Steven Criss, 37, grew up in Slate Springs the son of Stanley and Donna Criss. He is best known locally for his dozen years of covering all kinds of events in Calhoun County for the Bruce television station (W07BN).
Steven surprised many in 2015 by moving to St. George, Utah where he has made the most of his love for the outdoors. Steven shared some of his giant catalog of photos he has taken on his many hiking trips while agreeing to a Q&A about his experience out West.
1) When did you know you wanted to go West?
The first time I actually came to visit was in late 2011. Michael Waldrop had been the Calhoun Baptist Association director for a few years, but had left and moved his family out to St. George, UT for a church plant in the area. We had been friends from his show we produced on TV-7, and I wanted to visit Utah just to see what it was like.
I immediately loved it, but had no thought of even moving. I started coming out every fall after that for the next couple years as my vacation. I kind of took it as a joke, but they would always say “you should move out!” It took a few years of kicking the idea around, but I don’t think I officially decided until about sometime in late 2014.
I had started getting out and traveling around Mississippi and regionally more that year and enjoyed seeing new things, and with all that time in the car began talking myself into it. I didn’t tell anyone but finally got serious about it and I set a date for the move and headed out in 2015.
2) What about the West attracted you?
The landscape is unlike anything I had seen. I just could not get around it and after almost four years of living here I’m still fascinated every day.
Also, being a huge entertainment guy, there’s so many movies and TV shows filmed in this area and the West in general. I started seeing places in real life that I had seen on TV. There’s something about that that just appealed to me so much. I loved it.
3) Where did you move to and why?
I moved to St. George, Utah. It’s in the very southwest corner of the state, on I-15, about two hours northeast from Las Vegas and five hours south of Salt Lake City. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. It definitely has everything you need as far as city life, but it’s also still essentially a small town.
You can drive to Las Vegas if you need to see some lights and be in a big city for a little while. As far as the weather, it’s almost perfect for someone from the South. It does get blazing hot in the summer, but the humidity is so acceptable that as long as you are in the shade you get by just fine.
The best part is that geographically, snow here in town in the winter is so rare (it will shut down just like Calhoun County if it happens), but during the winter you can see snow capped mountains for 360 degrees. So you can travel to the snow if you want to, but don’t have to deal with it.
There are several small towns around, but St. George is the most metropolitan city in this area, which I like. But I do have friends out here that live in smaller towns close by and even farther up into the surrounding mountains, so at least if you like country life, you do have that option.
You can see Zion National Park from town, and you can be there in about 45 minutes. There’s so much all around that I don’t think people who have lived here their whole life have scratched the surface. St. George for me is a good hub because you can spend time here or drive a several hour radius and see so much great desert scenery.
4) What’s a typical day?
These days it’s pretty much a standard work routine, but with my job I am outside almost all day.
I work as one of the 811 “Call Before You Dig” guys. I work for a company that does the utility locating for gas lines and cable TV. I’m generally working in the St. George area, but have been traveling around just a little bit lately for the job.
I actually live downtown, just a block from Main Street. There are so many parks all over town, including a huge park behind my house.
On most weekends, I’ll try to get out and drive somewhere or go find somewhere new to explore and take photos of within an hour or two drive. I’ve got a friend that has really got me into photography.
I don’t do as much video work as I did while working at TV-7 of course, but I do help with the audio/visual part at church here on Sundays, so I still get to do some type of video work.
5) Tell me about your love for hiking.
Anytime I’m able to spend time with the Waldrops, I’m usually going with them to hike some trail around town. On my first trips out we did some pretty major trails, ones considered “THE” trails to do.
Zion National Park has Angels Landing, Observation Point, and The Narrows. All three are world-renowned trails. Folks from all over come to do these, and traffic can get pretty heavy on these trails.
I definitely love to get out, and even if it’s just me driving, if I can hop out of the car and scramble up a few rocks I love to get a good shot of that. You’re always rewarded with some kind of view or feature anywhere you hike to.
6) What are your favorite places?
Even though it’s not in Utah, hands down my favorite place on earth is Yosemite. I can sit at Glacier Point or on the valley floor and just stare all day long. There’s something about the feeling you get seeing it.
Back here in Utah, I absolutely love Monument Valley. It’s been in so many movies and tv shows, but something about seeing that place with your own eyes is amazing, I can’t get over it.
Then there’s Snow Canyon State Park. It’s a state park that’s maybe a 10 minute drive from my apartment, and it’s incredibly majestic.
Zion National Park is stunning always, and I particularly love the east side of the park for some reason. It’s separate from the main canyon, but you get to drive up some awesome switchbacks and then through a mile-long tunnel that was constructed in the 1920’s (an amazing achievement if you drive through it, in my opinion) and see yellow and white sandstone and great formations. It’s a great drive.
Moab is just a really cool town. It’s a little touristy, but it’s very fun.
Traveling back outside the border of the state, the Grand Canyon is always great to visit, and you can make a day out of going to both the North Rim and the South Rim.
The first time I visited Death Valley I was surprised at how much I loved it. I guess the name throws you off a little bit. I didn’t really imagine it would be enjoyable, but it’s definitely unlike any other place. It’s so stark, but there’s still surprisingly a lot of color and beauty to enjoy. It’s in California, but it’s not far from Las Vegas at all, so you can get there and back in a day.
7) What landscapes do you love best?
I’m still fascinated by the red rock sandstone formations all around. You get random arches and cool looking formations in a lot of places.
You can look out across the landscape and see the geologic history too. So many layers all in exposed cliff faces. In a few places you can see ancient lava flows and cinder cones, with lava rock all over the ground.
There’s dinosaur tracks fossilized into rocks as well, that’s so much fun to see. Sometimes they are well known, but you might be on a trail or driving down a road and there will be a tiny sign pointing to tracks. I get a little too excited when I see those.
There’s human history, too. Ancient native tribes carved tons of petroglyphs all around, and all over the state, too. Some are from tribes that are long forgotten, but it’s amazing to see that history carved into the rock.
8) Give us an idea of the differences in life there compared to Calhoun County?
It’s a little harder to come by really good home cooking out here, like good soul food kind of stuff. Now, the culture out here is really into baking sweet treats like pies and cookies, so I think that’s a fair trade.
On a day-to-day basis, there are many super friendly people out here, and on the whole it’s not a huge culture shift from Calhoun County. The only major difference compared to Calhoun would be of course living in a bigger city. Traffic can get really annoying really fast, but that would kind of be the same as going to Tupelo on a busy weekend.
You can always drive a few minutes and you’ll be in the wilderness though. The town does stay pretty quiet, and they keep most everywhere pretty clean and safe.
I still haven’t gotten used to the expanse of the West in general. You can see a mountain range or a formation in front of you on the road, but you are still miles and miles away from it.
9) Do you see yourself moving back to Mississippi one day?
One day, I do. But for now, I’m still loving it, and it’s also a lot of fun being a tour guide for anyone back East who gets to come out and visit.
10) How often do you make it back home to Calhoun County?
I try to make it back about twice a year. My parents will usually make it out here about once a year and spend a few days. They actually have a trip planned to come out very soon for a couple days and they are going to get to go with me to see Yosemite!
