A rotating series of award-winning guest chefs, including Viet Pham of Pretty Bird Chicken in Salt Lake City and Kim Canteenwalla of Honey Salt in Las Vegas, will take over the kitchen five nights a week between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Perched on a peak with sweeping views of the Wasatch Mountain Range and Rockport Reservoir, the 24-seat, communal table is the ultimate picnic set-up. Dishes showcasing locally sourced proteins and produce from the hotel’s onsite farm might include elk loin with roasted radishes and black trout with watercress complemented by flights of Ritchie’s beer, Gritchie Brew. And of course, evening’s conclude with artisanal S’mores.

Adventurous guests can mountain bike to dinner or join a wilderness hike where a guide will I.D. flora and fauna along the way. Post-dinner stargazing will also be available. On special request, the property can also arrange campfire breakfasts and chef-curated cooking and cocktail classes.

Pairs perfectly with: An Odyssey through Utah’s National Parks

The post Guy Ritchie Brings his WildKitchen dinners to the Lodge at Blue Sky, Utah appeared first on All Roads North.

Take this opportunity to do a little armchair traveling to get inspired for your next adventure. 

Desert Solitaire

by Edward Abbey

This iconic piece of nature writing, based on Abbey’s summer stints as an Arches National Park ranger in the late 1950s, remains as relevant now as it was when published in 1968. While on a quest to experience nature in its purest form, Abbey explores the paradox of existing as a solitary, independent man in the desert, while still participating as a member of the greater ecosystem. Readers will find a lot to think on and to anticipate with Abbey’s vivid descriptions of the harsh Southwestern landscapes near Moab woven into his message of conservation. 

Goes Well With:  An Odyssey Through Utah’s National Parks and The Life of a Backcountry Guide in Utah’s Remote Escalante Canyons

My First Summer in the Sierra

by John Muir

This account of John Muir’s first encounters with the Yosemite Valley has been luring visitors to California since this book was published in 1911. Follow along as “The Father of the National Parks” and founder of the Sierra Club spends the summer of 1869 working as a shepherd in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

The budding naturalist’s notes are flush with detailed descriptions of the Sierra’s flora and fauna, tales of explorations of now-famous landmarks, and several life lessons Muir gleaned from four months of sheep observation. This is a must-read before exploring any of the areas Muir later worked to conserve. 

Goes Well With: Stunning Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks 

American Serengeti

by Dan Flores

Bison, pronghorn antelope, wild horses, grey wolves and grizzly bears are species that Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park visitors count themselves lucky to see today. According to environmental historian Dan Flores,  just 200 years ago these same species were roaming the American plains in numbers we can’t fathom. 

Flores follows the sagas of six different species over thousands of years until their respective declines at the hands of pioneers, hunters, ranchers and federal killing programs in the 19th and 20th centuries. This, combined with the “Big History” of the grassland ecosystems we encounter in the American West, will give readers a deeper appreciation for the vistas and wildlife encounters in the Western states. 

Goes Well With: Zapata Ranch: Shirkers Need Not Apply

The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island

by Linda Greenlaw

Travel to the Isle au Haut, a tiny island in Maine’s Acadia National Park with 70 year-round residents, 30 of whom are related to author Linda Greenlaw.  After a lengthy and high-risk career as a sword-fisherman (which landed her a role in the famous The Perfect Storm), Greenlaw returns to rural island life.  

The account balances the lighter sides of rediscovering her family and home with the darker aspects of island life, including boating accidents and conflicts that can rock small communities.  If the descriptions of Acadia’s landscapes aren’t enough to get you excited about coastal Maine, the description of the seafood certainly will.

Goes Well With: Luxury Holiday to New England

American Wolf

by Nate Blakeslee

The grey wolf’s presence has been one of the most polarizing issues of the American West since populations were reintroduced in the 1990s. In American Wolf, Blakeslee uses O-Six, a grey alpha matriarch with a rabid social media following, to illustrate the wolf’s struggle to reclaim its place and restore balance in Yellowstone National Park.  

Blakeslee collaborates with park ranger Rick McIntyre, who spent 15 years carefully following the wolf’s return to the park.  Together, they follow O-Six’s pack and observe the pressures they face from ranchers, hunters, politicians and well-meaning tourists, all of whom affect where and how wolves can live.

Goes Well With: Wolves, Wildfire and Water

Undaunted Courage

by Steven E. Ambrose

Follow the Corps of Discovery’s epic adventure across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains, and down the Columbia River from the perspective of Captain Meriwether Lewis. Lewis and Clark may be household names, but Undaunted Courage supplies a wealth of previously unknown information, while capturing the suspense, political drama, romance, tragedy and danger that accompanied the 8,000 mile journey.  Ambrose provides context for the expedition within the Jefferson Presidency, early Native American policies, and the opening of the West to the nation. 

Goes Well With: Yellowstone and Grand Teton Road Trip 

The post Adventures of the Mind: Six Armchair Reads for Exploring America’s Wild Places appeared first on All Roads North.

How did you get into the luxury tent business?

“When I started Luxury Frontiers 8 years ago, experiential travel didn’t really exist outside of Africa. We had designed tented camps at Eagle Island Lodge and Abu Camp in Botswana and knew the African market well. We also knew that up to 70% of our guests in Africa were coming to the U.S. I thought, why not export the Africa safari tent experience to the U.S.”

Do you think the glamping trend is here to stay?

“Glamping is booming worldwide and on track to be a $1billion industry by 2023. People are craving off-the-grid, eco-sensitive travel. I hate to call what we do glamping because it’s much more than pitching a fancy tent. The tent is only one layer. Many operators in the U.S. forget the importance of attaching meaningful, authentic experiences to the tent. We actually think about the activities before we start designing the tent. We ask, what will the guests do here? What will they learn? How can we connect them to the local culture, flora and fauna?”

Amangiri’s new camp, Sarika, opens in April. This was your first project in the U.S. What were some of the challenges and what makes this camp unique?

“The location, a half-mile away from Amangiri, is subject to harsh elements—sandstorms, wind, heavy rain, brutal heat. Aman’s clients want to feel the wilderness but also wanted to feel safe and protected. It wasn’t possible to have a pure tent so we spent 5 years engineering an Aman suite wrapped in fully insulated canvas. The fabric we used can withstand winds of up to 95 miles per hour. When we open April 1, 2020, we’ll be the only luxury camp, to my knowledge, that will be able to stay open year-round.”

How does Camp Sarika compliment the hotel?

“This is the first resort in the Aman portfolio that offers its guests two different products. If it’s successful, I could see this being replicated at other Aman properties. Sarika has 10-canvas topped pavilions, each with a private plunge pool, overlooking dramatic, flat-topped mesa rocks. We flipped the positioning of the tents so that guests get a different view than they would from the hotel, which looks out over endless desert. Amangiri does not have two-bedroom rooms or even connecting rooms. Half of Sarika’s tents will have two-bedrooms, which will be a big draw for families. And multi-gen families can buy out the entire camp. And I think we’ll see a lot of guests who split their stay between the two properties. Sarika will certainly attract Aman loyalists, but I think the camp will also widen the brand’s target market to more adventurous, back-to-nature luxury travelers.”

Are there any unique experiences only available to Camp Sarika guests?

“Every tent gets its own guide, so you have a very personalized, high-touch experience. I believe people want to push their boundaries when they travel these days and feel a sense of accomplishment so adventure and activities will be a big focus. Sarika will have its own exclusive Via Ferrata route, which will be really special. The camp will have a restaurant, pool area and a mini spa with two treatment rooms.”

What future projects are on the horizon?

“We debut our first Latin American property, Nayara Tented Camp, in Costa Rica in December. After that I have my eye on Mexico and some other areas around the U.S. national parks and we’re in talks with other luxury hotel brands like the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton Reserve.”

For further inspiration: Campfires and Canvas – The best luxury camping in the United States

[Photo Credits: Luca Franco, Aman, Luxury Frontiers]

The post The Glamping King – Luca Franco Talks to All Roads North appeared first on All Roads North.

Camp Sarika by Amangiri

For many Amangiri needs no introduction, this modernist marvel in Southern Utah consistently ranks among the top luxury hotels in the world. The picture has been completed by the recently announced launch of Camp Sarika, opening in April 2020. The singular design aesthetic and attention to detail of the main Amangiri resort has been maintained in a series of ten canvas-topped pavilions but with an even greater connection to the dramatic landscapes that surround. Private plunge pools and firepits provide intimate focal points to unplug and soak in the rocky mesas and slot canyons that envelope the camp. Unlike the main Amangiri property, Camp Sarika has several two bedrooms tents, which will be perfect for families. 

Dunton River Camp

Like the fantastic Dunton Hot Springs just up the valley, Dunton has accomplished true understated luxury with their safari-style glamping tents. The eight tents sit in the West Fork of the Dolores River Valley, an idyllic corner of the San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado. Tastefully designed interiors, luxurious beds, and clawfoot tubs will have you momentarily forgetting you’re in a tent, but step outside and mountain trails, alpine meadows, and trout-filled streams await. Chef-prepared meals are served in the central farmhouse, a sauna sits down by the river, and the firepit, underneath the dark night sky, is the perfect place to end each day of your Colorado glamping adventure.

The Resort at Paws Up

If you’re looking for some of the best glamping in the American West, look no further than Paws Up. Part dude ranch, part luxury hideaway, the Resort at Paws Up sits on 37,000 acres in Western Montana, classic ‘Big Sky’ country. To the north lies Glacier National Park and the town of Missoula is a short drive to the west. The resort has multiple private log homes dotted across the ranch but it’s their luxury tented camps that warrant a mention here. With six or so tents per camp, it’s an intimate set up and perfect for a larger group or extended family. The pretty Blackfoot River, of a ‘A River Runs Through It’ fame, runs through the heart of the ranch and our favorite camp locations are those perched above this tumbling waterway. Each has their own chef and dining pavilion, as well as a butler at the ready, so while part of a larger resort, they feel secluded, private and immersed in nature. 

Ranchlands Camps

With their new tented camps, Ranchlands delivers a glamping experience in Colorado that will let you harness your inner cowboy or girl and get an authentic taste for life on the range. Ranchlands operate four working ranches, including Zapata, where conservation and preserving the ranching heritage are the primary goal. Their low-touch tented camps are located on the Chico Basin property, where a large herd of Beefmaster cattle roam Colorado’s eastern prairie. Camps can either be taken privately by a group or you can join a scheduled week, typically hosted by experts in their field; a master horsemen, National Geographic photographers, or an acclaimed Western artist. Your days revolve around the circadian rhythms of ranch life; up early and fitting in with the tasks at hand, whether that’s moving cattle, branding, or leatherwork. End your day with dinner on the open prairie, watching the sun drop behind distant Pikes Peak, before taking the conversation to the campfire.

The Ranch at Rock Creek

Montana’s Ranch at Rock Creek, takes rustic luxury to its extreme and their luxury glamping tents are no exception. Dotted along Rock Creek, which winds through a remote valley near Philipsburg, each unit stretches the limits of a ‘tent’ or indeed ‘camping’, being more of a cabin-tent hybrid; think sumptuous king beds, tasteful western furnishings, full ensuite bathrooms, separate living areas, and a front porch to watch the world go by from. Trapper Cabin, tucked away in its own secluded corner of the ranch, is the perfect romantic bolthole, with heated floors to keep you warm on those long winter nights and a private outdoor soaking tub. 

Custom Wilderness Camps

Perhaps the ultimate glamping experience in the U.S., a custom safari-style camp, constructed just for your group, can provide access to true wilderness and solitude without scrimping on the creature comforts. From remote private land on the California coast to the wilds of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante, the camp can be located according to your specific priorities and trip goals, and is delivered in accordance with ‘leave no trace’ principles. Levels of luxury can be tailored; from the truly elaborate to something more nimble but expect hot running water, real beds, and gourmet meals prepared by your camp chef. By day you’ll explore your surroundings with your guide team and evenings are spent sitting round the campfire recalling the day’s adventures. This will be a truly memorable wilderness glamping experience!

IMAGE CREDITS: Luxury Frontiers, Aman, Jack Richmond (Dunton), Maddie Jordan (Ranchlands), Ranch at Rock Creek, ASC

The post Campfires and Canvas – The best luxury camping in the United States appeared first on All Roads North.

In contrast with other luxury hotels you’ve worked at, what was your first impression of Amangiri when you arrived?

“The first thing that strikes me about Amangiri is the visual contrast with nature. The environment is so vast, and the hotel emerging from the rock escarpment increases the sense of mystery that surrounds it. When you then open Amangiri’s doors you immediately feel the genuine care and warmth from the staff, and the general sense of being home.”

Design and architecture are clearly central to the Amangiri experience. Could you shine light on Amangiri’s unique design approach?

“Design is critical to Aman’s ethos and Amangiri is no exception. Built out of a one hundred and sixty-five million year old rock formation, the design of the hotel is meant to embrace the environment it sits in. It emulates the famous slot canyons that are so unique to the region, and was built in constant reference to the harmonious living with the land so important to native cultures. Amangiri’s design is a perpetually changing show of shadow and light, where every corner is an opportunity for vistas and reflection.”

What single lasting memory do you hope guests leave with?

“At Amangiri we are privileged to be on the door steps of some of the most significant cultural and historical resources in the world and we take great pride and humility in their stewardship. Aman’s mission is to connect people to a spirit of a place and all of our experiences are designed to fulfill that goal. We strive to give our guests an opportunity to reconnect with themselves through personal experience, challenging [them] and providing a general sense of balance and restoration so needed in today’s world of constant connectivity and high-paced expectations. Ultimately, I think that the single lasting impression our guests leave with is a sense of restored peace and having hopefully reconnected with a part of themselves they perhaps forgot was there.”

Thank you for your time Julien!

The post Amangiri’s General Manager Julien Surget talks to All Roads North appeared first on All Roads North.

This pioneer spirit was alive and well in the Mormon San Juan Expedition of 1879. In need of new settlements, two hundred and fifty men and women cut roads through gulches and chasms across the desolate Utahan country. They forwent the known trails both north and south, opting instead for a direct approach across the Colorado River. When they neared that snake of water in the desert, they faced what seemed to many an impassable obstacle; the only way forward was through a narrow crack two thousand feet above the river, and not yet wide-enough to pass through. Forging forward, the expedition spent six weeks blasting a literal Hole-in-the-Rock, before finally lowering their wagons, cattle and themselves down and across to the other side. Hardship hadn’t released its grip yet, though. It took many more months of travel for the company to reach their final destination of Bluff, Utah.

Hole in the Rock Road reaches Lake Powell

The San Juan expedition weren’t the first Western explorers to set eyes on that section of the Colorado River. And the distinction of naming it Glen Canyon lies with one-armed John Wesley Powell on his expedition in 1869. Taking ten men with wilderness know-how and four boats filled with needed supplies, Powell and his men spent months battling the river and her rapids, producing high quality topography maps still referred to today.  Their struggles were rewarded back East, with high regard and honors for Powell, who went on to become the director of the United States Geological Survey.

Wesley Powell with a Native guide on his expedition of 1869

With satellite mapping, paved freeways and readily available internet our access to this corner of Utah has vastly improved since the late 1800s. And yet the same sense of solitude still pervades these canyons, seeps into the rocks and calls out in the whistling winds. There is a drive to explore here, to discover, to take a less trodden path. This all culminates in the stunning Bears Ears National Monument. Only recently graced with that distinction, Bears Ears retains a great amount of what the Powell and San Juan expeditions encountered. There are fewer established trails, less infrastructure and many natural and archeological sights seen only by those who know where to look, or who’ve taken the time to explore. Nearby Arches, Canyonlands, and Monument Valley continue to inspire, and this iconic land will forever be ingrained in the American consciousness as the true American West, the solitary land of struggle and self-discovery.

The post Expeditions to the Utah Frontier: Where cell signals don’t reach and solitude reigns. appeared first on All Roads North.

As he tells it, settlers have been working together to survive in Utah’s canyons since the Mormons first laid roots in his backyard, a hundred and fifty years ago. Seeking freedom from persecution in Utah’s unforgiving landscapes, it took community and togetherness to eke out a life on the frontier’s edge. That sense of community persisted, and now it imbues the culture of the 21st century pioneers who have chosen to face the same challenges, Jeff amongst them.

“Nowadays we don’t have the same opportunity to work together as a family. When the Mormons came out here it was a constant struggle… Being out in nature with the challenges it puts in front of us, it creates a need to solve problems and help each-other.”

For Jeff, it’s a willing seclusion in nature. There’s no thirty-minute Amazon delivery where he lives, the closest hospital is a two hour drive away, and he’s dependent on his garden for much of his food. But that’s exactly how he likes it.

Map and compass work

“Like the city, there are great challenges and benefits to living out here. That’s the way with anything in life. We each find the place that offers the best mix for who we are… But it’s not easy to live in the wilderness, it’s a lifestyle that not everyone can sink their teeth into and be happy with.”

Time with Jeff is not a cookie-cutter tour of photo opportunities. Hiking through these desert canyons provides an intimate encounter with nature and leaves a small piece of the Utah wilderness stamped indelibly on your soul. Time with him is spent learning to work with nature, not against it. It’s spent building true survival skills, a mental toolkit and adaptability that can serve us equally well in everyday life.

Jeff demonstrating how to start a fire with a bow drill

“I can pick up some sticks and turn that into a fire. That’s a big eye opener for some people. All Roads North clients come out and together we make fires, we make shelters, we sharpen and use knives. Nature can provide everything that we need… to be comfortable, as long as we take the time to understand and respect it.”

His greatest joy in guiding comes from breaking down the barriers that separate him from his clients. Offering a genuine encounter that connects them with life here, where they are as much a part of the Utah pioneer community as the locals.

“My family comes up and we all sit at the table together. We cook together, eat together, play together. We have a together experience, not an “Us and Them,” “Guide vs. Client” experience… It’s local. I want them to feel like they’re a part of this environment, without the buffer of a guide between them… It’s about making them a part of my family and group of friends.”

It’s this sense of community and family bonding built on a foray into these rugged canyons that can most directly translate to life back home.

“Creating that bond is a valuable part of bringing a family out and letting them experience this together. And if we’ve worked together in [survival] situations, family conflict is nothing. We say, “We can deal with this, we can get through this.” We go through it step by step, deal with the problem and move on.”

TO START PLANNING YOUR OWN TAILOR-MADE ROAD TRIP TO UTAH PLEASE GET IN TOUCH OR TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF OUR SAMPLE UTAH ITINERARIES:

An odyssey through all five of Utah’s national parks 

A luxury road trip taking in the red rock and canyon country of Utah and Arizona

The post The life of a backcountry guide in Utah’s remote Escalante Canyons appeared first on All Roads North.

We caught up with Stuart Campbell, Blue Sky’s COO, to get the inside scoop on the project:

The important question first, when will Blue Sky Utah be opening? Is everything on track?

Yes, it is a big project but amazingly we’re mostly on track. Considering it is a twenty month build from start to finish, we’ve only slipped against the schedule by about three weeks, which is pretty amazing given the scale of the project and the tough conditions we’re working in here in Utah.

As far as opening to guests, rather than open over Christmas, we’re going to do some dry runs in January with friends and family, bring in the press and travel trade in February, working out any bugs as we go, with the idea of the first guests arriving in May 2019.

Great! I’m interested to know how The Lodge at Blue Sky came into being in the first place?

Well it has quite a history. Mike Phillips, the owner, bought the property about thirteen years ago and always had the idea of doing something with it other than just keeping it. He is based in Park City and he and his wife love horses, so the first thing they did was move them up here but always with the goal of doing something hospitality related. He had initial conversations with groups like Interstate, Marriott, and also Auberge before the recent changes, but they didn’t lead to anything at that stage.

In the interim, Mike met Dave Perkins, founder of High West Distillery, who were planning to expand their operations in Western Salt Lake City. Mike invited Dave up for a ride on the property and it was clear that the two brands were really well aligned, both with the American West at their heart. The beautiful new distillery opened at Blue Sky Utah in 2015 and it’s been a huge success.

So how did you end up getting involved?

In 2014 I was based up in Jackson Hole as the GM of Amangani and I had just been made the MD of Europe and Africa, and was all set to move to Montenegro. After some mutual friends put Mike and I in touch, I agreed to fly down to share my thoughts but I was still very much moving to Europe. We got in truck and drove over the property and I gave him my views on what I thought it could become. We totally hit it off and it turned out that we were both speaking exactly the same language. Within three weeks I’d resigned from Aman and we were off.

The next two years were spent pulling it all together in our minds, working out exactly how it should look, feel and fit into the landscape. We got an architect on board as we started to concept the resort and we started working with a great design group out of Santa Monica. We found our contractor and then last March, together with Mark Harmon from Auberge, we all got together, did a ground breaking, and started to dig a big hole!

Today the project looks fantastic. I’m onsite two to three times a week; looking at view corridors, standing in the rooms as the steel and concrete is going up, and it’s just beautifully designed and the landscape is stunning. What’s more it has the huge advantage of being forty-five minutes from an international airport. Places like Amangiri, The Ranch at Rock Creek, and Paws Up do such a great job but one of the drawbacks is that it can take two flights and a long drive just to get there. We feel we have what they offer but within a short drive of Salt Lake City.

You mention these other great places, some of which you obviously know first hand, and I’m assuming they’re in your mind when you were developing the vision of Blue Sky Utah…

This is one of the most important questions and everyone has their ‘thing’. Aman has these incredible designs and stunning locations; I think Amangiri is one of the most beautiful resorts in the county. When you walk into the lobby of an Aman there is such a distinct feel and you know immediately that it is an Aman. Some of the ranches on the other hand evoke so strongly the Western lifestyle, beautiful mountains and rivers, large pieces of land, all of the things that people are looking to experience more of today. If you could put Amangani in Rock Creek’s location and have an international airport nearby you’d have the perfect combination; that’s what we’ve done here.

I don’t like the term but we can offer the ‘dude ranch’ experience, with the horses, cattle and fly-fishing, we have all of that spread over 4,000 acres but then you come back to a lodge that has a similar design, style and feel to an Aman. At Blue Sky you won’t be surrounded by elk antlers and woven rugs; these are great but in a kitsch Western-style rather than being very design focused and clean. We have been careful to take elements of the local area rather than trying to copy it.

I know staffing some of these remoter properties can be a challenge. What’s your approach on this front?

The best answer to that question is the 25 years of experience that leads you to the point that you can do something like this. My previous postings have been in Jackson, Macao, Bhutan, Sun Valley, and the Cook Islands, all places where it is impossible to get people but somehow we managed. Over a career you develop relationships with people and you keep in touch to see when you might be able to work together again, I have ten names in my back pocket right now who want to come and be involved in the management here and they then have relationships with people below them. It will be difficult, it always is, but there is a real focus on education here in Utah with three great colleges near us and I think we can draft people out of those schools. I think we will also be able to tempt across some people working in the resort town properties who are fed up with traffic jams and can have the same commute as before but be in the wilderness rather than jammed in a resort town.

So once you’ve got the staff in place, how do you keep things personal and avoid the temptation of things becoming too much of an operation?

The bottom line is being able to look after guests on an individual basis and one of the big decisions we made was to have no more than 50 rooms, we have 46. In my experience around the 40-50 mark two things happen, you’re big enough to make enough money to survive but you’re small enough to still able to know every employee and speak to every guest that walks through the door, this is critical. I did the maths after I left Amangani and I’d handwritten over 25,000 welcome cards! You can never stop being a good hotelier and the moment you do it is time to get out.

Before I let you go, what do you think that defining Blue Sky Utah moment might be for guests?

We’ve spent a lot of time making sure that the arrival experience is really special. From the moment you drive up to the hotel you’re looking through the building across to the mountains beyond; we’ve designed the building with an opening so that you’re not just pulling up to a closed door. You’ll be taken to your room where you can sit on the deck listening to the creek, hear horses in the background and see a herd of elk on the hill. All of this is a forty-five minute drive after a direct flight. It is that rapid transformation from New York, the Pacific Palisades or wherever, whereby everything has happened so quickly and beautifully that you can’t believe that this morning you were sitting in your apartment and now you’re outside in the Rocky Mountains watching it all happen.

The post Blue Sky Utah – Stuart Campbell shares the latest on the West’s much anticipated new opening appeared first on All Roads North.

While the largest such undertaking, James Turrell’s Roden Crater, is nearing its completion in the Arizona desert, plenty of other monumental Land Art Installations are ready to be experienced right now.

What exactly is Land Art? Born out of curiosity and the need to break the norm, such daunting art projects are nurtured by passion and dedication, often take years to complete, are huge in scale and can be found in the middle of nowhere. Their remote location allows them to interact with nature, sunlight and night skies in the most optimal way, void of any noise or light pollution. They inspire and invite us to become part of the space.

We encourage you to visit and discover some of them next time “the road comes calling”.

Double Negative, Nevada

Michael Heizer’s Double Negative (Credit: Zach Alan)

Contemporary American land artist Michael Heizer said of his 1970 work Double Negative, “There is nothing there, yet it is still a sculpture,” and he wasn’t exaggerating. Composed of two long trenches measuring 30 feet wide and 50 feet deep cut into Nevada’s Mormon Mesa near Overton. The work is more a commentary on what has been removed from the site – that is, the negative space created by the trenches – than what the work actually appears as. Double Negative can only be accessed by four-wheel drive.

Spiral Jetty, Utah

Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty in Utah’s Great Salt Lake (Credit: Kevin Gaughan)

Late artist Robert Smithson’s colossal work of Land Art is a 15-foot wide path that reaches outward, then coils into itself,1,500 feet long in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Constructed in 1970 near Rozel Point, the path was built with more than 6,000 tons of black basalt rock. The Spiral Jetty is periodically submerged by rising water levels, before regional droughts allow it to resurface, during which times visitors may circle along the path.

Seven Magic Mountains, Nevada

Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains

Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains is a large-scale, site-specific public art installation located near Las Vegas, Nevada. Seven towers of colorful, stacked boulders standing more than thirty feet high punctuate the Mojave with a burst of form and color. The creative expression of human presence in the desert will be on view through May 2018.

Sun Tunnels, Utah

Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels in Utah (Credit: Al Hartmann)

Four enormous tunnels laid opposite each other in an “X” formation, are the late Nancy Holt’s work of Land Art in the Utah desert. Each tunnel is 18 feet long and nine feet in diameter, pierced with holes of irregular size arranged according to certain constellations: Capricorn, Columba, Draco and Perseus. These holes shed pinpricks of light on the otherwise dark interiors of the tubes, shifting along with the daylight. The tunnels are perfectly aligned to watch the rising and setting sun as well as the summer and winter solstices.

The Lightning Field, New Mexico

Walter De Maria’s Lightening Field in New Mexico (Credit: Joh Cliett, Dia Art Foundation)

In 1977, Walter De Maria dotted a barren remote area in the western New Mexico desert with 400 stainless steel poles. The two inches in diameter and over 20 feet high poles are situated in columns and rows equidistant from each other, in a grid that’s a mile wide and a kilometer long. Though the pointed tips atop each pole do invite electrostatic discharge, the enjoyment of the work does not depend on lightning striking.

Untitled Works in Concrete, Texas

Donald Judd’s Untitled Works in Concrete at the Chinati Foundation

In the 1970s, minimalist artist Donald Judd moved to Marfa, Texas, where he created giant works of art that bask beneath vast desert skies. The fifteen concrete works, that are as empty and remote as the landscape, were scattered in the scrubby pasture. They were cast and assembled on the site over a four-year period, from1980 through 1984. The individual units that comprise each work have the same measurements and are made from concrete slabs that are each 25 centimeters thick.They were the first works to be installed at a site that has since morphed into a museum, the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.

The post Land Art: Ambitious installations as epic as the landscapes they inhabit appeared first on All Roads North.

Here’s 8 photos from our recent visit:

Monument Valley

Straddling the border between Utah and Arizona, Monument Valley has featured in so many films that for many people it’s the landscape that comes to mind when they imagine the American West. This photo was taken on our last trip when a huge sandstorm blew through creating this beautiful light. Monument Valley forms part of the Navajo Nation and unsupervised access is restricted to a 17 mile scenic drive but with a Navajo guide you’ll get off the beaten path to magical spots like Hunts Mesa.

Zion Canyon from Angels Landing

The hike to Angels Landing from the canyon floor is not for the feint hearted. It’s a steep climb with 1,500 feet of elevation gain and the final section traverses the narrow ridge of Angels Landing with chains needed in some of the more exposed spots. Once on top, you’ll see why Angels Landing got its name with spectacular panoramic views of Zion Canyon that make the effort worthwhile.

False Kiva

As a class II archeological site you won’t find the False Kiva on any official maps and its location is closely guarded. It sits in an alcove in the cliff face looking out over Canyonlands with the distinctive Candlestick Butte in the distance. It was home to a group of ancient Anasazi but there is still doubt as to whether the stone circle was used as a Kiva, the room used by Puebloans for religious rituals, or some other type of dwelling, hence the ‘False’ prefix. It’s a rocky, hard to follow trail that skirts the cliff edge to get to the hidden alcove but the sensation of sharing the same view as people living over a thousand years ago is very special.

The Moki Dugway

This steep dirt road must be one of the most exciting (or hair raising depending on your appetite for heights) drives in America. The series of steep switchbacks make their way up the face of Cedar Mesa from just near Valley of the Gods. If you can bear to pull your eyes away from the road for a second, the views across the plateau towards Monument Valley are simply stunning. At the top you’ll be rewarded with Muley Point (see below).

Muley Point

I’ll go out on a limb here and say that the view from Muley Point is one of the most spectacular in the country. The journey to get there, through the Valley of the Gods, up the Moki Dugway and five miles town a bumpy dirt road, is reason enough to go. Once you’re standing on the edge of the plateau, the wind howling, clouds skittering across the sky and the land unfolding beneath you, there’s a good chance you’ll look around and realize you’re all alone. In the distance you can see Monument Valley and the canyons below are the famous ‘Gooseneck’ meanders of the San Juan River.

Grand View Point in Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands is epic in scale and a lifetime of exploration would only scratch the surface of this truly wild place. The southern most tip of the Island in the Sky district provides panoramic views of this landscape of geological wonders. Far below the Colorado and Green Rivers run their course through the deep canyons that they cut through the soft rock and running along the edge of the rim, barely visible, is the White Rim Road, a hundred miles of off road track that beckons adventure seekers.

The Amphitheater at Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce isn’t really a canyon at all but rather part of the “Grand Staircase”, a series of plateaus and cliffs that cover much of Southern Utah. Bryce sits on the Pink Cliffs and over millions of years flowing water has eroded the famous hoodoos, a seemingly never ending army of intricate rock columns.  The changing light throughout the day transforms the landscape as the sun’s rays cast different shadows and the rocks subtly change color.

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park

Being possibly one of the most photographed scenes in Utah in no way detracts from the splendor of Mesa Arch, a huge piece of natural stone architecture that frames this view. Like much of Utah, the scale of the landscape is hard to capture with a camera and if a picture is worth a thousand words then seeing it with your own eyes is worth a million.

To start planning your own tailor-made road trip to Utah please get in touch or take a look at some of our sample Utah itineraries:

An odyssey through all five of Utah’s national parks from $2,250 per person

A luxury road trip taking in the red rock and canyon country of Utah and Arizona from $4,175 per person

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