Family Letter 04-04 Group 2 Off To Paria Buckskin Gulch

(This is the Buckskin/ Paria family letter)

Our latest adventure as recounted by a client journalist:

Hey y’all, client “R” here telling you a little about our trip to Paria/ Buckskin Gulch in Utah. Man, it sure felt good to be back in Utah this weekend, it’s definitely become my home away from home. This trip was a little different then the last ones due to the fact that we had split groups, while we ( The A Team) were in Utah, the other group was in the always beautiful Grand Canyon.

On Easter Sunday we got to our campground, set up, and did a little day hike to a rock formation known as “the Brain”. To paint a better picture, the “Brain” is this 900ft elevation rock with formations on the top that literally make it look like a brain. On top of the rock the guides informed us that the Easter Bunny had visited and hid it’s eggs all across the top, still don’t know how Rabbits lay eggs but we took off in a competitive yet friendly Easter egg hunt, man I felt like a kid again!

We then hiked back to our camp only to find out that I, forgot to pack the propane canisters for our stove top. Nonetheless, we scavenged enough wood to cook our raviolis and our other meals throughout the course of our stay, really taking it “Back To Basics” (haha). The next day we started our day by hiking the LONGEST SLOT CANYON IN THE WORLD known as Buckskin Gulch. In some spots the walls were so close together we could literally touch side to side with our arms out, while in the canyon we saw old Native American markings on the wall, getting to touch those really made me feel and realize the history of the world. It was definitely a magical experience.

We then went back to camp for a little lunch and came to the conclusion we wanted to “bag a peak” for our bonus hike known as Coyote Buttes. Now this had to be one of the most challenging hikes I’ve done, a good portion of it was sand, so we had to bear crawl the majority of the way up the mountain. If you’ve ever heard the expression “1 step forward and 5 steps back” then you can only imagine what we went through, it was definitely gnarly! But, it made for a really fun down climb, sliding 5ft at a time as fast as you can was definitely a rush worth experiencing. We did a 3rd hike later that night to a place known as Toadstools where we went into a cave and did a wonderful meditation provided by one of our guides. Every star in the galaxy was out that night – definitely my favorite part!

The next morning the “bitter” taste came to my mouth again as we departed the Paria area and got on our way back to Flagstaff. On this trip the clients had a wonderful bonding experience and are closer than ever, it was all in all a great time! Well, until next time, this is client “R” saying we love you all and thank you for this opportunity!!

Sincerely,
Client “R”