November 16
RMS XIX
11/16/07
Sunday. Our one precious day a week to get those few extra hours of sleep that we so desperately need. Not last Sunday, however. As we began our third and final prep day here at HMI, there were mixed feelings all around: anxiety about dividing into groups, high hopes of what we could make of this final expedition, and, of course, excitement of what the canyons of Utah had to offer us. A nine-hour car ride ahead, we said our goodbyes to the other expedition groups, only to shortly after realize we would see them every several hours at the different rest stops along our way to the canyons. Before we knew it, we arrived at “Comb Wash” campground in Blanding, Utah, where we spent the night before completing the rest of journey towards the canyons. The next morning an hour’s drive brought us to the rim of the mesa where we looked out over the glorious canyons. As each member of the five expedition groups threw on their packs, it really began to feel like an expedition. Laces tied, gaiters on, we began our journey into the canyons - a world unfamiliar to most of us. The feeling of packs on our backs again, taking in the fresh air, the sun shining down upon on, and magnificent views of the red sandstone all around us was both exhilarating and refreshing, and we weren’t even down in the canyons yet. Walking along the dusty path, with prickly pear cacti and cryptogrammic soil on either side of us, and the magnificent canyons down below, we were overwhelmed with the beauty of this place where we were to live for the next ten days.
On the soft desert sandstone, water, over thousands of years, has created these unbelievable slot canyons for our exploration. In the mountains, the difficulty lies in ascending big slopes and covering lots of miles. In the canyons, the hardest part is sometimes just getting into the canyon - and then crossing the boulders and pour-offs that lie within. The canyons were barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through, that’s how amazing they were. After our first trip down from the canyon rim, we looked at each other and were all in awe. Our trip was the epitome of adventure. It was amazing.
Academics on the third expedition were a little different, not only because the sole academic class taught on expedition was P&P, but also because of the different environment. During the past two expeditions, we have been in mountains with lush forests and snowy alpine tundra, a panorama familiar to many of us by now; the canyons are much drier and have very different flora and fauna. Our science projects for the first two expeditions related to mountain environments; it was a pleasant change to experience a place that only a few of the students had been to before. Our field studies focused on the amazing geologic formations on the canyons and allowed us to apply the geology that we had been studying for the few weeks before expedition. The P&P discussion was on “The Argonaut Folly,” an article that we used the think critically about the community of RMS, comparing it to failed Utopian communities. For the rest of our homework, we read texts by authors like Edward Abby while we were dwarfed by the surrounding canyon walls.
One of the biggest differences between this expedition and the other expeditions was the amount of ownership and independence we had in the trip. Each group had their own Student Expedition Leader (SEL) to act as a medium between the students and instructors. Every night, we would discuss the upcoming day, how far we wanted to go, and what time we wanted to wake up. Right off the back, we took over much responsibility for the expedition. Our first plan of action was to create our own time system, “Man Standard Time,” which is two hours ahead of whatever time zone one is in. We made this up mainly to feel like were not waking up as early. On our second day, we realized, after hiking for several hours, that Long Canyon was impassable. As a group, we decided on a new route to take. This trend continued on for the rest of the expedition. It seemed like everyday would throw us a new obstacle, but we as a group found ways around it and truly made the expedition ours.
Early in the morning, after our final day of hiking, each group piled into their van and headed down the dusty canyon roads to reconvene as a whole semester for the first time in eight days! We greeted each other with big hugs and chatted about the escapades of our expeditions. Then we hopped back in the vans towards our destination for that night: a state park in Fruita, Colorado. We stayed at a large campsite and enjoyed a game of Ultimate Frisbee. The students challenged the faculty, and it was an epic match. For dinner, we started a large fire and threw a barbecue. The rest of the evening was spent laughing, playing music, and sharing our stories. The next morning we were out, up and early for the last leg of the drive back to HMI. Everyone was eager to spend time with each other, especially because we leave for Thanksgiving Break tomorrow morning!
By: Hannah McQuilkin, Cameron Yu, Charlotte Ambrozek, Reed Snyderman, and Joey Patterson