The Geology of the Parks, Monuments, and Wildlands of Southern Utah
by Robert Fillmore
Reviewed by A.J. Martine
I took Physical Geology at 8 o’clock in the morning, three days a week and only because it was required for my major. The time of day was horrible, the seats could have been made of stone, the professor might have been born before the death of the dinosaurs. I swore I would never take any more geology except as needed for my major. I disliked the experience so much I quit skipping stones–until I read Robert Fillmore’s book about the geology of the Colorado Plateau.
I grew up in the Four-Corners region of the Colorado Plateau and spent days and months herding cattle and sheep and chasing wild horses with my grandfather in the high mountains, narrow canyons, and broad mesas of the Plateau. I was in awe of the landscape, but other than what my grandfather knew and shared with me—which in hindsight was more than I learned in Physical Geology 101—I was relatively ignorant of the geology of this unforgettable place.
It wasn’t until I participated in a tour with Rob Fillmore about the geology and ecology of the Capital Reef/Boulder Mountain area, that I learned anything substantial about geology. Within minutes, I knew I was in a time machine being led through Earth by someone–Rob– who understood that the history of the planet didn’t have to be boring, that it could be alive and dynamic and, indeed, that the landscape, the soil, rocks, geologic forces were dynamic and in many ways alive. My grandfather had the same feeling for the Plateau, although he wouldn’t have known the technical terms that Rob patiently explained to the group. I was as mesmerized with Rob’s narrative about geology as I was with the stories about the Plateau my grandfather told me. I don’t think I taught much for those three days with Rob.
Rob’s book, The Geology of the Parks, Monuments, and Wildlands of Southern Utah, is written in the same entertaining and fascinating way that Rob has with teaching. A detailed interpretive guide, it not only explains the forces that created Utah’s extraordinary scenery but paints the picture before your eyes with crisp and lyrical writing. At the same time, the book is easy to understand and can be used by anyone who wants to see the Colorado Plateau with new richness. This book isn’t the literary nonfiction that Torrey House Press looks for. But armed with this guide, a writer could use her or his windshield as a looking glass to pen a work of fiction or creative nonfiction set in the astonishing landscape of the Plateau. The breathtaking panorama that Rob paints could underpin a character—or serve as one—and compellingly drive a great story.
I wish that my grandfather had been with us on the three-day geology/ecology tour I co-led with Rob. Between the two of them, the trip would have been even more memorable. They would have mixed the stories of a cowboy born in another century and his beliefs about proper management of natural resources with Rob’s knowledge of the geology and his views about the wild lands of the Colorado Plateau. I would have been content to sit on a rock, stare out over the Plateau listening to them–and fingering the skipping stones in my pocket I gathered along the way.
-A.J. Martine
