Dirt Road Man

We are part of a book club and recently read "Six Word Memoirs: By Famous & Obscure Writers." It was 221 pages of six word compositions, some of which were very good. The couple in our book club that proposed the book asked each of us to do several of our own six word compositions. My wife, Judy, wrote this: "I married a dirt road man." For reasons I'm still thinking about, I quite like that description. 

With only six words, each word can potentially take upon itself a lot of meaning. To me dirt road, in the context of that composition, signifies: adventure, freedom, carefree, the unknown, a small element of danger, outdoors, rural, nature, opportunity.

Given the above, I've reviewed some of my photos which I think play into that idea. It has been an enjoyable process to go through my photos. I start with dirt roads, then variations of different types of travel, finally travel by foot up some adventurous mountains. 

The first photo that came to mind was one I took in Cabeza Prieta NWR outside Ajo, Arizona. I was driving on a dirt road, of course. It was early in the morning, the sun was just coming up, and I'd found my way in with an inadequate map and a bunch of guesswork and no cell phone coverage. The road got above the capabilities of my rented AWD vehicle and I had to turn around if I wanted to get out. I only ran into one other person that day, a member of the Border Patrol. 

I was with my brother, Chris, and several of my cousins, Bill and Ted Barnes and Russ Cannon. We took several days to trace part of our great grandfather's, George Q. Cannon's, route from Salt Lake to California in 1848. Here we drove into Indian Canyon at Beaver Dam Wash (Utah) at Lyman's Crossing. The wash had quite a bit of water in it. 

We drove from Meadow Valley Wash, in Nevada, to Indian Canyon in Utah, the opposite direction that our great grandfather went (this and the next photo). We found the initials of Henry Bigler, a companion of our great grandfather, carved in a sandstone cliff.

The Beaver Dam Mountains are in the background. 

Kangerlussuaq, Greenland is 75 miles inland from the ocean and only 16 miles from the Greenland ice cap which is in the Arctic Circle. It is the longest road in Greenland. We drove in this gigantic four-wheel drive vehicle along horrible, gut punching and kidney punishing roads. It took us 5 1/2 hours to go there and back, with a few stops and some hiking. 

Here Judy walks on the ice cap. It was crusty, very hard and very dirty. 

One of the harshest deserts I've been in is El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve, right below the U.S. border in Sonora, Mexico. It is 62 miles long, east to west, and 31 miles north to south. It is the largest continuous wilderness area in the Sonoran Desert. When you go out there you are all alone. The landscape is harsh, but beautiful in the spring.  

The only desert I've been in that is harsher than El Pinacate is what the locals call the Black Desert on the eastern edge of Morocco and the western edge of Algeria, the western part of the Sahara Desert. Although it is harsher, it is closer to civilization and people live there. 

One of the most surreal scenes I've ever witnessed was this Berber woman herding her goats in the Black Desert. It is hard to believe people can survive there. 

Hassan, our guide, driving a 4x4 Toyota, shows us a well in this desert. To my horror, Judy drank from a bucket Hassan brought up from the well. Fortunately, she did not get sick. 

Next to the Black Desert are the Erg Chebbi Dunes, dunes formed by wind-blown sand. They are about 18 miles long, by 4 miles wide. 

Hassan drove right into the dunes with his 4x4 and took us to his camp situated in the dunes. 

The Roman city of Volubilis, near the town of Meknes in present-day Morocco. Dirt roads are now used for walking where the original roads were. 

The Moroccan town of Aremd in the High Atlas Mountains near Jebel Toubkal, the tallest mountain in Morocco. 

A rugged 8.7 mile dirt road to the top of 8,530 foot Montezuma Hill, the best birding area in Colombia. 

Dirt roads in national parks are high-end dirt roads. In Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. Two wildebeest stop traffic. 

Also in Ngorongoro, lions occupy the dirt road. 

Sans a dirt road, a male lion walks through the high grass of Masai Mara in Kenya. 

In Serengeti NP, Tanzania, zebras stop traffic. 

In Etosha NP, Namibia, elephants create a traffic jam. We were self-driving our vehicle. 

In Hwange NP in Zimbabwe, watching impalas from a 4x4.

Looking for game in Bundala NP in Sri Lanka.

My first time driving a (rental) vehicle along a beach: in Padre Island National Seashore outside of Corpus Christi, Texas. 

Near Kadizora Camp in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. Going through deep water with our 4x4.

A pronghorn crossing a dirt road in front of us in the west desert of Utah near the Dugway Proving Ground. I had my 97 year old mother in the car who loved the pronghorn. This was our last trip out together before she died. 

Sometimes paved roads can provide spectacular experiences. Outside Las Cruces, New Mexico, looking at the Organ Mountains. 

Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend NP in Texas.

Snow above the Chisos Basin in Big Bend NP. We were traveling on paved roads, but the addition of snow made this a little more exiting.

Horses packing wood near Lahic in Azerbaijan.

In Ilulissat, Greenland, looking across at the Ilulissat Icefjord. One of the most amazing views I've ever seen. Roads are almost non-existent in Greenland. 

A truck carries our canoes to the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. 

Canoeing down the Zambezi River. The spray of Victoria Falls can be seen ahead. River travel is even more adventurous than dirt roads, especially when adding in hippos and crocodiles.

Traveling by makoro, a boat guided by a man with a pole in very shallow water, in Botswana.

Traveling by small boat in Botswana. A crocodile on land in front of us.

Traveling by small boat in the Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland. Boating among glacial ice and large icebergs was a very new experience. 

Traveling by boat to the Eqi Glacier in Greenland. This took boat travel to a new level as we were plowing through glacial ice with very little open water. Would the hull of the boat stand-up? What if we hit an unexposed iceberg. 

Traveling by boat in a canal in Okefenokee NWR in Georgia. 

Cog railway up White Mountain in New Hampshire.

Cog railway up Pike's Peak in Colorado.

Hot air balloons outside Luxor, Egypt over the Nile. We landed in a farmer's field and he angrily cussed out (at least my interpretation of his Egyptian) our balloon driver. 

Flying in by airplane to Pavlov Bay in Alaska to see black bears. A different experience to land on water. 

Flying from Talkeetna, Alaska and landing on the Ruth Glacier near Mt. Denali. One of the most amazing experiences we've had. The Alaskan wilderness is spectacular.  

Landing on a dirt runway for Kadizora Camp in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. This was the flight we were waiting for to leave. When we arrived we had to circle around while they moved some  zebra off the runway. We heard that a giraffe was killed a few days earlier when hit by an airplane on a dirt runway. 

Flying by small airplane over the Greenland icecap out of Ilulissat. 

Flying by helicopter over Iguazu Falls in Brazil. 

Iguazu Falls.

Judy in a helicopter over Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

Riding Indian elephants in Thailand.

Riding by camel up Mt. Sinai in Egypt.

Closed Canyon in Big Bend Ranch State Park in Texas.

Hiking in to Petra in Jordan.

Hiking in to Solheimajokull glacier in Iceland.

Bridge over the Baptism River in Minnesota.

Judy in Hezekiah's Tunnel in Jerusalem.

An illegal who crossed over the Rio Grande in Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend NP in Texas. I paid him $10 so that I could take a photo of him on his horse. 

Boundary Peak in Nevada. Hiking with my brother Chris.

Taking scouts backpacking in to Coyote Gulch in Utah. This involved a fun climb through "Crack-in-the-Wall" to get over the rim. 

A small waterfall in Coyote Gulch.

Crossing the Lyell Headwaters in Yosemite NP. We backpacked the John Muir Trail from Mammoth to Yosemite Valley. 

Shadow Lake, the Minarets and Ritter Peak in the Sierras. Part of the same backpacking trip above. One of the most beautiful places on earth. 

Working on blisters.

Coming up out of Fork Horn Basin in Colorado. I believe this was a hike up La Plata Peak.

Traverse from Mt. Harvard to Mt. Columbia in Colorado with Sam.

Summit of Mt. Massive in Colorado with Sam.

Early morning climb of Mt. Williamson in the Sierras with guides.

Climbing Mt. Sneffels in Colorado with Dave Kenison. This was a thrill as it was the most exposure I'd experienced up to that time. 

Climbing up the Mt. Russell face in the Sierras with Sam. This took exposure to a new level.  

Getting closer to the summit of Mt. Russell. The exposure ramps up.  

Sam near the summit of Mt. Russell. One of my most fun climbing experiences.

A guide doing a rest-stop up Mt. Rainier in Washington. I did the climb with my brother, Matt, and Rainier Mountaineering as guides. This was perhaps my most difficult and adventurous climb, roped up with crampons and ice axes. It was perhaps the most tired I've ever been, when we finished.