A Great Way To Start The Day

10/2/23

Draper, UT

This morning I tried to wake up to watch the sunrise over the salt flats. Unfortunately, the storm clouds had moved overnight from the west, covering the sunset, to the east, covering the sunrise. Still, the dark skies, white ground, and blue haze on everything, was cool enough. I got out of bed feeling good, even happy. Hopeful maybe for what life could be.

From the parking lot, there’s a small gravel slope down to the flats (I imagine the gravel is just what they put on top of the flats so they could build a road through it). Beyond that is a shallow moat over water over salt, likely from rainwater collecting in the more trampled area of the flats, closest to the parking lot. I took off my shoes and socks and waded through, maybe 20 or 30 feet, of six inch deep water. It was colder than the evening before, but I figured I could handle it for a short time.

I ventured out on the flats, alone aside from a party of three to my left. I watched the sky get slowly brighter around the dark rain clouds, actively precipitating, in the distance. But pretty soon my feet started getting really cold. Walking on the cold damp salt, mixed with sharper sections of salt crystals. I started walking back, but by the time I got back to the moat section I was in a considerable amount of pain. Those last 20 to 30 feet through the water increased my discomfort to a level I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced walking. I imagine the feeling would be similar to walking barefoot on ice, or perhaps even hot coals. I had no choice but to go through it, nearly falling over from the pain once or twice. The whole time thinking “owe” and “what a great way to start the day.”

When I got back to the gravel, the small, uneven rocks provided me with surprising comfort compared to the sharp cold from before. Either that, or my feet were so numb they didn’t notice. I sat on the concrete barrier to warm my feet back up before I put my shoes back on, then I waddled back to the car and tried to go back to sleep.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully, from an adventurer’s perspective. We drove through the rain, I read my book. We got back to Draper and enjoyed the company of my friend Taylor and his wife Courtney. We had dinner and listened to music and played with cats.