Into the wild I run...

The next week of my life was one of the best weeks I have ever had. I received some bad news about my uncle on the way into Mt. Zion National Park that made me question my beliefs and who I was as a person. But as the clouds parted and the sunset, I sat up on a hill overlooking the impressive range that makes up the park, sorting through my thoughts. I could not help but to become excited about what the next week had in store for me.

The Watchman

That night I sat and wrote in my journal for what must have been hours, sipping red wine out of a coffee mug and listening to the wind whip through the canyon. There is something special about being in the middle of the desert. You feel humbled as to how helpless you really are. My entire life I have been obsessed with what is next in life and where I go from here but for a brief second, sitting in that canyon, I decided to take a step back and think about what was behind me, instead of what was to come.

This school of thought followed me like a stray cat for the next week as I talked to almost no one…

Heading into the Grand Canyon from Zion, I had encountered the largest setback since my time in Sux Falls, SD. Knowing I was about to head into unfamiliar territory, I decided to hit up some outdoors stores in Vegas to see if I could gain some knowledge before heading out into the unknown. The advice I got would set me back 600 miles and 2 days…

QT @ the campsite

I was planning on leaving Vegas for the South Rim of the Grand Canyon before heading North into Zion and eventually Bryce Canyon but after talking with a guy I met at an outdoors store in Vegas, I decided to hit up Zion then the North rim because it was a shorter drive. Being the overly trusting person that I am, I took his word and set off only to discover that the North Rim of the Canyon didn’t open for another few months. Fuck me…

Jerks...

When you are that close to a place like the Grand Canyon, you can’t just skip it. Disgruntled, I decided to take my aggression out on the open road, I am pretty sure my speedometer only read in the triple digits the entire drive down to the South rim… I made it in just under 5 hours.

Storm's a brewing!

When I arrived, the park ranger warned me against staying due to a freak storm that was blowing in… naturally, I pitched my tent, grabbed my mandolin and hunkered down for the night.

Solo camping can get a little slow...

For a night in late March, I was surprised at how cold it got. As I listened to the pitter-patter of the rain against my tent turn into heavy thuds of snow, I played my mandolin until I couldn’t feel my fingers any more.

The next morning I woke to a few inches of snow on the ground. As I boiled some water for coffee, I was amazed how quickly the snow was melting in the desert heat. I decided to head towards the rim for a hike.

There are not many words to describe my time in the Canyon other than sometimes its good to just get away and embrace the solitude that hides in the darkest corners of your life. I am purposely going to keep the experiences of this week to myself for now, maybe one day I will publish them for the world to know.

After a few days of waking up in my snow pants and quickly striping down to my bathing suit I decided to head north towards Salt Lake City.