Thursday, November 9, 2017

Utah WMS Canyon Country Trip - Days 1 and 2

The following excerpts are taken from one of my all time favorite books, You are a Badass by Jen Sincero...

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.
                                                                                                       - Nikola Tesla

All energy vibrates at a certain frequency which means you're vibrating at a certain frequency, and everything you desire, and don't desire, is also vibrating at a certain frequency.

Vibration attracts vibration.

...raise your frequency to match the vibrations of the one you want to tune into.

...when you're vibrating at a high frequency, awesome things seem to flow to you effortlessly and you seem to stumble over the perfect people and opportunities all the time (and vice versa).
                                                                                                        - Jen Sincero


I met ten of the most wonderful people last month and yes, we were all vibrating at the same frequency. Ten like-minded souls that I had an absolute blast spending the week with. If the experiences weren't proof enough, I opened my email Tuesday to find a photo link from Todd, our fearless leader. The man had uploaded all his photos to Shutterfly, created a share site, and made a flippin' 57-page scrapbook of his photos of all of us! God Bless!! One less event for me to scrapbook. He has no idea...

So here are my highlights.

Day 1 - Saturday October 21, 2017
Left the house at 7 am so hubs could drop me off at the airport to catch a 9:40 am flight to Denver. Had an hour in Denver to walk the length of the entire terminal to get on my flight to St. George. My friend Cindy met me at the airport and we went out for lunch. After that she dropped me off at my hotel and I had some time to stretch out and relax.

I met my roommate Amber. She is from Australia and has traveled all over the world. She entertained us with all kinds of stories all week long.

We met the rest of our crew for the week at 5 pm over pizza and beer.

Todd - Our instructor. He had a wealth of outdoor experience and ended up being the chaperone, organizer, driver, head cook, and essentially parented us all week cause, well, it turned into basically Spring Break for adults...

Bert - He's from New Hampshire. Family practitioner I believe, but does addictions treatment mostly.

Fritz - He's from Frankfort, Germany. He introduced himself as a Tropical Medicine doctor, but also does Travel Medicine... and colonoscopies. Kind of a jack-of-all trades internist.

Wes - He's a third year Emergency Medicine resident at a Uniformed Health Services residency in San Antonio. He was a family medicine doctor but joined the Air Force to do another residency.

Nick - He's also a third year Emergency Medicine resident at the Uniformed Heath Services residency in San Antonio. He is in the Army.

Jon - He's a family practitioner from South Carolina. He grew up in Papua New Guinea though. His parents were involved in starting some churches there and his dad did about everything.

Claudia - She's a nurse practitioner from Boulder. She too has traveled the world and is a climber. She ended up being my tent mate.

John - He's from Chicago. He's a Pulmonologist that does Critical Care as well as Palliative Care. He had the driest sense of humor.

Doug - He's from Memphis. He does Pain Management. I believe he did his training as an Anesthesiologist.

Amber - She's a medical student but has done a million other things. She was a ski racer in Australia. Then she worked as a ski patroller in Australia as well as at Heavenly in California. She has hitch hiked across the US and been all over the world.

After the "crew meeting" I found that it was still light outside so I squeezed in a 5 mile run, then showered and collapsed into bed.

Day 2 - Bryce Canyon
Met everyone at 7 am and pulled out in a 15 passenger van plus a mini-van. I sat up front with Todd in the 15 passenger van so I wouldn't get car sick. We had about a 4 hour drive ahead of us.

Being a Midwesterner, the landscape was breathtaking. Mountains of red sandstone everywhere. We took Interstate 15 North out of St. George then went east on some other highway to end up on Highway 12. We got to Bryce Canyon around noon and did a short hike up to Inspiration Point (8100 feet).


View from Inspiration Point

From Inspiration Point we did a short hike along the Rim Trail to take in the whole Bryce Amphitheater.





Our crew for the week
Back row: John, Fritz, Jon, me, Bert, Wes, Nick, Doug
Front row: Amber, Claudia




Wes, Nick and Jon - "The Boys"

After leaving Bryce we continued on Highway 12 to the little town of Escalante where we stopped for ice and any last minute supplies as we were primitive camping all week. Last minutes supplies ended up primarily being beer. Lots of beer. Plus Wild Turkey.

We pulled out of Escalante and continued on Highway 12. Drove over a portion of road called the "Hogback" that had stunningly sheer drop offs on both sides of the road. No guard rails either. The views were breathtaking. We all wanted Todd to keep his eyes on the road though!

Shortly after passing over the Hogback we turned onto Hells Backbone Road and entered Dixie National Forest, then Todd made a sharp right onto an unmarked dirt path and pulled into our campsite. The campsite was stunning! We were at about 6000 ft, overlooking a canyon with pinion and juniper scattered about. Photos cannot do the camp site justice.


Amber's photos captured the essence of this site the best...


Imagine waking up to that every morning!

Claudia and I set up our tent. The next order of business was collecting firewood... and I discovered we are all pyromaniacs. I love my new friends!

Fire. Beer. Oh, and Todd did give a lecture or two, then steak and Caesar's salad for dinner. More sitting around the fire exchanging stories. Finally dropped into my sleeping bag around 11 pm.

So things I've discovered about my crew so far...
- We all love outdoor adventures.
- We all drink beer.
- We are all pyromaniacs.

This is going to be a great week!

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