This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The area that is now Bears Ears National Monument became one of my family's favorite places for outdoor adventure as the kids got old enough to backpack.

We spent memorable days exploring small canyons, discovering ancient ruins and even viewing bits of scattered pottery chards, pieces of sandals and tiny corncobs in secret places.

There was a quiet night in Kane Gulch camped across the canyon from a huge ruin. Spirits seemed to talk to us in a place that seemed so sacred that we often talked in low tones.

I saw my first and only bobcat in the wild in this lonely place where it scampered across a remote dirt road. On a night in Dark Canyon, the howling coyotes seemed so close that it felt as though they might crawl into my sleeping bag.

But two adventures, both without my late wife and kids, provided an interesting perspective on the points of view and strong feelings that President Barack Obama's designation has and will generate.

In the mid-1990s, Jay Shelledy, our old Tribune editor, brought me into his office to tell me that while I wouldn't be getting a raise, I would receive something better. He gave me use of a company-owned Toyota 4-Runner for my outdoor pursuits.

Owning a four-wheel drive vehicle had been a long-time but at that point unaffordable dream and I couldn't wait to use it.

I had a standing invitation from then Canyonlands superintendent Walt Dabney to explore some backcountry around Moab. Having never driven a four-wheel drive vehicle, I called Walt and asked if he could give me a lesson while we explored that backcountry.

We left town and headed into some Bureau of Land Management property west of Moab on what might be liberally called a road, a track so rugged that we had to get out a few times to do a little road building.

The trail took us across a place called Lockhart Basin and ended up on the road leading into the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.

As all things are in the world, the designation of Canyonlands National Park involved political compromises and for some reason this incredibly scenic part of southeastern Utah had been left out of the park.

Dabney made the case that this was a mistake and this wild and beautiful place needed to some day be part of Canyonlands because it made geographic sense.

Lockhart Basin is now a part of Bears Ears National Monument and I suspect that Walt Dabney feels a bit of satisfaction. I know after that incredible day of adventure in an amazing, scenic place, I always wondered if the old park superintendent's vision would ever become a reality.

For another perspective, a U.S. Forest Service source named Joel Frandsen invited me on a horseback trail ride into the Dark Canyon Wilderness which, if I read maps correctly, is also now part of Bears Ears.

Frandsen was a huge advocate of multiple use of public lands. I hadn't realized it at the time, but he was setting me up for a lesson. As a still young, city-raised person who fancied himself an environmentalist, I had been writing blistering columns about San Juan County ranching families who were fighting hard against a proposed elk transplant by the Division of Wildlife Resources into the nearby Abajo Mountains.

Dark Canyon was amazing. But, on an evening in the wilderness area, Joel informed me and a newly minted Forest Service archaeologist that we had been invited to have a steak dinner with some locals who were camped nearby.

I soon discovered these were the same ranchers I had been so critical of in my columns. They had a tradition of packing mules in their own unique way and coming to an area that had probably been their family home since their Mormon ancestors settled the area.

We sat around a roaring campfire until the wee hours of the morning. For once, I shut up and listened. In what was a cathartic experience that forever shaped my perspective, I learned that these locals loved and treasured this wilderness in their own way as much or more than this city slicker could ever understand.

What they didn't love was the federal control over their lives or, for that matter, the fact that the designation of Canyonlands had brought hordes of tourists to what had largely been an undiscovered area.

The new perspective gained around that campfire from these hard-working, honest and sincere men tempered my feelings about this place, the people who lived there and the way it might be managed.

The bottom line is that these land management issues are complex and difficult. There are usually numerous and at times contradictory opinions about land management that make decisions like creating a monument such as Bears Ears or Grand Staircase Escalante so difficult and controversial.

As someone who has hiked, camped, driven a four-wheel drive vehicle and explored much of what are Utah's two newest national monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante, I find both places so amazing that in any other part of the world they would be national parks.

That's my city perspective. Covering high school sports in Utah for almost 50 years in addition to 40 years as an outdoor writer has also given me a love and appreciation for the people in small towns throughout our state, the many challenges they and their children face and the love they have for the special place they call home, places that are not easy areas to make a decent living.

Understanding both sides of the debate over public land management in Utah helps me understand the complexity of the discussion and the passion surrounding the Bears Ears designation.

My sincere hope is that when the rhetoric dies down, people of good will can some day perhaps sit around that proverbial campfire, try to understand each other and somehow make this work for the benefit of all.

Twitter @tribtomwharton