Prone to Wander

Less Krakauer, More Bryson
Written by Christian De Vries
 
Unless you're disposed to picking up hitchhikers, you typically know your traveling companions when starting a road trip.
 
I usually don’t have this luxury. Most of my trips involve me traveling thousands of miles with complete strangers to areas of the globe where I don’t speak the language. As my wife can attest, I’m prone to wander. When I was invited to join a 3,000-mile road trip into some of the most remote areas in the USA knowing only one of the six people, I didn’t blink at the opportunity.
 
It didn’t occur to me at the time, but I had never traveled with these guys and didn’t know what to expect. After all, I’ve swum in piranha-filled lakes, showered in the mist of Victoria Falls, eaten animals which don’t belong on ANY menu, watched Russian tanks move through Georgia, and seen workers clear landmines in Cambodia.
 
Certainly, not everyone is as casual about this sort of thing as I am. A friend brought this to my attention, and I told him I wasn’t worried. “This trip is going to be less Jon Krakauer and more Bill Bryson.” This statement would come to define so much of this trip.
 
Our first campsite was along the Canadian River in Oklahoma, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that we had cell reception, something we had very little of during the remainder of our Ramble. It was late, or rather extremely early, but we took the time to re-check the weather forecast. Seeing no storm advisories anywhere upstream, up went the tents, and we were all asleep in minutes. I loved the almost instant set-up that the roof mounted pop-up/fold out tents allowed.
 
We spent the next few days venturing down random dirt roads in the Kit Carson National Forest in New Mexico. We spent rainy late afternoon huddled together under an awning on top of a mountain and with the help of a laptop, we enjoyed a movie night. Although it was cold and damp, it was a great bonding experience, and the amazing view between rain storms was beyond picturesque. The rolling meadow, craggy bluffs, and tall pines were a feast for the eyes and heart. I was slow to pack in the morning because I didn’t want to leave. How could I know that things were only going to get better?
 
Imogene Pass was our next adventure, and it is literally breath-taking.  Seriously, it is 13,114 feet or 2½ miles up! We found a great place to set-up camp in the valley next to a small stream and a beautiful waterfall. I spent the night in a comfy hammock, and the next morning we made our way down into Telluride.
 
We left Telluride on the easy but still lovely Last Dollar Road and made our way to Grand Junction. After some hot showers, the group decided to reroute and visit Moab, Utah. We hadn’t locked ourselves into a set schedule. This flexibility allowed us to listen to suggestions, from within our group and from others we met along the way. It was exciting and spontaneous. I recommend that on your next trip you keep an open mind and leave some room in your itinerary for an unplanned excursion.
 
The next day was incredible! Our first stop was Poison Spider Trail where we did some awesome rock crawling. I loved every minute of this and walked most of the trail, so I could get photos of our vehicles as they climbed one ridiculously steep ledge after another. There were a lot of high fives, excited yells, and a few expletives. When we eventually stopped for a late lunch, it was a weird moment to realize that through some strange twist of fate we all had cell reception. I assume solar flares or other unearthly phenomena were responsible. We were all too easily sucked back into the world of emails, texts and status updates. It was no surprise to me when at dinner that night we made a rule to stack all our phones in the middle of the table and not look at them, choosing instead to talk to each other.
 
At Dead Horse State Park, there was a great overlook of the Colorado River. On this trip we were determined never to take the easy road, so from the park, we made our way down the decidedly twisty Shafer Trail. The late afternoon sun made the brick red mesas glow. Each turn and each hill brought us something new and marvelous. We turned a corner and found ourselves right above Horseshoe Bend. I was speechless. We were all speechless. Then someone spoke, and their echo ran off through the canyonland reverberating thousands of times. We yelled until we were all laughing.
 
As the light faded and a storm rolled in, we headed back to Moab. The rain was intense, and dry little washouts quickly became raging streams, it was all too surreal. Seeing waterfalls develop and plunge hundreds of feet from the tops of mesas in the desert was a special treat.
 
The next day we slowly drifted through the Manti-La Sal National Forest, then across the gorgeous Paradox valley, and up the Dolores River Canyon. It was here we stumbled upon an amazing ruined flume, called Hanging Flume. You have to see this to believe it. Most of the wooden structure has disappeared, but there are bits and pieces still clinging to the rock which allow you to appreciate the complex engineering and radical construction even after 125 years. When it was operational, it must have been amazing.
 
A quick dash through Uncompahgre National Forest brought us back to Grand Junction. Most people would have said, “We’ve done enough,” but not this wolf pack. We had a taste for thin air and wanted more. In his book, Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe, Bill Bryson says, “There is something about the momentum of travel that makes you want to just keep moving, to never stop.” That is how we felt, so after sleeping in Breckenridge, we decided to go over Mosquito Pass (officially 13,185 feet). It was a peaceful day and a fun way to wrap-up the off-road section of our trip.  Eventually, we came out at Leadville, drove towards Denver, and from there we headed home. 
 
That was the end of this Ramble. I made some great new friends and saw the USA in all its’ colorful splendor. In a lifetime spent wandering this was a small but meaningful part, and the rest of the world is still out there calling. There is so much to see and enjoy. Maybe you’ll go, alone, with friends, or even a group of strangers. Go wander.