Lone Tree

The Paria Plateau, located on the Utah/Arizona border between Kanab and Page, harbors an extraordinary collection of geologic formations.

One of those is Buckskin Gulch, a "slot" canyon, considered to be one of the world's longest measuring in at about 12 miles in length. Backpackers and hikers often make a two day trip to visit this remote canyon by hiking in from Wire Pass, travelling down the entire 12 miles on the first day and then hiking out an additional seven miles the following day by walking up the Paria River Canyon.

The canyon is mostly a narrow channel carved into the surrounding sandstone with little vegetation. Frequent flash floods tend to rip out most trees so only fast growing plants like grasses tend to survive. So when we spotted this one lone box elder tree that had probably survived numerous threats to its tenuous existence, we took this photo, using the surrounding rock to frame it and allow the bright green color to contrast the rust/orange canyon rock.

Photo taken May, 2008