Loved these trees...
I hadn’t planned on seeing much scenery while in Utah. Work took me out here, and I flew in late on a Sunday night and fly out dreadfully early on Friday morning. My days here are busily occupied in a glass building in an office park in a room with whiteboards on the walls and computer monitors on the table. Adventures in Web development software! Not that I’m complaining, that’s fun, too. But driving from Provo to Springville each day has given me plenty of time to gawk at the mountains that stand sentinel beyond the cities and commercial districts that line I15. And being a small-town New Englander born and bred, I can’t help but get a little awestruck around Western mountains. It’s the way I am in Manhattan, frankly. I just want to look up every chance I get. Today was the first day the sun was shining, and as its rays cascaded down on those freshly snow-covered ridges, it turned them into alabaster magnets. I needed to get closer. So after the day’s work ended I grabbed a quick dinner and headed back toward the Residence Inn. And drove right past it. Because there in front of me were the mountains, and I wanted to get closer. I followed 2230 N eastward on up past the BYU stadium, then the LDS temple, gold-topped white spire shining in the setting sun, and turned onto North Temple Way, still just aiming myself at the mountains with no particular sense of where I was going to end up. Some little neighborhood cul-de-sac was my guess. I was wrong.
Can you find the rock climber in this picture?
With what felt as much like a blessing as simple good luck, I ended up at the entrance to Rock Canyon, a beautiful park famous among geologists and rock climbers. The sun lowering over the city of Provo behind me shone into the canyon and rendered the already breathtaking cliff walls and jutting peaks in a mind-blowing chiaroscuro. I was still in my work clothes, dress pants and shoes, no hat or gloves, but I hiked a ways into the canyon until my knee (cursed runner’s knee), still smarting from this morning’s treadmill exertions, and dwindling daylight, convinced me to turn around. I’m hoping that Thursday finds me back there. I have no outdoor running clothes with me, but it doesn’t matter. Maybe I can find a cheap sweatshirt at a thrift store. Shorts, sneakers and socks on my hands and I’ll be plenty of warm enough. But one way or another, I’ve got to run some of this canyon. In the meantime, I hope you like the pics well enough to excuse me for rambling on like this. And if you’re planning to be out here, as I know some co-workers will be later this year, here’s some great info on Rock Canyon courtesy of the BYU Web site.
Finally, here’s a video I shot with my phone:
If you want, you check out some more of pictures of the canyon at my flickr account.
Tags: rock canyon, utah
Very cool! That rock cliff in the first shot reminds me a little of the profile of the man in the mountain, now that his face has slid off the slope.
Wish I could run that canyon road with you!!
I wish you could, too! Missing you!
Glad to hear you managed to make time to explore, and I hope you get a chance to run among the mountains. Thanks for posting the photos and video. More please.