Launch Day! I woke up good and early, loaded up the car, picked up some breakfast tacos from Eddie McStiff's (so good! and so full of veggies! and so cheap!), dropped some post cards at the post office, and arrived early at Tex's. Pretty much everything went really smoothly right up to the launch, and Mike, the shuttle driver, was full of information about the river, various techniques, hikes, things to see, etc. He was also very reassuring to me when I told him I'd never done a float trip or soloed for so long.
Shortly after I launched, I started feeling pretty excited to be on my way on the river, heading toward Canyonlands. However, it didn't last, and I found myself thinking once again that maybe a month alone and away from home was way too much for me and maybe I should go home early. So much had happened in the first week that maybe three more just weren't necessary.
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| Upheaval Dome, an eroded meteorite impact crater. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upheaval_Dome |
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I stopped at around 3:30 to make camp and hike to a watchtower ruins after 11 miles of paddling. I mentioned my concerns to Rod and Cathy, a couple from Ohio who had also launched that day and planned to camp on the beach below the ruins. Rod does a lot of solo trips and told me that mine were completely normal thoughts for one's first time out.
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| One of the views from my afternoon hike. The beginnings of our campsites are barely visible on the strip of sandbar below. |
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| View in the opposite direction. The river rounds a curve just beyond our campsite and leads to this surprising near-90º L-bend. |
After hiking (tiny desert flowers! tiny fast lizards!) and making camp, I sat with Rod and Cathy, as well as Terri and Jim, a couple from CO, around a fire Rod had started in their fire pan. It was really nice having a fire and people to talk to.
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| Navajo/Diné watchtower ruins |
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