Totally Consumed!

After a particularly long stretch of horrendous deadlines, intense clients, and restless nights, Petrina and I decided to stop the world and get off the next exit - (or at least go somewhere outside of cellphone coverage.) Luckily, here in the beautiful state of Utah, we didn’t have to go far. After throwing a dart at my map of the gorgeous High Uintahs, we aimed our GPS unit to Soapstone Basin where we would spend our weekend.

Luckily, a Rocky Mountain high-induced trip to REI a few years ago and I now have a garage filled with more than one would ever need to survive a year in the great outdoors. I loaded all I could squeeze into the XTerra and Petrina, baby, and I were off.

As we approached the area we had targeted for our quiet get away, I noticed an increasing number of large campgrounds - or I perhaps “compounds” would be a better term - each with a tent large enough for one of those traveling Mexican circuses, 4 to 5 jacked-up “Ram Tough” pickups, and enough camouflaged 4-wheelers to drive a small army. Even white-haired granny and the mullet-topped 6 year-old had their own souped-up vehicles.

Petrina and I like to camp in relative solace and so we drove past this scene out of the movie Deliverance and up a steep and deeply-rutted road where we were convinced that we would be alone. The perfect spot was found and in no time we had assembled Camp Bestor. I then strapped 6-month old Ella onto my backpack, applied the SPF 60, and off we went for a short hike.


As we returned to our camp, Petrina noticed in the distance one of the pickup trucks we had seen earlier. It was now spinning mud-splattering circles in the wet field of wild flowers in front of our camp. As we got closer, the “yeehaws” from within the cab of the truck were only matched by the manic barking of the one-eyed pitbull who was chasing after the truck despite getting covered tail to snout in mud and wild flowers. I shook my head and had to fight off the urge to confront the driver.

Then the truck suddenly stopped and a man stepped out of the cab and grabbed a chainsaw from the bed of the pickup. We watched incredulously as he began to cut down a “not-quite-dead” pine tree. After felling it, he sawed it into about 8 sections, tossed it all into the truck, did a few more muddy circles for good measure, and then headed back down to his camp.

By now, my blood was pumping and the peaceful environmentalist in me had now turned to a Greenpeace activist - “on crack!” Petrina, noticed my agitation and reminded me that our good ol’ boy “had a chainsaw.” So - we just grabbed a photo of his license plate and his bumper sticker that read “Gun Control means using BOTH hands!”)

That night I mused a lot about what we had observed and I came to the conclusion that some people are just “consumers” and feel that all that is around them is for the taking. “No one’s gonna tell me what I can or cannot do” seems to be the mantra. From wasteful burning of fuel in their gas-guzzling vehicles to the wanton destruction of nature’s beauty. Even the un-welcome noise they made until well past midnight was a selfish act by people that just don’t value others feelings. I wondered how people came to be this way and then I remembered grandma and the little 6-year old I had seen earlier. More was being passed down here than just genetics.



Petrina and I vowed that night that our little Ella would value the beauty and the sacred resources that nature provides. By teaching her to be selfless and thoughtful in her approach to enjoying Utah’s immense beauty, perhaps we could counterbalance others wanton selfishness.

Oh, by the way - the OTHER bumper sticker read:
I’m Hung like Einstein and Smart as a Horse.

I rest my case.