Camel Trekking

At first the tawny, rust-colored and pinkish buttes, spires and boulders rising above the red sands of southern Utah just look like rocks. But after a while, every stone formation begins to resemble a camel: a one-humped camel curled up on his legs, a two-humped reddish butte. Or so it seems when you explore this majestic landscape from the perspective of a camel's back.

Up there, sitting far higher than the driver of the most monstrous S.U.V. and swaying rhythmically, you don't forget what you are riding.

Desert: vast and without much water. Camel: fast-moving and able to go three weeks without water. Why did this perfect pairing, so routine in Northern Africa and east into Asia, never catch on in the American West? Camel lovers can't imagine. Read more in The New York Times...