Adventures in the Wild Wild West

in #adventure7 years ago

The Wild, Wild, West

As we ring in 2018, don't forget to reflect on 2017

What do you remember most? What tragedies did you experience? What event made your entire year?

As you reflect, don't get too caught up on what was "good" or "bad". Some things just "are". Life is a relative and subjective experience. Just like everything in life, you get out exactly what you put into it.

Earlier this year, 3 of my closest friends and I took a road trip from Pennsylvania, to Colorado, Utah, and back home again. This trip proved to be one of the most fun, and challenging, experiences of my life.

Blanca.jpg
From left to right: Dane Feher, Evan Thomas, Me, and Dakota Feher

Colorado

In late June of 2017, we embarked on our #adventure. For our transportation, we loaded up the Feher's Toyota Sienna, lovingly named Sheila, and drove from Pennsylvania to Colorado.

Blanca 2.jpg
Sheila posted up in front of Blanca Peak in Southern Colorado

After 30 hours in the confines of Shelia the minivan, we made it to Colorful Colorado. Our next stop: the top of 14er named "Blanca Peak". So after arriving at the base of this epic mountain peak, we set up camp, ate a good meal, and slept in preparation for the next day. We woke up before the sun, and began our trip to the top.

Bighorn Sheep.jpg
A new friend we met on our way up!

We were about halfway up the mountain when we ran into our bighorn sheep friend. It was a nice relief at this point in the hike, because we really thought we were almost at the top. Boy, were we wrong. We continued pushing along, chatting about our bighorn buddy, but with every grueling step up, the thought of quitting became ever more present. But we kept pushing, and we rewarded with an amazing panorama of snow-covered 14,000 ft high peaks. We had arrived at Lake Como.

Lake Como.jpg
Majestic Lake Como

Besides the reward of the magnificent scenery, this hike rewarded me with mental strength. When we thought we had no more gas left in the tank, we continued. And this happened multiple times on this hike. You're capable of much more than you think you are, trust me.

We then spent some time with Evan's brothers, who live at the bottom of the Flatirons in beautiful Boulder, #Colorado. After 3 nights sleeping on the road and camping, it was nice to be able to rest up in a real shelter for a night. We woke up early the next day and got right back to our adventure.

CO 1.jpg
Whitewater rafters sailing through Boulder Canyon

The next day was filled with more random exploration, semi-steep scrambling, and joints by the riverside as we fully soaked up everything Colorado had to offer.

CO 2.jpg
Evan, Dakota, and Dane taking it all in

We thanked Evan's brother for his hospitality, and made way to our next destination...

Utah

We spent the majority of our road trip in Park City, Utah. From this location, we were able to get to some of the best National Parks (and rock climbing spots) in America.

Our first day in #Utah we hiked up a trail that overlooked Salt Lake City. We watched the sunset with a cold brewski in hand.
UT 1.jpg

After all of this hiking, we were itching to do some rock climbing. Utah is well-known for being one the rock climbing Meccas of America, so we had countless options that were within an hour drive away. In fact, we had so many options it made it very hard to choose! To test these #rockclimbing cliffs of Utah, we went to Echo Canyon and Koss Cave.

UT 3.JPG
Me on the conglomerate rock of Echo Canyon

UT Koss 2.jpg
Epic sendability at Koss Cave

Other than our rock climbing gear, the only thing we brought up top the crag was the camp stove and some snacks. We were able to eat a nice lunch of bratwursts, potato chips, and powerade. The climbing at Koss Cave was tough, but we did try some routes before giving up and scrambling around the rest of this rock. Another group of 3 climbers were already up in Koss Cave, and were able to give us some beta on the routes. As local Utah native, these guys were surprised to see that us Pennsylvania boys had found their secret location.

UT Koss.jpg
Enjoying the sunset above Koss Cave

The rest of our time in Utah was spent in some of the most beautiful places on Earth; The United States' National Parks.

Capitol Reef National Park

Hickman 1.jpg
Bouldering our way into Hickman's Natural Bridge

We walked along a well-trekked trail to get to Hickman's Natural Bridge. Along the way, we were sidetracked by these awesome rock formations that we begging to be climbed on. So we gave into those pleas. Pretty much everywhere we went, we left the trodden trails to create our own. Now there's some quality life advice for ya.

Hickman 2.JPG
Hickman's Natural Bridge in Capitol Reef National Park

Next stop is one my favorite places in the world:

Zion National ParkZion 2.jpg

We started our visit to Zion with hike known as "Angel's Landing". Do a quick Google image search on that one to get an idea of what that was like. Although I rock-climb, I'm very scared of heights. Rock climbing is one way I get to challenge that fear. This hike also challenged that fear, a lot. As you traverse the narrow paths, you're constantly reminded of how close to death you are with the 1,000+ foot drops on either side of you.

dre.jpg
Angels Landing hike in Zion National Park

We survived, then took a short walk through "The Narrows". We took our hiking boots off, draped them around our necks, grabbed two walking sticks, and waded into the knee-deep water.

Zion 4.jpg
Foreshadowing...

Right after Dane snapped this picture of me, I dropped my phone in water. Womp, womp, womp We spent as much time as we could back in The Narrows, because as we returned, we caught the last shuttle back to the parking area by MINUTES. I'm also proud to say that I am still using that same phone I dropped in The Narrows that day. It was out of commission the next day, but the old rice-in-a-bag trick never seems to fail

"Everything will work out if you let it"

Since we left The Narrows so late, there was no chance of camping out in Zion. We had settled down in a nearby hotel. Woke up early the next day (that seems to be the running theme of this trip), to spend a day of rock climbing in the legendary Kolob Canyon.

Kolob 1.jpg
Evan sending up Kolob's wakos

We lounged about, made new friends, and climbed inside this epic canyon all day until we ventured on back to our house in Park City that evening. This was one of my favorite days of the entire trip. When you're surrounded by good friends, fair weather, and indescribable alien terrain, what's not to love.

Zion 1.jpg
Dakota and I in our natural habitats

After fully enjoying Zion, we returned back to our Park City abode. Tomorrow was our final National Park visit of the trip

Bryce Canyon National Park

After a long 2 days in Zion, we didn't wake up with the same fervor as before. We still woke up early though. Next stop in our escapade was Bryce Canyon National Park. We took a short walk into the canyon and took in the beautiful sights.

Bryce.jpg
Dane looking out to his destiny

Bryce 2.jpg
We can't not climb stuff...

We sure got a lot out of Utah, but it was time to begin our journey back to Pennsylvania.

Colorado - Part II

We left for Colorado the next morning, and left parts of our souls in Utah. We'll be back to pick them up later though, don't worry. A good amount of our souls were left in Colorado too. We spent another 2 days hanging in colorful Colorado. Much of our time was spent rock climbing throughout Boulder Canyon

CO pt 2.jpg
Dane on the rock, Doc on belay

CO Shirley.jpg
Sheila modeling for us in the Colorado canyons

That minivan, our mother figure on this trip, and better known as Sheila, drove us around for over 6,000 miles on this week-and-a-half journey out west. Sadly, a couple weeks after the trip, with close to 300,000 miles on her odometer, we had to lay Sheila down to rest. She served us better than any rental ever could

The trip home allowed for a lot of #reflection. The fact that we drove halfway across the country blew my mind. I thought this country was huge, until I dove right in and discovered that everything is only a day or two away. That idea rings true in many aspects in life. From the outside perspective, it's tough to imagine what it's like inside, until you actually get in there. So my advice is to jump on in! Try a new food, travel to different country, introduce yourself to an interesting group of people. Get out of your comfort zone! You'll be surprised how many walls you can break down by simply opening your mind to something new.

Fellow Steemians, if you made it to the end of this, thank you. I hope you enjoyed the adventure, and I hope I was able to share a small piece of my experience with you today. This journey was my favorite part of 2017.

What was yours?

-Doc

Sort:  

Wow @docroulston, this is a spectacular post with amazing photos!

This better get noticed by some whales for the detail of this!

Great job and well done!

@originalworks @steem-untalented

The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @docroulston to be original material and upvoted it!

ezgif.com-resize.gif

To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!

Thanks Ry-guy, I've learned from the best

Hello @docroulston
We have given you our still tinnie-winnie upvote!
You have been spotted by @biffybirdcam to possess rare gem!

So what can we do than to seal the deal, give you our tiny upvote and celebrate you, for everyone has something to offer.

We welcome you to the #untalented family. Feel free to come around for its a home with us. Flaws allowed, so relegate reservations and play with that beautiful mind of yours, let's tap into more hidden aspects of you. No average, no bum, just awesome you and the best version of YOU is a gift to humanity everytime. Stay awesome!

Join the steemgigs community on discord

https://discord.gg/CGuPyyT

#untalented is a branch of @steemgigs. If you would like to offer your service in building the dreams of other steemians, you can do so under #steemgigs.

However, if you want to experience full blown freedom and grow in confidence about your gifts and talents, share under #untalented.

We aim to create historical moments in the genre of touching lives and you can support us if you desire, by voting on steemgigs for witness. Simply click here

https://steemit.com/~witnesses

and type steemgigs in the first search box.

Just incase you find any level or form of gifts, talents, attempts at out-of-the-boxness, or any steemian low in confidence about their abilities, worth, etc; please don't let it slip emptily by.
Kindly call on me! Simply reply to any such post and add @steem-untalented or #untalented to your reply and i will be there to upvote, acknowledge, strengthen and encourage them.

Great shots! Thanks for sharing. I have a friend that loves that area though he tends so stay on the valley bottoms. The elevated views are a nice change.

Thanks! I ventured out west with my family as a kid, so it was fun to relive those childhood memories, as well as make some new ones! It would be something special to live out there

It's a great place to live. I personally have never been to the area. Been 30 years since I have gone south of the boarder. To much adventure in my own backyard. Which is the monashe mountains.

Wow! Amazing! What is the climate like up in British Columbia this time of year?

Right now way warm than my youth. Your age. Lots of great skiing then. Now it's way too warm. Today to warm to ski last week purfect. - 5 to -20 this week 0 no fun at all. Dangerous to ski. Get wet and you die.

Is that Celcius???

Sticky snow is definitely dangerous snow.

Congratulations @docroulston! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You got a First Reply

Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here

If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

By upvoting this notification, you can help all Steemit users. Learn how here!