Driving up to the Kolob Reservoir
Five years ago today we drove north on Kolob Terrace Road to the Kolob Reservoir just outside Utah’s Zion National Park. The placid scene shown above of pallid aspen trunks (Populus tremuloides) awaited us at the top. On the way up to the reservoir we’d stopped at the grove of trees shown below, where fire-darkened trunks and branches contrasted with colorful fall foliage.
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You may find it hard to believe that now, so many decades after the Civil Rights Movement led to the end of segregation in the United States, some public schools in this country have gone back to segregating students by race. Concerned Americans have justifiably been fighting back against this neoracism in our schools. As one example, you can read about illegal racial segregation in the public schools of Wellesley, Massachusetts, and the lawsuit that Parents Defending Education has brought against the offending school district. Notice in the article that this public school district has also been guilty of suppressing the free speech guaranteed in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
© 2021 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
The autumn colors and reflections are beautiful!
circadianreflections
October 23, 2021 at 8:09 AM
That’s how I felt. I’m glad we went a bit off the beaten path from Zion.
Steve Schwartzman
October 23, 2021 at 9:01 AM
Obviously, no one’s been swinging on these birches. The symmetry’s appealing, although I did enjoy seeing that lone pine (?) in the midst of the white trees. As for that sweet tangle of autumn color — I can almost hear the crunch of those leaves underfoot.
shoreacres
October 23, 2021 at 8:47 AM
This reservoir sees a goodly number of visitors, so perhaps someone had swung on some of these trees. (I took them to be aspens, but what do I know?) As for the crunch, I think I did hear that as I tromped around taking pictures in the burned but now colorful grove.
Steve Schwartzman
October 23, 2021 at 9:10 AM
Aspens aren’t a tree I ever think of, but now that you mention them, they sure could be.
shoreacres
October 23, 2021 at 9:14 AM
Aspens and birches are both shown in that area on range maps, unfortunately for my limited identification ability.
Steve Schwartzman
October 23, 2021 at 9:21 AM
Beautiful photos. Zion. It’s on my list of places to go.
Alessandra Chaves
October 23, 2021 at 8:49 AM
In the late 1990s we flew to Salt Lake City and rented a car. We ended up hitting four of Utah’s five national parks to varying degrees. That’s why when we were back in the state five years ago I made sure to go the one we’d missed, Zion. It’s quite a spectacular place, worthy of being on your list. Although October 23rd is well past what I think of as the peak tourist season, Zion was still mobbed. If you can go after Thanksgiving, so much the better.
Steve Schwartzman
October 23, 2021 at 9:05 AM
The tiny ripples create an amazing display of the trees’ reflections, Steve. The second photo could have been shot in our neck of the woods.
Peter Klopp
October 23, 2021 at 11:00 AM
Yes, it could’ve been your neck of the woods.
The ripples in the first photograph especially appealed to me, too.
Steve Schwartzman
October 23, 2021 at 11:06 AM
Both of the photos are stunning—well captured, Steve.
Tina
October 23, 2021 at 11:26 AM
Thanks. I was happy to get two such different pictures on the same outing.
Steve Schwartzman
October 23, 2021 at 4:11 PM
Could have passed for New England.
Steve Gingold
October 24, 2021 at 2:02 PM
It could. I think of Zion National Park as being “up north,” and yet when I looked at the map just now I found it’s at about the same latitude as Richmond, Virginia.
Steve Schwartzman
October 24, 2021 at 4:15 PM
Those autumn colours are stunning ….
Julie@frogpondfarm
October 29, 2021 at 2:50 PM
I wish I could be there again now. We’ll see what Austin offers us in November.
Steve Schwartzman
October 29, 2021 at 3:03 PM
Nice shots! I like the color palette in the second.
denisebushphoto
November 5, 2021 at 1:05 PM
Thanks. This is more akin to your usual fare than mine, thanks to traveling.
Steve Schwartzman
November 5, 2021 at 2:08 PM
[…] my October 23rd commentary last year I reported that the public schools in Wellesley, Massachusetts, were segregating students in […]
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