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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.

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Episodes

  1. HOW THE IRISH SAVED UTAH

    O'Connor, MacGuire, Steele; Black, Shenanigans, Utah Rattlesnakes Part I

  2. 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.

  3. 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...

  4. A PLACE TO LAY MY HEAD

    1. Ba'ililee & The Aneth Brawl of 1907 2. Hanksville 3: The Avikan Utes

  5. THE UTES

    The Ute Creation Story; Ute Ethnobotony; Coyote; Ute "War" of 1915; The Black Hole Crux Crawl

  6. MIDNIGHT AT THE OASIS

    Blanding Nightlife; The Rise and Fall of the Black Hole Quickie; Wickiup 101; Fry Canyon and Charley Frye; Survival, Really.

  7. 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

  8. BUNFODDER BREEZES

    1. Mutiny on Lake Powell, Part I 2. Intro to the Ute Mountain Tribe 3. Navajo Ethnobotony- Cactus

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. 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.

  12. 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

  13. 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

  14. CHARACTERS OF BEAR'S EARS

    1. Kyle. 2. Heidi 3. The Cloud-a-Day App 4. Kit

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. 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.

  18. 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

  19. 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.

  20. 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.

  21. 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.

  22. 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.

  23. 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.

  24. 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.

  25. 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

  26. 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.

  27. WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! How 3rd-Grade French Class Led Me to Bear's Ears.

    The musings of an old polyglot.

  28. COWBOYS & DOGS & JOHNSONS EVERYWHERE

    The San Juan River; Cranky Cowboys of San Juan County; Dexter and the Wonderdogs.

  29. CRY ME A RIVER: A Western Soap Opera

    Deceit, tragedy, fear, and triumph with some of the Colorado River & Colorado Plateau explorers and pioneers.

  30. BAD CELL SERVICE: No Noose is Good Noose.

    Topics: Coming to Terms (Old West terminology); The Moab Isolation Facility; The Outlaw James Otis Bliss.

  31. The Shady Side of Hades

    Cass Hite, the Outlaw Trail, and the 3rd and final part off The Military of Southeast Utah.

  32. 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

  33. 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…

    more

  34. 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.

  35. 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?

  36. 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.

  37. 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…

    more

  38. 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…

    more

  39. 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.

  40. 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.

  41. 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.

  42. 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....

  43. 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.

  44. Arrowheads and The Great Blanding Raid of '09

    Arrowheads 101 and a look at a dark day in 4-Corners history.

  45. The Secret Life of Potholes

    Ever wonder how potholes happen and what monsters lurk in them?

  46. Artifacts & Snakes & Desert Solitaire

    Rattlesnakes, artifacts, and Highway 95.

  47. Circle of Life

    Two characters and two incidents from Comb's recent history highlight the wild energy of Bears Ears country.

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

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.

HOSTED BY

David Black

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Letters From Comb have?

Letters From Comb currently has 47 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is Letters From Comb about?

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.

How often does Letters From Comb release new episodes?

Letters From Comb has 47 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

Where can I listen to Letters From Comb?

You can listen to Letters From Comb on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts Letters From Comb?

Letters From Comb is created and hosted by David Black.
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