Wild Wild West – Utah National Parks
I have long wanted to hike in the west, camp in the wilderness, have loads of fun with friends with whom I could interact without inhibitions and just get myself immersed and just get lost into mother nature… I have heard so many people tell me many times for different other reasons: “you need to be patient and wait. When the right time comes, things will automatically fall in place.” It never made any sense to me until now… What are the odds that I will stumble into an outdoor group 100 miles away through meetup.com??!! And even more, what are the chances that the group would be planning for the same exact hiking trip with all of the elements that I had always been looking forward to..?!?! Insane right?? Initially scary too. I knew nobody in the group, had no idea what I was getting into, but I really had this inner urge to go to far west and hike, although I had never ever hiked before. Little did I know why I wanted to do this, but there I go…let off my inhibitions, let off my fears, let off my doubts – and sent a request to join the group. I was really happy when my request was accepted and anxiously drove 2 hours to NJ to Pyramid mountain hosted by Vivek Jain to hike with group and to get to know them locally before I made a long trip…. I was wholeheartedly welcomed into the group.. and since then a whole new chapter in my life has begun! That’s how far my Utah trip memories go and Utah will always have a special place in my heart, since that was the sole reason, that I became a Doeres 😊.
Aug 30th 2017 – Arrive at Las Vegas and drive to Zion
I flew from Philly airport and met the group at Las Vegas. Vivek, Anil and Dhiraj were waiting for me and others for ~ 3 hours at the airport to pick us up and drive to Zion. Thanks guys! I met Dhiraj and Vipin for the first time, what a stark difference between them both, but regardless we all drove together to Zion listening to Arijit Singh songs from Jolly’s CD, the only one thing that connected all of us other than our love for hiking! The scenery was beautiful filled with mountains on either side of the road and the mountains grew higher and redder as we drove. Seemed as if, the mountains were showing off their mighty power as we moved away from the city as if they were telling me how much more there is in this world beyond what we think is our world in our daily life and welcoming me into the remainder larger world of enlightenment and happiness.
We met the group at the campsite, we were the last to arrive. Even as Dhiraj was parking, I saw Satish wearing his hiking boots and getting his hiking poles and I was like…uhhh, are we hiking already?? And Satish goes – yes, that’s what Vivek said. He said we are going to hike Angel’s landing now. It was freaking 5.30 pm already, the last shuttle bus back was at 9pm which means we should complete the hike in 2-3 hours and Angel’s landing was supposed to be the most strenuous hike of the trip. I was like what the $^%$%^??!! I didn’t even have time to change to hiking pants, just changed shoes and took ample water and my backpack that I had thankfully already prepped with hiking essentials. I’m still thinking is Vivek gotten insane from the heat?? What the hell is he thinking? He is the calmest and the most easy-going person I have ever met and why the hell is he rushing like a lunatic? He even justified to Anil that its same height as Mt.Tammany which most of us have hiked several times and Anil goes- yeah.. but I hiked it over 5 hours in daylight, not 2 hours.?? Anyway, we followed Vivek. Shanti and few others had already left and were racing up the hill. I was pretty fast in the beginning walking up with Vivek and Anil and trying to catch the rest of the group thinking, well if Vivek says we can do it, I guess I can do it…hehe.. Just as the incline started I slowed down tremendously. I was far behind the rest of the group and learnt from others who were returning back, that the summit was way way ahead and they had all left 5-6 hours earlier at least to reach the top and return. It made no sense to me to exert beyond my limits as I knew there was no way I was going to make it before 9pm and at the same time I met Harry at a break point. He in his usual tone goes- I’m not wasting my energy in this mad rush. Look at how beautiful the view is from here.. why are we rushing out without enjoying this and convinced me to stop there, enjoy the beauty, save our energy and hike the next day early in the morning. Made complete sense to me and took my first opportunity to just sit and watch the mountains and head back to campsite. The remainder of the group who went ahead followed shortly and said they made it to Scouts landing and returned as it was getting darker and getting more challenging and riskier. We decided to sleep it over and redo the hike to Angels landing the next morning and take it slow and easy. We all got back into sanity.
There were no showers in the campsite and it was after 9pm. Although Vivek, suggested to skip showers and I generally follow the lead suggestions, Dhiraj was determined he needed to shower and was going to check out even if it meant we may have to skip dinner! We went out and searched for showers and found one that would allow 5 min of shower for $4!!!! That was the fastest, yet most fulfilling shower I have taken ever, lol! Oh my, what a difference it made to have a warm shower after a long confusing day and returned to campsite fresh and happy to everybody else’s jealousy!
We had left over dinner under the starry sky with Vivek, Shanti, Vishwa and Prasad, who were waiting for us as if we were kids and they were mom and dad, to make sure we ate something before going to bed. Awww!!! Vivek helped me set up my tent, my tent had an open mesh in the front and top that Ashish helped me pick. For the fist time, I slept in a tent in an open ground gazing. I slept with my head toward the front mesh and gazed at the open sky and huuugge mountains in a soft breeze for I can’t remember how long and fell asleep. I was soo happy, I called mummy and daddy from the tent and facetimed with them in the dark and told them how happy I was😊.
Aug 31st, 2017 – Angels Landing
Vivek had assigned me for breakfast duties, so I woke up early only to see Vivek already up and prepping for tea. Darn Vivek – always ahead of me! I quickly finished brushing and returned to the campsite and Khyati and I helped Vivek make the tastiest oat meal ever and had hot chai and fun with the group.
After breakfast, we left to take the shuttle to Angel’s landing for the second time, except this time, everyone was slow and relaxed. I told myself, I have come here on a vacation and to enjoy the nature and to be away from the every day hustle bustle. I told myself I am going to be relaxed and go slowly at my own pace and not try to compete with anyone else or try to catch up with anyone ahead of me. I will hike up as much as I can and be content. I CONTINUED SLOWLY, posing for lots of pictures along the way and enjoying the landscapes and smiling happily inside. We finally reached scouts landing, from where the hiking chains begin to assist with the steep incline. Vivek, suggested to leave behind the backpack and eat and drink before moving ahead. I followed his instructions verbatim and moved along with Satish for the most part forward. Satish took so many nice photos of me with the mountains everytime jokingly saying he will charge $5 for each photo! He was very nice and said to me, this is a lifetime opportunity! Lets take as many memories with us back in the form of photographs and generously waited for me along the way, although he could have gone ahead much faster and enjoyed the summit view longer. The hike up was indeed challenging, I was at the edge several times along the way with only the chains I was holding on to that was keeping me from falling off the cliff. There were portions that were so narrow, that it was like a one way traffic. Either people going up or people going down had to stop to let the other person go as there was simply no room for more than one person at a time!
So narrow and so steep. Surprisingly, I was not scared at all!
All I was thinking was which is the next best spot to put my foot on and that’s it! That’s all! And eventually reached the summit. I was the last one of the group to reach. I was so happy to see everyone else cheering for me. For the first time, I felt happy, not because I made it, but because, everyone else was soo happy to see me make it to the summit! It was simply amazing and hopped with a big smile to the rest of the group with a victory dance! They were soo loud, that one person actually openly said we were loud, but in a good way. Someone even asked if we were all a family, and I was like, I guess I can call this my family. The family I chose! After spending few minutes taking pictures and enjoying the scene, we returned on our descent down. Vivek actually got emotional. He patted on Jolly and me and said he was so proud and happy that all of us made it. I was so happy for him! I felt and told Vivek that in retrospect, it was good to have attempted to hike it the day before. We, or atleast I, got a better sense of how steep and challenging it would be and mentally prepared myself to take it easy and not rush. I and I believe all of us learnt our lesson from the prior day’s fiasco, to keep slow and steady and yes, I and everyone else did win the race! The descent was fun. I simply sat down at every step and slid to the next level holding the chains as I didn’t feel confident with my foot going down. My butt was soooo sore by the end of the day! It was so hot by the time we reached the trail ahead. I was again the last one to return, but it just didn’t bother me at all and I was extremely happy that I wasn’t bothered to be the last and was just so content with whatever I have achieved, something that I was trying so hard to do so for quite sometime. I stopped at a river access almost towards the end and cooled myself down with the fresh water and joined the rest of the group at the trailhead where they had just finished goofing around the river water! What a wonderful day, what a wonderful experience!
Sep 1st, 2017 – The Narrows
The Narrows is a water hike. You hike in the water since there is no land between the canyons. I didn’t fully realize this until I actually reached the place where the water hike begins. Thankfully, we rented water shoes and wooden poles day prior and brought swim suit and pants with me since Vivek had put it on the checklist even though I had no darn idea why I would need it! I started early with Shanti, Vishwa and Khyati since I knew I would be slow again and so would be better to start with the early group and would eventually join the later group. The hike wasn’t difficult, it was just unique to waddle through the water like in the movies! After a certain distance, the canyons became more and more narrower. You could hardly see the sky, the canyons on either side were standing tall and almost touching each other. I stood in the water several times just gazing at the mountains on either side and observing the nice patterns of swirls and circles and what not made by the impression of the Virgin river on these tough mountains over the years. I was lost in this amazing beauty that I could only see by waddling through the water that was upto my knee level atleast and couldn’t wait to continue to see what’s coming up next. There was a small portion that reached upto my chest too! I slipped and fell many times and got swept away with the force of the river twice atleast.. I just loved it, I had soo much fun! My bag was fully wet, but thanks to Lynn who lent me her waterproof backpack, my stuff was safe. Then came a point where the water was very deep upto my chin. Anil, Satish and Himanshu swam across to the other side. I decided to stop and not go beyond, since I didn’t know to swim and even though the water level was upto my chin along the side of the canyon to which I could hold on to and breathe, the force of the flowing water sometimes pulled me away from the canyon toward the center where the water was deeper. Satish and Anil encouraged several times that I should just hold a little more tightly and come across, but I stayed back, although I was silently wishing I could somehow cross over to the other side. That’s when Vipin came over with a stick and offered to help me to go over to the other side. While Vipin was holding the one end of the stick, I held to other end of the stick with one hand and to the canyon with the other hand and waddled across to the other side to cheering Satish, Anil and Himanshu! I was so happy and smiling again!!!! While the Canyon gave me the physical support to cross the river, Vipin’s hands and Anil’s, Himanshu’s and Satish’s cheers gave the emotional support to tide over the force of the water and cross the river! Jolly stayed behind since she is shorter than the water level and would need little more than a stick to help her over since she is shorter than the water level. But it was very obvious from her facial expression that she really wanted to cross the river. Anil, Satish, Vipin and Himanshu made an on the spot plan of one person being in front of her and other behind and third by her side to get her over. It was really soo nice to watch them coordinate at the same time Vipin joked that if we mess it up, there is no way to get help, since the Narrow was sooo narrow that it would be impossible for even a chopper to get through to rescue!! But the Doeres guys did it again and brought Jolly over and we celebrated together while Vraj stayed behind to take pictures of us on Himanshu’s camera😊. On our way back, Vivek asked me to take a water level picture of them! I had no clue what that was supposed to mean, but it was one picture that Vivek asked while otherwise he is the one taking pictures of all us and so I agreed to take the water level picture. Until… I took my phone out and I was told to sit down in the water and bring the camera to water level! Goodness gracious! Where on earth, do people get such ideas?! The photos came out great! But even better was Himanshu’s photoshot capturing me sunk in the water trying to get the “water level” picture of the crazies! Lol! We ended our Zion camping with a campfire that night listening to songs and Harry’s comedy and laughing silently since our co-campers complained that we were too loud, and eating gulab jamun that Vivek warmed it to perfection on his camping stove!
Sep 2nd – Bryce Canyon
We left the campsite after breakfast and group pictures in the morning. We drove towards Bryce with a planned stop at Coral pink Sand dunes state park. The drive was scenic, crossed through the tunnel, watched mesa and checkerboard canyon and reach sand dunes state park. Dhiraj was driving his usual way, but as soon as he saw the desert sand and the huge vehicles that are used to drive on the sand, something happened to him all of sudden! He said our Ford Suv can handle and asked if we were interested in driving in the sand. I had never done that before, and so I was excited and assumed Dhiraj knew what he was doing. But as we got closer to the sand, I became more skeptical, but Dhiraj was super excited and drove along and got the SUV stuck in the sand. At first, I and also Vipin and Jolly thought, Dhiraj was just joking that the SUV was stuck, but he wasn’t. It was blazing hot outside and we were stuck in sand desert! Seriously!!! Exactly like in the movies!!! Vipin and Dhiraj found something to support the wheels and Vipin and Jolly pushed the SUV while Dhiraj was at the steer. I did the most important part – to shoot a video of this whole fiasco!! And we shared and laughed with the rest of the group when we met at Sand Dunes park! Lol! Hike through the Sand dunes desert was fun too! As usual I was the last to reach. Just as I was nearing the summit, torture Harry, who was at the summit with the remainder of the group, shouted out that I should return since it was getting late and they were returning. I was so disappointed and actually felt sad, but realized later he was joking and I completed my first desert hike. The return was fun, we literally slid through the sand 😊.
By the time, we reached Bryce, it was late afternoon and super hot and I was extremely tired. We went to the motel and took some rest and returned to Bryce to watch Sunset. I had no clue what to expect in Bryce, I hadn’t looked it up before the trip and it was the best surprise ever. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, the rock formations were beyond imagination. I took lots n lots of pictures, on my phone, on other’s phones, others’ camera and whatever else I could get my hands on to capture the beauty as it is. But soon I realized that it would be impossible for me capture it on the camera as is and decided to just sit and capture it all in my amygdala and prayed that even if I had to suffer from Alzheimer’s when I get old, this memory should still last. It was time for moon rise and it was day before full moon. On the spot, Vivek suggested we do an easy moonlight hike. At first, I hesitated, because I was tired and two, didn’t bring a headlamp. But I ended up joining Vivek, Harry and Vraj to hike the Navajo loop. This would enter into my – “best decisions of my life” list. We had all of the Navajo loop for ourselves, during the day, it is the most crowded portion of the Bryce, we watched the wall street built by mother nature and the Bryce amphitheater under moonshine. The moonshine was so bright that I didn’t even need a headlamp! Simply the best!
Sep 3rd _ Sunrise and The Rim trail at Bryce Canyon
We started early to watch Sunrise. I left much earlier than that was planned with Shanti, Vishwa, Prasad and Khyati since Khyati was going to get a time lapse photoshoot and I wanted to watch the sky and colors change from starry sky to early morning sunny sky similar to what I saw at racoon ridge NJ during the perseiod meteor shower hike, except wanted to see it on the Bryce. I found a really nice spot a little ahead of the actual sunrise point and settled down there. Just as it was going to be time for the sunrise, it became cloudy and sun rays became invisible. I was soooo disappointed, I had sat there for almost more than an hour for that one moment. I started to head back when Vivek was approaching in my direction having a confused look on his face to see me go in the opposite direction. He was coming in my direction since it was a good spot. I tell him, its past sunrise time and cloudy, and would need to come back tomorrow and he goes, just come back, you are going to see the best sunrise! And yep! He was right, just as I turned back, I saw some sun rays first and then the entire sun rising into the sky and illuminating the canyon! Gosh, I got lucky, if I missed Vivek by a minute, I would have missed all of it! We had breakfast there watching sun rise and then started what was going to be the most treacherous hike of the trip – the rim trail. It started out fun, Harry, Anil, Vivek, Vraj, Bipin and Prasad were making me laugh non stop, took some fun pictures of ourselves and our shadows, took selfies with hoodoos and I hiked hoodoos memoirs. Torture Harry turned into joker Harry😊
The breeze was pleasant and sun was still rising and I was enjoying the scenery of the canyon from the top edge. Soon after Prachi joined us from nowhere. She and I became buddies and stayed together for the remainder of the trail. Mother nature’s fairlyland Castle was so pretty and I almost wanted to go into it searching for fairies! The ascent began soon after and so did the Sun’s blazing heat! I had to take several stops and rested at any place with a shade that I could find. We met the rest of the group at tower bridge, took some rest and started out to finish the last 2 miles which literally seemed never ending. I didn’t have any water left. At one point, I was even licking the sweat on my lips. I was also worried about Prachi, we made several stops and moved very slowly and eventually reached the finish line where the rest of the group was patiently waiting for us in the blazing hot sun in spite of being hungry! Thanks again Doeres! I vowed to myself I’m never going to do a long hike in the heat again! I was sooo exhausted!! After a heavy buffett lunch and long shower and sleep, that evening, Anchal suggested we have a girls night out at the Bryce! We picked up “special” drinks from the store and headed to Bryce point to meet the guys for sunset, but since the parking was full, we went to Paria’s trail. It was a little away from the center of Bryce Canyon, and we had a totally different and amazing view. The kids had fun with Khyati learning how to shoot with her fancy cameras and Kala, Jolly, Anchal and I were chit chatting watching sunset and drinking our “special” drinks😊. Gaurav made our evening even better by imitating his family members and later people in the group at our request! It was like watching Russell peters, Aziz Ansari and Hasan Minhaj all perform at the same time, we laughed so much, my stomach started hurting and we were asked by a standbyer to keep it down!!! Can’t wait to meet Gaurav again sometime, to watch more of his performance!
Sep 4th 2017 – Peek a boo trail and Scenic drive
This day, I wasn’t at all in the mood to hike the Bryce again after the prior day’s exhaustion. But I wanted to see the Bryce point and the formations on the peek a boo and decided to do a little bit and return halfway. We walked along the horse’s trail, watched some pretty formations and I returned via Navajo loop to watch it again in day light. In the evening, I joined Vivek alongwith Kala, Ved and Vraj for scenic drive along the Bryce. We reached the highest point – Yovumpa point and hiked a small trail, It was very pretty, the trail was lined by fir trees and campfire logs, very unique. We stopped by rainbow point, Agua canyon, natural bridge, piracy point and farview point and enjoyed the amazing views. It was nice and relaxing. This was going to be our last evening together before half of the group would return to Vegas the day after. So we decided to have a group dinner at the Bryce Lodge which foodie Vipin had tried to eat in atleast 3 times, but didn’t! We didn’t find a table for all, so we ended up in a pizza place next door. Khyati and I were so mad at first, since we were sooo hungry and had already eaten the complimentary bread they gave us and I was really looking forward to have fresh caught butter seared trout with rice pilaf and sautéed veggies! But the veggie pizza with everyone in one table and sharing their thoughts of this trip made it one of the best dinners to remember! Pizza with friends and laughter is definitely more delicious than a fancy gourmet dinner all by yourself! Again we were so loud, that the restaurant owner recognized us from Angel’s landing. He looked at Vivek and remembered him being part of the loud group he saw at Angel’s landing! I thought it was soo funny that every sinlge day of the trip, somebody would describe us atleast once that we are loud!
Sep 5th 2017- Scenic byway12, Capitol reef and Canyon lands
We left Bryce after group pictures and headed on a scenic drive on highway 12. I felt so grateful to Prasad for driving, so I could just sit back and enjoy the views. There were so many different rock formations of different colors. My most favorite one was of San Rafael desert. It is not named anywhere, the rocks literally look like heaps of sand piled together, but they are actually tough mountains. Along the way, we saw the Grand staircase Escalante, million-dollar road, and took really goofy pictures in the middle of the highway!
We drove through Capitol reef national park and went to the Capitol Gorge. Driving through Capitol reef resembled very closed to that of the narrows with tall canyons on either side almost touching each other, except we were driving in between them instead of waddling through the water. The reef is so appropriately named! We then headed towards Arches without stopping since we wanted to catch sunset. We passed by Canyon lands and all of us thought, wish we had enough time to visit Canyon lands as well, which was the only Utah national park that we would otherwise not be visiting in this trip. Just as we reached the entrance of Arches, we were told the park is closing soon due to maintenance. On the spur of the moment, Vivek, suggested we go to Canyon lands and watch sunset from Grandview point and we headed over to Canyon lands. Canyon land national park is huuuuggge. Very very very huge and so expansive. It was getting darker and because of the vastness, I was even feeling a bit eerie. It took us really long to get to the park, due to maintenance and it was getting really close to sunset. Again, Vivek, suggested on the spur, we instead go Mesa arch which was closer instead of the Grand view point. Finally we reached Mesa arch and we literally ran to the arch as if I would run to catch the last train back to home from work! Each and everyone of us ran, just to watch the sunset illuminating the canyon, Shanti even forgot her wallet in the restroom in her urge to catch the sunset! The views from Mesa Arch was superb. Took so many panoramic pictures, I am going to frame mine for my living room. Im sure, I wont find a better picture of myself than this… Just as we were enjoying the sunset colors from the other side, we also watched the full moon rise slowly above the arch. It was mesmerizing. I went to the corner of the arch and looked across to the farthest viewable point in the canyon. There were many concentric circles of rocks all along and as I continued to gaze at them, I felt a weird feeling of wanting to just walk down into the canyon to the center of it and get absorbed into the earth. It was a very weird feeling, that I had never felt before and felt scary and returned back. I was glad we were leaving the Canyon lands. It definitely made an impact, although I’m not sure exactly what.
Sep 6th – The Arches National Park
Although we had planned to watch sunrise at the Arches, we couldn’t since the park was closed until 7 am for maintenance. This was also going to be the last day of the trip, so we packed up everything and set to the Arches. It was amazing to me, that although each of these parks were pretty close to each other, they were very different from each other and had totally different rock formations and landscapes. We drove along the scenic drive watching different rock formations, some of them looked like forts and temples from India. So amazing! We stopped at the trail head of double o arch and hiked on a very very unique trail – trail consisted of walking on the rocks. No sand, no gravel, no vegetation on the ground- just plain large rocks with canyon on either side. SO unique, so amazing, so wonderful. We viewed the landscape arch, muffin stone, double o arch, and partition arch and returned.
We did it as fast as possible, I almost ran towards the end to catch up with the group so we could also hike to the famous Delicate Arch, that Jolly just couldnt wait for it as she had seen it so many times in so many magazines. We needed to complete the hike in 2 hours to have enough time to drive back to Las vegas to catch our return flight. I wasn’t confident at all that I would make this 2nd 3 mile hike after a 4.5 mile double o arch hike. But I decided that I would just keep going until wherever I can and may be just see the arch from distance! Prasad and Shanti encouraged me by saying that is only a third elevation of Mt.Tammany and I could do it. I also realized how Mt.Tammany, which I have not yet hiked, has become a benchmark for Doeres hikers! I guess I should hike Mt.Tammany soon! Anyways, I walked along and walked along and walked along. I passed a stream, I passed a sand trail, I climbed a huuge mountain, I climbed a 2nd mountain, 3rd, 4th and still I could see nothing. I was getting really exhausted and people who were returning just kept saying, its around the corner, around the corner, keep going, its so worth it, but the corner was never seemed to come. I stopped at a shady place where Shanti, Prasad and Vishwa were waiting for me and Jolly. Supposed there was one more corner to turn around and this time for real I would be able to see the arch. I only half believed them. Nevertheless, I hydrated myself and started walking slowly around the corner with only half the trust that I would be able to see the arch this time. I almost decided that I am happy with whatever I have seen so far, and if I don’t see the arch around this corner, I would just turn back and call it a day. Just as I turned the corner, I saw the famous Delicate Arch standing tall and strong right in front of me. I was so happy and so was Shanti who was right behind with me. We laughed with joy, clapped our hands, jumped up and down like little girls who got a huge treat. People around us were looking at us and laughing! Lol! I told Shanti, I feel so much happier for making it to the Delicate arch than even Angel’s landing and Shanti who had all along been telling that Angel’s landing had been her best experience so far also agreed with me that she was so much more happier to reach the Delicate Arch. Now in retrospect, I think I was happier to see the Arch, cuz, there was no way of seeing it from far along the hiking trail, unless you hike all the way to it. For angels landing, I could see the summit from far. Like Prasad rightly described- there are no half rewards! I was really really happy and I have no clue where I got my energy, I literally ran to the middle of the arch and just jumped with joy at the base of the arch. It was such a joyous moment. It was best way to end the trip. I felt complete and content.