April 28, 2009

Going back to the canyons allowed us to all truly appreciate the landscape, feeling totally immersed in its wildness. What a place the canyons are!  So exaggerated - especially in their erratic, unexpected temperature and height changes.  While we hiked, we could not keep the canyons from our thoughts.  They would sneak up on us and captivate us. Time and time again, we were drawn into a realm of wonder.  Until this trip, many of us never understood why desert lands are so often referred to as a places of revelation.  They are alien to both the mind and senses.  The sky seems larger - unobstructed and ever encompassing; and the clouds appear out of place - similar to a smudge on a windshield.  The canyons radiate nothing less than a mind-numbing sensation that makes us question all human certainties.

So, our third expedition took us to the canyons again, but in slightly different locations.  Our routes were all challenging and fun. Our group started with a fairly steep descent into Slickhorn Canyon, and continued down through Slickhorn (and some fairly tricky terrain) until we reached the San Juan River. We camped up a drainage a short distance from the river and enjoyed a day hike to the water, where a calm part of the river offered a little relief from the sun. The following day, we hiked above the river, encountering some nice trails and some nonexistent ones. Despite a few setbacks en route, the day hike ended up being a great opportunity to use our skills, and continually surprised us with new experiences. We pressed on, hiking Grand Gulch with record speed for several intense days. Once finished with that stretch, our new camping locations presented us with some great opportunities to have fun, explore, and enjoy some very comfortable nights.

For another group, the third expedition offered opportunities to explore more difficult and technical ways of navigating the canyons using ropes, harnesses, helmets, and good risk management. We started our travels with a technical day in Fry Canyon. With only day-packs, we were able to use a hand-line to get into the slot canyon and navigate between its narrow walls. When we came upon pools of water one of us had to be the guinea pig and see how deep the water was. The first pool we came to was chest deep and freezing cold. We waded with our packs over our heads for ten meters and then found dry canyon bottom where we could lay out in the sun and wait for the rest of the group. Farther down the canyon the slot dropped down another thirty feet. This time we were lowered down into the slot where we had to unhook from the ropes into a pool of water for a quick swim. It was a twenty meter swim that led to a few sections of wading before the canyon opened up and we could get some sun. Our packs were lowered down to us past the swimming section so that we could keep them dry. 

The rest of our expedition was comprised of several more descents down cliff faces but not very much water. With our full packs we had to lower each pack down carefully while anchored to a tree. We then set up the ropes so we could rappel one at a time until all of us made it down. Going up steep terrain was a different story. For the most part we set up hand-lines that we could use for support up dangerous slopes. This was done by one person carefully climbing up the terrain without a pack and tying a rope to a large tree or boulder and then sending it down to the rest of us to climb up with our packs. A few times the terrain we had to climb up was too challenging for a hand-line. On these occasions a hip belay was in order. This means that an instructor would climb up the slope without a pack and secure themselves at the top. They would send down the rope while feeding the other end around their back so they could guide the rest of us up. At the bottom we tied the rope around our waist and carefully climbed the terrain. Throughout the expedition we learned how to safely travel technical terrain and found many creative routes through the canyons to get us to our campsites. We also learned which kinds of terrain are safe to navigate and which we should find a way around.

In addition to new routes, we had some other new elements on this final expedition. On our first two expeditions, students played a smaller role in running and leading than on the third. The first trip was more of an introduction and winter camping was so new to everyone that we needed a lot of faculty guidance. However, by this third trip we had already spent twelve days in the canyons and knew what we were doing. This allowed for the Student Expedition Leaders (SELs) to play an equal role to the faculty and apprentices in running the expedition. The SELs kept a daily log of goings-on, gave the other students the plan for the next day, tried to get a sense of what everyone wanted to do, and encouraged their peers to be leaders of the day. Listening to the interests of the group they organized group kitchens, layover days, "astrobivies," and other activities. Being an SEL was a great opportunity to put in practice different leadership styles and skills. It also strengthened communication skills between both peers and instructors.

In addition to having SELs, there were other aspects of this expedition that differed from the first two.  For example, we got the chance to do Independent Student Travel and Student Group Expeditions, which basically meant we got to hike and camp on our own in the canyons without the instructors there to guide us. We had to come up with our own route plans and decide exactly where our destination should be. Then we had to figure out how to get to the "x." With both the student group expeditions and independent student travel, the third expedition was our chance to experience backpacking on our own. We hiked alone, and helped lead the expedition as students. It was awesome to have that much independence, and being allowed to hike and camp alone showed us that we are very capable backcountry travelers.

By: Steve Reiman, Adrian Pforzheimer, Jack Lee, Spencer Petterson, & Liz Martin