Green River, UT
I am sitting in a state park, where the birds are chirping and the mosquitos are biting. This site, with more trailers and people permitted, looks more like a circus or a state fair than a place to stay before driving to grandmas house in the morning. It is about mid day, and the temperature is easily in the lower 90s. My clothes are on their second cycle up the street at the Shady Acres Laundromat. This is Green River, Utah. Not much occurs on the Main Street during the day. A couple of vehicles pass through, but not many. I just returned from a packed 24 days canyoneering and backpacking a couple of hours south near the Bears Ears National Monument. The trip began with long days hiking with heavy backpacks on a road, and gradually turned into a technical canyoneering expedition. The days we long and hot. There seems to be no clouds during the day, causing some serious sun burn if you aren’t careful. When the clouds are moving, they help keep the water in the potholes. That water could have fallen 2 months ago or just a couple days ago, but the clouds help out our odds at finding water. The meals are nothing special; cooking on a small camp stove with rationed food. In all seriousness though, everything tastes quite good. That is until your tent mate burns the quinoa. He is relieved of his duties from the kitchen for a couple of days, because food is too much of a resource out here to go to waste.
The days are filled with long walks through desert trails and mesas. It can reach over 100 degrees with a couple hours of the sun coming up, so it is important to move fast early on in the day. As fast as you can with a 45lb backpack on your back. You see the occasional lizard or prickly pear, but life is scarce. Species of birds are few and far between, and the sun seems to never set. When the sun does set, the nights are quite the opposite. Cold temps settle in, clouds move in and out, rain pours, hail and snow fall, and the wind howls. I remember an instructor informing us that it never rains where we were going, but as of the third day we had had two hail storms, been floating on water on our sleeping pads during a storm at night, and been covered in three inches of snow within a couple of hours of going to bed. These weather patterns opened my eyes to how fast conditions change in the desert. The desert is very unforgiving, and you have to been light on your toes.
The expedition began with long days on the trail progressing towards the end goal of some technical canyoneering. As the expedition turned into more technical canyoneering, the mood has risen and it became mostly joyful. A couple of days towards the end of the trip include multiple 50-100ft rappels, full swims through slot canyons, shivering bodies and freezing core temperatures, and beautiful sunsets. The days were warm, but with the end of the course in sight it became easier to enjoy the beauty of the place we were in.
When the expedition came to a close, we headed to Red Rocks, right outside of Las Vegas, NV. We spent two weeks rock climbing and developing technical skills that will prepare us for climbing outside of NOLS. After the incredible views and amazing routes that came from the climbing section, we journeyed to Desolation Canyon in Southern Utah, where we rafted and whitewater kayaked for two weeks to bring the semester to a close. Learning how to manage whitewater, the rapids, and the terrain we were in was some of my biggest takeaways. Whitewater is fairly dangerous, and if you do not know what you are doing you can end up in serious trouble fairly quickly.
As I make my return back from my second semester with the NOLS school, I reflect on all of my skills that I have acquired that will better prepare myself for the future. Knowledge about working hard, motivating people, leading, critical thinking, and having fun when situations take an unexpected turn.