This is the first issue of the Canyon Country Zephyr, a monthly publication of news, opinion, information, and entertainment for Grand County and southern Utah. According to Webster’s Dictionary, a “zephyr” is defined as “any warm, western breeze.” As it…
…As Facebook invades our privacy, the rest of us keep giving it away. During the holidays, Tonya’s mom came to visit and one evening we drove to a nearby community to look at the city park Christmas Lights. A few…
In 2014, at a time when the American West is being transformed into one vast recreational venue, where every high-risk, adrenalin-induced sport pours more fire (and money) on the tourist/sport economy that benefits from it, where even BASE jumping is…
EDITOR’S NOTE: I’ve printed or posted this story two or three times over the past 25 years, but here it is again. I like the way these kinds of memories make me feel. Thanks…JS This time of year, I always…
In the blink of an eye, summer has left us. The maples are turning red below South Peak, the aspens are on the cusp. The mornings are cold and crisp. The most poignant and melancholy and lovely time of the…
I made my 28th trip to the top of a nearby mountain last month. But who’s counting? I hadn’t missed a year since 1985, and then my own procrastinations and an early snow storm stymied my efforts to make the…
I find it hard to fathom that almost 15 years have passed since my dear friend Herb Ringer left us, almost as long as the length of time we were friends. I met Herb in the late summer of 1981…
Herb Ringer drove a succession of Ford cars and trucks over a period of 60 years; by his own estimate, he covered about a million and a half miles and not once, did he ever run over anybody. Or at…
It’s been well past a year—January 28, 2012—since my dear friend and mentor and kindred spirit, Martin Murie passed away. For almost a quarter century, I often turned to him for support and advice and understanding the way a son…
In February, despite citizens’ objections and a petition that contained 75,000 signatures, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved the lease of 26 parcels of public land for possible oil and gas development south of Moab. All the parcels were…