HIKING HAPPENINGS - October 2024

Fall is high-adventure time in Moab, but there may be reasons you decide you can’t—or perhaps shouldn’t—go hiking. Weather advisories, your own or a companion’s injuries or malaise, caretaking of young children, or the previous day’s overdoing it can make it sensible to stay in camp or in town. Consider spending your rest day at Moab’s library.

Our Grand County Regional Library won (out of 50 applicants) the Best Small Library in America Award for 2007, bestowed by the Library Journal and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Our comfortable and friendly gem of a space at 257 E. Center Street contains collections of maps, books, guides, and local history of particular interest to hikers, mountaineers, climbers and boulderers, and other seekers of the outdoors.

The STACKS. In Dewey Decimal system section 917.88, you’ll find books on climbing, hiking, and camping. The books in 792.22 and 796.5 include topics of survival strategies, compass and map navigation, plus mountaineering and camping information. Even the CHILDREN’S ROOM has outdoors-oriented books (same Dewey Decimal numbers, with a “J” in front), though younger kids may find the toys, puzzles, games, and crafts more engaging. The Summer Reading Program theme for 2024 was “Adventure Begins at Your Library.” Indeed!

The MAP DRAWERS. Sheets of US Geological Survey topographical maps, complemented by some wonderful “raised topo” maps in another bin, are a delight for studying the contours, ridges, canyons, and water courses of various areas of the west. The three-dimensional maps add a tactile experience to your 2D map reading. Touching routes on these maps (carefully and with clean hands, please) allow you to truly understand the terrain.

Opposite the cardboard Dr. Who sci fi show’s TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) time machine, overseen by a cut-out of Dr. Who actor David Tennant, is the YVON CHOUINARD COLLECTION. The mountaineering and environmentalist Chouinards (Yvon and his wife Malinda Pennoyer) did a lot of climbing around Moab and generously donated their book and journal collection in 2006. After meeting the Chouinards at a wedding in Castle Valley and hearing about the new library, then-Director Eve Tallman relates how the Chouinards shipped the collection to the old library (the present-day Sheriff’s Office). Librarians and volunteers then packed those treasures into City Market shopping carts and rolled them over to the new space. Included were magazines such as Alpine Journal, Climbing, The Desert, Mountain, La Montagne et Alpinisme, Mountain Gazette, The Mountain World, The Mountain Yodel, Rock & Ice, and Summit. The books in this collection cover avalanche safety, biography, and climbing and mountaineering adventure. These resources do not circulate, so take a seat at the nearby carrels and enjoy! Rarer and more fragile materials (including author-signed books) reside in a locked cabinet, available for perusal by request.

LOCAL INTEREST (north wall). Another fascinating collection features Utah and Colorado Plateau-specific subjects from hiking and mountain biking, climbing, and bouldering to area flora and fauna, ghost towns, camping, rock art, dinosaurs, place names, geology, and sand painting art.

The PERIODICAL ROOM (northeast corner of the building) features recent and back copies of Adventure Journal, Blue Mountain Shadows, Canyon Legacy, Climbing, The Climbing Zine, Deep Wild, Outside, Rock & Ice, and The Canyon Country Zephyr, published and illustrated by the irrepressible former Moabite Jim Stiles (1949–2024). You might also catch sight of Cosmo, the library’s resident tuxedo cat. You can even purchase Cosmo merch at the front desk such as shirts, tote bags, onesies, tank tops, and hoodies. A swirly impasto painting of a tuxie cat (though not actually Cosmo himself) hangs behind the reference desk.

On your rest day, you might also explore our outdoor equipment stores plus partake of fare from our restaurants, coffee shops, and, for a more moveable feast, the food trucks along West 100 North. Our library feast, though immoveable, feeds the soul, and, frankly, is a big reason I moved to Moab.

A trip to Ireland “lit the creative spark” in silversmith Asia Raine, of Helper, Utah.

Raine was part of a group in 2012 that traveled to Ireland to help Irish women who were suffering economically from the 2008 recession. During their visit they helped build a workshop for artisans who create items from fiber, glass, and various found objects. Raine became enthralled with a hearth cushion made from goat fiber and asked to be shown how to work with fiber.

After returning to Utah, Raine ended up acquiring alpacas, and learned to weave.

Raine was also interested in working with metal and so she sought out silversmithing classes where she learned everything she could. What started out as a question “can I make that?” turned into a hobby, and then a career, she said. She eventually sold the alpacas (and donated some to a petting zoo in Salt Lake City), to concentrate on jewelry making.

Since 2014, Raine has worked with various metals – silver, gold, bronze, brass and copper – and semiprecious stones to make jewelry – necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, hat pins, and bolos. She uses bezels to set the stones. She also designs custom pieces. “Each unique jewelry piece begins with the earth elements of metal, fire, air and water,” to become wearable art, says Raine’s web site. “I see myself as a translator between element and human and find myself acting as a soul alchemist for those who wish to invite a power amulet or talisman into their world.”

You can find her hand-crafted jewelry online, at Moab Made, 82 N. Main St., and Desert Wild, 79 N. Main St., in Moab, and at the Sundance Mountain Resort, as well as her studio in Helper. Raine teaches classes in silversmithing at Sundance, and in Moab – in partnership with Moab Made.

Raine used to sell her one-of-a-kind jewelry at art fairs around the western United States. These days she participates in just two – the Moab Arts Festival in May, and the Helper Arts Fair in August – preferring to spend the bulk of her time teaching, and creating jewelry for sale at retail shops.

Raine’s teaching is not limited to just Utah. In 2015, Raine was invited to travel to India on a Makers Mission out of Provo. She spent five weeks in India teaching impoverished women and girls how to make jewelry. Other volunteers on the trip taught sewing to the women.

To view a gallery of Raine’s jewelry designs visit: asiarainedesigns.com

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is excited to announce the 2024 Canyon Country Artist in Residence — Suzanne Jackson of Basalt, CO. Jackson will be with us October 8–29, adventuring out in this glorious landscape to inspire her beautiful plein air paintings and sketches.

This is the 3rd year for the Canyon Country Artist-in-Residence program. Art is a unique way to promote appreciation of the variety of landscapes within the Canyon Country District and increase knowledge about the BLM’s mission. This year’s residency is being hosted by the Moab Field Office.

Jackson comes from a long background in landscape design and has held roles in private organizations and with public land management agencies, such as the National Forest Service. She is an avid hiker and backpacker and is enthusiastic about spending time on the river — having been on trips through Alaska and the Grand Canyon. She has been busy with plein air events and various art and landscape projects of late and is very excited to be joining us for the residency here in Moab! Jackson hopes to share her love of the outdoors and the “magical connection between people and nature.”

“I love the varied landscapes of the Colorado Plateau and look forward to the opportunity to immerse myself in the beautiful and dramatic landscapes of Utah’s Canyon Country where I can continue to develop my creative expression through sketching and watercolor painting,” said BLM Canyon Country District Artist in Residence selectee Suzanne Jackson.

Side by side of Suzanne Jackson crouching in a field with flowers and a water color painting of a sage grouse by Jackson.

“We see the Artist in Residence program as a conduit for inspiration, education, and the promotion of public lands stewardship,” said BLM Moab Field Manager Dave Pals. “We welcome Suzanne Jackson and are excited to see her connect and engage with the community and visitors as she creates her art.”

The Canyonlands Natural History Association is excited to partner with BLM for their Artist in Residence program,” said CNHA Operations Manager Joleen Thornsberry. “This program not only provides artists with a unique opportunity to engage deeply with the unique environment of SE Utah but also allows our visitors to experience art in new and transformative ways. We look forward to the inspiring work that will emerge from this collaboration.”

To learn more about the program, visit the BLM Canyon Country District Artist in Residence website.

And be sure to mention you read about it in Moab Happenings.