Best Made Dispatch from Utah: The First Few Days

The closest I’ve come to Utah is New Mexico, where I spent 12 days hiking through Philmont Scout Ranch. And while the two states neighbor one another, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the uniqueness of the Utah desert. For the next month I’ll be living and working with the Epicenter crew in Green River, Utah. While focusing on working on design projects that benefit the community there is bound to be ample time to explore the vastness of the desert and the state and national parks surrounding Green River.

The landscape is especially beautiful. Due to flooding, the train I had planned to take from Grand Junction, CO (where I landed) to Green River, UT was not running for the day. I was forced to take the bus, which I’ll admit I wasn’t too pleased about at first. But the uncomfortableness of being packed into a 45 seat bus was soon allayed by the beauty of the scenery. The bus to Green River was the last bus to leave the station at 6.30 pm, so as we headed west we were greeted by setting sun for the majority of the trip. At one point, as we rounded a bend out of a weigh station, the whole bus fell silent. It’s an eerie feeling when everyone around you suddenly falls silent and you have no idea why. The reason became clear as I gazed out the window to my right. The entire desert was bathed in the orange light of the setting sun. Additionally, the clouds of a rainstorm far in the distance flashed with lightning. The vista closed around another bend as fast as it had appeared, and soon the bus was filled with chatter again.

Nick Zdon, leader of the Best Made Minnesota Outpost, is spending the month of August as a Frontier Fellow at Epicenter in Green River, Utah. He’ll be living and working within the small community and exploring the surrounding natural beauty of the state.

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