Virtual Vacation

By: Neil Amonson

By KAVU

April 22^nd, 2020

Stay at Home order? What the?!

For most of us, the past couple months has been a time of adjustment and uncertainty. One thing this break from the usual pace of life has provided me is more time to reflect on adventures from the past. With the snow melting from our mountains, and the flowers starting to poke out of the ground, it’s a sure sign that spring is right around the corner. This change in weather reminded me of a great trip I was able to go on last summer, and I dug up the photos to go on a virtual vacation from my very own living room.

Please join me as I re-live these fond memories.

After Maureen got off work one hot, mid-summer Friday night in 2019, we drove out to the Uintas for some hiking and camping. We arrived at the trailhead around sunset and completed most of the hike in the dark. We set up camp next to a lake and woke up to the sound of buzzing mosquitoes and flies.

Note to self...... maybe camp farther away from the actual lake next time......

On the plus side it was real pretty.

This camping adventure comprised of three adults and three dogs. The dogs quickly explored the lake, went for little swims, and made enough noise to scare away any of the cool wildlife we hoped to see while adventuring in the mountains.

While we still had the cool morning air on our side, we decided to climb to the top of a near by mountain. As we climbed higher and higher, the view just kept getting better and better.

The Uinta Mountains of Utah are known for their many lakes. The combination of green trees, blue water, and grey rock made for some seriously photogenic views.

The winter of 2019 was a good one for our snow pack, so even late in the summer the high altitude mountains had a lot of snow left on them.

Here you can see what a few months earlier would have been a crazy huge cornice..... was now just a cool wall of snow.

The Top!

After reaching the summit, we ate some snacks and hung out with the dogs for a bit.

In the past, I would only hike to the top of a mountain if I was going to jump or fly off of it.... but I’m slowly starting to appreciate the concept of just walking up to walk back down. The one major benefit is you can enjoy being in the moment without being distracted by taking the fast way down. Plus you don’t have to worry as much about the weather during the hike when you don’t need “ideal” conditions to fly or jump.

Bertu was about 6 months old on this trip and it was his first time camping. He did awesome, although he didn’t love walking on all the rocks at the top of the hike. His breed is called Shiloh Shepard. The intention behind the Shiloh Shepard breed was to make large German Shepard, but without the traditional working and protection drive of the GSD. They are bred as companion dogs and have great temperaments. He looks primary like a GSD, but he is mixed with some other breeds as well. The Alaskan Malamute genes attract him to anything cold and he enjoyed a rest in the snow before we hiked back down to camp.

Nap Time!

After returning to camp, and being greeted by thousands of mosquitoes, again we took shelter in our tents. I will never forget the lesson I learned this trip about what happens when you camp near a swampy mountain lake........ no matter how pretty it is!

A few hours later, the sun started to go down and the flying demons who tormented us, backed off enough to enjoy some time outside the tent and make dinner. The dogs lounged around in the thick grass and we enjoyed some camping meals. It was a nice break from the normal heat of summer as, we were camping up around 10,000’ MSL.

As the sun went down on Saturday evening we got ready to spend our second, and final night in the Uintahs. Byron broke out his fishing pole to test the waters of the lake for fish. We never did get anything to bite even though we saw some fish jumping around. Guess it just wasn’t our day. Or more likely the fish were so full from eating the mosquitoes that were pestering us, they all had "food comas"..... and were sleeping it off.

The next day, we hiked back to the car and headed for the closest burger joint. One of my favorite excuses to camp is how good real food tastes when you come back home.

Plus, burning all the calories from a good hike makes a burger, shake, and fries just seem like the only logical thing to eat.

Fast forwarding to present day 2020, when I look at these photos, I’m reminded of how beautiful the world is that we live in, and I remember less about the mosquitoes..... and more about the special memories that were made in the mountains.

Looking around my peer group today, I’m seeing a variety of strategies others are using to manage their mental and physical health during the Covid-19 crisis. The best of those techniques seem to be a combination of solo (safe) activities outdoors, along with productive use of their time at home.