Utah Excursion!

Patrick Abrams- Insights about the Beehive State

Wow. That’s all I can say about our last expedition to Utah. As a group, we saw an amalgam of geologic features in a multitude of awesome places. We flew into Salt Lake City from Charlotte on a warm Sunday afternoon, and the adventures began. We went backpacking on our 2nd day through Capitol Reef National Park, which is a canyon that is shaped by a stream that runs through it. We had to cross the stream multiple times on our way to our first campsite, and our boots were soaked when we finally reached our destination.

We camped out at that campsite for two days and two nights, but before we left, we had an amazing climbing experience. Behind our campsite was a huge rock face that jutted out over the canyon, and we decided we’d hike-climb and see how far we could get up the rock. At certain points, it looked impossible to go any further, but with a little bit of creativity and upper-body strength, half of us were able to get to the very top of the rock face. From there, I could see pretty much the entire valley in all directions. It was an awe-inspiring sight.

We left our backpacking destination and drove south towards Bryce Canyon National Park, where we spent a day doing a hike of the famous winding valley that is almost a vertical walk. The rock formations in the Park ranged from beautifully shaped slopes to jagged finger-looking shapes that, at times, were comical. From Bryce Canyon, we traveled to St. George and Utah’s most visited National Park, Zion. Zion is a park that stretches through the entire spectrum of geologic features. For example, one minute, we were driving past huge rock structures that seemed to reach for the sky, and the next we were looking down a thousand feet into a narrow canyon that winds its way through the Park.

For more information on Zion, here’s a link to the Zion National Park Service website (http://www.nps.gov/zion). I would definitely go visit it to see some of the things that we experienced, since there are too many things for me to talk about.

I actually left this expedition two days early to go back to Atlanta for my sister’s Bat Mitzvah, which is a very special time in the life of a young Jewish woman. She was tov meod, which in Hebrew means “very good”. It was a lot of fun seeing all of my relatives coming together for a very special occasion in my family.

Well, next up, we are going back to Utah! We’ll be visiting, among other places, Arches National Park, the Moab region. We will also be going mountain biking, which is somewhat of a pastime of mine. It should be a very interesting and wonderful expedition. I look forward to writing about it when I get back!

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Mitch's insights

During this excursion I read The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. It was nice to read during expedition, as reading was a way to take a break from the group. I also read Tom Clany’s Splinter Cell.

For history, I read about the Indian Subcontinent, the beginning of Hinduism and Buddhism and early Chinese civilizations.

It’s a little different to do class work in the wilderness because it gives you more time to absorb what you are reading or studying.
I also learned things about living in the wilderness. For instance, I learned how to build a fire. I also learned not jump over creeks because it’s too easy to fall into the creek, and the water is COLD!

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Zion's Fall

During our last expedition there were many funny incidents that happened. One time we were backpacking and the trail crossed a small river at least 18 times, which is how many times we crossed it.

Every time we had to invent clever ways to get across since there were no bridges. One time everyone was taking a long time to cross so I wanted to be like superman and show everyone up by jumping across onto a wall of dirt. The idea was that I would jump across and dig my hands into the soil in order to pull myself up onto the opposite bank. So I ran and jumped…

I sailed through the air and landed with a THUD. As you probably expected I didn’t land as I had planned. I landed with one foot on the wall and one foot dangling toward the water. My body weight combined with the weight of my pack caused me to loosen my grip and land, kneeling in the rushing water. I WAS SOAKED!! From somewhere up ahead I heard Nate say “fail,” and I laughed. That was probably the funniest thing that happened to me the entire expedition. I can’t wait to see what happens while mountain biking, (wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)
Until next time when I write, have a good time and don’t fall!
Bye!

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More of Alex's narratives

On Sunday, October 26th, we flew into Salt Lake City international airport, and were immediately greeted by a musty sulfurous odor, wafting its way around the area. As I soon found out, that was the smell of the Great Salt Lake; something the area is famous for. As you might imagine my expectations for this expedition were not that high, especially after the majestic greatness that was Wyoming and Colorado expeditions. As you might well imagine, that all changed in the next couple of days, as I discovered that Utah had it’s own set of unique charms that distinguished it from the other places we have visited thus far.

Everything was red, which made it foreign, and everywhere I looked there was a cool erosion-caused sandstone structure, like in Bryce Canyon National Park, the second park that we visited. The park had huge sandstone spires that stuck out of the ground called hoodoos.

I highly recommend that you check out a picture of it - it’s very cool. Before we got to Bryce, we had been backpacking in Capitol Reef National Park along a little creek that was just deep and wide enough to provide a unique challenge every time we had to cross it, which happened dozens of times over the course of the trip. Everyone in the group except for Jeremy with his ski poles has a river-crossing story; you’ll probably read about them in the other blogs.
After we left Capital Reef it was off to some casual day hiking in Bryce Canyon, which I already mentioned. After that it was time to once again pile into the big black Ford van, and embarked upon the long drive to Zion National Park.

Utah is big; it seemed emptier than anywhere else we had visited. In a full day of driving we passed through a few tiny towns - the biggest, Loa Utah, had both a gas station and a restaurant which would be the extent of civilization we would encounter until we came into the over priced, touristy “villages” guarding the entrance to the Park. Zion, particularly near the entrance, was a bit crowded. The campgrounds for cars were noisy and crowded, and the ground was hard, not nearly as nice as the ones in Capitol Reef National Park.

However, they both had abundant populations of very friendly deer, for better or for worse. Despite it’s being excessively touristy, Zion had some cool stuff to offer. My personal favorite was a hike called ‘Angels Landing’. Picture a Popsicle sticking out of the ground. Now imagine a trail led by a chain going up the side of the Popsicle, with an enormous drop on both sides. It was great. After a few days of wandering around Zion it was time to go back to base. The two weeks had flown by as if they had only been a couple of days.

All in all, good times were had by all.

Soon we’ll be venturing on for round two. Next time we will be paying visits to Canyon Lands, Arches National Park and the Moab area.

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EJ's perspective


Utah is such an amazing state that it’s hard to talk about what was the most exciting experience for me during the trip. Between the beautiful scenery and the fantastic weather Utah had to have been the greatest journey thus far. My first expectations of Utah weren’t that great, after seeing the beautiful state of Colorado in the wintertime. But I must say that Utah left me pleasantly surprised.

Utah was a great state to just take in the beautiful scenery and reflect on life. Doing our expedition with the backdrop of Utah’s beauty made our homework more enjoyable

Our campsites were amazing and some of the places we made camp were breathtaking!

The accomplishment I’m most proud of is conquering my fear of heights by climbing six different mountains within the span of two days! It was especially fulfilling because our group leader, Jeremy, had pushed me to face my fears and not give up on reaching the top even when I felt I could go no further. Much like finishing a Regatta during my days on crew, the feeling of accomplishment was exhilarating.

This past expedition in Utah taught me things that I never knew about myself; it showed me to push myself to my limits. I learned to not give up when the going gets tough and the road looks impossible to conquer. On our group’s next journey we’ll return to Utah yet again. This time we will be exploring Moab, Arches National Park, and the Canyon Lands. I hope to enjoy my second trip to Utah just as much as I enjoyed the first.

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Nathan's update

The backpacking part of the trip this time was much shorter and was very scenic. Our adventure took us through a winding canyon and involved many river crossings. The Backpacking trip was a lot shorter than I had expected, and sometimes I wanted to go farther.
When we finally settled into camp near the creek. I chose a large rock for my perch. Alex chose a flat spot in the cliff wall for his perch. My rock was a bit slanted so I had a wee bit of difficulty when it came to staying on my mattress.

After the return trip to the ranger station we drove down to water pocket fold. Then we drove to Esprante, UT. Because of the spirit of Halloween Jeremy and Beth decided that it would be fitting if we slept in the “Box Death Hollow Wilderness Area.” Box Death Hollow wasn’t that scary. The Hollow was crazy - it was a GIANT hole in the ground.

The next day we drove to St. George and hung out in Snow Canyon where a large thunderstorm rolled over just to the south of us. There we looked for a laundry mat and thankfully we found one and settled in.
While sitting there I struck up a conversation with a man by the name of John Niece. He was a man with a very interesting life. He ran away from home at the age of 15 and moved to Ft. Lauderdale. He then moved to Texas at 22 and inherited a lot of money. He later shared the wealth down to pocket change.. Talking to him made me realize how fortunate I am. Then we took off to camp and eat dinner. But I kept thinking about John Niece.