This e-book is a compilation of patterns created during Virginia Catherall’s tenure as 2015 Artist-in-Residence in Black Rock Desert National Conservation Area.

As a knitting and textile artist, my work has a close affinity to the land. My art echoes the geography of my place; a type of knitting “terroir” that brings my home into the forefront of my life. Many of my works focus on interpreting the science, geography, and biology of an ecosystem within the traditional craft of knitting. And because of this study and practice, I have come to hone my thinking about environmentalism, conservation, and preservation of the land.

This collection of knitting patterns was created in conjunction with an art installation made for the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts in summer 2016 for the Natural Threads exhibition. The art installation explored the idea of identity using trees as a metaphor.

Clark’s Nutcracker is a key element in a complex but

If you are lucky enough to see a Calliope Hummingbird in Glacier National Park, take note of its vibrant gorget. A gorget is a patch of colored feathers found on the throat of male hummingbirds. Gorgets are typically iridescent. and the Calliope sports a beautiful fuchsia patch that can be seen even when he is flitting about the park. This artw...

Green Lacewings have little veins criss-crossing their wings which makes them incredibly flexible. The veins allow lacewings to fly forwards, backwards, and side to side. This dexterity makes them efficient hunters of pesky insects like mosquitoes and gnats. These delicate small hunters can be found all over Glacier National Park in the summer ...

The view of the Livingston Mountains Range from the east side of Lake McDonald is spectacular. The soaring green peaks at the height of summer are one of the most photographed vistas in Glacier National Park, with Mt. Cannon taking center stage. Be sure to wrap up because even in summer, mountain viewing in this part of the world can be chilly....

I wanted to savor all the time spent as Artist-in-Residence at Glacier National Park in June 2023. This meant consciously looking, observing and being present for what I was seeing and doing. This scarf is a visual representation of what I did and saw during my time living in the park. The pattern gives a recipe for how you can document a lengt...

The beauty of Saint Mary Falls cannot be overstated. With its fast current and roiling turquoise waters, it is a must see at Glacier National Park. The blue-green color is created when fine glacial material known as rock flour floods into the lakes and river during snowmelt. Rock flour is very light, and stays suspended in the water. When the l...

Avalanches send tons of snow ripping down steep mountainsides. They follow the jagged avalanche-carved valleys made over millennia. These chutes are stripped bare of vegetation allowing new tender shoots to come up every year, feeding the diverse wildlife in Glacier National Park. This artwork and pattern was produced as Artist-in-Residence at ...

The stunning turquoise at Grinnell Lake in Glacier National Park is created from the rock flour accumulated from Grinnell Glacier. Rock flour is very light, and stays suspended in the water. When the light hits the surface the silt distorts the wavelengths of light, reflecting back more of the green and blue end of the spectrum; making beautifu...

Beargrass is prolific in Glacier National Park where it lines up along meadows, bright white blossoms standing starkly against the blue sky. As a member of the lily family and not actually a grass, beargrass is also known as soap grass, quip-quip, and Indian basket grass and is a favorite of the bears in the park who use it to line their dens (...

Fireweed is abundant in Glacier National Park. Its bright purple flowers thrive in open meadows, roadsides and forest edges. Fireweed’s name comes from its ability to grow rapidly in areas affected by fire. With seeds that spread quickly by wind, Fireweed can dominate a meadow, bathing the land with vibrant color. This artwork and pattern was p...

Thimbleberries can be found all over lower elevations of Glacier National Park. A member of the rose family, they look like raspberries but are smaller and very tart. Everyone loves thimbleberries, from sparrows to grizzly bears to hikers, they are treat to find on the trail. This artwork and pattern was produced as Artist-in-Residence at Glaci...

Ranunculus jovis or Utah Buttercup is a small five petaled flower that is native to the intermountain west. With its tiny stature, it is easy to overlook but if you are lucky to find one hold it under your chin. As this children’s game says, if your chin shines yellow, you like butter. (The glossy petals are actually reflective due to their uni...

Waterpockets are incredibly important to the desert ecosystem. These natural potholes hold ephemeral water after rains and can be lifesaving for many animals including humans. Capitol Reef National Park has so many in the cliffs above the town of Fruita that the monoclinal wrinkle in the earth’s crust there is named after them: The Waterpocket ...

Cherry blossom petals float

In late October 2019, unique mineral mounds began forming on the south shore of Great Salt Lake. They are not composed of common table salt but mirabilite from underground springs. When the sodium-sulfate-rich spring water hits the cold winter air, mirabilite crystals form and build up a collection of small circular terraces. Spring-fed crystal...

Seedpods are as varied as the plants that grow them. From puffballs to pinecones and acorns to tricorns, they come in all shapes and sizes. These vessels were inspired by seedpods I have found throughout Utah’s forests, deserts, and mountains.

This wearable art is based on a Truism by Jenny Holzer. Holzer’s Truisms are an ongoing series of maxims that are meant to spark conversation and have become part of the public domain. The words of Jenny Holzer have been posted on storefronts, scrolled on giant screens in Times Square, shown in LED lights spiraling up the Guggenheim atrium, and...

In conceptual art, the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished object. As artist Sol LeWitt famously said, “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” Think of the idea as a set of instructions that determines how the artwork will be made. Some conceptual artworks—LeWitt’s Wall Drawings for instance—can be mad...

In an effort to be self-sufficient, 19th century Mormon Pioneers in Utah began raising their own silkworms to create a silk industry in the West. Silkworms must feed on mulberry leaves so LDS Church leader Brigham Young ordered 100,000 mulberry trees from France to be planted around Utah. Although Utah’s sericulture was a failed enterprise, the...

Most rock at Capitol Reef National Park is sedimentary, formed in layers from loose materials, like mud and sand. 225 million years ago silt and clay settled in the quiet waters of mud flats and coastal flood plains creating what scientists call the Moenkopi Formation. The younger band of gray above the Moenkopi is called Shinarump from the Chi...

The gnarled Fremont cottonwood tree in the heart of the Fruita Historic District in Capitol Reef National Park has had a long life. Planted in the late 1800s, it has lived longer than expected. Starting in 1918, it was the place where mail was transferred from a carrier in Torrey to another carrier continuing downriver. Later, mailboxes were at...

The historic town of Fruita, within Capitol Reef National Park, is no longer inhabited by pioneers. But visitors can still pick ripe fruit from the lush orchards under the looming orange cliffs of the Waterpocket Fold. This artwork was produced under the Artist in Residence Program at Capitol Reef National Park.

The Castle is one of the most recognizable formation in Capitol Reef National Park, It is made of Wingate Sandstone formed about 200 million years ago. Wingate is known for its blocky, vertical cliffs giving the appearance of turrets, crenellations, and towers. This artwork was produced under the Artist in Residence Program at Capitol Reef Nati...

Rabbitbrush is a member of the Aster family with yellow flower heads arranged in dense, rounded or flat-topped clusters at the ends of the branches. Rabbitbrush flowers bloom from August to October as other plants are fading, providing vivid fall color against the red rock canyon walls in Capitol Reef. This artwork was produced under the Artist...

Strike Valley can be seen from a spectacular overlook in Capitol Reef National Park. It is named for the geological feature where a valley runs parallel to the strike of underlying rocks. From the overlook, you can easily see the 100-mile meandering valley of roads, streams, and strikes. With the Waterpocket Fold to the west and the rugged clif...

Wingate sandstone is found all over the Colorado Plateau and is one of the stars of Capitol Reef National Park. Forming sheer cliffs and spectacular bluffs it ranges in color from light yellow to dark orange to rusty red depending on its age of oxidation. This artwork was produced under the Artist in Residence Program at Capitol Reef National P...

Nearly 10,000 feet of sedimentary strata were deposited in Capitol Reef National Park. This layer upon layer of sedimentary rock records nearly 200 million years of geologic history. Rock layers in Capitol Reef reveal ancient environments as varied as rivers, swamps, deserts, and shallow oceans. Fossils found in these rocks give clues that thes...

The historic town of Fruita, within Capitol Reef National Park, is no longer inhabited by Mormon pioneers. But visitors can still pick ripe fruit from the lush orchards under the looming orange cliffs of the Waterpocket Fold. This artwork was produced under the Artist in Residence Program at Capitol Reef National Park.

Pickleweed is abundant in the liminal edges of Great Salt Lake. Around the most saline part of the salt marshes, pickleweed thrives by expelling salt from its cells to outer leaf tissue. As the days grow shorter and cooler this leaf tissue begins to change to a brilliant red color contrasting and mixing with the green pickled stems.

I am walking along the shoreline of Great Salt Lake, the scent of brine is thick in the air. As my feet scuff the dark grey sand, a bright glimpse of pink shines through­—a hidden underlayer of blush salt like a glimmering secret shrouded by dull monotony. My own secret the lake has confided in me. An expanse of archaea lies inches beneath my f...

The lake effect happens quite often over Great Salt Lake resulting in big snowfalls in a short amount of time. Lake Effect snow is made when cold winds move across warmer lake water. The air picks up water vapor, which then freezes and falls on the shores of the lake. It makes for great gray clouds and beautiful snow.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are in abundance in the spring at Bear Lake Migratory Bird Refuge on the shores of Great Salt Lake. These brightly colored birds nest in the tall rushes and grasses of the wetlands. Their flashy yellow and black plumage demand attention as they roost and fly along the shores.

The long lasting foam on Great Salt Lake is one of its unique features. Foam is caused by waves making bubbles but it cannot form on high surface-tension water like very salty lakes. But Great Salt Lake has abundant phytoplankton that create a surfactant or soap-like substance. This surfactant lowers the surface tension allowing large quantitie...

Salt deposits along the shores of Great Salt Lake have been harvested for culinary purposes for millennia. Father Escalante’s journal of 1776 described how native American Indians used the salt deposits. Mountain man Jedediah Smith harvested Great Salt Lake salt and even John Fremont and Kit Carson commented on how easy it was to pick up salt o...

On the southern tip of Antelope Island called Unicorn Point lies some 1.7 billion year old gneiss. Gneiss comes from the old German word gneist or “spark” announcing the glittery veins in the rock. This otherworldly rock is made of feldspar with pink bands of granite and quartz wandering and dancing through the formation, glittering and sparkin...

Sunrise on Bonneville Salt Flats in western Utah is a spectacular showstopper. The thin layer of water on smooth white salt reflects all the oranges and blues of a rising sun. This symmetrical landscape can make you off kilter and gives the impression that you are walking in the sky.

Phragmites is a serious concern in many Utah wetlands around Great Salt Lake. Extensive dense thickets of these tall reeds crowd out native plants such as saltgrass and block sunlight from reaching the water. But despite their invasive nature, they are still beautiful.

Navigating Salt Lake City can be made easier with an interactive map that also keeps you warm. Why use tech when a scarf is a more tactile way to find your destination? Pin your favorite hangout or mark your starting place. This map of Salt Lake City can be your companion around town and won’t run out of batteries.

Utah has several thousand species of fungi, quite amazing for a high desert. From delicately edible to the most deadly, mushrooms grow in many places around the state. Mushroom spotting is a great way to spend a day outdoors but you might need a shrug to fend off the damp environment that mushrooms love.

On August 8, 2016 a fire was reported in the Strawberry Creek area of Great Basin National Park. Started by lightning, the Strawberry Fire burned more than 4,000 acres before it was contained. The complete devastation of the forest left black trees in stark contrast to their surroundings. Leaving no doubt about nature’s power. This artwork was ...

Wild roses flourish in the cool and moist shaded trails in Great Basin National Park. During spring and summer, you can see the five-petalled pink flowers but it is in the fall that their beauty shines. The plump red rose hips dot the foliage as well as the bare stalks after the leaves have fallen. The hips, high in vitamin C, were eaten and ma...

Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park is an underground gem known for its highly decorated chambers. The diversity of formations, or speleothems, is so great, that one would have to travel to countless caves to see everything that can be seen in this cave system. The stalactites and stalagmites alone inspire wonder and awe in the ancient ar...

The Leave No Trace ethos is the most widely accepted outdoor ethics program used on public lands. It teaches people of all ages how to enjoy the outdoors responsibly. Among several principles is the notion of “Leave What You Find” including rocks, plants, and natural materials. These mittens are the perfect solution to remember your adventure w...

Horsetail or Equisetum grows in wet sandy soil and can be seen in riparian habitats in Great Basin National Park. The stems grow from a rhizome deep underground and sport nodes along their length. The spacing pattern of the nodes, where they get closer together near the top, inspired John Napier to discover logarithms. The nodes of the horsetai...

The Great Basin Pocket Mouse can be found in sagebrush desert and piñon-juniper woodland. Which makes the Great Basin National Park the ideal place to live for this small rodent. The pocket mouse loves to eat seeds and nuts and often makes a pinecone littered forest floor its home. This artwork was produced under the Darwin Lambert Artist in Re...

The fragile decorations in Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park range from common stalactites and stalagmites to abundant popcorn and soda straws to more than 300 cave shields. One beautiful formation of popcorn is called the Rose Trellis. The popcorn on the columns is so thick that it looks like a lush overgrown garden of stone. This artw...

Gathering pinyon pine nuts is a great way to experience the fall bounty of Great Basin National Park. The single-leaf pinyon, Pinus monophylla, is an abundant tree found between 6,000 and 9,000 feet. The nuts produced by these pines have been important to Native Americans and animals for millennia. Gathering pine nuts within Great Basin Nationa...

September in Great Basin National Park is a fall color paradise. Chilly nights bring spectacular color to the mountain landscape. Yellow and orange aspens mix with deep green pines and firs to create a calico collage on the mountains. This artwork was produced under the Darwin Lambert Artist in Residence Program at Great Basin National Park.

Rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) is a member of the Aster family and is related to sagebrush. The yellow flower heads are arranged in dense, rounded or flat-topped clusters at the ends of the branches. American Indians reportedly used rabbitbrush as a yellow dye, to make a medicinal tea, as well as for chewing gum. The species name “nau...

Although Great Basin National Park is a desert, it has a wide variety of ecosystems. Ranging in elevation from 5,000 - 13,000 feet, deserts and playas, give way to mountains and glaciers. With such drastic elevation changes there is an impressive diversity of plant species. Including Pinyon, Ponderosa, Limber and Bristlecone, these diverse pine...

Mountain mahogany is not a true mahogany but instead is in the rose family. It gets its name from the dense, heavy wood, which sinks in water. This shrubby, slow-growing tree thrives where other plants struggle: rocky, gravelly slopes in high mountain areas, with little water and plenty of sun. When it rains, the sweet licorice smell of the mou...

Red-winged blackbirds are a familiar site in Great Basin National Park. They can be spotted in marshy fields and the grassy edges of wetlands. The males’ beautiful red and yellow shoulder patches stand in stark contrast to their deep black feathers. Singing atop cattails, the males flaunt their epaulets making a showy spectacle for their female...

Juniper is one of the most abundant and widely scattered trees in Great Basin National Park. It is typically found growing among pinyon and sagebrush. They are very hearty and can live to be 650 years old. Juniper berries are the female seed cone (not a true berry) with unusually fleshy and merged scales making it look like a berry. The berries...

Stella and Teresa are two small alpine lakes that lie in the shadow of Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park. Their emerald green color is created when fine glacial material known as rock flour floods into the lakes during snowmelt. Rock flour is very light, and stays suspended in the water. When the light hits the surface the rock flour di...

The dazzling colors of September in Great Basin National Park are not only limited to the high mountain aspens. The lower sagebrush ecosystem is vibrant with colors that sing under the intense blue sky of the dry desert. This artwork was produced under the Darwin Lambert Artist in Residence Program at Great Basin National Park.

Coyote willow thrives in the Great Basin where it is a pioneering species; one of the first to colonize flood deposits. It is primarily found along rivers and streams where it provides shelter for many animals and is the favorite food of beavers. American Indians used willow for basket weaving as well as to reduce fever and relieve pain because...

As an official Dark Sky Park, Great Basin National Park has some of the most beautiful views of the night sky. The early fall constellations provide the best of both worlds with summer constellations still visible but winter constellations beginning to make their debut. Still having the opportunity to be enveloped by starlit skies is one reason...

Aspens in September in Great Basin National Park don’t just turn yellow, they turn every shade of red and orange as well. This is due to anthocyanins, chemicals that produce red and orange colors in leaves when the green chlorophyll of summer begins to fade. Although it is a genetic trait only present in some trees, much of the brilliant red-or...

Almost anything that gets captured in Great Salt Lake is eventually pickled. The briny waters, nine times more salty than the ocean, desiccate any flora or fauna that gets too close. Pickled driftwood is a common sight. Coming from the more verdant foothills or just falling off a truck, it eventually gets bleached and salted arguably giving it ...

The sego lily thrives in the harsh deserts of Utah but its once ubiquitous blooms are now more scarce. Sego is a Shoshonean word thought to mean “edible bulb.” Native Americans taught the Utah Mormon pioneers of 1848-49 to eat the small sego lily bulb to help ward off starvation. In 1911 it was made the state flower of Utah and during the First...

Tundra swans migrate through the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in Utah twice each year. In the fall, about 40,000 swans fly through on their way to California where they spend the winter. Then in the spring, they fly back to the Arctic tundra. With a massive wingspan of up to six feet a wedge of Tundra Swans can dominate the skies du...

Korean stewartia (Stewartia koreana)

California redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)

Paperbark cherry (Prunus serrula)

Blue palo verde (Parkinsonia florida)

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera)

Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana)

Rainbow eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta)

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)

Bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva)

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

American beech (Fagus grandifolia)

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides)

The Wasatch mountain range in the American West is the western-most edge of the Rocky Mountains and marks the beginning of the Great Basin. The intersection of the flat desert basin and the tall mountains provides heavy snowfalls that feed the mountain lakes and rivers. Autumn is an especially beautiful time on the Wasatch Front. Red scrub oak ...

Great Basin wildrye is a common native grass of western North America and grows abundantly around Great Salt Lake. Because it grows up to 8 feet tall, it rises above the deep snow providing food for foraging animals in the winter. Seeds of Basin wildrye were commonly eaten by many American Indians in the Great Basin, the stems were used in bask...

Virginia Creeper, sometimes called woodbine, is found in eastern and central North America as well as Utah, one of the only western states where it is native. It has five leaves centered on each stem and grows rapidly covering anything in its path. It has brilliant red foliage in the fall that drapes beautifully like a shawl on whatever it has ...

Artemisia tridentata, or sagebrush, is the state flower of Nevada. Native to the North American west, this member of the daisy family flourishes in dry deserts like the Great Basin. In Black Rock Desert, you can stand in a panorama of receding sagebrush and see nothing else but the mountains on the horizon, surrounded by the pungent fragrance o...

A cyanometer is an instrument for measuring the blueness of the sky. It was invented in 1789 by scientist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure who correctly surmised that blueness was dependent on the amount of water vapor suspended in the atmosphere. In the Great Basin of the American West, the dry desert air makes the sky rest firmly in the bluest are...

A flat lakebed ringed by rugged and rocky mountains make up the minimalist landscape of the Black Rock Desert Playa. A vast plain gives the sense of endless sand surrounded by a band of umber mountains with the wide expanse of blue sky open above. This sense of being laid bare is unique to such a flat, open and remote place as Black Rock Desert...

Although saltgrass thrives on the edges of the playa in Black Rock Desert, it is rarely noticed by visitors awed by the vast space of the dry lake bed. It quietly grows in the alkaline soil expelling salts from its leaves through salt glands. This unassuming plant is vital in stitching together the edges of the playa and maintaining the ecosyst...

Soldier Meadows, north of the playa in Black Rock Desert, is a high plateau wilderness that is desolate, unique, and vastly beautiful. A critical habitat for many plants and animals, the varied colored landscape is alive with wildlife. The lone cabin is first-come-first-use and can give you complete solitude in a sea of desert color. This piece...

The Calico Mountains range in Black Rock Desert is named because of its colorful rock layers. One of the mountains in this range, Mormon Dan Peak also stands out with its jagged rock formations. Like a slash by a giant hand, the tilted and rugged rocks formed by millennia of geologic unrest attest to the severe and wild landscape around Black R...

In the spring rains the Black Rock Desert playa is saturated with water. When the rains stop the large lakebed begins to dry out creating a mosaic of mud cracks that decorate the flat expanse. Although these mud cracks are formed randomly, they create a beautiful pattern. This piece was created as an Artist-in-Residence at Black Rock Desert Na...

In the spring and summer the Black Rock Desert in Nevada is dotted with brilliant Indian paintbrush wildflowers. This native plant has bright red bracts that are often confused for their flowers, which are small and inconspicuous. When walking the desert, you feel surrounded by the spiky red plants as if you are wrapped in paintbrushes. This s...

Just east of the Nevada Black Rock Desert is a small hot springs that is a haven for frogs. The Frog Pond creates its own little ecosystem in a very dry area with shady trees, water grasses, and other frog friendly plants. Although the pond is swimming with frogs, trying to catch one can be elusive, unless you knit it into your clothes. This pi...

Fly Geyser is a man-made geothermal geyser just outside of Black Rock Desert. It was inadvertently created in 1964 while drilling for sources of geothermal energy. Water is constantly being released, rising up to five feet in the air, and over the decades dissolved minerals have built up the diverse mounds and pools around the spring. But the m...

Fly Canyon in the High Rock Lake Wilderness was formed about 11,800 years ago when water from High Rock Lake cut the rough canyon walls. Violent whirlpools of water and rock drilled holes in the streambed creating unique potholes on the canyon floor. The violent birth of the canyon is nonetheless beautiful, the sheer canyon walls, dappled with ...

In the hot dry playa of Black Rock Desert, dust devils can always be seen on the horizon. Formed when hot air near the ground breaks suddenly through an overlying layer of cooler air, they spiral up dragging dust and debris with them into the blue sky. Dust devils dance across the desert, sometimes two or three together, proclaiming the undenia...

The Calico Mountains west of the Black Rock Desert playa are colorful peaks rising above a sea of gray and green sagebrush. The rugged mountains shine in the desert with amber, orange, and yellow rocks. The array of minerals that make up the mountains contribute to the eponymous color of the Calico Mountains. This piece was created as an Artist...

Every year on the Black Rock Desert Playa a festival of immense proportions takes place called Burning Man. With around 70,000 participants in the festival, a temporary city is created for one week called Black Rock City. It is arranged as a series of concentric streets in an arc around the Burning Man sculpture. Radial streets called Avenues e...

The Black Rock Desert gets an average of 7” of rainfall annually. But sometimes in the spring the monsoon rains bring a deluge, saturating the playa and surrounding mountains. Some of these cloudbursts can be seen from miles away. This piece was created as an Artist-in-Residence at Black Rock Desert National Conservation Area.

Great Salt Lake is a remnant of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville that covered the Great Basin in the Western United States. It is a vast body of water saltier than the ocean, an inland sea of great beauty, tranquility and fierceness.

Great Salt Lake is a diverse ecosystem. From wetlands to salt marshes, the lake has more variety than you might initially think. This diversity is expressed in the lake’s color. Not just blue, the lake displays a myriad of hues. From bright red in the north arm to deep green in the marshes, Great Salt Lake cannot be described with just one colo...

Rattlers are everywhere in the west deserts of America, the most common in Utah is the Great Basin Rattlesnake. Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that have a rattle on the end of their tails, whose rattling, hissing sound can strike fear in any- one who stumbles upon them. This snake can live anywhere; plain, mountain, desert, and even the city....

The Great Salt Lake shoreline is an ever-changing geography. Maps of the lake often need to show approximations of the lake’s boundaries, with a high point and low point outline. This fluctuation is routine for people and animals that live along the banks and make for a beautifully vibrant ecosystem. This cowl is knit using wool from sheep rais...

The Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) is the most dominant species of tree in Utah; they cover nearly one-fifth of the state. They are also very hearty and can live to be 650 years old. Juniper berries are the female seed cone (not a true berry) with unusually fleshy and merged scales making it look like a berry. The berries can be dried and...

In technical terms mirabilite, also called Glauber’s salt, is a sodium sulfate salt used in the production of salt cake. It is harvested from evaporation ponds on Great Salt Lake in the cold winter months and was named by Johann Rudolph Glauber who synthesized it. More poetically, mirabilite’s name is based on the Latin phrase Sal mirabilis or ...

Lichens are everywhere. They are hearty little fungi/algae/bacteria that thrive in the harshest environment, including the high salty desert of Great Salt Lake. The partnership between the fungi and the algae or cyanobacteria within the lichen allows it to survive with little water and extreme heat or cold. An ordinary and ubiquitous rock found...

On May 10, 1869 the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads were connected at Promontory Point, Utah on the northern end of Great Salt Lake. A golden spike was driven in the ties to commemorate the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. The event was broadcast around the world with telegraph wires wrapped around the spike and...

The salt crystals that form on the edges of Great Salt Lake are beautiful and varied. On rare occasions, the halite crystals grow so rapidly, the interior does not have time to form, creating a geometric hoppered shape. These hopper salt crystals can be removed from the lake bed like pulling teeth, giving you a perfect crystal of receding conce...

The largest open pit copper mine in the world is Bingham Canyon Mine in the Oquirrh Mountains by Salt Lake City, Utah. Now called Kennecott Copper Mine, the mine has been in existence for over 150 years. It produces 300,000 tons of copper per year, providing 13% of the US copper needs and 33% of the valley’s pollution.

Utah has several thousand species of fungi, quite amazing for a high desert. From delicately edible to the most deadly, mushrooms grow in many places around the state. One of the most beautiful is also a poisoner, Russula emetica, commonly called the sickener. This red-capped beauty is found in Utah’s pine forests and can make you wish you neve...

Sarah Turner was just 9 years old in 1840 England when she knit a sampler. After converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), she relocated to the Utah Territory in the US. Sarah and her sister left England alone, traveling by way of New Orleans and St. Louis. At the age of eighteen, Sarah walked from Missouri to the...

Jasmine Sidewinder #91 (1969) is a unique minimalist painting by Gene Davis in the collection of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Its long, 10-foot stripes have an ordered monotony as they march along; that is until the cacophony of color along the side breaks up the rhythm and adds a syncopation that is irresistible. It makes one want to wrap the...

Quaking aspens are the ubiquitous tree in Utah. Seen as a scourge in the city because you can never, NEVER, get rid of them, they are nevertheless a beautiful tree. In the summer, their brilliant green leaves shimmer and shake and tremble with the slightest breeze. In the fall, they have a blazing yellow circle of a leaf and the bare white and ...

The Utah roundmouth snail is a species of freshwater snail first described by Richard Ellsworth Call in 1884 from specimens collected at Utah Lake. Despite having lived in Utah for over 4 million years, today the unfortunate snail is now extirpated in the state. Except for this cute version that you can knit and wear to try and reintroduce it t...

An iconic landmark of the Great Salt Lake, Black Rock is one of the most reproduced images by local artists from the last 150 years. Historically, people flocked to the area to swim, picnic and enjoy the lake. But in the last couple decades, the area has declined, seeing graffiti along the base of the rock and rubbish everywhere. Despite its fa...

In the northeast corner of Great Salt Lake is a remote stretch of land called Rozel Point. This wild part of Utah was chosen by Robert Smithson in 1970 as the sight of his iconic earthwork Spiral Jetty. To Smithson, its isolated setting was an important part of the work; viewing the art was a journey both physical and metaphysical. A winter jou...

In the northeast corner of the Great Salt Lake is a remote stretch of land called Rozel Point. This wild part of Utah was chosen by Robert Smithson in 1970 as the sight of his iconic earthwork Spiral Jetty. To Smithson, its isolated setting was an important part of the work; viewing the art was a journey both physical and metaphysical. A winter...

Great Salt Lake is surrounded by basalt. This black igneous rock is in stark contrast to white salt fields created by the receding lake. Sharp geometric rock rises above the salt bed creating a study in contrasts. And creating the inspiration for these randomly geometric gloves made from wool and cotton/silver. They are knit with SilverSpun yar...

Salt Lake City, near the shores of the Great Salt Lake is an urban environment of steel, stone, concrete, and glass. Its geometric lines and man-made structures are in sharp contrast to the organic profile of the Wasatch Front. The Urban Cape echoes the concrete and steel materials of the city in tension with the soft and draping fabric. But wi...

Salt Lake City, near the shores of the Great Salt Lake is an urban environment of steel, stone, concrete, and glass. Its geometric lines and man-made structures are in sharp contrast to the organic profile of the Wasatch Front. Dwarfed by the mountains, the skyline still shines bright and beautiful among the breath-taking views of the valley. T...

Park City, East of Salt Lake City is a mining town with a rich history of booms and busts. One of the most interesting stories is Utah’s Silver Queen, Susanna Egera Bransford Emery Holmes Delitch Engalitcheff. She was a woman lucky enough to strike it rich after investing in the Silver King mine in Park City in the late 1800s. Over the years sh...

Sodium Chloride (NaCl) or salt crystals are very rigid and structured but each salt crystal is shaped different as the crystals compound on one another. This random growth in a rigid form creates beautiful salt structures that, like snowflakes, are unique.

Red Butte Creek, a beautiful stream that feeds the Great Salt Lake through the Jordan River, is surrounded by birch, cottonwood and chokecherry. It is a perennial stream that has created a narrow-based canyon with abruptly rising sides. The creek comes out of Red Butte Canyon, the smallest canyon of the seven canyons in eastern Salt Lake County...

When the Mormon pioneers first came into the Salt Lake Valley in July of 1847 they immediately began homesteading. They made crude houses and foraged for food. Because the planting season had already passed, they would have to wait until the next year to plant wheat and other grains. So in 1848 when their first harvest was ripening, it was a jo...

The Bingham (now Kennecott) Copper Mine in Salt Lake County, Utah is one of the largest open pit copper mines in the world. In the 1800s the small mine was worked by many residents of Lark, Utah, a small mining town in the Oquirrh Mountains. As the mine grew, it displaced both mountain and town. Since 1978 the town of Lark no longer exists havi...

One of the most iconic mountains on the Wasatch Front, the westernmost edge of the Rocky Mountains, is Mount Timpanogos. It is a mountain that is so recognizable because of an American Indian legend that everyone knows, but is totally made up. The legend says that an Indian maiden, Utahna, committed suicide by throwing herself off the mountain ...

Oolitic sand is an unusual sediment found around the Great Salt Lake. The sand, instead of forming grains of minerals, is formed within the Lake and composed of tiny rounded oolites. An oolite has a shell of concentric layers of calcium carbonate around a central core. Oolites form in shallow, wave-agitated water, rolling along the lake bottom ...

The Sugarhouse neighborhood in Salt Lake City is named after the sugar factory that was started in 1853 to process sugar beets. Although the endeavor was a failure, today everyone needs something to keep their wrists warm when digging for beets.

The Stansbury Mountains lie south of the Great Salt Lake but are mostly overlooked by Salt Lakers because they can’t really be seen over the Oquirrhs. The mountain range is named for Howard Stansbury who was a major in the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers and led a two-year expedition in 1849 to survey the Great Salt Lake. With high peaks ...

The beautiful Oquirrh Mountains are the western border of Salt Lake County. The name, pronounced like “Ochre,” has nothing to do with the mineral or the color; it comes from a Goshute word meaning “Wooded Mountain.” Although, with canyon names like Yellow Fork Canyon and Butterfield Canyon, the idea of yellow has always been associated with the...

Brown’s Fort is the first Mormon settlement in Ogden, Utah. The 160-year-old pear tree that is planted on the site does not bear fruit anymore. But you can still pick pears from a ten-year-old tree grafted from the historic pear nearby.

In 1954, Dr. Eugene Cottam and graduate student Rudy Drobnick discovered a hybrid oak in the Oquirrh Mountains south of the Great Salt Lake. After years of research, the two scientists hybridized many species of oaks and planted them in Cottam’s Grove in Red Butte Garden near the University of Utah. These oaks are known for their large acorns.

When the Huber family settled near Wasatch Mountain in Northern Utah in the late 1800s, they planted 350 apple trees, 80 of which are still alive and producing. You can help harvest apples from these historical trees every fall and get rare apples like Wealthy, Yellow Transparent, or Red Astrakan.

Antelope Island is the largest island in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. It is a rugged landscape with some of the oldest rocks on earth, 1.7 billion year-old gneiss. It is also home to a unique herd of Bison not seen anywhere else. This scarf captures water, grass, mountain, and clouds – the beautiful progression of nature on the island.

Utah’s West Desert is full of insects, hardy plants, and great stretches of desolate wilderness. But the muted colors and stark landscape are beautifully serene. Dusty colors from natural dyes echo the colors from the West Desert and contrast with the tans and browns of the desert background.

Wildfires are abundant in Utah in the summer. They ravage mountains and sometimes homes. But in all that destruction, there is an elegance to the fire. The orange line of flames with the dark gray smoke above has its own fierce beauty.

The shores of the Great Salt Lake in spring are inundated by brine flies, like big black clouds floating just off the ground. They are an important part of the Lake’s ecosystem, but darned annoying. A headband is called for on these spring outings to keep the flies at bay.

The Great Salt Lake can be up to 27% salt, while the world’s oceans average 3.5%. Large salt beds are created when vast areas of the shallow lake evaporate leaving the mineral behind. A carpet of crystals blanket the desert leaving the landscape caustic and white.

The Great Salt Lake can be up to 27% salt, while the world’s oceans average 3.5%. Called halite, the structure is an isometric crystal and therefore geometric, orderly, and stable.Yet the crystalline structure can only be seen through a microscope…or the Halite Choker.

In the West Desert by the Great Salt Lake stands a minimalist sculpture that is the only vertical element in a strictly horizontal landscape. Karl Momen’s sculpture The Tree of Utah (Metaphor) stands as an other-worldly waypoint for travelers to Nevada. Its funky balls atop a concrete trunk seem to be shedding their skin with giant seed pods li...

With its criss-crossing arms and pylons, the dynamic lines of the Lucin Cutoff Railroad Trestle in the Great Salt Lake evoke a man-made forest of topless trees. The trestle was in use from 1903 until 1959 and now the salt-soaked brown timbers are being reclaimed and recycled.

Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake is an awe-inspiring earthwork that can only sometimes be seen. Most often it is hidden under a sea of salt water with just the hint of waves rippling over the spiral basalt structure.

The Haloarchaea bacteria in the Great Salt Lake make the water pink and orange creating a beautiful and strange landscape. These mitts were inspired by the colorful, salty waters.

The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah are beautiful and terrible. The large flat expanse of white is rimmed by salt covered rocks at the near edge. They say that the salt desert is so flat you can see the curvature of the earth.