The San Rafael Swell is located in east central Utah, south of Price and west of the town of Green River.  This is an area of little water, lots of slickrock sandstone, soaring cliffs, upturned geologic formations and slot canyons.   This all-new 3rd Edition of the book that first came out in 1986, has been expanded from 160 to 224 pages, and there are about 90 more fotographs than in the 2nd Edition.  This edition still has all the hikes from previous printings, but each has been re-visited and updated.  The author re-walked most of the canyons.  The biggest changes for this 3rd Edition is the addition of 8 technical slot canyons where you'll need ropes and rappelling gear to get all the way through.  These canyons are either bolted, or have slings around chokestones for easy rappelling (usless the anchors have been washed away!).  This means a new level of challenge and excitment for the adventurous hiker.  Also included is an expansion to the colorful history of the San Rafael Swell (Old Spanish Trail, the Livestock Industry and Mining), plus expanded geology and information about the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry.

Hiking and Exploring Utah's San Rafael Swell

Kelsey, Michael R.

Kelsey Publishing

Climbers and Hikers Guide to the World's Mountains

Travel

This book centers on the Henry Mountains of southeastern Utah, which are just south of the small town of Hanksville, and east of Canyonlands National Park and the upper end of Lake Powell. The main emphasis of this book is a climbing guide to the half dozen major peaks in the Henrys; plus canyon hiking in the area just east of the mountains, and along the Dirty Devil River, which runs through the Roost Country. There are 37 mapped areas for hiking and climbing. 
 This book combines a hiking &amp; mountain climbing and a travel guide to the Henry Mountains, as well as the Robbers Roost Country, an area made famous by Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the Wild Bunch. The Roost Country is east of Hanksville. 
 Other chapters center on the history of the Henry Mountains and its mining and old historic ranches, including the Robbers Roost Ranch. In this section are lots of old miners tales about lost Spanish mines, and of course a discussion on the unique geology of the Henrys. There's also a chapter on some of the archeology ruins and the usual assortment of rock art sites in the area. But that part in the history section that takes up the most space is the Life and Legend of Butch Cassidy. Butch is dead as a doornail, but researchers are still hard at work trying to find out what happened after he returned to the USA from South American; so his final chapter has still not been written.

Hiking and Exploring Utah's Henry Mountains and Robbers Roost

Science & Math

Kelsey Pub

This is a hiking guide to the non-technical canyons of the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is a large physiographic region which roughly covers the southeastern half of Utah, the northern half of Arizona, the western fifth of Colorado and a small area in the northwestern corner of New Mexico. It basically includes the middle section of the Colorado River drainage.

Canyon Hiking: Guide to the Colorado Plateau

Sports & Outdoors

Kelsey Publishing (Utah)

This is a guide for boater's who are floating the Green River downcanyon from Green River town, located on Interstate Highway 70, south to The Confluence with the Colorado River and Spanish Bottom. it's also, for boaters running down the Colorado River from Moab to The Confluence with the Green River. Part of the area in this book is in Canyonlands National Park. 
 The primary emphasis of this book is hiking, but the best places to camp are also discussed, as well as places where hopefully-good drinking water can be found. The hikes typically start at the river and run upcanyon or to the canyon rim--just the opposite way as some hikes found in the author's other book, "Hiking, Biking and Exploring Canyonlands National Park and Vicinity". There are 18 mapped sections or chapters, each showing campsites, water, trails, Anasazi ruins, and pictographs or petroglyphs (something the National Park Service does not like, therefore they don't sell this book). 
 History is also a big part of this book, with lots of information on the early-day attempts at running steamboats on the Green and Colorado Rivers between the towns of Green River and Moab. In those days many people tried to homestead some river bottoms. Sandbars and low water cut those dreams short. 
 While doing research for this book (and the other one mentioned above), the author interviewed about 80 old timers in the Moab, Green River and the Hanksville area, and got lots of stories about cowboys, the ranchers and ranches along the river bottoms, and trail building information. Some of the history here is the same as that found in the other book mentioned above.

River Guide to Canyonland's National Park and Vicinity

The emphasis of the book is on hiking in Canyonlands National Park &amp; vicinity of eastern Utah. This park is located west of Moab and south of the town of Green River, in the area where the Green and the Coloardo Rivers meet--locally known as The Confluence. But because not everyone has a 4WD vehicle, the author tells where a mountain bike can get you closer to a hike or canyon rim--without buying an SUV. The emphasis is getting people out to the rim of these major river canyons, and/or into a side canyon, and down to the bottom, or to one of the rivers. 
 In many cases, hikers use old cattle trails. And this brings up the another part of this book; cowboy, ranching and trail building history. In gathering information, the author interviewed about 80 old timers who were born and raised in this county. In doing that, he has documented who built these trails and cabins, and when they were constructed. The same is true with several old abandoned ranches in the canyons. Many of those interviewed have since deceased, so their stories are long gone and lost forever--except in this book. 
 As usual, the author has documented on his maps any archeological sites including Anasazi ruins and petroglyphs &amp; pictographs. Keep this in mind when you look at books in the national park visitor centers. No book there will show you any archeological sites! That's the reason the National Park Service (NPS) sells very few of this writer's books--because he always lets his readers know where they can hike to find Indian ruins or rock art. Falcon Press books, which are totally saturating the market these day, are often sold at visitor centers, embraced, and seemingly half-written by the NPS, but none will show you where Anasazi sites are. 
 You'll also get a good dose of geology, and the theories of how Upheaval Dome came to be. The latest ideas point toward a meteorite, not a salt dome as previously believed.

Hiking, Biking & Exploring Canyonlands National Park and Vicinity: Featuring : Hiking, Biking, Geology, Archaeology, and Cowboy, Ranching & Trail Bu

This book is a guide to Lake Powell, which has formed behind the Glen Canyon Dam in the middle part of the Colorado River. The dam is located in extreme northern Arizona, near the town of Page, but 99.9% of Lake Powell is in Utah. It has a shoreline of 2900 kms or 1800 miles. 
 The emphasis of this book is on hiking with boater access. Also covered are potential campsites, geology, history of the early pioneers and cattlemen; the ones who came to build trails, look for minerals, and explore. Excerpts from the John W. Powell and the Dominquez &amp; Escalante expedition diaries have been added in the appropriate locations, plus archeological sites and their history are documented using studies from the Universities of Utah and Northern Arizona from the 1950's, before the lake covered many of the sites. There are 43 mapped areas, which show inlets and the canyons above, and hiking and camping information. Shown on these maps are Anasazi ruins, petroglyphs, and other information for mostly day-hiking. All sections of the lake are included, from Cataract Canyon in the upper end, to the San Juan Arm; plus the Escalante River drainage and its many great hiking canyons, and Rainbow Bridge, the one of the largest in the world. There are also lots of great slot canyons with boater access only; these include West Canyon, maybe the best all-around canyon hike on the Colorado Plateau. This 2nd Updated (3rd) Edition has 251 fotographs, including 10 color fotos on the front &amp; back covers.

Boater's Guide to Lake Powell : Featuring HIKING, Camping, Geology, History & Archaeology

Hiking & Camping

Treasure Chest Pubns

This is a hiking and mountaineering guide to parts of Utah's West Desert. The West Desert is the Great Basin section, and the western third of Utah. Climbing areas are topped by Notch Peak, which has one of the highest vertical faces in the world. Also included are other high summits in the House Range, as well as Crystal Peak, made of 33-million-year-old pure-white volcanic tuff. Also, Granite Peak is made of solid white granite, but with several half-million-year old volcanos just to the north. The hiking &amp; climbing section has 17 mapped areas. 
 In addition to hiking &amp; climbing, perhaps the most emphasis, at least page wise, is the life &amp; times of a sheepman named Jack Watson. This author is related to Jack, by marriage, and after several years of begging, had the opportunity to copy Watson's 12 diaries which date from 1886. This was when Utah's sheep industry was in its infancy. In the end, Jack had a little store &amp; hotel with post office, litterally in the middle of no where until 12/5/1935, when he crushed his hand in the gears of a BLM built well &amp; pump, which was later amputated. His diary, plus interviews with other old timers who knew him, makes this the best account of Utah's sheep industry. 
 Also, this book has the life story of a locally-famous hermit named Bob Stinson who lived in a cave house; plus the history of the Antelope Spring &amp; Painter Spring CCC camps built and operated during the 1930's--as told by the men who were there. Also included is the story of the dreadful winter of 1948-49, as told in one sheepman's diary. Western Millard County is also one of the premier fossil hunting areas in the world, and some of these sites and fossil hunting are discussed.

Hiking, Climbing & Exploring Western Utah's Jack Watson's Ibex Country

History

Americas

The all new 3rd Edition of the book, Utah Mountaineering Guide, has been completely rewritten--this time on a computor--which wasn't the case with the first edition back in 1983. This one has a new format, which is now the same as for all the other hiking or climbing guides the author has writen; except for one new catagory, that of Winter Climbing. In previous editions some canyon hikes were included, but they have all been eliminated and this edition covers only the highest or the most interesting mountains in Utah. Most of the mountains covered in this edtion are the same as in previous books, but some new and interesting peaks were discovered and added. Among them are Granite Peak and nearby volcanos, snow-white Crystal Peak, and Frary Peak on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. 
 For this edition, the author returned to about 96% of the peaks and climbed them in winter. So there's lots of new information about winter access &amp; climbing. He would have winter climbed at least one mountain on every map in the book, but ran out of winter in the spring of 1997. Also included is a discussion on Heliograph Stations build by the first surveyors in the 1880's, and Bristlecone Pines, the oldest living things on earth, and of course a section of geology. About 95% of the fotographs in this edtion are new.

Utah Mountaineering Guide

Specialty Travel

Treasure Chest Books

This is a hiking guide to the Paria River drainage of southern Utah. The upper part of the system begins near Bryce Canyon National Park, and flows south to the Colorado River and Lee's Ferry. Lee's Ferry is not far below the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Many people have now heard of the hike down the Paria, but there are many less-known and less-visited parts of this drainage included in this book. 
 This guide covers the entire river system, including a couple of mountain climbs in the far north, plus the dozen or so slot canyons in the middle and lower end. The more famous slot canyons are Bull Valley Gorge, the scene of a pickup wreck (still lodged in the slot) which left 3 hunters dead. Also,Round Valley Draw, the Buckskin Gulch and of course the Paria itself. This 3rd Edition includes for the first time Coyote Buttes and its best know part, The Wave, an international destination for fotographers. For this edition, 16 pages and several new hiking areas have been added, plus the author re-hiked many canyons and updated all of them. This editon has 178 fotographs. 
 As in previous edtions, the history of early-day ranchers and cattlemen are included. The history of gold miners at Lee's Ferry and around the old ghost town of Pahreah is also discussed. And the best story of all is that of John D. Lee, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre (about 120 people were killed), and his life on the run from Federal authorities. It was John D. Lee who was sent by the Mormon Church to the lower end of the Paria River to hide out and build &amp; operate a ferry across the Colorado River. His entire life story is told.

Hiking and Exploring the Paria River : Including The Story of John D. Lee and Mountain Meadows Massacre

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kelsey, Michael R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kelsey, Michael R.