With its twists and turns,
Ascending
The canyon reaches into new rock
Cliffy
We go, caught up in the pursuit of things
Routes
Scrambling up a hogback
Dolomite and limestone
Sharps rocks, gripping and pressing
Into our flesh
And then
By means of our circuitous path
We leave steps in snow
Recent from a storm
To enter the canyon
In shaded routes of twisting, winding rock
Potholes in stone
Narrow chutes, stained by the flow
Of floods
Streams, escaping the dryness of the desert
That flow, giving their excess
To the canyon
Now, however, the ground is cold
And water is frozen
Higher
The snow deepens
Protected by a deep shade
Enveloping the canyon’s upper narrows
In quiet
Cold
Over boulders, ascending we go
Up and out
On to more of the range
Sloped, ridgelines, and Doug fir
Not to go
The way of the canyon again
With its silent understanding
The canyon sits
Waiting for another traveler
A wanderer
To pass that way
March 5, 2021
Otto De Groff has spent most of his life living in Utah. As a young man, Otto’s father often took him (along with his brothers) to western Utah, where they spent days exploring, hiking, and rockhounding. These experiences gave Otto a rooted respect and love for Utah’s wild places, especially those found along the state’s western edge.
After serving an LDS mission in Mexico, Otto studied at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Wildlands Conservation. Currently, Otto is pursuing a master’s degree at BYU in the same field, with a special emphasis on bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D. K. Bailey) forest ecology and variation in growth rates of these trees through time. While studying at BYU, Otto met and married his wife, Maddie, who is from St. George, Utah. They live together with their son, Ferris, in Utah Valley.