Being Humbled at Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP
As the temperature drops and the leaves turn from green to their fiery counterpart, I begin to feel the urgency of getting outdoors. See, I’m a summer girl and going outdoors in the cold snowy months is a challenge, so I try to maximize my time outdoors while the temperatures are still over 70F. This weekend was an anomaly in that even though the Aspens are convinced of the changing season, the weather seems to be in denial of the arrival of fall. This weekend’s high was 95F and I couldn’t have been more excited for my weekend adventure.
The destination for this adventure was Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, which also happens to be the only national park in Colorado that I hadn’t been to. I would have to have a good reason to drive 5 hours to go anywhere, and knowing that I only had a few weekends of snow-free drives over the passes was enough reason to drive out to this park.
At 11pm I had been driving for 3 hours so I stopped at a gravel pull out in the mountains around Paonia State Park to give my poor car a rest. I grabbed my blanket and climbed onto the hood of my car, my legs being warmed up by the residual heat from the engine and my back resting against the insect grave of a windshield. Without the artificial light of human existence polluting the sky, I was able to pick out some astrological figures and popular planets, but most impressively, the milky way made its glamorous appearance diagonally across my field of vision.
I lay there and looked up at the stars, letting my mind go blank as I focused on my surroundings. I counted 5 shooting stars and only 1 high-altitude plane. I followed the tracks of distant satellites and was lulled by the flickering of burning stars. I noticed the flow of the stream keeping up with the rhythm of the wind. I watched the crescent moon inching its way up the sky, trying to steal the spotlight from its distant brothers and sisters.
I’ll drive 5 hours for a couple of hours with you. I’ll sacrifice my time and money to protect you and take care of you. I sometimes make irrational and careless decisions to ensure I’ll get to maximize the time I spend with you. Every time I lay my eyes on you, I thank God for your existence. I’ve memorized the minute details of your unique appearance. It breaks my heart to see you hurting and I can’t bear knowing that I’ve taken part in harming you. I talk about you with everyone I know and can’t stop talking about you with the people closest to me. I can’t get enough of you.
I’ve never been in love before, but I can imagine it must feel something like this. I’m stupidly in love with nature and I can’t wait for the season in my life where I get to learn to love a man the way I love this beautiful planet.
I woke up pretty early the next morning to catch the sunrise at the Narrows viewpoint at the North Rim of Black Canyon NP. I’m trying my hand at light-variant landscape photography so I brought my hand-me-down DSLR with me to the cliff’s edge. I let my problem solving skills lead me into a pit of frustration at the disconnect between my view and the viewfinder’s interpretation of the landscape in front of me. I’ll definitely have to keep working at this.
I started off on the North Vista Trail to Exclamation Point and was glad to stretch my legs. After enjoying the summer sun against my face and the views from the multiple viewpoints along the way, I was back at my car and ready to head over to the South side of the park.
Google Maps took me down a old country road as a shortcut to the South Rim Visitor Center. Unfortunately, google maps didn’t take into consideration the loose gravel and poor conditions of these back roads. In an unlucky circumstance, I got a fast deflating flat tire and had to swerve off the road into a pull-out. A kind man, who also happened to be a tow-truck driver, pulled over to help me put on my spare. With a heavy heart I headed into the nearest town to see what could be done in my situation.
The tire shop assessed the tire and brought back the unfortunate news that the tire was completely shot and that because I have an AWD vehicle, that I had to replace all 4 tires. I had a decent spare on and wanted to do more research on this big purchase so I decided to deal with the problem when I got back from my adventure. I made the decision to continue on exploring Black Canyon NP for the day and head back that night after dark. I had yet to go to the iconic Painted Wall viewpoint and decided that visiting the rest of the park was worth the risk so I continued on.
Fearfully avoiding gravel roads, I headed out to the South Rim of Black Canyon NP and was not disappointed. I stopped at each of the viewpoints and was delighted at the epic landscapes they provided.
After a long day of fun and drama, I was ready to head back to Boulder. I began my careful drive at 8pm. I switched back and forth between sleeping and driving in 1 hour increments due to a combination of exhaustion and fear of heating up my tires. I arrived back in Boulder at 8am and was relieved to be back.
A week ago a Colorado friend asked me if Boulder felt like home yet. I was quick to say no, because I truly believed that nowhere could feel as safe or comfortable as Seattle. My people are there, my family is there, and everything I know and love is there. But there’s nothing like an emergency that makes you realize where your heart feels safe. Counting down the miles until I reached the safety of my Boulder bubble made me realize that I have set more roots down in Colorado then I had originally thought.
I’m starting to feel more at home in Boulder, CO - 1,306 miles away from my childhood home of Bellevue, WA and that feels like progress.
