The first night of sleep was amazing. I pitched my tent on some soft dirt and the ground was very comfortable. While I was sleeping, I was awoken by Angie. She was going from tent to tent waking everyone up for the big day ahead. For a second, I had thought I was dreaming. When I looked outside, it was still pitch black but everyone was walking around the campground looking like zombies. Apparently I wasn't dreaming. She had woken us up before sunrise! When I crawled out of my tent, I couldn't see a thing. I went in to grab my headlamp. When I turned it on, I noticed ice had collected on my tent! It was extremely cold for being in the desert. I put on every layer I had in my backpack to combat the frigid air. Everyone in our camp grouped up in the kitchen area. Together we had a nice little breakfast cookout going and the smell of bacon and eggs was prominent. I managed to get some hot tea in my system and the cold began to dissipate. It was still dark though. When we finished eating breakfast, the sun had managed to break over the ridge shedding its warmth.
Awake before sunrise
As soon as there was sun was shining on camp, the temperature had risen drastically. Within 20 minutes of the sun being out, I got extremely hot. I managed to shed everything down to shorts and a t-shirt and finally I was comfortable again. Our instructors Angie and Cody gave us an introduction for the day. We were going to check out two ruin sites. While they were talking, we were going through an extensive stretch session. We would be spending the rest of the day hiking through some rough terrain. I packed up my day pack, and was ready to go.
After we departed from camp, I was eager to explore this unfamiliar Utah terrain. For me this was alien territory. For Angie and Cody, it was the back of their hand. Thank god they knew where they were going because I sure as hell didn't. We hiked along the trail for about an hour and we saw a cow! A lonely cow he was however he was terrified of us. We had to make a little detour to avoid him but he took off the second he had the chance. We really were in the middle of buck nowhere.
beautiful canyon creek
About 2 hours into the hike, we approached into a canyon. We managed to walk along the bottom and there was a nice stream of water going through. Down in the bottom of the canyon was nice and cool, away from the hot sun. About 20 more minutes into the hike we approached our first destination. I knew we were getting close to the ruin site because people in our group were finding chunks of broken pottery everywhere. Surely enough, we arrived at our destination. There was a steel box with a notebook inside it. It was a log for who has been to the cave.
From far away this ruin site looked incredible. The structures that used to be there had unfortunately crumbled over time. However enough of the ruin was in tact for us to see how these people lived. In all honesty, its amazing that the structures were in this good condition because its almost 1000 years old. At this point there was artifacts everywhere! The artifacts we were finding were mainly pieces of broken pottery but we managed to see remains of old tools and ropes etc...
Piece of pottery
view of the cave
Angie and students scaling the steep cliff 
When we managed to get up inside the ruin, the view was stunning. The people that lived in this cave were genius. They were right above a rain drainage for fresh water. The location of the cave was inside a massive piece of sand stone. This means there is only a 1 way route to the cave so they can spot outsiders approaching their territory. Inside the cave was rich with cave paintings and artifacts. We had to be extremely careful not to touch much but it was so tempting not too! There was even some corn cobs that still had teethmarks in them! AMAZING! Check out these pictures.
Picture of me
cave paintings
untouched corn
To me, this looked like some old ruin. To Angie and Cody though, was a complete different story. They knew so much about these people and how they lived. It was such a treat listening to them talk about their culture. Never was I ever so intrigued by something in a long time. This was an experience of a lifetime.
After we got our detailed look at the ruin, we moved into the sun to have some lunch. It was such a nice day at this point. Everyone was snacking on their lunches while Angie and Cody conducted a class presentation right on the spot. It was great being able to sit in the sun, take notes and listen to them talk about these incredibly interesting people.
Angie conducting class in the sun
This concludes the end of part 2.
Hey everyone! Long time no see eh? I hope everyone’s summer was amazing because I truly had a summer that I will never forget. This summer was hands down, the best summer I have experienced and boy do I have a lot to share with you. Back in late April, I left Steamboat on great terms and went home to my wonderful family in Denver. Within the first week of being home, I scored a great job working for a woodshop in Denver making great money. I was fortunate to score this job early, but the work was hard and enduring! That wasn’t a big deal though. After 2 months of saving my money, I managed to conjure enough cash to afford my first road trip! My friend from CU Boulder and I decided to make our way north to Canada. We spent 3 days driving up to a wonderful town in Montana Called Polson. We then made our way to Glacier National Park. Let’s just say Glacier is THE most beautiful places in the entire world. I was simply breath taken by its majestic beauty. It was life changing. The picture to the left is of me standing at the top of going to the sun highway in Glacier National Park Anyway… enough about my summer. I have some great news for you all.
About 4 weeks before college started back up in August, I ran into a bit of a financial situation. My family was making some second decisions about being able to afford another year for me at the residence halls. I was worried I wasn’t even going to be able to return! Luckily for me, I had my connections with CMC and managed to apply for an RA job at Hill Hall. Within a week, I got the job! Fast forward a month, and here I am, sitting here in my own personal dorm room typing this blog up. The entire week we have been training for the position. We literally got the full scale overview of the position. We went over everything from fire safety, first aid training, building code etc. We even managed to meet every staff member at the Alpine campus. That was tons of fun!
Another cool part of this training week was being able to train with the other RA’s from the other two CMC campuses with residence halls. Since it was our turn this year, the RA’s from the Timberline and Spring Valley campus made their way to wonderful steamboat to train with us. I originally thought this was going to be a big headache but I quickly realized how much it helped me as a new RA. Getting the perspective from other students from other CMC campuses helped me understand what being an RA is all about. Its all about being a positive role model that is there to help other students. The two days Timberline and Spring Valley students were here, we had diversity training. We learned about what it is like to be a minority and how stressful it can be for a student. We also learned how to treat people equally and with respect. I found it to be very valuable information.
On our day off together, we enjoyed a day in wonderful steamboat hanging out enjoying what we do best. We gave them a taste of what we like to do. We visited the river, played guitar in the back, played volley ball and basically enjoyed life. We even made our way to the downtown library to see an incredible 
display of Tibetan monks performing a ritual sand image. They spent one week with no rest masterfully creating a beautiful piece of art out of sand. Yes. Sand! The RA’s from the other campuses loved it and it really put the cherry on top of our diversity training. When we returned to hill hall, it was time for them to leave. Relationships were made, tears were shed and smiles were exchanged but in the end everyone had a great time. We got to be very close and it made the training that much more enjoyable. It began to rain very hard when it was time for everyone to leave and we all celebrated by running around in the rain like children. Everyone’s gotta be a kid too ya know! Thanks for reading. See ya next time!
