Skipping Across Time

10/13/23

Capitol Reef National Park, UT

“The only emotion I wish to convey, is gratitude” -Spock

Driving through Southern Utah, even on the 70 interstate, can make on feel as if they are driving at light speed. All around you can be seen evidence of motion. Canyons carved by rivers. Hillsides created by water erosion. Pillars formed by wind erosion. Massive boulders fallen from nearby mountains. But all of it, frozen. Captured in a still frame, and us driving so fast through it that it seems as if no time passes at all.

Every rock I pass calls to me, inviting me to come explore, and walk among them. I imagine it would all be a lot of fun, but I’ve learned at lot from rocks, and I don’t think there’s anything they could show me now that I don’t already now. So now, I’m free to enjoy them at any time. Those rocks there will be just as fun to explore as any other rocks.

I feel overwhelmingly grateful. Grateful to see such beauty wherever I look. Grateful to have friends to enjoy it with. Grateful to experience life in the blink of an eye, coming and going so quickly the earth will never even know I was here.

Making up plans on the fly, accounting for supplies, drive time, camping availability, traffic, vehicle clearance, and the path of eclipse totality, is no easy. Especially in a place you’ve never been before. I took a wrong turn and ended up on a gravel road heading straight for the middle of nowhere.

We passed by some groves of Birch trees, and being one of my all time favorites, I was unable to resist wandering through them.

After a lot of back and forth planning, looking at maps, and being bewildered by strange rock formations, we settled on cowboy camping in the best bandit’s campfire I’ve found so far. Up above the quiet desert road east of Capitol Reef National Park, nestled into a waterpocket. We spent the evening telling stories around the fire, and slept under the stars.

In my excitement, I almost imagined the eclipse to be of little interest to me, compared to the fun I was already having.