Thursday, February 7, 2013

Fellowship of the trip




Two weeks is the longest silent treatment I've ever given, and it was to you. I'm sorry. You're not the one to blame, it's me. I'm the one with problems, not you. It was completely unintentional, actually. I just lost track of time. No joke. My life has been absorbed in school, pug dogs, and skateboarding now that the weather is tinkering somewhere around the freezing mark and our parking lot is cleared off. School's in there somewhere too, but I'm not sure where. But it all fits together.

So a couple weeks ago my brother Brian suggested to me that I tell the story of Havasupi the year that we forgot food and shelter. Actually, forgot suggests that there was some planning on our part and we just didn't forgot to grab the stuff. I can't give myself that much credit. There was no planning... This story is filled with broken feet, eating your brother's granola bars behind his back, and cuddling with his girlfriend at night, so if haven't the stomach for such drama, get out now. I almost fitted the aitch word into that last sentence, but being the family man I am, I didn't. I won't be able to tell this story in one sitting, so it'll probably be a short series we do here on this blog. Good reading material, I can tell you that much.

First off, Havasupi is a magical place. It's a tropical rain forest in the bottom of the grand canyon. Don't believe me? Google it right now and see what happens. You can't keep reading this post if you don't have those images in your head, so take 5 seconds and google it. Ok, now that you're' blown away by those pictures, I will tell you that Elves originally inhabited the area millennial ago, but were driven out by the dark powers. Indians stumbled upon it way back, and they've been there ever since. So you can hike down there, and me and my brothers make it a point to go down there every couple years. It's one of my favorite places in the world, and I've already got goose bumps thinking of the next time that we go. You're invited...

The first time we went I was 13, then me and Brian made an improve trip down there once. From the time we left our house in St George to the time we pulled back up to it was almost 48 hours to the dot. There were only a couple hours of sleeping in there, and I've never sweat that bad in my entire life. That was the epic "F--- you, Andy!" trip. Brian will have to tell you about that one. Suffice it to say that Andy is probably still lost at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, haunting hikers and leading them off the trail to their doom. The third time I went was when I was just about to turn 20 years old. Brian came back from the army on leave for a couple of weeks, so we made sure to fit in a trip to Havasupi for 3 or 4 days. In getting ready for Havasupi, we assembled our team which consisted of Me, Brian, Matt, Hannah (Matt's girlfriend who later became his wife), Spencer (who had come with me and Brian on our 48 hour trip), and Justin (who hadn't walked more than a mile at a time in the last couple years. He came equipped with enough gear to last him several weeks and a guitar strapped to his back. These are important details for later on in the story, so make sure and take note of them).

Well, I think I've written all I have time for today. So I've somewhat set up this little journey, and next time I will take you deep into the heart of the Grand Canyon and to the waters of Havasupi. 'Tis a magical place...

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