Beginnings
Written: December 2001
Since first putting up this website many people have asked what my first trip was like. This is my original story. In some respects it feels like it all happened a very long time ago, but in retrospect it is when my real life actually began. All of the Utah & Colorado images accompanying this article were taken during my original trip in July of 1986. In fact, prior to putting this article together it had been quite a few years since I had looked at my original Utah pictures. It was quite entertaining to look back 15 years and see Utah as I first saw it, during the trip that would ultimately change the direction of my entire life.
Life in the Rock
Written: July 1996
This is an excerpt from my journal written during the summer of 1996. Exactly ten years prior to this, during the summer of 1986, I went on my first trip into southern Utah. My initial trip was exciting, full of adventure and revelations of beauty. One particular evening near the end of the trip was spent atop a mesa in the Monument Valley region of southeastern Utah. I wandered off by myself, found a nice spot on the edge of the mesa, sat down, and watched the sunset. It suddenly became very clear to me that there were powers in this land far beyond anything I had ever imagined. The physical and ethereal manifestations of this power were undeniable once I was immersed within it. In a matter of minutes my entire world was turned upside down.
Exactly ten years later, I returned to the exact spot where it all started...
No Regrets
Written: December 2002
For Rhonda and I, 2002 contained some of the most difficult and challenging events of our entire time together. On May 9th, Rhonda suffered a Cerebral Aneurysm (brain hemorrhage) and collapsed. Within less than a day she had been airlifted to a hospital and was undergoing extremely dangerous brain surgery.
After looking back at the events of that year, I decided to make this brief summary of 2002 a permanent part of my website. I do this not to emphasize the bad times, but to encourage others who may be considering a major life change.
Ward J. Roylance
Biographical sketches are certainly not my forte. A person’s life, especially the life of someone as dedicated to a significant cause such as Ward, is difficult, if not impossible, to summarize in a few pages of text. I think that it is safe to say that once Ward came under the spell of Red Rock Country, he did everything in his power to increase public awareness and appreciation of this extraordinary land. His contribution cannot merely be measured by the number of books he published or by the amount of environmental legislation he helped to change. Rather, the true contribution must be looked at in terms of the number of people that Ward and his wife Gloria inspired to set out on their own quest in service to the Land. That number, while immeasurable, is immense.
Art in Stone
Written July, 2002
Ward Roylance's Art in Stone concept. Ward's world travels sharpened his esthetic focus and gave him an intense sensitivity to the natural beauty of southern Utah, its "Art in Stone" as he called it. The landscape of southern Utah is a wonderland of erosional artistry. A unique combination of geological processes has resulted in a landscape with an infinite variety of color and form. Under conditions of constantly changing light, reality often becomes illusory. Surrealism is the rule of the day here.
The Ineffable
Written August 2002
One of the most important aspects of my life has been
the immense honor of seeing some very special areas of southern
Utah with Ward Roylance, who knew and appreciated the Red Rock
Country of southern Utah better than any other person on Earth.
Ward's lifelong love affair with this region resulted in a deep
geological understanding of the landscape's physical qualities,
and an acute awareness of its esthetic qualities. His knowledge and appreciation
of Red Rock Country came from a life dedicated to a deep rooted
passionate love for southern Utah's natural esthetics, which
compelled him to explore as much of it as was humanly possible
during the time he was here.
This is the opening chapter from Ward’s book, “The Enchanted
Wilderness”. This book documents Ward’s visual awakening to
the natural esthetics of Red Rock Country. Through his eyes we are given
a new perspective on, and appreciation of, the "Enchanted Wilderness".
Awakening
Written: August 2004
Southern Utah really inspires me. It makes me get up in the middle of the night to watch meteor showers, it forces me to hike many miles through the desert to reach a certain viewpoint, and more than anything, it seems to make me ponder the grand significance of it all.
On August 12th Rhonda and I arose at 3 a.m. in our home in Moab to begin an extended camping trip to Bryce Canyon National Park. Our journey to Bryce would take us through Capitol Reef National Park and a section of Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument. Coincidentally, the predawn hours of August 12th were also the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year.
The Desert
Written June 2001
John Van Dyke was a professor of Art History at Rutgers University. In the summer of 1898 he ventured into the desert for nearly three years to address the esthetic qualities of what he saw. The author of several well-received books on art theory, and one accustomed to spending vast lengths of time in the great galleries of Europe, he was the friend of many of the great artists of his time.
Stardust
Written: July 1999
Updated: January 2, 2004 - January 15, 2006 - January 18, 2006
Comet Fragments Impact Utah Desert! - The Stardust Story
A piece of the comet Wild 2 touched down in the Utah desert in 2006. NASA orchestrated the whole event as part of its fascinating mission called "Stardust".
Book Recommendations
Started: July 1993
Many times over the past few years I have looked at my book collection and thought, "If only I would have had these books after my first trip into southern Utah." Returning to New York after that initial trip was, to say the least, rather disheartening. While in Utah I had glimpsed something so extraordinary, so beyond normal reality, that I knew my life would never quite be the same again. It was as if I had lived my entire life in a single room with no windows, and someone had finally opened a door and given me a glimpse of the rest of the world. Suddenly, the door was closed again. I wanted more. I needed more! This list of books helped quite a bit.
