This was the longest road trip we have ever been on. Here was the itenerary:
Provo, UT
Capitol Reef NP, UT
Channel Islands, CA
Concord, CA
Redwoods, CA
Pinnacles NM, CA
Concord, CA
Provo, UT (Through Vegas)
Total Mileage = Over 3,000 miles
Thanksgiving 2010. We were stir crazy, it was time to leave Utah for a bit. I had one last school trip before Thanksgiving break. The plan was that Kt was going to pick me up from Capitol Reef National Monument (one of the best kept secrets of Utah) after class, head down to the Channel Islands in California to meet up with Kt's brother Mike and his wife Gabe to go sea caving. The day arrived when Kt was suppose to show. She was supposed to arrive around 8 pm and we were going to hit the road drive as far as we could before we would get some sleep on the side of the road. 8 pm rolled around. No Kt (and no cell reception). Then 9 pm, 10 pm, 11 pm rolled by. No Kt. Finally midnight arrived. I was beginning to really worry. With the Professors and half the class asleep my mind started to begin to spin how in the world to find Kt. I tried finding cell reception, that didn't work. I had no wheels, no internet, NOTHING! I had come to the conclusion that in short of stealing a car, I could not reach the ranger station that was at least a half hour drive. I continued to pace around the room. My good friends and classmates were all playing cards and trying to think of suggestions on how to help me. Till our "quiet" classmate, will call him J (so is not to incriminate) gets the biggest grin on his face; like a light bulb just clicked. "Why don't you take one of the school vehicles?" says J. I told them that I have thought of it and not sure how. "Well, I think the keys are in the TA's pocket." After a few minutes of debating. I told him that if he came with me I would sneak into the TA's room and steal the keys. I did not want to be caught alone. He said he would, so off we went!! The rest of our classmates laughed and thought it couldn't be done.
We met up with Kt's brother, Mike, his wife, Gabe, and went sea caving in the Channel Islands National Park in southern California. The channel islands were beyond spectacular. We ferried across the Pacific to the biggest island Santa Cruz. There we stayed for two nights. The island was gorgeous. Beautiful sea cliffs, amazing sunsets and tiny red foxes galore. Plus we had the entire island to ourselves. Being pretty late in the season, Kt was able to get us a deal on renting Kayaks and to hire a guide. The Channel Islands had hundreds (maybe thousands) of sea caves all away around the island. They were all developed through the waves crashing the Limestone cliffs slowly carving them out, leaving behind colorful walls of brilliant blues, greens and pinks. This was going to be a great adventure. The first day we hit a few caves that were close to the dock to get a feel for the caves and the ocean. Day 2 we really hit it (it was my birthday after all). We paddled around half the island.
The most memorable cave we did was when we laid down flat on our kayaks and let the tide push us in. You had to think skinny. Kt actually was pinned for a split second. Her chest was pushed into the rock, her head turned not to get smashed and the water simply rose up around her. When we got back in the cave we paddled around and then turned off our head lamps. Right then a huge wave came in and almost knocked me off the kayak. After a long day we paddled back to camp vowing to return someday.
The rest of Thanksgiving break we headed up to Concord, California to spend some time with Kt's family. I had the opportunity to go to a Berret Thanksgiving party. Holy cow. I think there were almost 75 family, friends and strangers. We also went to check out the Redwoods and Pinnacles National Monument to check out some more caves. One long road trip but what a Thanksgiving.
Tiptoeing in to the bunkhouse. I entered the TA's room. One of our classmates was sleeping on the bunk next to him. I couldn't see anything. J pushing me to go look, I started scouring the room. Right when I walked to the bunk, I kicked the TA's pants. I reached down and found the key!! I turned around excited and J rushed into the room quietly closing the door. The professor was stirring next door. We waited and waited. It was a long 15 seconds. Finally the coast was clear. We stormed out of there and ran back to the mess hall. "Who's coming with me?!" I said. We had one volunteer name G. J, G and I set out in a stolen school vehicle searching for Kt in Capitol Reef National Park.
Meanwhile, Kt is searching the entire park looking for me. She drove over 150 miles looking for the spot we were staying at. Finally at midnight she had to head back to town to recharge her cell phone. As we pulled up to the visitor center apparently we missed her by ten minutes. We continued to drive around looking. At some point we pulled up on a hill, I tried calling and left a message without leaving a location (stupid). Kt didn't get the message since her battery had died. After the phone call I looked down at the gas tank we had used have the gas! Panic struck us. Would we be able to make it back? We started heading to town to get gas when I watched the needle on the fuel gauge start to the rise (stupid again). We were parked on a hill for too long. The irony is if we head to town we might of saw Kt at the gas station.
The next day, the three of us were slow to get up. Hoe, the person in charge of the Field Station we were at, heard a car roll out last night. He mentioned it to our professors and they assumed Kt had picked me up! The strategy was to not be around anybody and hope no one would ask questions. One of the other students who helped us be a lookout, will call him T, started to panic and begged us to turn ourselves in. NEVER! He was beginning to worry us. We had to tell him to keep his mouth shut. Fortunately, not too long after breakfast, Kt arrived. She had to spend the night in the car, what a champ. We got out of dodge while we could and headed to California. The drive to California consisted of us swapping stories on our adventures the night before and Kt holding her nose. I still smelled of beef stew water. I jumped into a pond two nights before by mistake thinking I was rock hopping. The big shiny white rock turned out to be a reflection of the moon. Apparently, I still smelled.
We met up with Kt's brother, Mike, his wife, Gabe, and went sea caving in the Channel Islands National Park in southern California. The channel islands were beyond spectacular. We ferried across the Pacific to the biggest island Santa Cruz. There we stayed for two nights. The island was gorgeous. Beautiful sea cliffs, amazing sunsets and tiny red foxes galore. Plus we had the entire island to ourselves. Being pretty late in the season, Kt was able to get us a deal on renting Kayaks and to hire a guide. The Channel Islands had hundreds (maybe thousands) of sea caves all away around the island. They were all developed through the waves crashing the Limestone cliffs slowly carving them out, leaving behind colorful walls of brilliant blues, greens and pinks. This was going to be a great adventure. The first day we hit a few caves that were close to the dock to get a feel for the caves and the ocean. Day 2 we really hit it (it was my birthday after all). We paddled around half the island.
The most memorable cave we did was when we laid down flat on our kayaks and let the tide push us in. You had to think skinny. Kt actually was pinned for a split second. Her chest was pushed into the rock, her head turned not to get smashed and the water simply rose up around her. When we got back in the cave we paddled around and then turned off our head lamps. Right then a huge wave came in and almost knocked me off the kayak. After a long day we paddled back to camp vowing to return someday.
The rest of Thanksgiving break we headed up to Concord, California to spend some time with Kt's family. I had the opportunity to go to a Berret Thanksgiving party. Holy cow. I think there were almost 75 family, friends and strangers. We also went to check out the Redwoods and Pinnacles National Monument to check out some more caves. One long road trip but what a Thanksgiving.
