The Right Attitude Towards Latitudes and Altitudes

There are a lot of good things you can say about Mother Nature in western North America.  But she ain't perfect.  In spring, the thing that complicates the life of a traveler and camper is the mismatch between altitude and latitude.

In an ideal world, one would take off in spring and gradually gain altitude and latitude.  Thanks to the great Southwestern Father of Waters, the Colorado River, altitude and latitude go hand in hand up to Lake Mead.  Then it gets crazy.  There is a huge hump of high altitude land at middling latitudes.  Call it the Colorado Plateau if you wish.

To the west of that, Nevada has pretty high altitudes and is cold in spring.  It is huge.

When you finally do get to the inland Northwest, the northern latitude is less important than the low altitudes found there.  Therefore you need to blast through the hump in middling latitudes as quickly as possible.  You feel like a fool.  "It is freezing here.  Why should I keep going north?"

I finally accept that 'the way things are is the way things are.'

But before heading north, it is time to organize a few loose photographs from the fall and winter:

Central Utah canyon and mountains.

It was at least trying to rain at Book Cliffs.

Reef country.

Southwestern Utah mesas.

Finally down to desert sunset crinkles and Joshua trees.

Shadows play with the last of Utah.

I don't see how a neighboring peak made this shadow.