It hardly seems like a year ago I was writing a similar blog post from Zion National Park. This Thanksgiving, I find myself in Escalante, Utah, a small township located in the heart of the Colorado Plateau. The weather today was unusually warm for this time of year, and it made hiking extraordinarily pleasant, the perfect St. Martin’s Summer. My family and I started the day in the northern Mojave Desert, and ended sitting quite alone on a sandstone outcropping admiring the sunset just outside of Escalante township.
Escalante has some of the darkest night skies in the United States; it is far from electricity, out of the grasp of large metropolises, and tonight I am only blinded by one of the darkest night skies you will ever see. I am thankful places like this still exist.
For my friends in the United States who are celebrating Thanksgiving today, I hope you had a day with your family and friends, celebrating everything in your life that you are thankful for. With some time in the car today, I was thinking about the things I am thankful for. I am grateful for a family who is willing to travel with me. Having stopped in four national parks or monuments today (Zion, Cedar Breaks, Bryce, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante), I am thankful that the citizens of our country have had the foresight to put land aside, for the well-being of our souls, if nothing else. Sun-warmed Navajo sandstone is also on my list, as are sunsets that make me smile.
From the bottom of my heart, let me wish you a warm and happy Thanksgiving, whether you are officially celebrating or not. There is much in life to be thankful for.
Thanksgiving sunset, November 2012
Sounds like a trip to Escalante would be worth it for the night skies alone…
Hope your trip, and your holiday, was good.
Yeah, I’ve forgotten what a truly starry night sky looks like. 🙂
Thanks, PJ…I hope you had a good holiday as well. I hope you’re well my friend.
Thanks, Greg. Yes, I did have an enjoyable Thanksgiving. I ate too much, as usual for this time of year. So taking a hike would be a pretty good idea.
Don’t feel bad, Monte…I ate my weight in stuffing, I’m convinced, so you’re not the only one! Hikes are good for the physique, as well as the soul.
NO thanksgiving here in Yunnan, although I did make a point of thinking thankful thoughts – like the new McDonalds that has opened in town!!! Small, but significant!
Happy one mate.
Hey, it’s the small battles we win that really count. 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Greg. Glad to hear you got your family out there to dusty Escalante, which is a scary place to admit that you care about nature, but is close to all sorts of great scenery. Sunsets are cliche, but I’d agree with all your other gratitude expressions. Had to give you a hard time. I suppose I can enjoy sunsets for what they are without getting whether I will make a photo or not mixed up in it. OK, you win, I’m grateful for sunsets too. Interesting that you ended up with an orange one for Thanksgiving. I like the near-far aspect and the texture of the rock.
David, your comment put a funny visual in my head…I could see you walking up to me at this scene, standing behind my tripod, saying, “What’s a photographer like you doing in a place like this?” Funny to me only I suppose.
Escalante is eclectic, and is very charming. Driving away my wife said she could live there…I chalk that up as a hopeful victory.
No, I think that is funny, to me at least. I am glad to hear you describe the town of Escalante as eclectic. It must have come quite a long ways since the days when it was inhabited solely by redneck off road riders against any thought of wilderness. Not that rednecks are bad in and of themselves. Rednecks can be good people too, but in many cases they are highly anti-wilderness.