As part of the Parks, Recreation and Tourism course entitled “Backpack Lake Powell Area,” I ended my school week hiking in Southern Utah.
First, we met in a classroom a week before to discuss the trip and choose topics for a report that had to be given during the trip. On the trip, I was lucky and gave my report first?so I could take naps during everyone elses’.
And sleep was appreciated, considering that we woke up at 7:30 every morning and began hiking about an hour later. Hiking was fun for some and for others a grueling death march in the middle of a desert.
We each carried about 40 pounds of gear, which made hiking more difficult. At the end of each day, we had sore feet, shoulders and hips from carrying the cumbersome loads on our backs.
Notwithstanding the heavy packs, the hike wasn’t that difficult. We hiked down the Trachyte riverbed for three days, stopping every 15 minutes to rest and listen to reports on outdoor topics. The air was warm and everyone enjoyed good conversation.
On the second day, we turned off the main canyon and went up a small tributary. To our excitement, we encountered narrow canyon walls?which meant shade?and waterfalls.
We dropped our packs off at the last camping spot and enjoyed an afternoon sliding down a slippery sandstone waterfall into a deep pool.