Maija Does It Solo

So I had my first big adventure by myself. This last Saturday I woke up bright and early at the butt crack of dawn (6:00am!) and left by 6:30am for Arches Nat'l Park. I had to drive all by myself in the dark and the fog through SF Canyon and I had to find my way to Hwy 191. Then it was all south. Well, I guess it was pretty much always all south. I mean, it's a pretty straight shot once you're in the canyon... But I did it by myself and that's the point. It actually took only about a half hour before I realised my teeth were clenched and another half hour before I could relaxe them. And by 9am... okay, okay... by 10am my nuckles were no long white on the steering wheel because Ta'da! I had made it to Arches. The weather all the day before had been rain and rain and rain and so my plan in Arches had to be tweaked abit. I had planned on doing three things. One, see Balanced Rock. Two, hiking to Delicate Arch and three, hiking to Landscape Arch. But because of all the rain the road to Delicate Arch was washed out which freed up a lot of time for me. So, I spent the next 4 1/2 hours exploring every part of the park that I could. All by myself. I had set some goals for this trip which I'm glad to say I met. I had to have the radio off the whole time I was in the park to enjoy the natural sounds and to allow time for myself to really think without distractions. I had to hike something that I didn't really care to (I went out to Broken Arch). And I had to start a conversation with a perfect stranger and keep it going for a bit. This one actually I didn't have to try at all because this guy named Laurence saw the 'S' for Sweden on the back of my car and started speaking Swedish with me. This was a very good, very holistic, very fun trip and I couldn't believe really how much I enjoyed myself. Driving back in my head I made all sorts of plans about going to all the National Parks in the US all by myself and just having a great time. I wasn't scared at all, I mean, even if I wanted to be by myself I couldn't have been because of the crowds! I think though, before I hit the road to Yosemete to hike Half Dome, I better finish off the five Nat'l parks in Utah. So, what does that mean? Next up Zions, then Canyonlands, then Capital Reef and a grand finale in Bryce. But not necessarily in that order!