Written by: Kate, Marni, Noa, Nikhil, & Annie
Group A: Group A’s journey began with a ten hour bus ride to Dark Canyon. The bus was sweltering, but the AC was too pungent to bear. Little did we know that this heat would be mild, and the smell would not compare to our own odors by the end of the trip. The aux cord saved the ride, and carried us all the way to the Sundance Trailhead that evening. The next morning, October 4th, group A packed up efficiently, and in a streamlined manner. We began our descent into the canyon, or as Emma refers to it, the underworld. We trekked 1,700 feet down, into the mouth of the canyon. That night, we collected our first canyon water, which was brown in color and left silt in our mouths. We crunched on the sand through the night, and woke up ready to take on another adventure. Dark Canyon held wonders that left our group in awe—the red cliff faces, swooping ravens, cottonwoods, and chocolate rivers. The days were hard yet we persisted. The battle scars that yucas and prickly pears etched into us may fade, but the memories never will. Quicksand devoured us as frequently and quickly as our group devoured brownies and lemonade mix. Through the pain, we found laughter and joy under the scorching sun and the radiant constellations. The nights brought a chill, we donned our puffy layers and pressed our hot drinks against our skin. After circle we would retire to our sleeping bags laid out under the stars. In respect of the word limit, I will include only a few of our group’s many highlights. Mesa day was surely a challenge, however, the road at the top of the climb that was littered with cow prints was the best walking of the trip. All of us cruised through those miles, singing, laughing, and not noticing the beads of sweat rolling down our faces. If you know group A, you’d know we aren’t the type to get stymied. The trek over the 300-foot pour-over only proved that to be true. Although intimidating, at the end of a hiking day when we had already reached our destination, our group decided to push two more miles. We had grit, even when bushwhacking through poison ivy fields… We ended the trip with pizza from the Hot Tomato, which we were dreaming about for the entire expedition. I certainly have more I could tell, but this about sums up group A’s expedition. Here’s to Emma, Grace, Will, Ali, Donovan, Matilda, Lily, Anna, Emma, Quin, Mary, Pearl, and Quinn for making this trip one for the books. I wouldn’t have canyoneereed with anyone else.
Group B: Group B had quite the time in Dark Canyon. We’ll start from the first day. After an eight hour bus ride (concluded by an hour of offroading in a 15-person van), we hiked for miles to our first campsite at the rim of the canyon. Our Instructor Team (I-Team) was made up of Karly, Jacob, Jo and Eleanor. Day two was by far the most frustrating day for our group. Leaving early to avoid the sun, a group of myself (Marni), Davis, Sam, Fayi and Tavi set out to descend the mesa. Thinking we were more mobile than we were with 60 pound packs, we aimed to finish our hiking day in three hours. This, in reality, was not the case. While half a mile doesn’t exactly look like half a day of work on a map, 1,800 feet of descent in that same half mile was an obstacle we couldn’t recognize until we stood at the precipice, the valley floor stretching out a quarter of a mile below us. I fell about four times while Fayi and Davis only fell twice. We hung off the rock scrabble by our hands. After this challenging descent, we took a break and got the first taste of the water that we would have to consume for the next eleven days. Seven miles later, and a two mile backtrack to make the hike even longer, we finally arrived at our campsite. Unknown to us, we would soon face an obstacle that not even Jacob could’ve predicted. Davis and Ava were LODs (Leaders of the Day) and took us about .5 miles until we reached the pour-over that completely blocked our route. Jacob and the rest of the I-Team concluded that we would have to make a new route and take a layover day instead. We paused in awe of the staggering beauty of the monolithic walls surrounding us. As the water spilled over the layers of the canyon walls, it created mini waterfalls. Day four was our first layover day and we went to the Colorado River to study. I had slipped into mud on our way to the river, but everyone in my hiking group put mud on their faces to make me feel better and commemorate the tragic slip. The next few days we explored Lost Canyon and contoured along the layers of the canyons most of our hikes. Every night ended with hugs from everyone in our expedition group. On the last night we watched the stars and played a game called silent football. That morning, the women in the trip woke up at five and did a sun salutation to the sunrise. We finally ascended back up to the mesa and walked about four miles to the bus.. This is when things took a turn for the worse. After an hour of driving out of the desert and on to the highway, we decided that we had to turn around because the terrain was a little too risky for our van. Unfortunately, thirty minutes later, we got stuck in a ditch. For about two and-a- half hours of trying to free our van Jacob decided that we were going to camp for the night instead. That morning, our saviors, Kelly and Jim, towed us out of the ditch and back onto the road where we would head back to campus and arrive back at campus at around 9pm.
Group C: Every morning of our 10-day expedition in Southeast Utah, we started off with five minutes of independent silence and reflection. During these moments, I often found myself staring in awe at the incredible landscape around me, unable to look away from the drastic orange ridges and divots of the canyons that surrounded me. On October 10th, one of the middle days of our trip, I had a particularly impactful five minutes of silence. As I sat appreciating the nature around me, I had a moment of realization and appreciation: I’m a sixteen-old-girl, sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere, staring out at the miles of mesas and canyons stretching before me. It’s a Monday morning and my friends at home are sitting in class, listening to lectures, and thinking about typical teenage things. Meanwhile, I’m thinking about the five and a half mile hike I’m going on today, the cheesy bean and rice quesadillas I’ll be cooking on the Whisperlite stove for dinner, and what the moon and stars are going to look like when I sleep outside tonight. How lucky am I to be able to be here right now?? I have made friends through experiences that will bond us for a lifetime. I’ve gained skills and knowledge that have already led me to become a more resilient, open-minded, and mature person. On the eight hour drive to the canyons, every time I looked out the window, I saw a completely different landscape. I slept under the stars and stared up at the sky. Every night I sat in a circle with my group as we shared parts of ourselves—our past memories, our best moments, our most vulnerable stories—to each other. I’ll remember the moments of laughter with new friends, of looking at the beautiful landscapes around me, of sharing meals. These are the moments that I feel the most alive, and the moments that made this expedition so incredible.
Group D: Never in my life did I think I’d live in the Canyons of Southwestern Utah, and yet I still found myself in a stuffy van on a beeline towards Owl Canyon. I remember thinking to myself, “This exped cannot be as hard as the last one…” My hopes were quickly dashed when we heard our food was accidentally locked inside of our trunk. We found our way to a mechanic in the middle of the cactus-filled desert. I sat on top of a truck bed in a scrapyard as I watched Lupe, our expedition leader, fly out of the back of the van and onto the dirt. Thankfully, our backpacks and food were free. Ivan, the kind mechanic who helped us, reminded us to pass on the love and pay his kindness forward. We drove off and proceeded to be kind for the rest of the expedition. We also saw a UFO while we listened to the Cars soundtrack. This was all on day one… It only got weirder. Our group’s longest day was supposed to be a meager seven miles. Child’s play for Sawatch-hardened hikers such as ourselves. We woke up at 5:30am, planning to get to camp at around 3:00pm and beat the heat of the day. This hike was divided into three sections: the three mile stretch to the exit of the first canyon, the two mile walk down the Mormon trail, and the two mile descent into the Valley of the Gods. But on mile five of canyon bushwacking, we realized that the Gods did NOT want us around. The end was most definitely far from sight. I was hot, tired, and frankly a little crabby. Somehow, everyone in our hiking group pushed through. In a feat of pure human willpower, we reached the trail by 5:00pm. However, the closest source of the Canyon’s signature brown, tadpole-filled water was still three miles away. Plus, the sun was setting. Deciding that a night descent into the canyon wasn’t in the cards, we booked it to our next campsite and made it by 7:00 pm. Expedition Group D had just hiked a grueling thirteen miles through the desert. However, all of us were proud of each other and ourselves. Thirteen miles made us incredibly close with one another. Despite the struggle, I still had to do the dishes after dinner. Before we left, our group made matching bracelets. After all, nothing brings people together like shared struggle. I loved this expedition my newfound closest friends. Despite all the wild obstacles, our expedition was full of great moments. As we triumphantly returned to HMI, screaming “Party in the USA,” all of us realized how much we would miss the experience and our group. Thankfully, we’ll be back in the canyons soon enough.
Group E: Close your eyes and picture a desert, now open them. I bet you didn’t think of water. Well, Expedition Group E encountered a lot more water than you would expect. Before our group drove eight hours to Southeastern Utah, and to Long Canyon and Fortknocker Canyon, the canyons we were visiting, were hit by flash floods. When we arrived in Utah the previous intense amounts of rain meant there were rainwater puddles to drink from and we could delay our need to drink from dirty red mud puddles. It’s quite refreshing drinking water and then crunching down and tasting dirt, yum! The excess amount of remaining water also meant that the canyons we were exploring were filled with dark red, cold, and muddy water. On one of our day hikes, we decided to venture into a canyon, and we were unprepared for how much water we would encounter. We rock climbed down into the canyon, and found ourselves with a choice to either rock climb back up or swim. Yes, swim. Group E embraced the adventure and just went for it. Now, even though the water sits in the scorching hot desert, it rests under the shade of the canyon walls, so it is shockingly cold. Nevertheless, we swam and the water was so deep that at points standing was not possible, and at other points the canyon walls got narrow enough to do something we call “Hardcore Parkour.” This included doing the spider, which can be seen on the popular television show “American Ninja Warrior,” and we also executed tactical doggie paddling. Swimming through the desert is not a common occurrence but we swam three times throughout our whole trip. We also encountered hail and traveled through a slot canyon using a rope, but that’s a story for another time.
