What should we think when climate science finally publishes a model result based on old understandings, but which threatens the geopolitical narrative on global warming? Did powerful influence suppress what “big science” would study, or was it a cover-up by…
On Dec. 4, 2017, President Trump signed a proclamation at a made-for-media event inside Utah’s Capitol in Salt Lake City that shrank Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. The executive decree slashed two of his Democratic predecessor’s executive decrees…
Though none of us realized it at the time, October 1988 would be one of Moab’s last quiet Autumns. The colors had already peaked on the La Sal Mountains and hunting season had begun. The magnificent old sycamore tree that…
Paul Vlachos is a New Yorker who understands The West. And he is a New Yorker who understands New York. Wherever Paul goes, he finds signs of life… 1. I have always loved neon. This is from Ocala, Florida this…
“And we marched on in the direction of the wilderness of Moab.” Deuteronomy 2:8 “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.” Numbers 13:27 homewater…
Zane Grey’s inspiration for much of the geography in his 1915 novel, The Rainbow Trail, was the real trail that he followed on his adventurous 1913 horseback excursion to the magnificent Rainbow Natural Bridge. He recounted the experience in his…
It’s a fact that Arches National Park is exploding at the seams. Heavy marketing, an eager Industrial Tourism business community, and a recent return to relatively cheap gasoline prices have all contributed to massive increases in park visitation. Tourists at…
The reduction of the Escalante/Grand Staircase National Monument, and the Bear’s Ears National Monument by the Trump administration has unleashed howls of anguish and anger from many of my friends. The emotional response seems to me to be out of…
County Antiques – Wardell’s Barbershop – 426 So.State St. These businesses evoke great personal memories. Ken Newberg was owner/operator of County Antiques, across the street from the the iconic castle-looking Salt Lake City and County Building. The shop was cluttered…
In the late 1990s, as Moab was starting to feel the first pangs of unrestrained growth, I penned a Zephyr article called, “Return to Moab: 2020 AD.” I wrote it mostly for laughs but now, as we approach that once…
THANKS to Tom McCourt & the Tibbetts Family. For years, I have been watching Moab move farther and farther away from its roots, to the point where it seems few people even know the history of the place anymore. Some…
EDITORS NOTE: For almost twenty years, the “DOG OF THE MONTH” was one of The Zephyr’s most popular regular features. When the print version ended, so did the dogs, but now we’ve been thinking it’s time for a Renaissance of…
“When I was about four my father had an engagement to play the summer season out in Colorado Springs with a local band, the Colorado Midland Band, owned by the Colorado Midland Railroad. So we journeyed by train across the…
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In December, Jonathan Thompson, the roving contributor and former editor for ‘High Country News,’ offered his latest musings on the Bears Ears controversy from his home in Bulgaria. Responding to an op ed in ‘The Deseret News’ by Utah’s Governor…
What do we fear more—dying or being forgotten? My father, who was always a private man, died a little more than 7 years ago. I don’t know if he worried about being forgotten—that’s one of the many questions I never…
In December, The Zephyr first reported on a leaked email of a draft memo from a Friends of Cedar Mesa board member. Here is an update…JS A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LEAKED MEMO The Friends of Cedar Mesa (FCM), a…
Paul Vlachos is a New Yorker who understands The West. And he is a New Yorker who understands New York. Wherever Paul goes, he finds signs of life… Please let me explain myself. Even though Saint Francis said “it’s better…
Jim Stiles is Founder and Co-Publisher of the Canyon Country Zephyr. To comment, scroll to the bottom of the page. Don’t forget the Zephyr ads! All links are hot!
There is a language to picking salmon out of a gillnet. During the summer of 2017, I spent 6 weeks on a fishing boat in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and learned a little bit of this language. It is an act…
