So a few weeks back my friend Jocelyn sent a bunch of us nursing girls who all graduated together but had yet to find a jobs, a message detailing the ideas for a new adventure. It included a road trip to outside Vernal, UT, 3 mile snowshoe hike in the wilderness to a quaint little yurt in the middle of the forest. Immediately, several of us enthusiastically got on board and the plans began.
When the time came, there were 9 of us that were initially trekking in the snow to the yurt, and staying for the first night. 6 of those girls needed to get back for job interviews and work stuff or whatnot, so just three of us stayed the second night. It was BEAUTIFUL. But let me break down the whole of the adventure.
We spent the night over at one of the girls houses so that we could make sure everyone's packs were ready and we could leave early the next morning. Kinda reminiscent of all those years of my brothers "pack checks" before scout camps... Well we all get to bed super late because some girls had prior obligations before we headed out. So we start with a pretty poor nights sleep and end up leaving later than expected. That seemed ok however, because we figure out that really, its more like a 3 hour road trip than the previously expected 4 hour ride. So we figured we were doing ok and we needed to stop a few places along the way for a propane lamp, igloo makers and bandannas - you know, the essentials. We even stopped by the Vernal Temple for a quick pic. Turns out its really quite an interesting looking temple! Well several hours behind our initial schedule, we start toward the trail head. Before getting to the canyon were the yurt was located, we saw nothing but sunny skies and desert. Dry desert surrounded us and we were beginning to think that our snowshoes were a little overkill and we would simply hike to the yurt in our boots. But once we started up the canyon, there was plenty of snow and we found out that they had received several inches of new fresh powder during the previous night. Turns out the snowshoes would be necessary after all!
After just a little confusion about where this "trail" head was at, we loaded up and were on our way. We looked super hard core. 9 nurses, bundled up with large packs on our backs and we were on our way. The powder was incredibly deep and it was a struggle to trudge though it. Several times, one of us would sink down to our waist or further and have to be assisted out of the hole. Not to mention that our trail was really not much of a trail at all, but luckily was marked sporadically along the way with blue diamonds on the trees that we only assumed meant we were headed in the right direction. So we soldiered on. I remember thinking in the first half hour or so...wow, we are really cool. Where else would I find 9 friends to organize and carry out an adventure like this?! Well that honeymoon phase ended quickly as we realized how slow going this "quick 3 mile hike" was taking and how quickly night fall was approaching. But there came a point that we couldn't turn back, and the only option was to keep moving forward to the elusive yurt that was supposedly awaiting our arrival. Well in less than the first mile, the muscle pains set in and we were headed uphill for the entire way. It was all I could do to keep moving myself forward. Just had to take it one step at a time and realize there was nothing I could do but keep going. Night fall came and we had no idea how much longer. None of the signs had mile markers or anything to judge how far we had been, but I was beginning to think we had gone much, much farther than 3 miles. I was in the middle of the pack, but we were so strung out along the path that each of us was essentially hiking alone. At one point, when my legs were screaming at me, the hike became a lot less fun hours earlier, I was completely in the dark, except the light of the moon allowing me to see the path the first girls had created, I thought, "I might just die right here...good thing I have cell service because I might have to call search and rescue and have them snowmobile to me and save me." I even thought..."oh great, Laura and Clint watch the news every night. If they hear this story 'Nine girls rescued tonight just north of Vernal, Utah as they were attempting to snowshoe through the canyon for a fun getaway to a yurt. As night fell, they got lost and had to call for help, or sleep stranded in the snow' we were going to have some problems. Not gonna lie though, my patience and my tolerance for the activity was getting less and less the darker it became and the longer time dragged on and still no sign of the yurt.
Finally after what seemed like forever, news travels down the line that the yurt was found and I just needed to hike up the last steep hill and I would be there. Hallelujah. I have never been so happy to find a half teepee- half cabin looking thing in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Unfortunately, when I walked up, the girls who were ahead of me were mad and frustrated because we couldn't get the lock open. However, after a while and I am sure a few prayers, the lock was opened and we were inside shelter. The next task at hand was starting the wood burning stove and the propane lanterns, which proved to be a challenge on its own, but eventually was successful. Finally, after several more hours than initally anticipated, each of us arrived at the yurt. Even the girls who brought up the rear, pulling a winter sled full of food, water and provisions made it and we were all quite happy to get the packs off our backs and the snowshoes off our feet. Discussion was quickly filled with metaphors about faith, prayer, perseverance, the importance of light and continually moving forward that we each plan to use in our next sacrament meeting talk, taken from this experience. No one was up for much more than that, and each of us hunkered down for the night. With the stove burning (thanks to Jocelyn for keeping that baby going all night!) the yurt was actually quite cozy.
The next day, 6 of the girls put their packs and shoes right back on and had to make the trek back down. Luckily it was great weather and they were able to make it down in just 2 hours! As opposed to the 4 or 5 or so that it took us to get up. The three of us that remained had a great time playing around in the snow and enjoying it! It really was incredible up there and besides the really stinky outhouse, really quite pleasant!
We stayed one more night, which brought a new storm with a lot of new snow, which we were afraid would cover our path, but it cleared up by the time we headed out and the weather was perfect and beautiful. I have not felt that close to nature in a long time and I was loving God's creation. A few points along the way back down, as we were making decent time, we were confused about which way to go when we came to a few forks, but we just kept moving forward!
Well...turns out we made an incorrect choice at one point and found ourselves off the trail. It was deceiving because we would actually see the car parked off in the distance, but either had to traverse an open field that had zero packed snow at all or backtrack and find our trail. Well, we weighed our options and decided to just power through the field and get to the road that led to our car. While it seemed close since we would see where we were headed, that last bit was brutal. We were tired, the snow was consistently up to my waist and we were on uncharted territory. It took forever to get across that field, but after just a few close meltdowns from one of the girls, we made it to the road. Then Jocelyn walked up to our car while Brittany and I retrieved the sled we ditched midway across and finally we were in the warm car, driving home once again.
Was it hard? Yes. Was it fun? Eventually, yes. Would I do it again? You know, if you asked me that question on the way up, it would have been, no way. But now actually knowing what to expect, I think I would. But not necessarily any time soon. My snowshoeing quota for this season has been filled :) Luckily the experience was shared and the time was spent with some incredible girls, some that I met for the first time there, and incredible scenery!! All in all, it was quite the adventure and a pretty good time.
