Friday
After a day of recuperation, I am back to continue my comments on the trip. I’m sure not everything I say will be in the right order, but I’ll try to at least divide everything into two days.
Friday: It was my morning to help make breakfast so I got up early went to the kitchen and stood around, watching other people cook. Hash browns and pancakes is, at most, a two person job. People slowly trickled in and ate their food, and then slowly trickled out to get ready for our first hike of the day. We would first be going to Cassidy Arch. The hike was beautiful and the arch terrifying! The angle of the arch and the surrounding mountain gave me a pretty good feel of vertigo, but I did venture out onto it, and stood on top of it with everybody else. Tara got a good video of Handsome Brian (Brian Anderson) fighting with Other Brian (Brian Thredgold), which eventually led to Handsome Brian’s demise. Hau went crazy as well, and half our group was lost (not really, of course)! Hau does not tolerate a trash quota of over .23 lbs p.p. The hike down was just as beautiful as the way up, Hau did a good job of “leaving no trace”, accept for when he lead our whole group off the path on accident. Don’t worry, no “Biological soil” was harmed it our trekking. When we made it to the bottom the group split up. The group I was in went through…some wash. It was Grand, or Capitol, I think; and the other group went… somewhere else, which I’m sure wasn’t as cool as where I went.
Our hike ended before theirs, after waiting for approx. 2.5 minutes we had had enough of sitting, and set off to scale the hills skirting the highway. The boys made it to the top just as the other group was pulling up. We made sandwiches from the back of the van for lunch and all piled into our vehicles to see the dinosaur bone. It was (thankfully) a very short walk to where the purple fossil sat encased in the rock wall. On the way back to the field station we stopped by the side of the road to see a “man-made” waterfall. Back in the sixties the natural path of the river had been redirected to compensate for the highway. Hau told us that the river was planned to be moved back on its natural path in 2013. I would like to see the waterfall again once all the water is gone.
When we got back to the field station we all separated, most lying down, or taking quick naps. I went out with a few others to see if we could make it to the top of the canyon, but had to turn back fairly quickly because my hip was giving me trouble. Unfortunately, my husband followed me, and never made his way back up (sorry!). The others did continue on though, and made it to the top.
While it was my evening to cook dinner as well, Tara did most of the cooking by herself. She was falling asleep, and decided to cook to keep herself awake, she didn’t ask for help, and I was so tired I didn’t even offer! A few locals, and some other members of the UVU staff stopped by for dinner. We had dessert, and after the guests left we had a talk about the following day’s plans. The original plans were for the whole group to leave around 9am, but there were a few (including myself) that would have liked to stay longer. Having two vehicles, a few of us decided we would stay a few hours longer and go on another hike in the morning.
Even though everybody was so exhausted, we thought a moonlit hike might be enjoyable. After several minutes of getting ready, and several minutes of arguing Tara into coming, we all set off on the last hike of the day, and for some the last hike of the trip.
The moon was bright enough that we didn’t need any other light, everything was cast in a blue glow, and the air was crisp and fresh. It was beautiful. We went through a wash, and most of our hike was across flat ground. We did come to an incline, and again my hip was giving me trouble, so I stayed behind. Jeffrey, Jarom, and Tara stayed behind with me. I think Tara was happy for the excuse to stay behind, she was so so tired. While I am upset that I didn’t get to make it to the top, I’m happy for the time I had to talk with those that stayed behind me, it was a very pleasant evening.
When the other group came back down we made our way back to the cars, each taking turns walking through a dark spot between the rock walls. It was a little unnerving to walk alone in the dark, but there was a feeling of peace that came with it. And for me, it felt like I was back home. When we got back to the field station, most crawled into their sleeping bags, but Jarom and Jeffrey and I stayed up and had some hot cocoa. It was piping hot and super-chocolaty, the perfect thing to get me relaxed and ready for bed. We went to bed around 1:00, and I was sooo thankful my husband was there, my hip was so bad, I couldn’t even take my own pants off (let alone put them back on in the morning!) I slept wonderfully!
Friday: It was my morning to help make breakfast so I got up early went to the kitchen and stood around, watching other people cook. Hash browns and pancakes is, at most, a two person job. People slowly trickled in and ate their food, and then slowly trickled out to get ready for our first hike of the day. We would first be going to Cassidy Arch. The hike was beautiful and the arch terrifying! The angle of the arch and the surrounding mountain gave me a pretty good feel of vertigo, but I did venture out onto it, and stood on top of it with everybody else. Tara got a good video of Handsome Brian (Brian Anderson) fighting with Other Brian (Brian Thredgold), which eventually led to Handsome Brian’s demise. Hau went crazy as well, and half our group was lost (not really, of course)! Hau does not tolerate a trash quota of over .23 lbs p.p. The hike down was just as beautiful as the way up, Hau did a good job of “leaving no trace”, accept for when he lead our whole group off the path on accident. Don’t worry, no “Biological soil” was harmed it our trekking. When we made it to the bottom the group split up. The group I was in went through…some wash. It was Grand, or Capitol, I think; and the other group went… somewhere else, which I’m sure wasn’t as cool as where I went.
Our hike ended before theirs, after waiting for approx. 2.5 minutes we had had enough of sitting, and set off to scale the hills skirting the highway. The boys made it to the top just as the other group was pulling up. We made sandwiches from the back of the van for lunch and all piled into our vehicles to see the dinosaur bone. It was (thankfully) a very short walk to where the purple fossil sat encased in the rock wall. On the way back to the field station we stopped by the side of the road to see a “man-made” waterfall. Back in the sixties the natural path of the river had been redirected to compensate for the highway. Hau told us that the river was planned to be moved back on its natural path in 2013. I would like to see the waterfall again once all the water is gone.
When we got back to the field station we all separated, most lying down, or taking quick naps. I went out with a few others to see if we could make it to the top of the canyon, but had to turn back fairly quickly because my hip was giving me trouble. Unfortunately, my husband followed me, and never made his way back up (sorry!). The others did continue on though, and made it to the top.
While it was my evening to cook dinner as well, Tara did most of the cooking by herself. She was falling asleep, and decided to cook to keep herself awake, she didn’t ask for help, and I was so tired I didn’t even offer! A few locals, and some other members of the UVU staff stopped by for dinner. We had dessert, and after the guests left we had a talk about the following day’s plans. The original plans were for the whole group to leave around 9am, but there were a few (including myself) that would have liked to stay longer. Having two vehicles, a few of us decided we would stay a few hours longer and go on another hike in the morning.
Even though everybody was so exhausted, we thought a moonlit hike might be enjoyable. After several minutes of getting ready, and several minutes of arguing Tara into coming, we all set off on the last hike of the day, and for some the last hike of the trip.
The moon was bright enough that we didn’t need any other light, everything was cast in a blue glow, and the air was crisp and fresh. It was beautiful. We went through a wash, and most of our hike was across flat ground. We did come to an incline, and again my hip was giving me trouble, so I stayed behind. Jeffrey, Jarom, and Tara stayed behind with me. I think Tara was happy for the excuse to stay behind, she was so so tired. While I am upset that I didn’t get to make it to the top, I’m happy for the time I had to talk with those that stayed behind me, it was a very pleasant evening.
When the other group came back down we made our way back to the cars, each taking turns walking through a dark spot between the rock walls. It was a little unnerving to walk alone in the dark, but there was a feeling of peace that came with it. And for me, it felt like I was back home. When we got back to the field station, most crawled into their sleeping bags, but Jarom and Jeffrey and I stayed up and had some hot cocoa. It was piping hot and super-chocolaty, the perfect thing to get me relaxed and ready for bed. We went to bed around 1:00, and I was sooo thankful my husband was there, my hip was so bad, I couldn’t even take my own pants off (let alone put them back on in the morning!) I slept wonderfully!
posted by brit at 6:39 PM
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