The Wild, Wild, West

As we ring in 2018, don't forget to reflect on 2017

What do you remember most? What tragedies did you experience? What event made your entire year?

As you reflect, don't get too caught up on what was "good" or "bad". Some things just "are". Life is a relative and subjective experience. Just like everything in life, you get out exactly what you put into it.

Earlier this year, 3 of my closest friends and I took a road trip from Pennsylvania, to Colorado, Utah, and back home again. This trip proved to be one of the most fun, and challenging, experiences of my life.

From left to right: Dane Feher, Evan Thomas, Me, and Dakota Feher

Colorado

In late June of 2017, we embarked on our #adventure. For our transportation, we loaded up the Feher's Toyota Sienna, lovingly named Sheila, and drove from Pennsylvania to Colorado.

Sheila posted up in front of Blanca Peak in Southern Colorado

After 30 hours in the confines of Shelia the minivan, we made it to Colorful Colorado. Our next stop: the top of 14er named "Blanca Peak". So after arriving at the base of this epic mountain peak, we set up camp, ate a good meal, and slept in preparation for the next day. We woke up before the sun, and began our trip to the top.

A new friend we met on our way up!

We were about halfway up the mountain when we ran into our bighorn sheep friend. It was a nice relief at this point in the hike, because we really thought we were almost at the top. Boy, were we wrong. We continued pushing along, chatting about our bighorn buddy, but with every grueling step up, the thought of quitting became ever more present. But we kept pushing, and we rewarded with an amazing panorama of snow-covered 14,000 ft high peaks. We had arrived at Lake Como.

Majestic Lake Como

Besides the reward of the magnificent scenery, this hike rewarded me with mental strength. When we thought we had no more gas left in the tank, we continued. And this happened multiple times on this hike. You're capable of much more than you think you are, trust me.

We then spent some time with Evan's brothers, who live at the bottom of the Flatirons in beautiful Boulder, #Colorado. After 3 nights sleeping on the road and camping, it was nice to be able to rest up in a real shelter for a night. We woke up early the next day and got right back to our adventure.

Whitewater rafters sailing through Boulder Canyon

The next day was filled with more random exploration, semi-steep scrambling, and joints by the riverside as we fully soaked up everything Colorado had to offer.

Evan, Dakota, and Dane taking it all in

We thanked Evan's brother for his hospitality, and made way to our next destination...

Utah

We spent the majority of our road trip in Park City, Utah. From this location, we were able to get to some of the best National Parks (and rock climbing spots) in America.

Our first day in #Utah we hiked up a trail that overlooked Salt Lake City. We watched the sunset with a cold brewski in hand.

After all of this hiking, we were itching to do some rock climbing. Utah is well-known for being one the rock climbing Meccas of America, so we had countless options that were within an hour drive away. In fact, we had so many options it made it very hard to choose! To test these #rockclimbing cliffs of Utah, we went to Echo Canyon and Koss Cave.

Me on the conglomerate rock of Echo Canyon

Epic sendability at Koss Cave

Other than our rock climbing gear, the only thing we brought up top the crag was the camp stove and some snacks. We were able to eat a nice lunch of bratwursts, potato chips, and powerade. The climbing at Koss Cave was tough, but we did try some routes before giving up and scrambling around the rest of this rock. Another group of 3 climbers were already up in Koss Cave, and were able to give us some beta on the routes. As local Utah native, these guys were surprised to see that us Pennsylvania boys had found their secret location.

Enjoying the sunset above Koss Cave

The rest of our time in Utah was spent in some of the most beautiful places on Earth; The United States' National Parks.

Capitol Reef National Park

Bouldering our way into Hickman's Natural Bridge

We walked along a well-trekked trail to get to Hickman's Natural Bridge. Along the way, we were sidetracked by these awesome rock formations that we begging to be climbed on. So we gave into those pleas. Pretty much everywhere we went, we left the trodden trails to create our own. Now there's some quality life advice for ya.

Hickman's Natural Bridge in Capitol Reef National Park

Next stop is one my favorite places in the world:

Zion National Park

We started our visit to Zion with hike known as "Angel's Landing". Do a quick Google image search on that one to get an idea of what that was like. Although I rock-climb, I'm very scared of heights. Rock climbing is one way I get to challenge that fear. This hike also challenged that fear, a lot. As you traverse the narrow paths, you're constantly reminded of how close to death you are with the 1,000+ foot drops on either side of you.

Angels Landing hike in Zion National Park

We survived, then took a short walk through "The Narrows". We took our hiking boots off, draped them around our necks, grabbed two walking sticks, and waded into the knee-deep water.

Foreshadowing...

Right after Dane snapped this picture of me, I dropped my phone in water. Womp, womp, womp We spent as much time as we could back in The Narrows, because as we returned, we caught the last shuttle back to the parking area by MINUTES. I'm also proud to say that I am still using that same phone I dropped in The Narrows that day. It was out of commission the next day, but the old rice-in-a-bag trick never seems to fail

"Everything will work out if you let it"

Since we left The Narrows so late, there was no chance of camping out in Zion. We had settled down in a nearby hotel. Woke up early the next day (that seems to be the running theme of this trip), to spend a day of rock climbing in the legendary Kolob Canyon.

Evan sending up Kolob's wakos

We lounged about, made new friends, and climbed inside this epic canyon all day until we ventured on back to our house in Park City that evening. This was one of my favorite days of the entire trip. When you're surrounded by good friends, fair weather, and indescribable alien terrain, what's not to love.

Dakota and I in our natural habitats

After fully enjoying Zion, we returned back to our Park City abode. Tomorrow was our final National Park visit of the trip

Bryce Canyon National Park

After a long 2 days in Zion, we didn't wake up with the same fervor as before. We still woke up early though. Next stop in our escapade was Bryce Canyon National Park. We took a short walk into the canyon and took in the beautiful sights.

Dane looking out to his destiny

We can't not climb stuff...

We sure got a lot out of Utah, but it was time to begin our journey back to Pennsylvania.

Colorado - Part II

We left for Colorado the next morning, and left parts of our souls in Utah. We'll be back to pick them up later though, don't worry. A good amount of our souls were left in Colorado too. We spent another 2 days hanging in colorful Colorado. Much of our time was spent rock climbing throughout Boulder Canyon

Dane on the rock, Doc on belay

Sheila modeling for us in the Colorado canyons

That minivan, our mother figure on this trip, and better known as Sheila, drove us around for over 6,000 miles on this week-and-a-half journey out west. Sadly, a couple weeks after the trip, with close to 300,000 miles on her odometer, we had to lay Sheila down to rest. She served us better than any rental ever could

The trip home allowed for a lot of #reflection. The fact that we drove halfway across the country blew my mind. I thought this country was huge, until I dove right in and discovered that everything is only a day or two away. That idea rings true in many aspects in life. From the outside perspective, it's tough to imagine what it's like inside, until you actually get in there. So my advice is to jump on in! Try a new food, travel to different country, introduce yourself to an interesting group of people. Get out of your comfort zone! You'll be surprised how many walls you can break down by simply opening your mind to something new.

Fellow Steemians, if you made it to the end of this, thank you. I hope you enjoyed the adventure, and I hope I was able to share a small piece of my experience with you today. This journey was my favorite part of 2017.

What was yours?

-Doc