Day One - Scouting in Capital Reef National Park - June 2, 2008, Monday

Morning came early in the Hole-in-the-Rock compound with a bright sun shining through three widows directly above Judy and my bed, which reflected off the opposite wall directly onto us as if under the lights of an operating room. Judy cannot sleep once light lands onto her eye lids. So while she dressed and readied for the day, I stepped onto the balcony to gander a look at our facilities and rattlesnake strewn landscape. Slot Canyon Inn indeed has very luxurious accommodations and is nestled on a beautiful private 160 acre setting of canyons, cliffs, streams and enormous rock boulders, some as huge as the historic and beautiful restored 1890's Isaac Riddle Cabin just behind the Inn and just below a dirt road that follows the route used by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. It sits couple of hundred feet off towards the canyon cliffs on a hill rise above the Inn, and currently the home this week to Sean Brady, Paul Hoffman and John Kauffman. Rumor has it that Amanda Blake aka Miss Kitty of Gunsmoke, once lived in the building after she retired from acting.

During breakfast Erika McGinnis and Sandon arrived from their motel in the town of Escalante. What a pleasure it was to meet Erika for the first time and to thank her personally for introducing her attorney of Intellectual Property to the IAAA. Her husband Sandon who had joined Erika's travels to the region is a jazz musician wanting to take advantage of biking in the area while she is off doing her Mars analogue research and art renderings in the territory.

After breakfast, nine of us piled into the van with Jon Ramer as our chauffer and guide and headed off northeastwards towards Capital Reef National Park along highway #12. From Slot Canyon Inn we were some five miles west of the town of Escalante where we stopped to gas up, buy some sandwich meats, drinks and what not orange snacks for the drive and later in the day.

From there we headed off on an eighty mile trek winded our way along HWY #12 through Dixie National Forest which still had visible snow in the shallows at the foot of the forests filled with aspen, cedar and ponderosa pines. At times the route would snake its way into the sage grass and dwarf cedar bush desert of Grand Staircase and the Escalante National Monument territory. We saw bold vistas stretching out above the valleys to the east, as far as the Kaiparowitz Plateau to the south and below the Aquarius Plateau to the north on route through Boulder UT. Before getting to Capital Reef we cleared passes some 9,400 feet along the Boulder Creek Mountains before descending to 7,000 feet to 6,580 feet into the town of Torrey UT, the gateway to and some three miles from Capital Reef.

As we entered the park, within a mile to Twin Rocks, a further descent to 5,500 feet followed as we approached Chimney Rock and Panorama Point. The colors (red, ocher, grays, and magenta) and textures of the cathedral shaped rocks and escarpments were highlighted as if temples of the sun leading into the National Park.

At the rock formation called the Castle we arrived at the visitors centre, but long after several frequent stops for photographic shots of Mars-like terrain along the way. Climbing in and out of the van into the dry desert air began to become exhausting in and of itself. We did however take advantage of a quick but careful tour of the souvenir shop. We researched, examined and purchased maps, looked at books of the territory, including outlaws and lawmen of the days of old, then collectively decided to drive down the center of the park to the Golden Throne; but first, after completing a very lengthy scouting expedition thus far we'd better have some lunch. We settled into a very green park on the Fremont River just before the Fruita Campgrounds. Half hour later we stopped at campgrounds leaving Judy with the van while the rest of us decided to go off hiking along the Cahab Trail that would wind upwards 400+ feet in altitude before veering off onto the Frying Pan Trail at the edge of the vertical cliffs that would rise another 600 feet to the cerulean blue sky. The view from up there of the Fremont River valley and onwards south to Capital Gorge was an outrageously expressive visual treat of the desert mountainous domain of the terrain. At this altitude one barely sweats, as one climbs amongst the rocks, dry mud and desert cactus, as it quickly evaporates in the heat and dry desert air.

The scouting expedition is usually a good way to start every workshop as it allows everyone to get to know each other, recognize their grunting sounds when extraordinary landscape and vista terrain appears and become familiar to the leading utterances of "whoa" coming from spell bound artist colleagues. Throughout the afternoon, numerous stops were made with photographic opportunities galore.

The geology of Capital Reef is a giant, sinuous wrinkle in the Earth's crust stretching some 100 miles across south-central Utah. This impressive buckling of rock was created 65 million years ago by the same tremendous forces that later uplifted the Colorado Plateau and is today referred to as the Waterpocket Fold. The National Park preserves the fold and its spectacular, eroded jumble of colorful cliffs, massive domes, soaring spires, stark monoliths, twisting canyons and graceful arches. It also has the free-flowing Fremont River with its cottonwoods, willows, and ash which creates a fresh ribbon of green and dotted wildflowers against the big desert sky and just a few hundred yards away the harsh, sparser environment of the desert itself. It is cactus, sage brush, jay, lizard, jackrabbit, juniper, columbine, and deer. As the literature says it is a place where Indians hunted and farmed for more than a thousand years and, later, where Mormon pioneers settled. It is the inspiration of poets, artists, photographers, and those who seek only to recreate themselves in the solitude and slender of its vastness.

The Scenic Drive follows south along the west face of the fold and leads into Grand Wash and Capital Gorge, two deep, twisting, water carved, and sheer-walled canyons. Along the Scenic Drive are trails that led to overlooks, remote canyons, natural arches, and slick rock wilderness. The entire day was spent scouting out locations where we collectively felt inspired to want to return to in order to paint, and draw on location for our Mars inspired renditions. After we returned to Slot Canyon Inn, about 6:30 PM, Dan Durda had greeted us with his arrival. His seven and a half our drive from Boulder CO didn't include Mikey Carroll, his son Andrew nor Anil Rao. They were expected the next day as both Mikey and Anil had unexpected car problems which has delayed their arrival.

While the artists milled about socializing, exchanged stories and the recollections of their favorite sites of the day, consuming beer and orange circus peanuts, cheesies and dorito chips, Judy and Ursa went off to Escalante with an order for five pizzas for supper. Once they returned, we resumed with the supper and discussion well into the evening darkness. Around 10 PM the lights outside the Inn went off and allowed the stars to blaze in their majestic glory in the sky. Aldo had brought his green laser pointer which was a fun tool to point out constellations in a moonless desert sky. Jon later received a phone call from Mikey who related that they were some one hour away from arriving. Cool! Now we would at last be all finally together.

We decided at this point to go up and check out the cabin on the hill where Sean, Paul and John were staying and the much darker balcony. From their porch we would have a better option to see more of the sky plus laugh and talk without bothering other guests at the Inn particularly our hosts and family members downstairs. Ursa and Jon repeatedly exchanged and tested one another with one-liners of various Star Wars films. Ursa was quite good with her alien voice impersonations and words while Jon had great knowledge of vast phrases as well as military spacecrafts as did Aldo of both Star Wars science fiction and reality based future designs. Throughout the constant chatter and laughter and laser pointing into the eastern sky, the splendid Milky Way river-wash of stars rose majestically higher and higher into the dark star-studded sky. This view also included a vantage point of seeing down to the highway for on coming headlights from Escalante should the balance of our motley crew final arrive. Unfortunately pour moi, the stepping in and out of the van and the hiking of mountainous trails of the day activities had finally taken its toll on me as I bit good night to my artist comrades 'til morning.

Next: Day 2

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