After all air
travel was completed it was just a matter of renting a car (the car hoped to be
rented was a fiat or smart car for traveling through the Rockies), get to our
hotel, wake up, and then drive to meet the team in Great Sand Dunes National
Park. On the drive to the meeting point I was realizing how important and good
it feels to be part of a group. When I was in bed I honestly missed my group
and for once, felt lonely here at SOAR.
Every mile closer we got the more excited I got about seeing my group
once again. Finally, after many mile of driving we ran into sight of that old
van which contained the members of Espada Ardiente. After getting re acquainted
with the team and newly acquainted with our new member at the time Mr. Mike
Wolff, we headed for Utah where many things were in store for us.
When entering Utah
which I was somewhat familiar with in certain parts, I gazed at the
towering cliffs lining the outside of
the highway and then automatically changing into rural deserted land with
nothing to be seen, then right back to the mountain scene. We pitched camp
right outside the town of Moab which we hoped to explore later. The next day we
knocked out our second food buy for this expedition, which was followed by a
trip into arches national park which help many great surprises. To us, even the
drive through valleys and mountains wasn’t enough. WE NEEDED MORE!!! So we
parked at a rest area for lunch and took some time to climb around on some of
the great rocks we were surrounded by. It reminded me of my time in Joshua Tree
National Park in California. During lunch
hour we had another great surprise of some German chocolate cake to celebrate
the birthday of one great group member Mr. Aaron Cabiness. After lunch our
tummies may have been full with food, but they were still only almost half full
with the beauty and some once of a life time experiences of the National Park. So we all loaded back up in the van and drove
through more amazingness and majestic vistas until we came to a parking lot
where there was a trail head to a quarter mile long walking trail through the
great rocks we had been seeing from a distance. Many pictures and much
indulgent in the pure beauty of the sites later we made were hit with the great
chance to eat out at paradox pizza for our teammates birthday which was a blast
beyond belief. The next day we had to
make a few stops to try to replace some personal gear that got damaged then, we
were on the road again.
We did some van
school, jammed out to some music and slept. After a while we stopped for gas
and restrooms. When we came out there was a very nice dog waiting to be pet
but, since we did not know the owner we could not pet him. After a few minutes we found out that he was
a stray and bought him a can of dog food to chow down on which he devoured in
seconds. Feeling good to have helped the dog we loaded up into the van and
headed down the road. At this point in time we had crossed into Arizona and
headed for Grand Canyon National Park. We stopped a few more times one of which
was really cool in my opinion with it being an awesome Indian reservation.
Sometime later that
day we finally arrived at the National Park and set up camp at a place called
Mathers camp ground inside the park limits. With the knowledge of having to
pack into the canyon the next day we tried to make it a quick evening and get
to bed early.
The next day we
woke up, packed our personal/ group gear and food and then headed out for the
canyon. It was about a 45 minute drive to the trail head and by then we were
stoked to get going. So we double checked that our gear was ready to go and
headed off. After about 20 minutes of hiking I started to feel kind of crappy
but I didn't take it into account. A little later my hip (which was operated on
2 years ago from breaking it in 5th grade) started to give me big
problems for this being the most strenuous thing I have done on it since
surgery. Along with my hip hurting I started get kicked in the butt by my
pneumonia. So after about an hour and a half, maybe a little more, my hip gave
out and I didn't feel I could continue. So the team considered the situation
and decided to head back. I still feel a bit frustrated by having to do it.
After we got back it had started to get dark and we hurried to get camp packed
up and eat dinner in a timely fashion.
The next day we
still needed to explore the Grand Canyon in any way we could think of so we
decided to hit up the visitors center in the park. When we got to the visitor’s
center there was a I max movie about to play which we slipped into and got a lot
of good information. After the movie we took a walk on a paved path to view a
little bit of the canyon from its rim. Again, as in Utah, many pictures and
indulging moments later we, of course, had to visit the gift shop where some of
us picked up some souvenirs and where we all bought post cards.
From not being able
to do the hike into the canyon we still had to do some sort of hike. So we
looked around and found a nice day hike around the rim of the canyon with
magnificent views and vistas. We enjoyed the views, listening to music, and
convincing people that we were actually from Australia by using their
accent. We took a bus back where I
continued my previously set goal of trying to find Oregon license plates. As
many times before we got back to cam and tried to have as quick an evening as
possible, more needed that night than any other since we were going to need to
wake up at 3:00 am to make it to Vegas to be able to make our flights on time.
Over all I believe
this to be a very successful expedition even if I had to start it off in bed. I
learned many good lessons and so much knowledge about a place I believed to be
not as grand as it turned out to be.
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