"...just a smattering of things to see and places to go out here..." Jim's Winter Wanderings as Seen Through the Sepia Lens.
Jim Drysdale

I've taken a personal vow to not let this thing called 'Ol Man Winter keep me couchbound. It's just too damn easy to kick back and flip through the cable channels when outside temps are in the single digits… Not to mention how alluring it is to stay home on a good football/basketball/hockey game-on-TV-day. I do tend to be the more-than-casual TV sports observer. So long as it's not regular season baseball on the tube - which is less entertaining to me than watching water evaporate. Note: Thank God baseball is the sport of summer and fall - when I do get out a lot.

Anyhow I took a break from my sworn duty as Couch Patrol Man these last couple of weekends and decided to check out the hood. My neck of the woods is the West Desert of Utah. Been there for a little over three years now. We've received a lot more snow this year than last, so snowshoes have come in handy as of late. As it turns out, snowshoeing is great exercise and a lot of fun. The added bonus is that no one seems to get out this way in the winter. The locals stay put - so we seem to have the mountains all to ourselves. Well, almost no one… In South Willow Canyon you might see a few other winter enthusiasts skiing up the closed portion of the road. As the area is fairly well known and offers a respite from the massive quantums of users in the canyons of the Wasatch - which might just as well have a light rail system installed (a la DFW Airport).

These images represent just a smattering of things to see and places to go out here. I guess decent scenery is the reward I get for putting up with an area devoid of restaurants, clubs, museums, galleries, malls, stadiums, or any other element that would otherwise constitute a civilization.

Yup, out here its just deer, cattle, wild horses, antelope, coyote and too damn many jackrabbits - all situated in and amongst lots of mountains, a military base, some BLM land and a bombing range. These images were taken with the sepia setting on my digital camera. I'm still working on the end product but it's a fairly nice touch for West Desert photography. So enjoy - whilst you are deciding where to go out and eat tonight and then what show to catch afterwards.

Nearby Oquirrh Mtns From Stansbury Front Trail in the Stansbury Mountains

Remote Skull Valley Side of the Stansburys

Deseret Pk From Skull Valley

View From Skull Valley Highway

"Mackerel Sky" Above the Cedar Mtns - Sign of Approaching Weather System

Sheeprock Mountains

Wild Mustangs and Way Distant Deep Creek Mountains

Stansbury Island and Black Rock on the Great Salt Lake

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