After a great time celebrating our friend’s birthday at Orvis Hot Springs, we had to fly out in between big snowstorms. As we defrosted Pegasus, our Ford Transit Van, and got on the road we were excited about where the weather was pointing us this holiday. We were excited to land just outside the Canyon of the Ancients, in Utah. It made sense because many storms wherein the 4 corners area and this spot would be spared. It might get a little cold but we really needed to avoid any kind of snow accumulation.
Intense skies validate the upcoming winter storm over the Holiday
After our experience on the “Forgiving” Holiday at Standing Rock a few years ago we were inspired to celebrate the holiday in a different way. We work at giving Gratitude all day and every day but on “Thanksgiving” aka “Forgiving” we learn about the history of the Indigenous peoples of North America. We honor their tribes, all they have been through. We where deeply honored this year to learn about the ancient culture that live at “Hovenweep” on the west side of the Canyon of the Ancients, teeny little place that is likely part of the ancient Pueblo People. It even has its own inexpensive boondocking campsite! Our biggest challenge in this space would be wind, considering what we were surrounded by, we were grateful on this holiday to be on such sacred land.
We took the 2-mile hike around the canyon, carefully visiting and learning about each ruin. We noticed everything was on the edge of the canyon or in the canyon. The sky was cloudy, a little threatening but the weather prediction just showed cloudiness. We embraced the moment to tune into this ancient civilization and appreciated all the anthropologists that had studied here. What they unfolded was the truth about the first people of this land, that in fact maybe they weren’t so ‘primitive’. As we walked the edge and stared at the ruins we imagined them not much different than us now, except they of course didn’t have the technology. At least they didn’t have cell phones and computers but we are sure they communicated, maybe through scouts or drumming from one mountain top to another? We wondered about the food they ate, farmed, and stored! Truly they were enlightened with the wisdom to live in harmony with nature – seemed many ancient civilizations understood this. We wondered how humanity had lost this connection, so many theories and opinions on that for sure. Most of us agree we must figure out how to live in harmony. After all, these ancient people lived here 800yrs ago and many other civilizations lived on earth for way longer. They didn’t deplete the land as we do in just a couple hundred years!
The day got windier and windier and we were grateful for the break from the winds as we descended into the canyon on the trail. We were grateful to understand even deeper just how smart these folks where, how they knew this desert would be very windy. We stood there in the center of the canyon, looking up at the threatening sky in wonderment at how these people learned to live in this canyon. As we deeply benefited in those moments to be completely protected from the 25mph winds up on the edge of the canyon, we smiled and KNEW deeply that these people where in harmony with nature. We began to grow hungry so we decided to finish the hike and go back to our van for lunch. We began to harvest the wisdom of these ancient people’s and honor their intelligence, connection, and mystery.
We were sure that the weather would stay calm even though the sky looked a little confused. As we climbed up the other side of the cliff to walk along the edge of the canyon back to the campsite we found ourselves looking upwards. Half the sky, was very dark and threatening but thank goodness we were moving towards the more clear sky. The light fluffly clouds encouraged us to just keep walking and we thought. How could we possibly blog about our experience today, in a good way? Really it’s a simple hike, maybe we find a way to share the wisdom of these ancient people. We had began to contemplate this story as the wind picked up, more and more. Both of us looking up now it seemed the half of the sky that was dark had reached out for us and it was blowing harder, faster and more intensely. We walk a little faster and it seems that cloud reaches for us even more and now with hail and snow pouring down on us so fast we barely can comprehend where the sun ran off to. The hail and the snow blew so hard both of us where reminded of blizzard conditions. Putting our heads down and practically running for shelter we noticed that something so confusing was happening above us, that the snow appeared blue. We ducked into the public bathroom, panting from running, and both of us relieved to be out of the weather.
Minutes later we want to dart for our van, but now the weather has stopped. As if the ancients wanted us to share this with you, and they added just enough excitement to make it a story for YOU! We hope you are enjoying this Story Blog. All stories are developed by Bright Hawk – a professional long time storyteller that often plays music with her stories. AND Hollis Taylor, author and longtime blogger. We share these stories to inspire wanderers, open your heart and eyes, and to recommend some cool places to visit.
As a Queer couple we stand with the LGBTQ community in proving that, no matter who you love, we are all just human beings having a human experience on planet earth. With Diversity and harmony we know, just like in nature, we can all thrive as a human race together. Thank you for your support! If your interested in having us visit YOUR community, please be sure to contact us. We are happy and honored to visit you along our journeys. We are booking 2020, right now.
Bright Hawk’s CD offers her fun stories that inspire our best selves, we hope you take a moment to listen. She also has a few songs on the album that she drafted with the handpan, the instrument she often uses while storytelling. We hope you take a moment to order and download her CD, follow us on Facebook/Instagram/Youtube for future growth in 2020!
Living on the road has many lessons, often it’s about the story we choose to engage in. We often find ourselves on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land where we can stay for a week or two, completely free, although you need to be prepared as there is no water, no electricity, and so on. You need to be prepared for primitive camping and sometimes known as boondocking. We love this kind of camping, it’s quiet and often is surrounded by our favorite views – nature! We love to have the option of hiking, camping, and hopefully a great place to capture some photos or videos. We find ourselves having to put our heads into our work and take care of everything from personal business to scheduling LetsDanceActivities.org, and managing our business growth. Recently we are making big changes and focusing deeply on what we want to see grow. Making a business work takes a lot of work and in our 3rd year in our van and 5yrs on tour we are making some adjustments to things. As we follow our deeper calling to expand what we bring to the world we find ourselves looking for more places that have a connection to the internet, great hikes, and boondocking for free.
The search for good boondocking places is real!
After wrapping up our Summer/Fall Tour 2019 we took a break to Zion National Park. We are working on video projects and always need more footage. We loved hiking in Zion National Park and since we had a little time we would love to stay in the area, get some much-needed work done, and then go visit the park again on our rest days. We find some great free campsites but most of them have intermittent or no internet connection. Also, it’s easier if we can just spread out, open the mobile office and get our work done than to travel every day to a library to get it done. We look closer to St. George, Utah where we can shop at reasonable prices and just 45mins away from Zion National Park. We find and inquire about Hurricane Cliffs, we find reviews that show other people had a signal from many providers and we punch it into our navigation. We are ready for a few days of boondocking and are filled up with water, food, and a solar panel to strap to our windshield.
Incredibly grateful for these beautiful places near Zion National park
We find the first road of free campsites and travel down a bumpy road, prepared to find the best campsite possible with internet signal so we can work online. The sign says there are 6 campsites down this road. As we travel the road we see that some campsites are simply too narrow for us and better for a car/tent type camper. A larger site shows up on the right but it’s full, yet right across is another campsite, plenty big for us, and completely empty. We quickly take the campsite as its sunset and all us boondockers are looking for campsites at ‘first come – first serve – free’ campsites. You can imagine that Thursday through Sunday this place can fill up fast, we are grateful to land on a Wednesday and have enough water to get us through till Sunday. Those few days we enjoy the space yet yearn for those campsites further apart, offering more privacy, and neither of us cares to hear people practicing with their guns. We are grateful to have a free, good, and mostly private campsite with an internet connection. Sunday arrives and we roll the dice by leaving, yet we trust, at this point, we need more water.
Zion views and the view of our campsite before we left!
When we arrive back at the free campsite area after running errands & getting more water our original campsite is taken and neighbors have shifted. The site we had been in now had someone else and the energy no longer felt attractive, like it had for the previous days. We carry on deeper down the road we had walked on prior days and hoped to take the big site at the bottom of the hill. As we proceed slowly to the end of the road through very rough spots, we are grateful for the clearance of our Ford Transit Van. We notice a Sprinter Style van behind us coming up very fast. Driven by a very worried boondocker at sunset, hoping to get a campsite riding up close to our bumper as we proceed with caution and trust. We take a deep breath and echo Pema Chodron’s advice “The driver in that van is just like me, eager to find a perfect campsite away from the vibes up the hill.” We approach the last two campsites at the end of the campsite road at Hurricane Cliffs, Utah. The campsites have neon yellow signs, looks like a special group reservation has been set and we likely shouldn’t stay here, unless we want to risk a ranger knocking on our door at early morning hours. We decide to let our eager boondocker have his own destiny and we drive back up the road inspecting the narrow campsites again, seeing how things change when new people arrive and others leave.
Gorgeous Views all around our camping choices
Back up to where we turned onto this road. There was a spot near this road, a dust bonanza every-time a speeding truck would come by. A truck drives by as we sat and contemplated in quiet. Is there something else we ask? Taking several deep breathes, both staying very calm and listening for our next step. We remember… are there other campsites? With total trust, we carry on down the dirt road towards other potential free campsites on this huge piece of land. The sun is setting fast and boondockers speed around us to get their site first. We stay steady with trust and ease, knowing we are going to be okay. We will find exactly what we need for the next few days of work.
There is a sign for more sites and we take another washboard road to investigate a potential 11 more campsites. These campsites are much further apart from each other, which is encouraging yet there is no way to tell if they are all filled. We pass one, full with a camper and truck – next one is a van and a truck – next one is another RV – Another van. We go on around another corner on this washboard rough road, slowly in our camper van as to not spill over our entire house onto the floor. Driving slowly to preserve the van’s suspension and paying close attention to what is coming up. Around another turn, we see nothing but flat land coming up and we find ourselves looking for the marker for another free campsite. Rising in our view a marker, yes finally! We examine the campsite for mostly flat grounds and deep enough for our van, we back in and in our relief for finding another campsite, we are assured with our full connection. Finally, we found our working office for the next week.
Private Free Camping, Great Hikes and marvelous views
Wait, we not only found a free campsite but we found a BETTER campsite. Now we had less traffic than the week before, everyone was spread out further, we had better internet signal and easy access to hiking trails! Our first day we saw a total of 4 people pass by and some neighbors stay, while others show just enough consistency to feel part of a little village. Each night some neighbors changing. We have deeply enjoyed our hikes in this part of Utah. Hurricane Cliffs holding beautiful views of The Navajo Cliff, Mesas abound on the horizon, and in the distance we can see the tips of the rock formations of Zion National Park. Inspiring our week of hard work we are grateful that when one thing ends often its just making room for something much better to step through!
