Gap Spring Trek '24
Written by: Rowan
I found childlike joy in the NPI! In between glaciology classes, I was really into rocks. Like in the way my five year old nephew is obsessed with Paw Patrol and racing cars, I’m obsessed with rocks. Before and after our bountiful river crossings, at the proglacial lake, on rocky moraines with no water, what was I doing? Skipping rocks. And if I wasn’t doing that I was hopping on or over rocks, because rocks in the NPI are so much better than the rocks in my neighborhood. When I walk by those rocks I can’t pick them up and sling them across whatever flat landscape I happen to be near. Lame.
I love feeling like a little kid at the playground, but this time bounding up rock screens. These are the playgrounds I wanted, but weren’t always accessible growing up in a big city. On this expedition I learned how to have fun with rocks, and to trust them. They held my feet during every river crossing and were under every step I took, carried by the glaciers thousands of years ago. At the end of the day, I’m just living on a massive rock and every day is just an opportunity to hop around on this rock. How sick?
