Well folks, it's not April 18th yet, but here I am back in Lander, WY already.

If you've never been to the area of Utah which my father refers to as "Planet Utah", the deep canyons and high mesas in the southeast corner of the state, then consider taking a trip to check it out.
From the first step, I knew this section would be something very different. Not just from winter section, but from all other hiking, from all other places I'd been before. We must be careful where we walk. Every step, we are careful of the cryptobiotic soil. Its name means "hidden life", as it is a collection of "cyanobacteria, mosses, and lichen", as well as algae, that can easily be missed. The crypto is the cornerstone of all life out there. It gets into sand and clay and grows, drawing into the soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and a number of other nutrients, while at the same time cementing particles of soil together. The soil then resists erosion better and is able to sustain plant life. Plant life allows animal life to exist, providing food and cover. So we're careful to avoid the crypto, walking on rock and in waterways instead. When we can't avoid it, we minimize our impact by following in each others' footprints. And every step in that crypto, depending on how developed it is, could require anywhere from years to decades for the soil to recover.

One major highlight for me was the slot canyons. Our first was Cowboy Canyon, a side drainage to Gravel Canyon.
As if we were in a sandstone playground, we hiked from the top of the canyon down to the bottom, where it rejoined Gravel close to our camp. Hand lines, tight spaces, wall stems, pour offs, and beautifully sculpted stone were our companions as we explored this beautiful canyon.

While we had a base camp set up on a bench in Gravel Canyon, we each had the opportunity to do a "solo". This is a long-living tradition amongst those who love the outdoors. Outward Bound uses it as a direct, immersion teaching technique. NOLS offers it as a personal exploration and immersion in the environment. Others go hiking alone for solitude, creativity, meditation, fasting, fun, and a thousand other reasons. No matter the reasons why, the concept is basically the same: go outside, away from all other people, and spend some time entirely by yourself. Some like to even leave books and watches at home, just to be sure they get to spend real time by themselves.

Our solo lasted for two nights and one full day. I found a spot a few miles up Gravel Canyon, tucked into the south wall, a ledge about seven feet above the running creek bed. My ledge was five feet deep, giving plenty of flat space for my bedroll and belongings. I even had a second ledge in just the right place where I could set up the stove and put together some delicious meals. My tentmates had both decided to fast for their solos, so I had the happy task of eating a bunch of our ration to compensate.

I'm pictured here on my ledge the morning after my solo had ended, ready to hike out of Gravel Canyon. My solo was a chance to write to my family and a few close friends, and live through a simple day. Cook food, sit and think, write, cook food, sit and think, do laundry and bathe, sit and think, write, cook food, write, sit and think, and so on. One major thing I was able to do is write a letter to myself. My lead instructor, Marco, will take this letter from me, put it in an envelope, and mail it to me six months after our solos occurred. This rather challenging task inspired me to a new resolution: take regular solos. So rarely do any of us in the world allow ourselves to be truly alone...spending time with nothing and no one but ourself. So in six months, I will turn off the TV, put the book down, pack my stove, layers, journal, and sleeping bag, grab the sealed envelope, and go outside for a while. I hope then I'll write another letter to myself, to be read on my next solo six months later. We'll see how this resolution works out....

After we left Gravel Canyon, we turned up and into Long Canyon, a similar adventure land of rain-sculpted rock, slot sections, and beautiful campsites. Though Long was very similar to Gravel and Cowboy, we found ourselves traveling for a few days up canyon, a task that gets challenging when pour offs, slot sections, and water get in your way. But our team, no surprise, stepped right up to the task and had a great time wading, climbing hand lines, and scouting routes. To the right is a shot from the rim of the canyon, on the day we hit the top and had to find a route out where all walls had turned to cliffs. The rest of our course members can be seen down on the canyon floor. That night, as we settled into camp up on the mesa, it began to snow. Snow in the desert, though often a source of complaints for comfort, is a beautiful, beautiful thing. From our frozen camp, we could look out over the highlands and see the Jacob's Chair formation swaddled in fog, with many snow-capped junipers and rock in the middle-ground.

There very well may be nowhere as strangely beautiful as canyon country in Utah.

That's all for now, folks. Next time, I'll have a few more video clips for you and I'll talk about our very special opportunity to do a Native American sweat lodge ceremony.

Your Adventurer,
Nick