Utah
So I lived through my backpacking trip to Utah...
We left friday, and let me tell you, 32 hours on a bus is a fun that you have to experience to truly know. Especially when you run out of fuel in Kansas cause the gauge is broke. yes, the fuel gauge broke and we ran out of gas in Kansas, also, Kansas sucks to drive through. Its the same, for 400 miles. [For those who are planning to drive out to the west, avoid kansas.] But we finally got into our campground at like 2 or 3 in the morning and crashed.
First day was hiking through Arches National Park. Really Beautiful. I took pictures and such. It wouldn't have been too bad if we had remembered to bring lunch. But we had to go back to camp to eat and then back out to hike up to Delicate Arch to watch the sunset. However it was cloudy, so you couldn't see the sun set so well. But the Arch was cool to see and back at camp I took a few pictures of stars.
Second day was hiking at Canyonlands, which was really cool as well. Another beautiful day, we hiked around the Island in the Sky region and had much fun. Lots of slick rock. Had some fun with the group, remembered lunch. Even took a bit of a nap up on the rocks. Did a little meditation, learned about Mate, and saw a lizard. Took a few moon pictures that night, oh yeah and I cooked dinner.
The third day was a kick back day. But instead of just kicking back me and some of the guys spent several hours scrambling around the rocks and hills and such. Then we went into town and got to look at all the little stores. Still think I should have gotten one of the red dirt shirts. [Honey, can we go Moab?] Got showers at a local pool, went to dinner at the Slick Rock Cafe, really good BBQ. Then we headed back to camp.
Day 4 began our backpacking trip. It was a simple day, a little cool. I think we only covered about 2 or 3 miles with our packs on. Got into camp and then climbed up on the slickrock and covered another 3 miles or so running around that, bounding over the cryptobyotic soil. (The dirt is alive out there). Any how, it was getting cold, so we went back to camp, had dinner and basically went to bed around 7 cause it was getting cold. As is snowing cold. We all layed in our sleeping bags and joked around for a few hours before actually getting to sleep, but it was fun.
I woke up to snow on the ground and more falling for day 5. Now, we were in the desert, place gets 9 inches of rain/snow a year. We're talking desert, we all packed for hot weather and now its snowing on us. Well it got all the way up to about 35 that day. So we get packed up and start rolling out on the trail. We had to climb up to the pass to get to the next canyon. Did I mention it was snowing and cold? Try climbing up rock with a pack on while water is dripping down on you and your fingers are going numb. We got up to the pass and it was this nice dangerous steep slickrock cliff. It wouldn't have been bad dry, just a bit steep. But it was nice and wet. And had about a 100 foot drop off at the bottom of it. So we bust out the rope and go for it. The leaders pack started to roll and his nalgene took the 100 ft drop. So for the rest of the day most of the group was using the rope to either go up or down the rock. Myself and Avery were usually out in front, no rope, scouting the best ways to go. Sliding down a water fall is fun. Would be better if it had been warmer. We ended up missing our turn, cause the sign wasn't marked well, and so we got to do the flying spider monkey leap over a river, with our packs on. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the snow had turned to water in the canyon and was flowing. Then we turned around and did the leap again. We finally got into camp and everyone ended up taking a nap. As we were waking up a lady came into camp lost. We gave her directions and she set out on her way. We had dinner and it was back to bed.
Our last day on the trail was nice. Spent more time up on the rock, they had a ladder just bolted to one part of the rock so you could make it up. At one point of the trail I was leading the group and the trail dropped. As in a 10 foot drop off. It was sandy and such, so we just slide down. Not too much else happened that day, just basic hiking. Some time on the slickrock with drop offs, but nothing steep like the day before. Got back to the bus and loaded up.
After like 36 hours back, through the rockies and all we were back. Whole bus was singing One Time I got Drunk in Morgantown. Saw many movies on the bus ride there and back. Buses aren't comfy to sleep in. But I was back home. I lived, one piece.
I missed Stella a whole lot, its nice to be back where I can bug her any time at all. But it was a very good time. Only ended up using one battery for the camera and didn't quite fill a memory card. All in all it twas a good time. A few more stories to tell, a couple new jokes, and some more miles under my belt.
We left friday, and let me tell you, 32 hours on a bus is a fun that you have to experience to truly know. Especially when you run out of fuel in Kansas cause the gauge is broke. yes, the fuel gauge broke and we ran out of gas in Kansas, also, Kansas sucks to drive through. Its the same, for 400 miles. [For those who are planning to drive out to the west, avoid kansas.] But we finally got into our campground at like 2 or 3 in the morning and crashed.
First day was hiking through Arches National Park. Really Beautiful. I took pictures and such. It wouldn't have been too bad if we had remembered to bring lunch. But we had to go back to camp to eat and then back out to hike up to Delicate Arch to watch the sunset. However it was cloudy, so you couldn't see the sun set so well. But the Arch was cool to see and back at camp I took a few pictures of stars.
Second day was hiking at Canyonlands, which was really cool as well. Another beautiful day, we hiked around the Island in the Sky region and had much fun. Lots of slick rock. Had some fun with the group, remembered lunch. Even took a bit of a nap up on the rocks. Did a little meditation, learned about Mate, and saw a lizard. Took a few moon pictures that night, oh yeah and I cooked dinner.
The third day was a kick back day. But instead of just kicking back me and some of the guys spent several hours scrambling around the rocks and hills and such. Then we went into town and got to look at all the little stores. Still think I should have gotten one of the red dirt shirts. [Honey, can we go Moab?] Got showers at a local pool, went to dinner at the Slick Rock Cafe, really good BBQ. Then we headed back to camp.
Day 4 began our backpacking trip. It was a simple day, a little cool. I think we only covered about 2 or 3 miles with our packs on. Got into camp and then climbed up on the slickrock and covered another 3 miles or so running around that, bounding over the cryptobyotic soil. (The dirt is alive out there). Any how, it was getting cold, so we went back to camp, had dinner and basically went to bed around 7 cause it was getting cold. As is snowing cold. We all layed in our sleeping bags and joked around for a few hours before actually getting to sleep, but it was fun.
I woke up to snow on the ground and more falling for day 5. Now, we were in the desert, place gets 9 inches of rain/snow a year. We're talking desert, we all packed for hot weather and now its snowing on us. Well it got all the way up to about 35 that day. So we get packed up and start rolling out on the trail. We had to climb up to the pass to get to the next canyon. Did I mention it was snowing and cold? Try climbing up rock with a pack on while water is dripping down on you and your fingers are going numb. We got up to the pass and it was this nice dangerous steep slickrock cliff. It wouldn't have been bad dry, just a bit steep. But it was nice and wet. And had about a 100 foot drop off at the bottom of it. So we bust out the rope and go for it. The leaders pack started to roll and his nalgene took the 100 ft drop. So for the rest of the day most of the group was using the rope to either go up or down the rock. Myself and Avery were usually out in front, no rope, scouting the best ways to go. Sliding down a water fall is fun. Would be better if it had been warmer. We ended up missing our turn, cause the sign wasn't marked well, and so we got to do the flying spider monkey leap over a river, with our packs on. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the snow had turned to water in the canyon and was flowing. Then we turned around and did the leap again. We finally got into camp and everyone ended up taking a nap. As we were waking up a lady came into camp lost. We gave her directions and she set out on her way. We had dinner and it was back to bed.
Our last day on the trail was nice. Spent more time up on the rock, they had a ladder just bolted to one part of the rock so you could make it up. At one point of the trail I was leading the group and the trail dropped. As in a 10 foot drop off. It was sandy and such, so we just slide down. Not too much else happened that day, just basic hiking. Some time on the slickrock with drop offs, but nothing steep like the day before. Got back to the bus and loaded up.
After like 36 hours back, through the rockies and all we were back. Whole bus was singing One Time I got Drunk in Morgantown. Saw many movies on the bus ride there and back. Buses aren't comfy to sleep in. But I was back home. I lived, one piece.
I missed Stella a whole lot, its nice to be back where I can bug her any time at all. But it was a very good time. Only ended up using one battery for the camera and didn't quite fill a memory card. All in all it twas a good time. A few more stories to tell, a couple new jokes, and some more miles under my belt.