The Canyon and Me

One day I woke up, and canyons surrounded me. The colors were pink and orange and brown. I stepped out of my sleeping bag, covered in dew resulting from a night’s sleep without a tarp. The sun rose over the rim and showered my campsite with light. I walked towards my kitchen, hanging off of the edge. I sat down and started to boil a pot of water.

I sat there, watching the sun come up, and I thought about a lot of things. I thought about how unreal it felt to be in this new place I had never even really heard that much about. I thought about how lucky I was to be in this amazing place with the coolest people I’ve ever met. I also thought about my growling stomach and my waking tarp mates.

So, I poured my purified water into a bag of pancake batter, letting it seep into every inch of the plastic. The sky was now turning dark purple and pink and orange a lot of mixtures of all of those colors. It was the prettiest display of light I had ever seen, and I started to wonder if I could see this anywhere else.

For a moment, my mind wandered to home. Charlotte, North Carolina is where I’ve lived my entire life. I’ve never really stayed there for too long. We used to travel a lot as a family out west to California, Utah... other places around the world. I soon came to the conclusion, sitting on the cold rock in my puff pants and worn hiking boots, that until my relationship with nature was that... well... I didn’t quite have one. Even though I had traveled to these breath- taking, amazing locations, I had never really felt a connection to what I was seeing.  

That is, at least until I came to HMI. This place has pretty much forced students to put their faces into the nature of Colorado and Utah. You get personal with the wilderness. Bare naked, peeing in the snow. Stepping on the steps we made for the trail to make sure that they are sturdy. Studying the rock formations to figure out if it’s a mesa or a spire. These things have all built my relationship with nature.

So, I sat there. And spent a few minutes to myself. Enjoying this new relationship. And enjoying what this relationship has allowed me to open up to and appreciate.

Photos taken by Maeve Cambria