Those Utahns who want to keep the state's natural beauty a secret from the rest of the world suffered another hit this weekend.

An article by author Tony Perrottet in Sunday's New York Times travel section extols the glories of "America's Outback," the remote red-rock canyons of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument - an area that, Perrottet wrote, offers "a seemingly endless choice of natural wonders that lie blissfully forgotten and empty."

For travelers wishing to get away from it all, Perrottet writes an alluring description of what the middle of nowhere looks like:

East of Calf Creek, the landscape becomes even more strange and unearthly. The Creator was having fun out there. Canyons yawn. Arches sprout from nowhere, not to mention spires, buttes, towers and pinnacles. The earth erupts and convulses. There are raw desert lookouts where not one single man-made light distracts from the stars.

If search-and-rescue teams are inundated with pleas to find lost hikers this summer, we know where the hikers got their inspiration.

Labels: travel