More than the eye can take in

The weekends 1000 mile drive for a 12 mile pre-ride (of awesome trails I must say) had us feeling more than a little pent up.  We did make the most of the drive though and took in the Hopi reservation, AZ 264.  A country within a country within a country, you could say.  The Hopi prefer a room with a view.  If you’ve been on top of First, Second or Third Mesa you know what I’m talking about.

We like views too.  Sunday was bright and clear and we needed to burn some kJ.  We made a beeline for the  highest point in the AZ strip and were rewarded with a view I’ve never seen from that same mountain top.  It’s always been some sort of hazy…but Sunday we could see AZ, NV, UT in big pieces.

You’ll have to click this and get the full size for the gist, but from this vantage point, in this narrow 15 degree sweep of camera lens, I can make out Black mountain, Mokaac mountain, Wolf Hole mtn, Seegmiller mtn, little Black mtn, Sand mtn, Hurrican cliffs, Little Creek mesa, Gooseberry mesa, Canaan mtn, Zion NP, the Virgin rim and the Markagunt Plateau, and the Paunsugunt plateau. 

And that is only a 15 degree sweep of the full 360…….

As I sit here writing this, I’m hit with a lightning bolt of irony.  This picture grabs me in a primal way and I couldn’t quite place why, until I realized that the first 250 miles of Trans Utah is within view.