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Show PAGE 3 THE ZEPHYRJUNE 1995 us most of the month could very well give way to true summer heat It has happened before. Twelve years ago, the spring of 1983 was very similar to what we see happening now. The weather stayed cold and nasty, and the mountains of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming continued to receive record amounts erf late spring snow. Then, in the last week of May, the temperatures soared into the upper 90s...ovemight. And the winter snowpadc in the Rocky Mountains started to melt at an unprecedented rate. The Colorado and Green Rivers swelled to record volumes and poured into Lake Powell. The reservoir was already near capacity because the Bureau of Reclamation could not bear to part with its precious commodity and failed to draw down the level of the lake, even when the flood was inevitable. e the Lake was eight feet over its maximum pool level of 3700 feet and was By water dumping through its penstocks and both its spillways as fast as the water would flow... 116,000 cfs. Since the Bureau had spent the last 20 years trying to fill die lake, the spillways were untested. Now, as 32,000 cubic feet of water per second cascaded down each of the concrete tunnels, one of them started to fall apart Powerful shock waves created by the falling water ripped apart the concrete lining, the steel reinforcing bar, and the sandstone itself. The manager saw the water exiting the spillway him red as it literally spewed its guts. The spillway was dosed; had any more time been taken to study the matter, the sandstone collapse and disintegration inside the tunnel may well have breached the canyon wall on the reservoir side of the dam and Seldom Seen Smith would ba a happy man today. llcavy sigh. Since then, the spillways have been to avoid a repeat of the 1983 But will we have another spring like that one? Can we expect the river to swell again? Don't ask me...I don't predict the weather. mid-Jun- on-si- te near-disaste- EGO-FOLL- Y, r. in addition to all his other vast responsibilities!, he offered his time and services to this little podunk paper has always been a source of amazement to me. But he did. And despite his extraordinary schedule, he always remembered his column. He'd remember to call me if he was going to be late. Once, when a 40 dty book tour left Fulghum wondering what town he was in when he woke up in the morning, he arranged for his son to fill in for a couple of months. And when, several years ago, he heard me whining about my love life (or the lack thereof) he took the time to send me an inflatable anatomically-correblack ..he It tears to remembered. sheep. brought my eyes. always e on much of what goes on around us. Or at Sometimes Fulghum and I fail to see least it appears that way. And we often frustrate the other with our own perspectives on life in the 90S. I once thought Fulghum was too damn.. .hopeful. It seemed to me, tire man kept trying to blow away the dark doud that has hovered over my head since birth and which I have stubbornly clung to ever since. What I finally realized about Fulghum is his belief that human beings need hope to survive in this difficult world of ours. His stories are often about ordinary people who overcame incredible odds to fulfill impossible dreams. He wants everyone to dream such dreams. This is just my own observation, but I believe Fulgh urn's dream is to keep the flame of hope alive in these sometimes terrible times, to inspire the quest for hope, even if it's a flicker. Even if the hope inside him has been reduced to less than a flicker as well from time to time. That takes a lot of guts. ct eye-to-ey- And now they're off on an adventure. Fulghum and his wife Lynn Edwards plan to take a slow boat to somewhere and intend to return when they damn well fed like it Sounds like the perfect trip to me. Please be careful out there and write home from time to time. And thanks. THE NEW ARCHES ROAD & GETTING FROM A TO B has come and gone, and last month Arches National Park opened its new road the Delicate to Arch Viewpoint What do these two events have in common? It has paved to do with getting from Point A to Point B. I had the good sense to leave town during the and in fact was thousands of miles away when the Big Race went down. And based on comments its organizer made to Tom Wharton in a Salt Lake Tribune story last week, 1 won't have to worry about that silly event again until the year 1,001,995 AD. Mark Burnett told Wharton that "uncompromising environmentalists cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars and most of our energy," and said he wouldn't come back in a million years. Further, Burnett claimed that his race avoided any environmental degradation, and even concluded that they "left the desert in better shape than they found it I thought that was pretty amazing since any intrusion into the desert, no matter how minuscule, degrades it in some small way. But Burnett believed you can run a few hundred gonzo athletes through 300 miles of canyon country and actually improve conditions out there in the wilds, (see photos elsewhere in this issue of the Big Race.) For me, the concerns about went beyond the direct impacts the race had on the land. It was the idea that there are some uses of this desert that are simply inappropriate and should not even be considered. How stupid docs an idea have to be before the BLM says 'no? Does it ever say no? In the Trib article, Don Banks, head of public affairs for the state BLM office was still trying to put a positive spin on the race. He told Wharton, "If we can get a message to fans of Boa vis and Butthead, that's a pretty good thing." I luh? The message that the Beavis ft Butthead audience will hear and see in living color is how fast can we get from Point A to Point B? Regardless of the cost, regardless of the simply: obstadcs..iull speed ahead. There's no environmental message there. We should be telling the MTV audience that speed is the great aippler when it comes to loving and understanding this land. It's not a matter of how quickly they can get from A to B, but rather, how slowly. We could all spend a lifetime wandering the 300 mile race course and still never come dose to seeing all the beauty and the mystery that awaits us there. It's a moot point now, of course; at least as far as this event is concerned. Burnett plans to take his Eco Folly to the far reaches of British Columbia next year, where he hopes there won't be so many annoying environmentalists to point out the destruction and chaos his race creates. Don't be so sure, Mark...we're everywhere. And to all of you who wrote letters, boycotted sponsors, and generally made nuisances of yourselves to the point where Mr. Burnett and Company don't want to come back here for a million years...thanks. Eco-Circu- s, leave-notra- ce Kayenta Coffee House 92 E. Center 259-25- Next to the Dozvntozvn Crab Visitor Center SO LONG NOW. sap, is going off somewhere to "recharge his batteries." And, of course, it's not as if his Zephyr duties arc chiefly to blame for this hiatus. Since his book All I Really Need to Know I teamed in Kindergarten became a in 1988, Fulghum has hardly had a moment to himself. When I called his office in Seattle from time to time, his secretary answered the phone with the greeting (or warning), "Good aftemoon...Fulghum Heavy Industries." After a few years in the spotlight, I imagine it started to fed even heavier. So why, best-sell- er with Salt Lake Roasting Co. coffees...bg the cup or the pound. THEATRE PRESENTS Jr .? -- j V vV' A ROCK OP! 1 OMTRT RVv PTNNtf I tKh )f STAR HALL L, srrfrifi IRIV M . J ik- - MOR .! NMVTRl! i u . M a v.. MAY 26th & 27th, 8PM AHUM TU KITS AYAII I MI OT RTYOMI ROOkSTORI SHOW AT a! AT Ml Ml OT MOAB AM) VOMK HIT POOR ( ONT.MT SOlBfifij " I MOAB, UTAH H M K There is a familiar face missing from this month's edition of the Zephyr. Our 'roving reporter Robert Fulghum is taking a long and well deserved rest from the word processor and, as he i TRIBUTARY NOO FULGHUM-FO- R our dat bg the beans!! Complete Breakfast and Lunch ... Daily Specials Fresh Baked Pastries, Croissants & Bagels. Espresso & Fresh roasted coffees In late April, the Park Service completed its $4 million dollar upgrade of the Delicate Arch Viewpoint road. Now any vehide, even Greyhound tour buses and 47 foot motorhomes, can make the mile and a half drive to the viewpoint and see the crown jewel of Arches National Park. To their credit, the park has dosed and restored part of the old road; the new viewpoint parking lot is now out of sight of the arch itself. In fact they have done a remarkable job of obliterating any sign of the old road as it crept around a sandstone reef and climbed a steep hill to the old parking lot. But then again, they've done a hell of a job of obliterating any sign of the old road (see Then Now' on pages 20 and 21). The old gravel road really wasn't much of a driving challenge. ft Mostly it was dusty and a prime washboard-hav- e my teeth rattled loose yet? kind of experience. Any two wheel chive Buick could make the trip. But, as 1 mentioned earlier on this page, sometimes it rains in the park. When it did, tourists often found themselves on the wrong side of Salt Wash, and spent a few hours waiting far the waters to subside. Those 'victimized' by the whims of Nature and the park's (then) reluctance to build a bridge over these usually fordable dry washes rarely caused a complaint. We'd wade across with sandwiches, pop and a few encouraging words for the stranded, and conducted Impromptu interpretive talks (the best kind) on flash floods and the role rain plays in the desert. Everybody had a good time; even if it upset the schedule a bit and kept park visitors from getting to their daily destinations as quickly as they'd meticulously planned. And I would bet that when those water stranded tourists got home, the first story they told their friends was the night they were trapped by a flash flood at Arches National Tark. Properly embellished, I would hope, to make the story a great adventure. Today, considering all the improvements, it teas a great adventure. 53 ( l I |