A NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO CANYON COUNTRY (promo copy), by David Williams, Falcon Publishing, 2000, 188 pages, $22.95.
Southwest Utah includes the densest concentration of National Park land in the nation, and this new guide book covers the geology, shrubs, trees, flowers, mammals, bird, fish, reptiles, amphibians and insects found there — plus adjacent areas of northern Arizona, western Colorado and the Four Corners section of New Mexico.
Chock-full of illustrations by Gloria Brown, this is a great book for all outdoor lovers of Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase Escalante and areas in between.
Williams, who now lives in Seattle, was a ranger and naturalist at Arches, and he spent much of his nine years there working on this book, in cooperation with Canyonlands Natural History Association.
"Tiptoe around the Crypto" is a slogan he promotes to protect the Cryptobiotic soil crusts, a fragile entity in Canyon Country. He states it can take 50 to 250 years to repair the damage done by people walking on it.
On wildlife, he makes it clear that mountain lions sometimes follow hikers, but that's more out of curiosity than hunger. Should you encounter a mountain lion on a hike, Williams advises that you not run but stand tall and look as large as you can.
The book also provides a close-up on animal tracks, and the drawings in the book should be helpful to determine what tracks hikers might stumble upon.
The book is also full of interesting facts, such as there are nine species of snakes in southeast Utah, ranging in size from 15 to 72 inches in length. Williams notes that a third of all rattlesnake bites inject no poison, another third hardly inject any poison and the remaining third inject a dangerous quantity of venom.
Williams stresses hikers should never pick up rattlesnakes — even dead ones. Most rattler bites afflict males, ages 20-35, because of horseplay.
This book is not so much an in-depth guide as it is a "Reader's Digest" of southeast Utah. While the publication seems a little pricey, all pages of the book have a slick feel and would probably handle outdoor use much better than most ordinary books.
It would make a great reference guide because it gives an in-depth look at the animals, plants and geology of the area. The only drawback is that the book is 9 inches by 6 inches, which isn't exactly pocket size.
E-MAIL: lynn@desnews.com