail.

From the climb out of lowest portion of the Burr Trail, a striking view created by a pocket of sunshine.

Lake Powell ferry at Halls Crossing, UT.

Houseboats drydocked at Halls Crossing on Lake Powell.

Moki Dugway.

The canyon, road and bridge, from a few miles away. If you look close, the top of the bridge is visible in the lower part of the picture, just beyond the curve in the road.

Quite a bit north from Muley Point, up past Natural Bridges National Monument, is Hite and the north end of the Glen Canyon Recreational Area. The bridge in the photo is just outside Hite and is one of the very few bridges over the Colorado river -- the next nearest bridge over the river is 300 miles away.

From the west at sunset, looking towards Bluff, Utah. The various buildings in Bluff are the lighter spots in the bluff's shadow, towards the left side of the photo. Bluff, though a very small town, had three good restaurants for dinner and a good coffeehouse for breakfast.

Adjacent pictures are from an exploration of the Farmington, NM area. The Farmington area was much more interesting that I had expected. My focus had been on using the Farmington area as a base for exploring the Chaco Culture National Monument (later photos in this set), but the demographics and economics of the area turned out to be worth exploring. Farmington is the main city in a cluster of nearby cities (including Bloomfield and Aztec) where the total population for the metropolitan statistical area was 114,000 in 2000 per Census data -- fairly large for an area that I'd never heard of. The reason for the relatively large population quickly became evident -- the area seemed to be hyper-active with gas and oil extraction activities. When I talked with a local about the extraction industry in the area, he said that the activity wasn't new, that the area had been an active exploration area since the 1940's -- mainly for natural gas. It was difficult, however, to not believe that there was a very recent peak in activity related to recent spikes in energy costs. No matter where I traveled in the region, there would be convoys of 3 or 4 pickup trucks (all only 1 - 2 years old) headed into the fields outside of town, often accompanying a much larger truck with a drilling rig or storage tank. Also, there were 'help wanted' signs all over town for everything from clerks for fast food chains, to service industry managers, to construction and rig workers for the extraction industry. Per the local source, the key to the natural gas exploration in the Farmington region is a strong cooperative agreement with the Navajo Nation, which is documented on the website for a major employer in the area -- El Paso Natural Gas. Also very active in the extraction industry in the area was Halliburton, the company that VP Cheney was associated with for many years and which has had questionable contracts in Iraq. What might have been a side-benefit of the booming economy was the relations between various ethnic groups. Far more than I have noticed in other similar areas, Native Americans, Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks (order is by apparent relative size in the population) interacting as equals, both as customers and employees, in restaurants, stores, as field workers, and in various other public activities in the area. The natural gas industry seems to be more dispersed than the oil industry, thus there are no pictures that convey the development in the same way as my pictures of the Taft, CA area -- though some are included later in this set. Aztec, one of the three main cities in the region, has a nicely restored downtown area. The neon sign here is from a larger marquee; when I was in the area the building was for sale as a theater space.