Southwest Field Exploration Part 2/4

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.