SALT MOUNTAIN HIKE PROVES THE JOURNEY IS WORTH
MORE THAN THE DESTINATION

"I scrambled through a rubble slope and scaled a rock face to take in the view. Skull Valley looks much like I imagine Tooele Valley would look without the marks of civilization. In the spring, the valley is blanketed in a lush green. By late summer, it is khaki interspersed with juniper and the occasional groomed field. This wilderness is harsh, and the journals of many an explorer attest to that fact. Yet something about it lures me in and drives me with an uncontrollable urge to keep hiking further and climbing higher."

I'm pleased to announce my first ever published (in print, anyway) work. A few weeks ago I was asked by the Tooele Transcript Bulletin to write a weekly outdoor adventure column. My first offering appeared in today's edition.

I wasn't born in Tooele County, but I got here as soon as I could. It's the second largest county in Utah but still has a very small population, comparatively. With an area of over 7,000 square miles, the county spans at least a dozen mountain ranges, hundreds of canyons, and over 44,000 acres of salt flats. It’s an explorer’s paradise. The Transcript Bulletin is the county's major newspaper, and I hope I can continue to come up with interesting articles for its readers. I'll post teasers here each week after the column is published.

Click here to read today's full article at the Transcript Bulletin's' website.

Labels: American West, Ghost Towns, Transcript Bulletin, Trip Reports