Monday, July 30, 2012

Hoodoos

Page, AZ--> Zion National Park--> Panguitch, UT--> Bryce Canyon National Park

Tuesday, May 29th-Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

Tuesday
I woke up in Page, AZ on Sunday and got the hell of there. I arrived at Zion National Park after being instructed to stop there by some fellow hikers at the Grand Canyon. Not knowing what to expect was exciting, as each turn within the park was a personal discovery. Very fortunately I acquired a campsite and got onto a shuttle bus to the Angel's Landing trailhead, a 1500 foot climb to the top of a jagged and narrow cliff in the middle of the canyon.

The ascent to the top of the peak is along a ledge in which one must grab ahold of chains secured into the rock in order to keep from plunging down into the valley. I'm glad that I did it, even though it was certainly the most terrifying hike I've ever done. 
I don't think that I feel more of a purpose than when I'm moving. Hiking or driving, I just feel more productive on the go. Is this anti-instinctual I wonder? I don't feel that I am running more than I am seeking, something more, always something else.

Yesterday I hiked into the heart of the canyon where the walls narrow and the creek touches both sides of the rock at some points. I walked for 3 hours by myself, then met up with some guys that I had met the previous day at Angel's Landing and walked back out with them.

We all got dinner together at Wildcat Willies in Springdale, UT. This was my first spontaneous meetng of new people while on the road. All good folks.

Today I woke up after a very windy pre-dawn swept across the canyon. I became increasingly annoyed as the air whipped my tent, inflating and imploding it, wacking my walls around and waking me up at regular intervals. I decided to take a day of santuary at the Blue Pines Motel in Panguitch, UT. I am watching Rocky Horror Picture Show and feeling quite disconnected from reality.

Wednesday
For the rest of the day I sat on the bed of my motel room and watched T.V, allowing my muscles to hear. During times of hunger I'd wander through town to find a diner to eat at. The day was restful but began to feel lonely, secluding myself in room alone in a town full of people, or strangers rather.
This morning I woke up and drove south to Bryce Canyon to hike for the day an camp for the rest if the night. Bryce is a beautiful ampitheater full of "hoodos", or pillar-like rock formations. Though it is dazzling to behold, the landscape was kind of one-noted. Turn a corner, see hoodoos, turn another, more hoodoos. I could have just come here for a hike but I'd aleady paid for my campsite so I am trying to make the most of it. I bought a ticket for the 7pm Rodeo at Reed's Inn, so hopefully that will lift my spirts.



(it did.)

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Grand View

Mesa Verde--> Flagstaff--> Sedona, AZ--> Grand Canyon

Saturday, May 26th, 2012

One could spend an entire lifetime gazing across the rim of the Grand Canyon and still not be able to absorb the overwhelming vastness which it possesses. I left Flagstaff early yesterday morning after visiting with my sister-in-law's family. From there I traveled to Sedona where I meandered through the curves of a red canyon until I finally arrived at the Baldwin hiking trail. From there I walked about a mile and a half to a small pool along the creek where I relaxed and eventually took a dip.

I felt the Grand Canyon calling to me, as it was expected to be the most supreme feature of this trip. Once I arrived however, no campsites were available within or even outside the park, it being memorial day weekend. I turned around without even seeing the canyon and convinced a French couple to let me set up my tent by their RV about 10 miles south of the rim in a flat, piney area.

Anxiety about being kicked out of the full campground kept me from sleeping easily, and I awoke at 4am with the first signs of dawn. Up I sprang, breaking down my site as quickly as possible. I sped back to the park in order to be sure that the first glimpse I would ever see of the Grand Canyon could be during sunrise. And come over the opposing rim it finally did, as if for the first time the sun's yellow beams crossed through space and hit the unique landscape that I'd never seen before that day. Once our sun had risen do did I, needing to find something to eat and more importantly to warm my fingers and feet which were at this point freezing.

I passed a couple male elk grazing on my way to the tourist trap McDonald's about 15 miles away from the park. I returned full of 2 egg biscuits and was ready to explore the GC. I found the Bright Angel trailhead after a short shuttle ride and began to descend. Quite an odd sensation, descending on the first leg of a hike. I promised to pace myself, and allowed for twice the amount of water and time on my way back up. Down and down I went, zig zagging through switchbacks on a trail about 7 feet wide until I reached a gentle slope half way down the canyon (about 3000 feet). On I marched, out to a place called Plateau Point. From there I could both see down to the Colorado River and up to the rim from which I descended. Never a hike like this before.

After ascending like a mule and entering the comfort of my metal horse and home, I proceeded 80 miles North to the town of Page, AZ, founded 1957, where I am in the desert just a few miles south of the dammed up river known as Lake Powell.

The desert makes me uncomfortable. I thought that I would love such a strange and foreign landscape, but instead I just feel that any human being should not settle so far away from a natural water source. The middle of nowhere seems an unfitting term, since I am in a town, but still I feel like that is exactly where I am.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Out West

Santa Fe--> Great Sand Dunes--> Durango, CO--> Mesa Verde

Thursday, May 24th, 2012

Yesterday I packed up my campsite in Santa Fe and proceeded to Great Sand Dunes Colorado. The road was washed out with eroded hills at first, then flat land with just shrubs. Later on a smooth, rounded mountain came into view and beyond that in the hazy distance were the Rockies. I traveled north on 285, took a right in Almarosa on 160-East for about 15 miles, and then a left towards the dunes. Laying out before a row of mountains were a blanket of gigantic sand dunes, placed there over time by high winds.

I arrived and got my gear together. Once I walked beyond a small barrier of juniper trees, a shallow stream flowed over the sand before the dunes. People were arriving and plopping down as if they were at the beach. I in contrast removed my hiking boots and continued through the stream and to a 1/4 mile stretch of flat sand before the hills began. I assume the flatness is the dry river bed. I plotted my path along the ridges of the dunes, leading up to the top.

The climb was tough on my lungs, and at times the wind would kick up, spraying sand across my exposed legs until I wondered if it would take a layer of my skin off. Still I proceeded onward, ever seeking the summit. It wasn't pretty to behold I am sure as I clammered on all fours to the sandy peaks, but I finally make it to the top. Being by myself, I felt no self-conciousness in belting out a hearty "WOOOOO" at the top of a peak to the dunes laying out before me. The descent was cake, as I simply ran down the many hills. To the left and right were valleys that one would have to climb out of again should they descend into one, so I avoided those.

On my drive from the dunes to Durango I went through Wolf Creek pass and saw the most beautiful cliff and valley that I have ever beheld. I began to laugh uncontrollably from the view until tears came to my eyes. It seems all to varying that this world can contain beauty such as this, and also for example the concrete prison that I've seen in the Bronx.

Sometimes I worry that there won't be enough to fill my day with as I go along on my journey. No trouble so far, but still I feel uneasy about it. I've heard people say through my life, "Oh, there's never enough hours in the day!" I am not one of those people. My thoughts are that I will not find enough to do. Life is too long sometimes. I try to avoid thinking this way, but ideas such as these will sporadically seep into my consciousness at random.

Durango is a hip, outdoorsy town. I went to dinner at Steamworks Brewery and chatted with a health foods store owner. She had lived in the area for 17 years and I asked her how she found her sense of "home". She responded that places have either chewed her up and spit her out or chewed her up and swallowed her. I wasn't expecting that, so I will make it a point to interview more people on their sense of home.

Today I awoke, packed up again and drove west about an hour to Mesa Verde. I had visited this place along with the Great Sand Dunes in my childhood. At that time I was too afraid to tour the cliff dwellings with their ladders and crevices. Today however I revisited the site and took a tour that included a 32 foot ladder up into the dwelling. Not to say that it wasn't a little scary this time around, but I really felt the impact of how much braver I am now than I once was. I'm proud that I took the tour, but I didn't learn much more about the people that once lived there than I did on my first visit. $3.00 well spent anyhow.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Santa Fe

Austin-->Santa Fe

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

(play this song whilst reading, post commercial)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_m2iGf0xc

Santa Fe is my kind of place. Meandering through town, mountains surrounding everything. This morning I woke up and left the Rancheros Campground directly after brushing my teeth. I went to a mechanic about my car overheating but the only diagnosis they had was to replace the thermostat and gasket. I'm going to put it off.

I drove up a winding road to the Santa Fe ski area for a hike. I wanted to get to the top and a few gentlemen pointed me in the right direction. Up I went, straight up, under the stationary chair lifts and abandoned snow drifts. I made it to the top huffing and puffing, but I made it. The view of Santa Fe below was certainly one to remark upon, the valley is completely flat and reminded me of scenes in movies where couples go up to a lookout to make out. Only much higher up. 12,000 feet actually, I was proud.

I jogged down the mountain while listening to Wye Oak, zig zagging the trail as it was so steep. On my way down I passed another woman hiking. She congratulated me on my accomplishment and stated that I had inspired her to continue onward. I wished her luck, made it down to my car, and back down the winding road into town.

I found the Georgia O'Keefe museum and was impressed and inspired by her life and work. Although she made me feel guilty for not practicing as much art along my journey as she did abroad, I am convinced that several paintings will be inspired by this trip.

After the museum I picked up some apples and mac n' cheese from whole foods and went back to the campground. I tried out my new coleman stove which fortunately works and am sitting here on my picnic bench feeling full bellied and happy. Tan skin, sun bleached hair on my shoulder in the Santa Fe sun set.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Austin

Oklahoma-->Austin, TX

Monday, May 21st, 2012

Austin has made me full of meat. I'm not complaining about this, just noting it. On Saturday my friend, her boyfriend, and I got brunch and walked along Congress Street which is a strip of quirky shops, though nothing too weird for me. In the afternoon we went to Hamilton Pool which is about 1/4 mile hike down to a limestone overhanging cliff. A spring drips over the ledge about 50 ft above, forming a large pool of cool but murky water. The area was packed with people, and upon our arrival a water snake skirted along the waters' surface. This made me tentative to swim out to the middle as I had wanted to, though I did it anyway.

We walked beneath the curved cave to the other side of the pool and I sat on a boulder underneath a waterfall raining down from the Spring above. The temperature from the fall was surprisingly warm and I felt as though I had been transported to an exotic island.

That evening we went out to eat as we did at each meal in fact, to a huge Tex/Mex restaurant where you're Margantini is served with the shaker, making it more like 2 or 3 of these drinks. Needless to say I was tipsy that night.

The thing about Texas is that the state itself is so big and sprawling that it allows for its buildings and estates to take up as much room as they like to. Thus the saying that everything is bigger there.

On Sunday we got brunch again and my friend asked me if something was wrong. Unfortunately I didn't quite know how answer her. Traveling can be stressful. I constantly feel that I need to watch my own back to make sure that I'm safe.

In the evening we went to a BBQ joint outside of Austin in a small western style town. As we turned onto a wide street bordered by flat faced buildings with awnings over the walkways, I could instantly imagine a dirt road, hitching posts, and horses instead of cars along the block. I had never been to a modern functioning western town before.

On my last night before leaving Austin we went to watch 1 million bats emerge from under a bridge in the city as they do each evening. Hundreds of spectators joined us, and as the sun set and dusk fell around us, a slow and steady stream of bats came out from the bridge beneath us for a night of feeding. my friend noted that other times she had seen the event it was much more exciting, but I'd never seen that many bats in one place before, so it was interesting enough for me.

I awoke early Monday morning and departed Austin for a 12 hour drive to Santa Fe. The landscape changed gradually at times, other times rapidly, but there were distinct breaks in the in the types of land. First was the hill country of Texas, at the beginning just large ranches on either side of the road, with clusters of small live oaks obscuring my view of the landscape. Further along the hills became more sparsely covered, allowing me to see far and wide the hills upon hills all around me. Then the land became flatter. It grew hot and arid, only small shrubs spread across the land infinitely in every direction. At one point the traffic was stopped for road work and I was suddenly faced with desert, hoping to keep on moving. This was not the kind of land one wants to remain stopped for very long.

New Mexico was much like the desert of West Texas at first, but later became rolling prairie with freight trains running alongside my car. I've never seen an entire train before, I am so unused to such expansive landscapes. The sky was packed with thunderstorms, but I could see where the rain fell and beyond the sky became blue once again.

I had been feeling anxious during my journey up until yesterday. Suddenly, somewhere beyond Carlsbad, something inside me said, "Jenna, no matter what happen, it's going to be okay." With this self assurance, I also decided that even if everything isn't okay, I feel okay with that also. The tension has been released and I can finally relax.

As I approached Santa Fe, the landscape became hilly and dappled with juniper pines. I found a campground about 10 miles east of the city and I set up camp. Afterwards I drove into town to get some ice cream for my birthday. I was glad to be alone. Instead of hoping and expecting people to wish me a happy birthday, I was able to enjoy it in my own way. As I drove to town, a brilliant orange sun set over the rolling hills and under an immense cloud strewn sky. It said happy birthday, Jenna.