The high desert of Southern Utah can be unforgiving. Hear along the Hickman Natural Bridge Trail in late Spring, there are few signs of life. Pectols Pyramid across the Fremont River Canyon is a sandstone formation which dominates the landscape to the south of the Hickman Bridge Trail, but it is the knife-like sharp limbs of the dried out, dead, gnarled juniper in the foreground that rightly dominates this frame. This land is open to the elements, exposed to extreme temperatures throughout the year, and a place where only the heartiest plants and animals survive. This juniper once fell into that category, but after decades if not centuries of life, it too succumbed to this harsh environment.
