[Zloi]

I have been wanting to get into the Maze for years. Now it appears to be getting almost popular, which, like a lot of the desert SW, is too bad because it is a very fragile area and can't really put up with the kind of crowds we see on the trails here. Unfortunately, great TRs like this one only make us all want to drop what we are doing and head down there. Not that I am blaming you. Some of your photos need to go into a coffee-table book! Thanks for sharing, and maybe some day your route description will come in handy for me. It's just sad at the same time that, once an area is 'discovered' the experience of it almost ipso facto changes. I've gotten to where, if I find someplace really special that I want to keep special, I don't post about it online. But it's also hard not to share.

[John Morrow]

[graywolf]

[Matt Lemke]

The Maze is one of my all time favorite places. I took my station wagon all the way to the top of the flint trail switchbacks many years ago. I'd absolutely love to go back again. Your photos are professional magazine quality as usual.... way better than mine!

[Jason Hummel]

[Bruce Albert]

After looking through your excellent photos I dug out and re-read two favorite essays: Edward Abbey's account of the Maze in Desert Solitaire, and Chuck Pratt's The View From Deadhorse Point in the 1970 Ascent. This made for quite a journey in the mind, brought to life by your work with the camera. A brilliant climber and no slouch as a writer, Pratt had this to say about the southwestern desert: A desert environment is maintained by an irresistible force whose nature cannot be penetrated by superficial efforts. To gain any lasting worth from what the desert has to offer, we had to learn to put our pitons and ropes away and to go exploring in silence, keeping our eyes very open. We wasted a lot of time climbing until we got the knack...The horizons beyond Four Corners strain the limits of vision and of imagination. The desert can be comprehended only in its detail for we are dealing with the sea.

[Eric Hansen]

+1 on concern for what increased tourist traffic means for southern Utah. I spent a lot of time there in the early 90's and remember car camping along the House Rock Valley Road (i.e. near The Wave). We saw no other vehicles or people on the road, nor on our day hikes. Now, there is a lottery for a permit to enter The Wave district. Big changes.

[Zloi]

In 2000 I was lucky enough to get a permit to hike into the Wave. They were giving out 10 permits a day at that time. Some German tourists got some of them. I have nothing whatsoever against German tourists, mind you, but it underscores the reality that when an area is unique enough to gain international renown the visitation pressure grows exponentially. This will become an even greater issue in future as human populations, ease of mobility and digital communication all expand. I guess that means we will be seeing Enchantments' kind of access restrictions on a widespread scale, or else risk trashing the very areas whose uniqueness makes them so compelling.