Peace And Running In Utah

A family's road trip through Utah's National Parks, and the story that brought them there.

By Peak Design

A man with a story

Scott Kranz grew up in Hastings, Minnesota, just south of the Twin Cities. As a company founded by a fella from Plymouth, we respect that. But that’s just the beginning of what we respect about Scott.

Unsure of what he wanted to do post-college, Scott opted for law school. 3 years later he was a full-on lawyer, enjoying a career chock-full-o lawyer stuff. Cushy salary. Challenging casework. Secure future. Writs of various Latin words. In 2013 Scott and his wife moved to Seattle and he continued his career with a new firm and a fresh outlook.

Little did I know the extent to which the state’s outdoor scene would transform my life.

This quote is from Scott’s own account of how the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest changed his career trajectory in the grandest of ways.

Scott, in Dead Horse State Park near Canyonlands.

Lost And Found

As Scott became enamored with the outdoors, a tragedy slowly materialized. His father, with whom he shared an intense bond, began to lose his struggle with cancer. In early 2015 Scott’s father passed away, and Scott was overcome with an immense feeling of loss. It was in that void that Scott found a burning ember:

The ember ignited. Scott left his smoothly paved career path as a lawyer and stepped into the winding, rocky trail of an adventure photographer. He never looked back, and that’s where this story begins.

THE GRAND CIRCLE, by road and by foot

Scott is now a full-time professional adventure photographer, writer, and budding videographer. His spirit is fiercely evident in his body of work, which is absolutely breathtaking.
This Spring Scott and his wife Jill took a trip through the great parks of Utah: Monument Valley, Arches, Moab, and Canyonlands. They were drawn there by Grand Circle Trail Race Series—Scott for the Half Marathon and Jill for the whopping 50km Ultramarathon. But they stuck around to enjoy the dry, crisp desert Spring, which might as well have been another planet compared to their Seattle digs.

Scott’s Gear

Canon 5D MKIII, 16-35 ƒ/2.8, 24-70 ƒ/2.8, 70-300 ƒ/2.8, Clutch Hand Strap, Capture Camera Clip, Mefoto carbon fiber tripod, first aid kit, lens cleaner, circular polarizer, batteries and chargers.

One night Scott and a friend car-camped outside of Monument Valley, waking up to this spectacular view.

Off to the races

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The big cool down

Following nearly 75km of combined desert running, Scott, Jill and their crew took a few days of well earned cool down. They started right where they kicked off their running shoes: Monument Valley.

The crew headed North to Arches, Canyonlands and the town of Moab. The foundation of this geographical area is a 300 million year old salt flat, which is thousands of feet thick in places, and was deposited by an ancient ocean. Atop the salt, debris settled for millions of years, eventually turning into sandstone. The mounting weight of the sandstone caused the underlying salt to liquefy, causing the above landscape to crack, topple, bubble up, and in general go completely bananas. Add millions of years of erosion to the mix, and you’ve got yourself one kooky scene.