How would one even begin to describe the year 2020 to someone in March? It is currently April 2021, over a year since the whole world turned upside down. Prior to the chaos, I got to go on a weeklong canoe trip on the Green River in Utah. COVID-19 had already hit the United States. I lived in Montana, so there were not a lot of cases hitting my state yet. The weeks leading up to the trip we were all worried it was going to get cancelled like everything else in life up to that point. Thankfully, it did not. Here is the story of the last "normal" adventure I got to go on before the world shut down.
The pandemic was almost non-existent in Montana in March of 2020. My alarm goes off at 5:15 in the morning, signaling time to get out of bed and head to campus. My mind was ready, but my tired body was not. I dragged myself out of bed, put on some clothes and headed out thinking about the 10 hour drive to the Green River in Utah. This was not a normal day by any means. This was the start of a week long trip on the river. Where the next day I would be in a canoe, hopefully in weather that was warmer than 30. Montana is still so cold in March. The sun hadn't even risen above the mountains yet and the wind was piercing. We packed up and headed out of Missoula at 6 am, ready for a long drive ahead.
We got all the way down to Dillon, Montana before stopping for gas. When we got out of the car it was snowing profusely, and the temperature was in the teens. We probably looked crazy to anyone passing by with our canoe trailer in tow, but we were happy.
We continued our journey until we reached Green River Utah, where the hardest decision yet awaited us: where to eat dinner. We all decided a roadside taco truck, and man it was delicious. We were finally almost done driving for the day and eventually reached our campsite in the dark. While the guys figured out where they were all going to sleep, the two other girls and I set our tent up and looked at the beautiful night sky. The temperature was cold again, but that sky was so worth it. We crawled into our cozy sleeping bags and fell asleep under the chilling night sky.
DAY 1:
The next morning we woke up really early to Jeff, one of the leaders, with coffee and bagels. Ready to tell us about how to pack the canoes and what knots to use so nothing falls off them. There was a lot to be done this morning, but we did it all and got on the river before 10 am. Our boat stocked to the brim with all of the necessities.
The first day was filled with lots of blissful floating and songs singing into the beautiful red rock canyons. Jaime and I singing the Sound of Silence and hearing our voices echo through the canyon walls. Our canoes passing birds and wonderfully blue skies as we dipped our toes in the muddy brown waters. A welcome change from the harsh winter we left back home. We paddled and floated for about six miles before we reached our first campsite. We got out and Jeff told us about how to set up camp properly with Leave No Trace principles, including how to use the bathroom in the desert. We ate sandwiches for lunch on a little cliff beside the river and that food tasted as good as the view.
We gathered things together to go on a little adventure around our campsite and find some cool new places. We searched for interesting rocks to climb and new places to see. We got deep into the canyons cool alcoves. I stood there wondering how many people had gotten to see this raw beauty first hand? I stare up in awe at the canyons so intricately carved for so many years to give me what I see now. We made sure to stay on trails, not straying too far off the sand or fall into a little muddy stream or desert ecosystems. After a while, we all got hungry. The cold as the sun left the canyon walls drove us back to our home for the night.
We gathered around a stove, and collectively made spaghetti, a simple yet comforting meal. We eat and chat about the day, offering up our highs and lows from the last 12 hours. We were able to get our tents set up after a long day of singing, laughing and learning how to canoe with a group. We made it to the end of day one. The feelings that this trip would never end and we would be in these canyons forever linger as I drift to sleep.
DAY 2:
Waking up early and getting a headstart on the day, we eat breakfast and simultaneously pack lunch for the river. Everyone has the same thing on their minds while gathering all of the gear we brought: the 20 miles of river slated for today. We decided to switch things up and change canoes. Tom, and I shared a boat this morning.
Tom was the oldest in our group and a highlight of the trip. He was in his 60s/70s and just trying to find a way to go explore the world more. He had a 5 gallon bucket full of snacks and other goodies that he carried around to shared with the group. He told stories of canoeing and boating back in the 1970s. He could talk forever and you would never hear the same story twice. He was always up for a challenge and was so patient and kind with everyone he met. After 4 miles or so he ended up switching to the single person canoe. Tom was one of the few people that could actually keep it moving at a decent pace.
We stopped a few times along the river to go to the bathroom and see an old site with graffiti from the early 1900s on the canyon walls. We ate lunch in our canoes, holding each other so as we didn't float away from one another. The pesto pasta changed my entire day and made all of the paddling so worth it. We struggled as we paddled directly into the wind most of the day. The second day was long. We canoed from 8 am to almost 7pm. We covered about 20 river miles. It was the most I have ever done in one day, but when we made it to our campsite on the bend, I could see that those 20 miles where worth it. We camped at the base of a canyon, looking out onto the river, staring at that muddy water again. I sat there wondering how I got this lucky? No one was at our campsite, we were alone.
Again we set up camp, made dinner, and then built our second campfire of the trip. We sat around going in a circle and playing a game called hot seat. For hot seat you have a few minutes to talk about your life in whatever capacity you would like, then the group gets to ask you questions for a few minutes. I love being able to connect to people in the beauty of nature, where you don't have access to the outside world. You are with the people you are with, no more no less.
DAY 3:
The next morning we ate breakfast and had our first day hike. We hiked to the top of the canyon and scouted where we would be camping later that night. The hike was not long but it sure was a climb. When we got to the top we could see the river snaking through the red rocks for miles and miles. It was absolutely beautiful. I sat there in awe of nature, of how something that took so long to make could be here.
When we came down from the top, we fought the wind through the canyon to the next campsite. Although we did not have far to go, it took a lot longer than anticipated, because of how windy it was. It started to rain a bit in the last little stretch of river. We were in high spirits though, looking forward to a nice break and a nice nap on the sandy shore of the canyon. We would be spending two nights at this campsite, so we were excited to only have to set up the tents once. We spent the afternoon lounging around making food, laughing and making sure we were prepared if it started to rain. We giggled at our new inside jokes and how cool our kitchen set up was. We gathered around a little campfire until the dark finally came and the light sprinkle of water did too. Tired from a long day of hiking and being on the river, we crawled into bed.
DAY 4:
Although we had no river to paddle today, we had a lot of canyon to hike. This day hike was 10 miles long. 10 miles of us winding through, up and across the top of canyon walls led to looking at the most amazing views of my life. It took us all day to hike, we told riddles and jokes, sang songs and wonder how the heck we got here. We search for kairns on large expansions of flat rock, until we stumbled upon the end. We found the arch we were looking for, hidden in plain sight, right off the green river near the top of the canyon wall. We ate lunch and took a breath in places where not many have gone before. If I could stay here for the rest of my life, I would be a happy women.
I do not know how long we stay there, but it does not take us nearly as long to go down the canyon than it did to come up (go figure). When we make it back down to our campsite, my feet are demanding that I just sit down for a while. So of course, I stand up and make dinner for everyone. Later that night we gather around that campfire one more time, trying to envision what life will be like when we get off the river tomorrow. What has changed? Is anything better then when we left it? We laugh and talk until the night creeps in again and we all crawl into our sleeping bags to sleep in the quiet desert night one more time.
DAY 5:
The final day on the river, although it is not our final day together. It is our final day in the canyons we have grown to love so much. We pack our canoes one last time and I sit with Avery. We talk about past relationships and how our lives have changed since we started college. We have a lot in common. We talk until we see the end of our trip. We see the pull out on the side of the river and while I'm excited to have a bathroom and a shower soon, I'm sad to see these people go. I'm sad to know that I will have to face reality again, face whatever COVID has to bring to me.
When we crawl out of our canoes and start loading up the SUV, we hear talk from another group that everything has shut down. No restaurants are open, no store are open. There is no toilet paper. What happened when we were gone? Thoughts race through all of our heads. We start driving back home. We stop in Salt Lake City for the night to camp, eating salads from a bag because no restaurants are open and going through drive-thrus with seven individually paying people is not fun. We try and fall asleep to the sounds of society again; dogs barking, generators running, and kids playing long after dark. We have been in such a quiet serenity for what feels like forever so it's hard to fall asleep. The world feels too noisy and bright for us to do so.
We made a pact at the beginning of the trip to not talk about what was going on in the outside world. This included not say anything about COVID. We decided it would be better not to talk about how scary it was or if we would ever return to our "normal" lives. We weren't going to back to school in person after spring break. Little did we know a year later we would still be online. The good news is some of us would be getting a vaccine to a virus we thought would only take two weeks out of our lives before we went back to normal. We didn't know any of this when we got off the river. We had no clue our lives would be forever changed by a virus. In that moment our biggest concerns would be getting back to Montana, back home to our friends and family. We didn't know if we would have toilet paper, remember how crazy of a time that was?
What would have happened if, like everything else at the beginning of 2020, it got cancelled? Would I have had the chance to fall so deeply in love with the desert? Would I have gained the confidence in myself to explore as many new places as I did? As the world began to lockdown for what would be over a year of my life, I opened my heart to the possibilities of new adventure and human connection.