Escalante

Winter Backpacking

Cleaning the house and beginning some project, any project, to improve my house were my priorities at the start of my Christmas to January 8th vacation. I did the cleaning, and I browsed around at Home Depot for ideas and to check prices, but,

with no wife or girlfriend to keep me on track,

two days after Christmas I was headed West,

over the divide with my two border collies and a loaded backpack.

I wasn't sure what I was searching for out there in the Western Colorado desert, but I recognized it when I found it, and hiked up a steep ridge to set my tent up at the base of massive Wingate sandstone cliffs, on a narrow ledge with an incredible view, and only God knowing where on earth I was.

Nights were long and very cold, but the sun’s warmth heated my side of the canyon an hour after light.

I can’t really describe how good it was up there, cooking meals and drinking coffee, listening to music I brought along, as I basked in the view and the silence and solitude, in the company of my two dogs who liked it all every bit as much as I did.

I explored side canyons and alcoves with frozen springs and ice flows. I stood beneath 200 foot tall Ponderosa Pine trees, the kind that have been known to live to 1500 years in sheltered locations in Arizona.

I had long restful sleep and many good dreams, on my pinnacle bed, except when strong winds came up and I felt it wise to crawl out of the sleeping bag to tie the tent down better, for fear of it being blown to the leeward side of the ridge, which was a 200 foot cliff only 5 feet over from the tent’s edge. (a little risky, but my choice, because of the good view).

I am sure there are many who would not agree, but I feel my priorities are right on track, considering the journey of this life is all we really have - we will be taking nothing with us when we leave.

Home projects and cleaning will always be there, but the opportunity to spend a few days out in the magnificence and spiritual solitude of the western canyons is something that should always go first. And so it did.