Leaving on a Jetplane

Tonight I leave for Fairbanks. I can’t believe the day is here. Time moves too quickly.. in the mean time I want to write a quick (except extremely wordy..) summary of my roadtrip from March!

In January of this year I took a leap and signed up for another NOLS course. This time the course was in Salt Lake City. I had never been to Utah so I saw it as an excellent excuse to go. While planning my trip I received a Facebook message from a friend from my academy, “when are you coming to visit?” “Well,” I thought. “Now or never.” So there it was. I was planning a trip to Big Bend National Park in southwestern Texas.

Not only had I not been to Utah, I hadn’t been to many of the states in between such as New Mexico and Colorado. My friends weekend days were Thursday and Friday and my class got out on Wednesday. The drive is about 18 hours so I knew I had about a week to plan some stops on the way down.

I spent a few weeks planning and perfecting my trip. How could I see the most interesting sites in a reasonable manner? What should I do when I stop at those places? Where would I sleep?

Here’s what I decided:

On March 9, I left in the morning to make my way to Salt Lake City. The drive is a doable, but awkward distance so I decided to break it up into two days. I spent the night in an Airbnb in Boise, ID with a lovely couple and their elderly rescue dog brigade.

I didn’t have too long of a drive that day so I took my time getting to Salt Lake. I stopped in Twin Falls to see Shoshone Falls and the Perrine Memorial Bridge.

On my way to Salt Lake I made a stop just north at a rest area (so exciting I know). At this rest area I received a phone call. The phone call was from Alaska and it was my future boss asking me if I still wanted the job (I had interviewed about a month prior). Of course I said yes! But I digress.

The here is a small city called Corinne (my name!) so I had to visit. It was a small city with a Sinclair and not much else so I didn’t stay long. I was just an hour away from my AirBnB so I just carried on. I arrived to a nice townhome in Salt Lake and brought in my stuff to where I was staying.

Over the next five days I attended my NOLS class. The class is called a Wilderness Upgrade for Medical Professionals (WUMP). As I had gotten my EMT a year prior it was both excellent for continuing education (CEU) and to keep my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) current by combining it with my EMT. I would become a Wilderness EMT at the end of the course (W-EMT). I spent five days in a small, hot classroom at the University of Utah with medical professional with various backgrounds. I was suprised to learn many had been in the medical field for many years and were experts in their trades. The vast wealth of knowledge lead to insightful conversations and an exceptional amount of learning. I had such a great time and would recommend a WUMP class to any EMT looking for CEUs (though of course it’s not free).

When those five days had flown by I got ready to head south. On Thursday I started my first section of the drive. I had decided to spend the day at Canyonlands National Park. At Canyonlands I visited the Island in the Sky District. I hiked to Mesa Arch, Grand View Point Overlook, and Upheaval Dome. I spent the night at Horsetheif Camp to the east of the park. It is a large BLM campground.

The next morning I got up early to get to Arches National Park. The park was closing at night due to road construction so I did my best to get there at 7 when the park opened. When I got in I went straight to the Delicate Arch trailhead. I made it up there with the first few people and spent some time soaking in the geological marvel with only a few people. I met an amazing young woman who was also travelling alone and she and I walked back to the trailhead before parting ways. I then headed to see Landscape Arch in the northern part of the park. I hiked past to view Double O Arch. Then I went to see Balancing Rock and the North and South Windows. I also skipped my way to Turret Arch and Double Arch. As it was later in the day, trails were starting to get crowded. I decided I saw what I wanted to in a day and started to head south. I ended up in Cortez, Colorado for the night.

I woke up extremely early in a quiet RV park in Cortez and drove to Mesa Verde. I watched the sun come up as I climbed the mountain (in my car) back into the park. I arrived at Spruce Tree House early enough to watch the sun come up over the cliff by myself. It was a quiet and beautiful experience. I then navigated the open roads of the park and viewed as many cliff dwellings as I could. It is truly amazing what we have accomplished as humans.

I then drove another 4 hours east to Great Sand Dunes National Park. There I joined hundreds of people playing on the dunes. I hiked to High Dune and was rewarded with an amazing view. I watched people sand board and soaked it in at the top. I then headed down, running down the steep parts (so fun) and headed to my reserved camping spot at Sand Dunes Swimming Pool and RV. It was a nice little spot. I was happy to take a shower and get the sand off. I watched the sun set and soaked in the alpenglow on the Sangre De Cristo Mountains beyond the dunes.

I will continue with the rest of my trip in another post! About to board the plane for Alaska.