This is a hiking and mountaineering guide to parts of Utah's West Desert. The West Desert is the Great Basin section, and the western third of Utah. Climbing areas are topped by Notch Peak, which has one of the highest vertical faces in the world. Also included are other high summits in the House Range, as well as Crystal Peak, made of 33-million-year-old pure-white volcanic tuff. Also, Granite Peak is made of solid white granite, but with several half-million-year old volcanos just to the north. The hiking & climbing section has 17 mapped areas.
In addition to hiking & climbing, perhaps the most emphasis, at least page wise, is the life & times of a sheepman named Jack Watson. This author is related to Jack, by marriage, and after several years of begging, had the opportunity to copy Watson's 12 diaries which date from 1886. This was when Utah's sheep industry was in its infancy. In the end, Jack had a little store & hotel with post office, litterally in the middle of no where until 12/5/1935, when he crushed his hand in the gears of a BLM built well & pump, which was later amputated. His diary, plus interviews with other old timers who knew him, makes this the best account of Utah's sheep industry.
Also, this book has the life story of a locally-famous hermit named Bob Stinson who lived in a cave house; plus the history of the Antelope Spring & Painter Spring CCC camps built and operated during the 1930's--as told by the men who were there. Also included is the story of the dreadful winter of 1948-49, as told in one sheepman's diary. Western Millard County is also one of the premier fossil hunting areas in the world, and some of these sites and fossil hunting are discussed.
The author was born in 1943, and experienced his earliest years of life in eastern Utah's Uinta Basin; first near the town of Myton, then Roosevelt. In 1954, the family moved to Provo, where he attended Provo High School, and later Brigham Young University, where he earned a B.S. degree in Sociology. Shortly thereafter he discovered that was the wrong subject, so he attended the University of Utah, where he received his Master of Science degree in Geography, finishing that in June, 1970.
It was then real life began, for on June 9, 1970, he put a pack on his back and started traveling for the first time. Since then he has seen 223 countries, republics, islands, or island groups. All this wandering has resulted in a number of books written and published by himself. Here are his books, listed in the order they were first published: Climber's and Hiker's Guide to the World's Mountains and Volcanos (4th Edition), Utah Mountaineering Guide (3rd Edition); China on Your Own and the Hiking Guide to China's Nine Sacred Mountains (3rd Edition-Out of Print); Canyon Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau (4th Edition); Hiking and Exploring Utah's San Rafael Swell (3rd Edition); Hiking and Exploring Utah's Henry Mountains and Robbers Roost (Revised Edition); Hiking and Exploring the Paria River (3rd Edition); Hiking and Climbing in the Great Basin National Park (Wheeler Peak, Nevada); Boater's Guide to Lake Powell--Featuring Hiking, Camping, Geology, History and Archaeology (2nd Updated Edition); Climbing and Exploring Utah's Mt. Timpanogos; River Guide to Canyonlands National Park & Vicinity; Hiking, Biking and Exploring Canyonlands National Park & Vicinity; The Story of Black Rock, Utah; and Hiking, Climbing and Exploring Western Utah's Jack Watson's Ibex Country.
He also helped his mother Venetta B. Kelsey, write & publish a book about the town she was born and raised in, Life on the Black Rock Desert--A History of Clear Lake, Utah.
