Parowan Gap - Utah

From the West Side

Closer Up

East Side 
Not sure what's going on with this image below
but it's interesting (to me).

Funky Video. 

This past Spring (2017), on my way somewhere in Utah, it got dark and I pulled off into the bushes next to the two-lane highway. In the morning, as I stepped out to pull on my pants, I was taken aback when a guy out for his morning run came right through camp!

On his way back he joined me for coffee and told how the plan to move in with a woman a couple of days earlier had fallen through when she'd suddenly disappeared. In anticipation of the move, he'd given up his apartment and having nowhere else to go had moved into his Honda Element. After filing a missing persons report, he'd taken to camping and was, apparently, just around the corner  from me. (At least he was QUIET!)

A runner, he'd trained in his youth with olympic athletes. Now, at 74, he runs 2 - 8 miles a day and regularly competes in marathons...always training for the next one. Having settled in Parowan, he rides his bike to the yoga center each morning, then, three times a week, goes across the street to the gym to lift weights for two hours. He then goes for his run...enjoying the mountain trails surrounding the town.

Somehow, in that first brief encounter, he caught the jist of my enthusiasms and told of several beautiful places to camp which, over the next few days, I took advantage of. Several weeks later I was surprised when he called to see where I was. I mean, who cares?

We chatted briefly during which I expressed my gratitude for the information about camping spots; about the weather and an upcoming race he was competing in...and hung up.

But a few weeks later, I, for some reason feeling a need for reciprocal politeness, called him. It was the same, he was training for the Senior Olympics, concerned about the current politics (too conservative) and had seen some football on TV; I figured I'd done my duty. I'm into women, not guys. Three weeks later he called AGAIN!!

So after a quick run out to Santa Barbara to make sure the ocean was still there (Waves CRASHING on the beach!!! Turquoise Bikini!!), I stopped by on my way back. We visited while I did laundry and he showed me the plum trees (excellent!! And organic!!) behind the laundromat. As I was about to leave he asked if I'd been to Parowan Gap. I said I'd never heard of it and he proceeded to give me directions. It's a cleft through a mountain range, a gorgeous spot complete with petroglyphs. I found a 4wd road to the top of the hill where I made camp and enjoyed a blissful night of stars and quiet.

It's called: friend.