Letters From Comb
By David Black
Survival? Resilience? What are they? Join author Dave Black as he explores the resilience of the human spirit from the perspective of an obscure landmark in the Bears Ears wilderness.
Letters From CombDec 23, 2021
00:00
17:26
EZ JOHNSON & THE NOT JOCKS
Episodes with music are only available on Spotify.
Getting the Axe.
Knot Chocks
Ezekial Johnson
Knot Chocks
Ezekial Johnson
Feb 26, 202438:39
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE CHEAP.
Episodes with music are only available on Spotify.
Continuing with gear on a budget.
Some Warnings.
The Chinese Crampons.
Holes in Your Stuff.
The Desperate Man's Emergency Ski Skins.
(Episode photo L: Dave Black, 1977 on the Nidha Plain after ascending Mt Ida, Crete on surplus Silvrettas and rope skins; Chinese crampons; rope skins)
Some Warnings.
The Chinese Crampons.
Holes in Your Stuff.
The Desperate Man's Emergency Ski Skins.
(Episode photo L: Dave Black, 1977 on the Nidha Plain after ascending Mt Ida, Crete on surplus Silvrettas and rope skins; Chinese crampons; rope skins)
Feb 16, 202436:42
Stuff
Episodes with music are only available on Spotify.
Update on Freezefest 22.
Gear Improv: Ice Boots
Gear Improve: The 5 -minute Alcohol Stove.
The War on Rockclimbing: Bolts Again??????
Gear Improv: Ice Boots
Gear Improve: The 5 -minute Alcohol Stove.
The War on Rockclimbing: Bolts Again??????
Feb 12, 202453:43
HOW THE IRISH SAVED UTAH
O'Connor, MacGuire, Steele; Black, Shenanigans, Utah Rattlesnakes Part I
Mar 26, 202334:17
Yet Another Episode
1. More on Glowing in the Dark. 2. A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste (away in). 3. The Pot Plane.
Mar 09, 202358:16
HOLY SHIT! SEASON 3?
El Viejo Dave pushes on, starting with a new personal intro and some housecleaning & updating on previous episodes. As long promised, here is the followup to the Glowing in the Dark story from Season One. You'll want to hear what Dave finds on his shiney new Geiger counter in Fry Canyon and the Black Hole. Aluminum hats are optional. Also, get an update on Freezefest. And remember...it's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.
Jan 07, 202353:51
A PLACE TO LAY MY HEAD
1. Ba'ililee & The Aneth Brawl of 1907 2. Hanksville 3: The Avikan Utes
Sep 30, 202212:20
THE UTES
The Ute Creation Story; Ute Ethnobotony; Coyote; Ute "War" of 1915; The Black Hole Crux Crawl
Sep 15, 202215:40
MIDNIGHT AT THE OASIS
Blanding Nightlife; The Rise and Fall of the Black Hole Quickie; Wickiup 101; Fry Canyon and Charley Frye; Survival, Really.
Sep 12, 202224:14
A THREE HOUR TOUR
1. More Firsts : Revelations from the Parking Lot. 2. Mutiny on Lake Powell: Part II 3. My Parkinson's Update 4. Navajo Ethnobotony Finale
Aug 14, 202223:06
BUNFODDER BREEZES
1. Mutiny on Lake Powell, Part I 2. Intro to the Ute Mountain Tribe 3. Navajo Ethnobotony- Cactus
Aug 09, 202223:51
IT'S GREEK TO ME: How Hiking Greek Gorges Led Me to the Colorado Plateau.
1. Navajo Ethnobotony: Gambel Oak, Mountain Mahogany, Datura 2. The Two Utes: Mormon Joe 3. The Utes 4. Ouzo-ing Over the Edge
Jul 29, 202216:52
ODE TO TWINKLETOES
1. Dust 2. Navajo Ethnobotony: Utah Serviceberry, Cliffrose, Ponderosa Pine 3. Hogan 101 4. Pet Peeve: Chipping, Chopping, Glueing 5. The Story of Bill Tibbetts 6. The Two Utes
Jun 22, 202222:26
THE SPANISH AND THE NAVAJO.
1. Ethnobotony: Indian Paintbrush, Tall Mountain Larkspur, Single Stem Evening Primrose. 2. Pet Peeves: 10 Essentials and Cotton 3. Compass 54 4. The Spanish and the Navajos.
Jun 12, 202227:07
HALF-ASLEEP IN BLANDING
1. Navajo Ethnobotony: Utah Juniper, Mormon Tea, Pinon Pine. 2. Barboncito 3. The Merlin bird Identifier App by Cornell Lab of Ornithology 4. Pet Peeve Binge: First Ascents
Jun 09, 202219:34
THROUGH THE EYES OF THE GOMER BILIGAANA
1. Traditional Navajo Healing. 2. Navajo Ethnobotany: Big Sage. 3. Manuelito. 4. The Picture Bird Identifier App. 5. The Navajo Creation Story
Jun 02, 202229:16
CHARACTERS OF BEAR'S EARS
1. Kyle. 2. Heidi 3. The Cloud-a-Day App 4. Kit
May 24, 202215:59
CAIRNS & POOP BAGS
1. Fun in Farmington. The Untimely Demise of Port Stockton. 2. A Tom Wheeler note. 3. Rock ID Review for Smartphone Geologists 4. The Secret Meaning of Cairns, Bolts, and Doggy Poopbags.
May 03, 202209:48
JOE WALKER IN CARBON COWNTY: WHITMORE COULD YOU WANT?
1. Outlaw Joe Walker and the Whitmores 2. Tom McCarty 3. The 4-Corners Manhunt of 1997 4. SEEK, the creature and plant identifier phone app.
Apr 22, 202216:18
PLACENAMES OF DOOM
1. Ominous placenames. 2. What to do in the 4-C when your climbing or canyoneering or paddling vacation is FUBAR, Part 2.
Apr 05, 202209:31
SINGING THE BLUES.
1. Ghost Resort: Blue Mountain Ski Area 2. Skiing the Abajos 3. Avalanches 4. What to Do in the 4-C When Your Vacation Plans Go FUBAR
Mar 25, 202226:40
SO SUWA ME. IT'S NOT MY FAULT.
Segments include discussions on monsoon rains, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and the Moab Fault, and some incredibly lame jokes.
Mar 14, 202212:57
WHERE EGOS SOAR
1. Freezefest Update 2. The Great Unconformity of Powell 3. Col. John Macomb in the 4-C 4. Get a Guide 5. A Tiny and Incomplete History of Guide Cerification in the U.S.
Feb 21, 202215:01
Comb Ridge and the Easy Writer (Revised 16/2/22)
Everything you need to know to get started on this examination of human resilience with podcaster Dave, author of several books on outdoor recreation and disaster response, and with his geographic muse, Comb Ridge of the Bears Ears.
Feb 17, 202224:06
LOVE IN THE SANDSTONE III
1. Death Camas and Stinging Nettle. 2. The Wingate sandstone. 3. The Kayenta sandstone. 4. Life and Times of Joseph Christmas Ives and the Colorado steamboat.
Feb 10, 202210:38
LAVA IN THE SANDSTONE: Stories Your Magma Never Told You.
A dizzying cornucopia of 4-Corners backcountry trivia: 1. Igneous structures like Shiprock and the laccolith mountains of the Plateau. 2. Toxic plants:poison ivy and datura. 3. Stupid laws of the Southwest.
Feb 05, 202218:18
LOVE IN THE SANDSTONE II
1. The one-minute Quick & Dirty explanation of Navajo Sandstone. 2. Polygamy: WTF, Part II. 3. The Hideout: Navajo Mountain 4. The Demise of Mormon gunslinger Lot Smith. 5. Zeke and the Bridges: a brief look at Bridges National Monument and its first superintendent, 'Zeke' Johnson.
Jan 29, 202223:40
LOVE IN THE SANDSTONE (Revised)
1. Sandstone Structures for 4-Corners Dummies
2. Polygamy WTF
3. Creation Story: Who Invented the Navajo Taco?
4. The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin Johnson
5. Porn and Pills in Paradise
2. Polygamy WTF
3. Creation Story: Who Invented the Navajo Taco?
4. The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin Johnson
5. Porn and Pills in Paradise
Jan 21, 202217:52
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet
for OLD LAME SPINE.
Back injuries. Looking forward to the New Year. The Life and Times of Thompson Springs.
Dec 23, 202117:26
WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! How 3rd-Grade French Class Led Me to Bear's Ears.
The musings of an old polyglot.
Nov 24, 202120:04
COWBOYS & DOGS & JOHNSONS EVERYWHERE
The San Juan River; Cranky Cowboys of San Juan County; Dexter and the Wonderdogs.
Nov 11, 202125:31
CRY ME A RIVER: A Western Soap Opera
Deceit, tragedy, fear, and triumph with some of the Colorado River & Colorado Plateau explorers and pioneers.
Nov 02, 202111:37
BAD CELL SERVICE: No Noose is Good Noose.
Topics: Coming to Terms (Old West terminology); The Moab Isolation Facility; The Outlaw James Otis Bliss.
Oct 25, 202115:39
The Shady Side of Hades
Cass Hite, the Outlaw Trail, and the 3rd and final part off The Military of Southeast Utah.
Oct 15, 202115:30
The Canyon War of 2003 & Where's the Beef?: The Great Glen Canyon Cattle Rescue
Black Holes, mammoth logjams, fires in the slots, vigilante locals, wayward cows...and where to eat in Blanding
Sep 26, 202120:54
The Opposite of Evolution
WARNING: CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE. The first episode of a 3-part series about the military in San Juan County. The fun includes wayward ballistic missiles, crashed B52 bombers, a possible hydrogen bomb gone missing, and the accidental invasion of Mexico. The final segment relates a story of unusual heroism by a Blanding soldier in Iraq. The 2nd and 3rd of these military episodes will be published in October & November.
Sep 21, 202129:18
Potholes with Bimbo: A ...... Trip in Heaps.
The tragic demise of a dog in the frigid potholes of a deep Utah slot canyon, with a strange twist.
Sep 06, 202115:11
Believe It, or Not
The "end" of Posey. The Mexican Revolution sends Mormon colonists packing back to Utah, nearly doubling the population of Blanding and setting off a class war. Sheriff Oliver meets his maker and his death raises questions about Everett Ruess. What is the validity of history and stories?
Sep 06, 202129:24
Yippee-Tay-Yay-Utah!
Howdy folks! Join Dave as he tells you about the strangely spaghetti-western history of Bears Ears territory and how it still influences the area today.
Sep 01, 202114:12
Greetings, Earthling! Take me to your liter.
The Bears Ears area has plenty of the weird going on. Monoliths, UFOs, aliens, skinwalkers, secret military bases, and more. And after you've been probed by aliens, you're going to need a drink, so we tell you where to find a one in San Juan County. You're going to need some witty banter if you hit a Utah bar, so we finish with some Utah Prohibition stories you can share with your drinking buddies. Cheers!
Aug 18, 202117:52
AlQiddiya: The Bro-ification of the Tuwaaiq Escarpment
Comb Ridge and the Bears Ears share aspects of their beauty and solitude with the wadis of Arabia. But a massive "entertainment city" is now replacing the desert wilderness of the Tuwaaiq Escarpment in Saudi Arabia. Destroying a wilderness forever takes away our opportunity to use it as a venue for personal challenge and spiritual revival. Already in progress, what the AlQiddiya project is doing will leave you frustrated and speechless.
Aug 10, 202117:05
The Reel Desert
Grab some popcorn and listen to a film history of the canyonlands, with stories from films like The Eiger Sanction and 127 Hours.
Aug 09, 202117:26
We've Fallen and We Can't Get Up!
We take a look at life in the backcountry fast lane, as an adrenaline-chasing 4-Corners couple takes turns surviving devastating falls while rappelling.
Jun 28, 202112:04
Glowing in the Dark
Dave discusses the history of Uranium mining in the Bears Ears area, and narrows in on questions about the safety of hikers in two of the area's most popular canyons. Then, everything you wanted(?) to know about monoclines.
Jun 20, 202115:36
FLASHFLOOD!
Flashfloods are a frequent hazard for backcountry travelers around Comb Ridge and Cedar Mesa. These floods can roll boulders, tear out trees, destroy roads, carry your car off and bury it in sand, demolish bridges, and carry a deadly cargo of debris. And they can be merciless in the slots. Everything you wanted to know about the Monsoon Monster and a few things you didn't.
Jun 11, 202123:05
DingDongs & Chindi
Dave discusses 4-Corners symbolism in the form of Kokopelli and the "Conga-line" panel. And Chindi, the malevolent spirit of the dead. Episodes will now be published weekly. Next episode: June 14.
Jun 07, 202114:04
Arrowheads and The Great Blanding Raid of '09
Arrowheads 101 and a look at a dark day in 4-Corners history.
Jun 02, 202108:35
The Secret Life of Potholes
Ever wonder how potholes happen and what monsters lurk in them?
May 31, 202118:14
Artifacts & Snakes & Desert Solitaire
Rattlesnakes, artifacts, and Highway 95.
May 30, 202111:26
Circle of Life
Two characters and two incidents from Comb's recent history highlight the wild energy of Bears Ears country.
May 27, 202115:20