This fall, I went to the High Mountain Institute, which is a four-month-long program in Leadville, Colorado. There, students spend time doing traditional school on campus, and go on three two-week-long backpacking trips. One of these takes place in the Rocky Mountains near campus, and the other two are in the canyons of Utah.
My favorite day on expedition was long, challenging, but so rewarding and one of the most memorable days of my life. It was our first day of independent student travel, which meant we got to hike, navigate, and camp in the canyons without the instructors present. To earn this privilege, everyone had to demonstrate to the instructors that they were capable of navigating the vast canyons without trails, managing risks, and finding safe places to set up camp, which for many of us were skills that we had learned only at HMI.
I rolled out of my sleeping bag early that morning, where I had spent the night sleeping without a tent under the stars. I loved doing this, for waking up in the middle of the night and seeing thousands of stars above me was incredible. There is little light pollution in the canyons, making those mid-night stargazes the best of my life.
A few miles into that day’s hike, we approached a mesa wall that we were supposed to climb over, but we quickly realized that there was no easy way up. Even though there was a marked way up on our map, we could not find the route in real life, since everywhere we looked the mesa walls looked like cliffs. We had spent the last two expeditions practicing our navigation skills, which entailed analyzing the maps we were given to plan and follow a route, without relying on trails to get us to our destinations. Still, we still had challenges when navigating, as we were having then.
Unfazed, we sent up groups of two to scout possible routes up the mesa. I went up with my close friend, and we scrambled up the steep rock faces while trying to find the safest route possible. We knew the importance of safety, especially in the canyons, for we were far away from easy access to healthcare. We had taken a wilderness first aid class at HMI before embarking on Independent Student Travel, so we knew the basics of how to treat injuries in the backcountry, but it is always better to avoid injuries than need to treat them.
After around an hour of climbing, we managed to make it up to the top of the mesa, but we knew that it would be too dangerous to attempt it again with our heavy backpacks. We were taught about managing risk for the whole semester, so we knew what our limits were as a group and that this route was not a risk worth taking.
We eventually found a safer route up the mesa, but the greater challenge proved to be descending. We had to pass and throw our packs down multiple steep faces, and had to climb nearly vertical ledges. Since the rocks in the canyons were made from sandstone, they were very fragile. So, when climbing down, the rocks that we held onto for support could easily break off, causing a greater fall risk.
Additionally, as we progressed down the mesa, we were faced with an even greater risk. The sun was beginning to set, which caused serious danger if we were not able to make it down the mesa before it got dark.
We finally reached camp at nightfall, after one of the most long and challenging days of hiking I had at HMI. However, the walking was far from over, as we still had to collect water for the group.
So, my friend and a HMI teacher set off into the night in search of water, which proved to be a multi-mile endeavor. Finding water in the desert was never easy, and the water was nearly always brown. Still, walking through the canyon under the stars that night became one of my fondest memories from HMI, because it was such a surreal, unique, and unforgettable experience.
Exhausted but filled with excitement, we trudged back to camp, finally completing our 13-mile hiking day. I fell asleep under the stars that night knowing that I would never forget that day, and feeling so grateful for the adventures I was able to have at the High Mountain Institute.
Photo credits: Emma Wood and Ceci Bogan