My friend and I recently returned from a trip to Bryce Canyon National Park. Since we are avid hikers and were not joined by those who expressed an interest in going, we were able to do just about everything we liked when we chose. Like my other summer trips usually do, this trip taught me several lessons. I am sure there are more, but these are a few I identified to share with you so that you can enjoy Bryce the way I did. The terrain isn't that much different from other terrain I have heretofore seen, but it was somewhere new and somewhere different to go, and we had a grand time.
Double check before you go.
I always forget something when I go camping, but I have never before forgotten something important. This time, I forgot my sleeping bag. It was 45F at night, which is cold enough in the shade, with a breeze, on ground that was recently soggy, to keep you from resting. In fact, I am surprised I had energy to hike at all because sleep came furtively and rest wasn't achieved until after the weekend ended.
Although it's almost impossible to consider everything, fortune tends to favor the prepared. If you do your homework before they require you to prove your mastery, you tend to have a better grasp on things. When I go into the back country, I carry a bowie knife and a revolver because I'd rather pay the fine than be mauled by a wild animal. Although the rangers don't seem to like it and stare at me, I'm not causing any problems, but I'd rather have something and not need it than need it and not have it.
It's easier when you have trained above the level required.
The top of Bryce is the bottom of Mt. Charleston, which means that my friend and I have been hiking rougher terrain with less oxygen for months. We are used to the desert environment, high elevations, and long treks on rough terrain. What this meant is that we were able to keep a 3.5mph pace, which is faster than most people walk on flat terrain. Unlike other hikers, we didn't need as many breaks, and the only times we really stopped were for pictures. In fact, we even kept up with a group on horseback for several miles (they were just meandering), so close in fact that the guide was annoyed that we were close and warned me in a belligerent manner not to get so close. I told him not to ride so slowly.
Most people I know try to do the bare minimum required. They are not interested in excellence or in being capable of more. However, if you have prepared to do more than is required, even if you're having a bad day or a sick day or a sad day, you can probably do what is required. As we came back up out of the canyon on some steep switchbacks, we looked at all the poor people who were going to have to hike that section in the full sun. Most of them did not have the right shoes, and most of them probably only hike when they make summer trips. We were tired because it was the end of a nine mile loop. They were tired after going 1.5 miles downhill!
Expect the unexpected.
On the first evening, just after we reached the bottom of the ravine, my friend turned to me with a start. He asked me if I smelled candy. It turns out that some of the pine trees in that part of Bryce were emitting an oil from their bark that smelt like butterscotch. These kinds of discoveries are what make my trips into the back country unique. If you go today where others will not, tomorrow you will be able to know things that others cannot. Most of the people at Bryce stood on the edge of the escarpment and looked down. Perhaps they walked along it and called that a hike, but they didn't get to see the things we did or from the angles we saw.
Since I forgot a sleeping bag, I had to do other things I didn't expect to do. I started a fire with cheetos in the morning to keep warm because everything was damp. I went to the edge of the ravine and watched the sun rise to warm myself. Although it doesn't rain terribly often on the Colorado Plateau, we could tell that recent rain had changed the trail and the terrain. One of Bryce Canyon's most famous formations collapsed a few weeks earlier, and the bottoms of the ravines told us a tale of recent flash flooding. Once again, we saw that there were no pretty people in the back country. At the top of the ravines we could smell the freshly showered people just beginning their day look at us with disdain for our stink as we completed ours.
Our lives are the sum of our experiences. I take the time and opportunities I have to explore and appreciate God's creations, and when others feel so inclined I like to take the chance to share the things that changed my life with those for whom I care. These experiences enrich my life, enlarge my understanding, and enliven my soul, and so I hope they will for you too.
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