Spring is on its way. Officially it arrives March 20, but for me Canyon hiking season starts March 1. This year my first night in the canyons is scheduled for April 5. It's a little later than I would like, but last year I froze so maybe the later date will mean warmer weather? Also, less time wearing all my layers inside my sleeping bag trying to sleep.
My hiking partner is NOLS Alumni Trips. It's a Technical Canyoneering trip, some rope work, carrying somewhat heavier packs and hitting up some slot canyons. Skills i need to brush up on if I want to do more hiking in southern Utah. I am excited to revisit Cedar Mesa, last year I hiked with a NOLS Alumni trip in Grand Gulch. When I was 19 I spent a month hiking there with NOLS, it was part of my Semester in the Rocky Mountains. These days I beg, borrow, and steal for a few nights out, but when i was 18 and 19 i spent the better part of a year sleeping outside.
The month on Cedar Mesa was spent without toilet paper, drinking from sinkholes and sometimes eating grape nuts with lemonade instead of milk. For a whole month. It was awesome. i remember taking apart a whisper light completely, cleaning it as well as i could and putting it back together. It had stopped working that morning. We cooked dinner over a fire that night. Fires were verboten. But we were hungry and it was our last night out.
Holy shit, I spent a whole year outside.
And I think about it all the time, or at least parts of it.
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