Length: 11 miles round trip
Difficulty: Strenuous
Description: Chesler Park is a relatively flat grassy area surrounded by amazing rock formations, located in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. This trail provides excellent views of The Needles and it drops into a series of narrow fractures along what is know as the Joint Trail. There is a campground adjacent to the trailhead. Five designated backpacking campsites are located along the trail, for people who want to do more than a quick backpack. There is no water along this trail.

Elephant Hill Trailhead
The trailhead is located near Elephant Hill, at the end of the maintained road into this region of the park. An incredibly rough 4X4 track extends over Elephant Hill, to a series of trails and jeep roads that wind through The Needles.

Elephant Canyon Junction
From the trailhead, the route drops down into Elephant Canyon, where it intersects a trail running up that drainage. The Elephant Canyon Trail is just one of a maze of trail in this area, offering plenty of options for hikers looking for extended trips.

Chesler Overlook
About 3 miles from the trailhead, hikers come to a saddle where they can look out over Chesler Park and The Needles. The view is incredible, and worth the hike even if you elect to go no farther. From the overlook the trail drops down and loops around the park.

Chesler Park
The park is one of only a few gassy areas in this region. The trail loops around the park, which is surrounded by hundreds of delicate stone needles. The trail follows sandy jeep roads in some spots. The route is clearly marked.

Joint Trail
On the west side of the park the route follow the Joint Trail. Many hikers say this is their favorite section. In several spots the trail drops down into narrow cracks between massive sandstone slabs.

Known as “The Wave”, this formation is made of 190-million-year-old sand dunes turned to rock. The area lies on the border of Utah and Arizona, USA and it is probably one of the most-photographed natural formations in North America. Actually it’s a small gorge between eroded sandstone. The area is a gallery of twisted sandstone, resembling deformed pillars, cones, mushrooms and other creations. Deposits of iron oxides claim are responsibility for the unique blending of dramatic colors interlaced in the rock -in a dramatic rainbow of pastel yellows, pinks and reds.

Amangiri Resort opened its doors in October 2009 and sitted on a 243-hectare (600-acre) expanse of wilderness in Canyon Point, Southern Utah, close to the border with Arizona. The resort is tucked into a protected valley with sweeping views over colourful, stratified rock towards the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument. When visitors arrived via a winding road that descends into the valley and leads to the central Pavilion, they will spot the main swimming pool, the Pavilion embraces a dramatic stone escarpment. Within the Pavilion is the Living Room, Gallery, Library, Dining Room, Private Dining Room and Cellar. Two accommodation wings lead from the Pavilion into the desert: 16 suites are located within the Desert Wing and another 18 suites together with the Aman Spa are located within the Mesa Wing. Outward views from the resort look over the untouched valley surrounded by lofty bluffs The Dining Room features floor-to-ceiling glass doors which open onto the outdoor dining terrace overlooking the swimming pool. The focal point of the Dining Room is the open kitchen with its wood-fired oven imparting a unique flavour and rustic authenticity to Amangiri’s cuisine. The menu changes frequently, driven by locally-sourced seasonal produce. The Dining Room offers the ambience of a private residence with informed and attentive service.

A regular on ”world’s best hotel” lists, Robert Redford‘s rustic Sundance resort is unique. It sits in 6,000 acres (2,425 ha) of wilderness on the slopes of the 12,000 foot (3,660-m) Mount Timpanogos. Rivers burble and birds sing in summer, in winter, mugs of hot chocolate steam beside a crackling fire waiting for skiers to return. The cozy rooms feature American quilts and Native American will hangings, and the food is superb, whether in The Foundry, praised by Zagat’s for its luxury brunch, or the five-star restaurant. Photo by: Mike In Park City

Winter sports remain the key draw in this area. January might find yourself sharing the slopes with luminaries of independent cinema, many of whom stay there during the annual Sundance Film Festival. Out of season, the lush pastures are great for hiking, mountain biking, and riding. A luxury spa draws on the Sioux idea of Hocoka, a sacred place in which body and spirit can be revived. Photo by: Mike In Park City

Long before eco was chic, Sundance was making a stand. And a passion for the environments is carried through from the Aveda products in the bathroom to the hybrid cars and regeneration projects the resort carries out on the surrounding hillsides. Location: Near Provo, Utah, USA. Photo by: jensong00

Located in the mountains of northern Utah, Lost Creek is a 365-surface-acre reservoir perfect for boating, fishing and water sports. The park is 10 miles northeast of Croyden. The park is 502 acres in size and is 6,211 feet in elevation. There are 25 sites in the park that offer vault toilets, grills/fire rings, picnic tables, drinking water and interpretive displays.

 While staying at Lost Creek State Park you could always look at Smith Gulch, and a picturesque lake like Hunters Lake is a great site to take a look at.

Lost Creek Falls, in the northwest corner of the park, cascades over a 50-foot drop to provide one of the most scenic and popular spots in the park.

 Stroll up the trail that leads to through the canyon. Beware the deadly poisonous (but oh, so lovely) Baneberry.

 The park is developed for picnicking and beach access. The parking area looks directly out onto the ocean, so if the weather is bad, you can sit and watch the waves without getting wet. This park has been designated ‘primitive’ so there are no fees and facilities and services are limited!

No-boarding is a young sport that is like the traditional way of snowboarding but with a knobbed polymer traction pad and a heavy-duty bungee rope, which transform a snowboard into a no-board. Without highbacks to straps to hold feet in place, the pad prevents slipping, and a firm grip on the rope keeps the board in place and is like surfing -riders adapt to pitch and snow conditions by moving their feet and center of gravity.

In recent years a six-year-old company near Revelstoke, British Columbia, is promoting the sport. The kit is available in snowboard shops in Alberta, British Columbia, Alaska, Utah, Colorado, Vermont, Europe and Japan. No-boarding is the ultimate backcountry tool and wouldn’t be possible without current snowboard technology. For riders who have the chance to try the sport, no-boarding delivers aspiration and innovative spirit and bring people closer to the backcountry. Pulled up the rope and swooped down the hill, a graceful freedom….

Photos by: Jenna Low

Powder Mountain is a sprawling resort near Ogden, in northern Utah, that offers five mountains and more than 7,000 acres of terrain. Only Mother Nature makes snow at Powder Mountain and a large variety of runs are groomed nightly so that every level of boarder and skier joins in the fun. 

The mountain is an old-school and underdeveloped, and has only four chairlifts to serve its ample supply of Alpine bowls. The slopes on both sides leading up to the resort, as well as outlying terrain North of the resort are served by other means. There have been through the years various snow-cats, sled-trailers, and even snowmobiles with ropes, to get skiers and riders far away from the skied out and packed down snow.

Each day, about 20 percent of visitors elect to use other modes of transportation to get uphill, such as one of the resort’s snow cats. Also available is a $125 helicopter ride. Once there is sufficient snow coverage, there is typically a bus that will pick skiers/riders up at a waiting area halfway down the road.

Powder Mountain is famous for a family ski area. As such, Powder Mountain has little in the way of entertainment, fine dining, or after hours attractions.There is over 2,500 in bounds vertical feet available, making it a great place to go after it snows. Powder Mountain has also been voted in the top three for best snow in ski magazine.

Photos by: Brian Mohr

Lake Powell is an artificial pond, created in 1960s toward the controversial scheme to dam the Colorado River to fill the Grand Canyon with water. Today few could deny that this unnatural landscape is a breathtaking sight. Crystal-clear turquoise waters reflect the towering rich-red canyon walls that go up from the water, scatter among wondrous arches, magnificent spires, sandstone butters, as well as countless inlets and sandy beaches. Photo by: Wolfgang Staudt

The lake stretches for 300 km across southern Utah and northern Arizona, and consists 3,220 km of coastline and ninety-six water-filled side canyons, many of which are accessible only by boat. Photo by: gargaro

To appreciate the lake, there is no other offer than by houseboat. Rentals are available at Wahweap, Bullfrog and Antelope Points marinas, and only a houseboat allows you the freedom to search out remote corners in which to dock. Boats range from the luxurious once with hot tub and wet bar for up to fourteen people, to those that include only basic comforts. Photo by: gargaro

Water sports are main activity during the summer, though fishing is best enjoyed in the cooler months. The most popular mooring point lies near the spectacular Rainbow Bridge National Monument. At 88 m high and 84 m across this amazing geological formation and deeply spiritual place is the world’s largest natural bridge. Photo by: Keltose

Photo by: Marieks

Green canyons, red cliffs, blue skies: Zion’s colors can stop in your tracks. Water enables greens rare amidst otherwise desert landscape. Visible or not, water forcefully shapes these stalwart walls. Trickling falls summon emerald growth in nooks and crannies. Sculpted evidence testifies to the carving of red slot canyons. Winter’s icy-blue snow-melt feeds anew the rushing, scouring river torrents of spring.  Almost 12,000 years ago Zion’s first peoples, who are now almost invisible, tracked mammoths, giant sloth, and camel across southern Utah. Due the climate change and overhunting these animals died out about 8,000 years ago. In 1860s, just after settlement by Mormon pioneers, John Wesley Powell visited Zion of the first scientific exploration of southern Utah.

Everything in Zion takes life from the Virgin River’s scarce desert waters. Water flows, and solid rock melts into cliffs and towers. The Vermilion, White, and pink cliffs are part of the Grand Staircase, the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau.  Landscape changes as canyon deepen to create forested highlands and lowland deserts. A ribbon of green marks the river’s course as diverse plants and animals take shelter and thrive in this canyon oasis. From the beginning people sought this place, this sanctuary in the desert’s dry reaches. The very name Zion, a Hebrew word for refuge, evokes its significance.

Zion’s nature multiplies with each slope, aspect, and soil type, with each minute change in precipitation or temperature. Add to these influences species from nearby ecosystems, Zion becomes an assemblage of plants, and thus of animals, found nowhere else exactly like this. This unlikely desert harbors a mosaic of environments, each fine-tuned to place. Zion is alive with movement, a river of life always here and always changing.

Park elevations range from 3,600 to 8,700 feet and provide vastly different environments. Fir pine and aspen prefer snowy high-country winters, while pinon, cliffrose, and mesquite flourish in the desert’s heat. This national park is beautiful but not pristine. Research shows that 150 years of farming, grazing, and recreation changed Zion’s environment. Exotic species like tamarisk and cheat grass replace native willow and native grasses. It is the mission of the National Park Service to provide sanctuary for and reinvigorate Zion’s remaining diversity. Although most park species are not unusual and much has changed, these unique assemblages create and sustain the relevance and sanctity of this wondrous place called Zion.

Be prepared and plan well
• Plan your trip. Choose trails that are without your ability.
• Falls cause most injuries and deaths at Zion.
• Carry and drink 2l of water per person per day.
• Wear a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen.
• Know the weather before you go. Distant storms can cause flash floods. When in doubt, stay out!
• Cell phones don’t work in most areas and don’t make you invincible.
• Your safety is your responsibility.

Hang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and un-motorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider. It allows you to own an aircraft that doesn’t require an expensive hangar or special pilot license. ?his is a very extreme experience. Hang gliding is one of the most exciting solutions for most people. You will have the unique sensation of flying, surrounded by beautiful mountains and beaches.

The training needed to get you flying solo is minimal. The basic techniques of hang gliding – launching, turning, and landing – are fairly easy to learn. The Health and Safety Executive says you have a one in 116,000 chance of dying during a hang-gliding flight. To put it in perspective, that’s roughly twice as dangerous as scuba diving.

There are plenty of spots to hang glide located all over the world. Utah is one of the places in the United States that features some of the best places to hang glide. For magnificent natural beauty nothing beats the Swiss Alps. New Zealand and Britain have their own associations, as do many other countries.

The hot geothermal springs inside a large rock dome are the Utah’s version of tropical dive sites. The natural cavern is shaped like an hourglass and offers opportunity to scuba enthusiasts. The dive center is accessed only by tunnel, leading to the crater. The Homestead Crater is 18 m wide with a depth 20m deep. It’s a Utah’s largest hot tub where the water’s temperature is a balmy 35°C.

The crater is the only warm water scuba diving destination in the continental U.S. and it attracts many diving enthusiasts. The crater is open year round. Diving rates are $20 Monday through Friday, and $25 weekends. Scuba and snorkeling lessons and equipment rentals are available.

About 10 miles south of the Great Salt Lake in the desert outside Grantsville, Utah, thousand of fish live in the murky saltwater at Bonneville Seabase, which is an independent experiment in marine biology. Seabase has an end-of-the-earth feeling, with no noise and little life and it’s open to snorkelers and scuba diver.

The entrance of Bonneville Seabase.

Seabase consists of three pools open for diving that receive water naturally from the ancient salt beds of prehistoric Lake Bonneville, which once covered the region.

A school of minnows feed on the banks of one of the saltwater bays.

Divers participate in an apple-bobbing contest. Local residents make up most of Seabase’s 1,500 to 2,000 annual visitors, including regulars from area dive clubs and people seeking scuba certification before trips to Cozumel or the Caribbean.

Moab is a tiny Utah town, where dipping green valleys and great red rocks piercing the wide blue sky. While you’re sipping coffee on the Main Street, you will surrounded safely by the Wild Canyonlands National Park and the surrealism of Arches National Park.

Even if you look at a thousand of images of the Arch (like those ones), but nothing gives you for the real deal. At the park take the mile-and-a-half hike up and hit the landscape just beforethe  sun goes down.

Hmmm it’s not California, but when you’re hungry enough swing by La Hacienda a townie favourite, for a tasty pair of fried fish tacos. Then at the Moab Adventure Center you can drive a Tomcar, haah, an off-road vehicle developed by the Israeli Army.

Like most small towns, Moab has main street with pretty cute character. Start your walk with an iced coffee ($180) and a fish slice of quiche. For a good lesson on local topography, check out the area at the Museum of Moab. In the 70′s Moab has been known as the mountainbiking capital of the world.  The town of Moab is 235-miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

Utah is very appropriate place to find fast water. In the San Juan Mountains, the Animas River snakes along the Utah-Arizona border before pouring into Lake Powell. The river also follows the northern border of the Navajo reservation and shares much of the worthy red-rock scenery.

Today a dozen of rafters float the river between April and Octomber and thousands of camera- clicking tourists shoot them. In April, the river was clocking along at 4, 600 cubic feet per second. This makes the river one of the greatest hits album of southern Utah’s attractions.

Years ago some of the river’s first visitors were trappers and Mormon missionaries. After them were the gold seekers. As many as 200 gold miners a day swooped in during the 1890s, but the river’s fine-grain gold was too hard to collect. A few years later, geological expeditions scouted the river for a good spot to dam. Hardly Times!

You can bring the kitchen sink on a raft trip, because there is so much time for cooking and eating. Days on the river are windy but warm, with temperatures in the 70s. The water is as cold as the Atlantic in early summer. At night in the desert, the temperature plummets; in April, nighttime lows can reach freezing.

A three-day trip with Wild Rivers Expeditions (101 Main Street; Bluff, Utah; 800-422-7654;) costs $686 for adults and $584 for children age 12 and under.

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake, or its initials, S.L.C. It was originally known as Great Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City Public Library is a system of free public libraries. There are six locations: the main library downtown, the Anderson-Foothill branch, the Chapman branch in Glendale, the Day-Riverside branch in Rose Park, the Sprague branch in Sugar House, and the Corrine & Jack Sweet branch in the Avenues.

This 200,000-square-foot facility is part of an ambitious program by the library to double its space for collections, establish a landmark in the city’s civic core, and create a lively interactive public space currently missing in the downtown area. The new library features a triangular main building, adjacent rectangular administration building, glass-enclosed “urban room”, and public piazza. The new Salt Lake City Library is a splendid addition to the downtown area, and it has won several architecture awards. The gradually rising outer wall is both striking and functional, housing a study area, which is connected to the main building by walkways over the atrium. Also highly functional is the raised access floor covered with modular carpet. The library’s underground parking facility can be accessed by turning mid-block from eastbound 400 South. Parking in this facility is free for the first half-hour, then 75 cents per half-hour after that.
Natural light is introduced into all of the spaces where people sit and work. Infused with light from all sides, the library has paid careful attention to ensure that library materials and technology are not affected by direct sunlight. The clear glass on the lens of the triangle has the highest UV rating available for energy efficiency.

Library patrons expressed the desire for even more from the City Library collections - a request that challenged the library to provide more depth and enlarge both the scope and breadth of the collections. For the past three years, collection development librarians have selected and acquired more than 80,000 new items. This brings the collection size for the new Main Library close to 500,000 items and the total library system collection to 750,000. Library materials now include not only books, but audio cassettes, compact discs, videocassettes, DVDs, and CD-Roms, in addition to visual materials such as art prints and slides. The technology center and training lab offer 42 computer stations with Internet access; an additional 121 Internet computers are located throughout the building. The computers in the technology center have been partially provided through a Gates grant, and staff is available to assist users as they write papers, work on resumes, and develop computer skills.