Ian R Mitchell

You have been to southern Utah, even though you may be unaware of it. You have been to Arches National Park with Indiana Jones, to Canyonlands National Park with Thelma and Louise, and to Zion National Park with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Scores of other Biblical, Western and Sci-Fi movies have featured these and the other national parks in southern Utah. When we add the near-parks in the form of the Bears Ears and Escalante National Monuments, and other public lands, the majority of the land in south Utah below the 39th parallel, 30,000 square miles of it – the equivalent of Scotland – is public land of the highest scenic and historical quality, unparalleled – in my opinion – elsewhere in mainland USA. I have been visiting for 20 years, untiring.

John Muir, the Scottish- born "father" of the US National Parks system never visited south Utah, though he travelled through the north of the state in 1877. However though his body moulders in its grave his soul doubtless would welcome the situation where the landscape of south Utah is protected by the public lands system which he was so instrumental in bringing about. Despite being in many ways the jewel in the US Park system's crown, to Europeans – and to Americans – the Utah national lands are less known and visited than, for example Arizona's Grand Canyon or California's Death Valley. Possibly the ubiquitious Mormon presence in Utah has something to do with this, but the Mormons are in general friendly people, and less prone to violence than their neighbours in the more redneck Wild West states.

Here is a brief, too brief, A to Z of Southern Utah's Public Lands

Arches National Park, lies just north of the town of Moab, an outdoorsy place with lots of restaurants and micro-breweries. Within its bounds are one of the largest collections – over 200 – of weather formed natural sandstone arches in the world, including many that are world famous, such as the gravity defying Landscape Arch and the iconic Delicate Arch, the latter resembling a gigantic pair of cowboy's leather chaps, and which has featured in many film locations. Good and not too demanding trails make Arches a great place for a family visit. Moab itself claims to being The Biking Capital of the World on its slickrock trails; it's hard to dispute. White water rafting, rock climbing, its all here.

Bears Ears National Monument is a huge area in south-east Utah consisting of a high plateau eroded into mesas and buttes and and containing thousands of archeological relics of both Native Americans and the ancestral puebloan society which vanished before Europeans arrived in the Americas. Sacred to many of the local tribes such as the Hopi and Navajo, this is a wild wild area, without the visitor centre, toilets, camping sites and other normal National Park facilities, and one where the visitor is very much out on his or her own. Real back country.

Bryce Canyon in central south Utah is am amazing collection of sandstone hoodoos and pinnacles, eroded by weather from the plateau which gave them birth. Its original owner, a Scotsman named Bryce, commented that the canyon " was a helluva place to lose a cow." At an altitude of over 7000ft it is snow bound for much of the year, which hikers visiting intending to use its excellent network of paths should bear in mind. There is horse riding in summer, skiing in the winter.

Canyonlands National Park. Thelma and Louise thought they were in the Grand Canyon just before they went "over the edge" here. No wonder; the Canyonlands area around the junction of the Green and Colorado Rivers is easily as spectacular as its more famous neighbour in Arizona, and has for geological reasons, a much more variegated colour, shape and texture to its deep gorges and stunning pinnacles. It is also free of the hordes of selfie-snappers found at the Grand Canyon. There are some good well marked trails in parts of Canyonlands, but other areas of the park figure as the wildest terrain in mainland USA where hikers must be totally self-sustaining. The recent film 127 Hours shows what happened to a guy who wasnt; I wont spoil it for you. Butch Cassidy hung about in here at a place marked as Robbers' Roost.

Capitol Reef National Park. In a quiet area of central south Utah, this park is the least visited and probably least developed of Utah's. Its backbone consists of Waterpocket Fold, a 100 mile long eroded uplift of sedimetary sandstone of dramatic aspect, protection of which was a prime reason for the park's creation creation. Many of the remoter areas of the park can only be visited by those with a 4WD. The fringes of the park contain ghost villages like Fruita, which were early Mormon settlements in this harsh land, later abandoned; the courage and dedication of the Latter Day Saints commands respect.

Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument Another vast, undeveloped and wild area in the far south of the region, without much in the way of vistor facilities, and with paths into the wilderness often only accessible after a long jolting 4WD approach. One of the less rough of such accesses is the Hole in the Rock Road from Escalante to Bluff hacked out by Mormon Settlers in 1879, which gives access to real wilderness back country. Bluff Fort has the full Hole in the Rock story.

Hovenweep National Monument. You probably were unaware that before the white man, even before the Plains Indians arrived there was a sophisticated civilisation known as the Ancestral Puebloans in what is now the USA? I didn't till I went there and still most Americans don't. Flourishing between 1000 and 1300AD when they vanished, these people were known to the Navajo, who arrived later, as The Ancient Ones. At Hovenweep (Deserted Valley in Navajo) stands one of their finest collection of stone towers, dwelling houses and granaries, reached after a long drive through the backwoods of the Navjao Nation lands. It is well worth the visit.

Zion National Park Heaven? The Mormon farmers who came her certainly thought so and gave many of the features a biblical or religious name; Angel's Landing, the Court of the Patriarchs, the Temple of Sinawava). Zion consists of a plateau eroded into what has to be the most spectacular, steepest and most colourful canyon on earth; black, red, white, yellow towers dwarf the visitor. Here again visitor facilities are excellent, and paths signage and information of the highest quality. The Mormons gave up farming because of the devastating flash floods;they are still a danger despite which hundreds of eager hikers traverse the 15 mile Zion Narrows in the river bed every year.

The Serpent in Paradise.

It has long been a dream of conservatives and business interests to turn the National Parks -owned by the government in Washington- over to local, ie state, control. Aware that the National Parks lose money, these people – generally from the Republican Party - argue that they could be profitable if they were open to economic development, in the way of mass commercial tourism, increased agricultural use and – out here very important – mining.

In Utah, Governor Herbert in 2012 went a little further than pipe dreaming and, with the use or misuse $500,000 of public funds, took a case to the Supreme Court demanding the hand over of Utah's National Parks to Utah state control. Now, he knew that this was a waste of time and money, but he had started a jackrabbit from the grass about the use- and ownership of public lands, hoping others would take up the chase. Enter Trump, expressing support for such a policy.

On coming to office as well as withdrawing from the Paris Accords on climate change, Trump issued the Transfer of Public Lands Act in March 2017 and demanded a review of land use in all National Monuments over 10,000 acres. Trump is trying to remove about 85% of Bears Ears and almost half of Escalante from protected status, using the language of "local democracy". But there is more too it than that; the area of the Escalante Grand Staircase contains some of the largest known coal deposits in the world. Trump likes coal. In March this year 50,000 acres of public lands in south Utah were auctioned off to energy interests. South Utah has become the front line in Trump's war against the environment.

The attacks on Bears Ears and Escalante is being subject to legal challenge by a native American coalition of five tribes including the locally dominant Navajo people. If Trump wins on the issue of these National Monuments, it is much more likely that the status of the National Parks themselves will then come under direct threat. Trump Towers at Bears Ears? A Trump golf course at Zion? Many concerned people are trying to prevent such happening, but if you haven't been to south Utah, get there before it does.

For more information contact The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance suwa.org

Ian's latest book is the political thriller, Ghost Dance; A Trumpland Odyssey (Stobcross Press)

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The easiest way to get to south Utah is to fly to Las Vegas, get the hell out of it fast, and you can drive to Zion in about three hours. Kanab is the best location for exploring western south Utah, with the Parry Lodge a fun place to stay. This inn was the base for much of Utah's film industry in the 1950s and 60s; you can say in the John Wayne suite. The Rocking V Restaurant in Kanab has East Coast sophistication with a western twist and is the best eatery for about 10,000 square miles. Kanab also has the little hollywood Museum, on Utah film history. For east south Utah the Recapture Lodge at Bluff is a good base, with a pretty decent eatery at the Comb Ridge Grill. Bluff Fort gives a good insight into the Mormon heritage of the area. Moab is fine too, as long as you don't mind young people.