I am starting another chapter after working a bridge job for the past couple of months.
By coincidence, I had already scheduled my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) recertification. Two long days of knocking the dust off skills I have, thankfully, not needed to use much in my life. Still, they are excellent skills and knowledge to have in the kit for the outdoor jaunts we find ourselves on across the Colorado Plateau.
Afterward, I took a few days to get out for a solo walkabout.
I visited a place I had not seen in a while and revisited another I had not been to in a few years.
Three days of backpacking and a day hike from a camp on the rim the night before.
I saw canyons, red rocks, images, and experienced solitude on the backpack.
Only canyon wrens, the glow of red rock, and the wind through the junipers and canyon walls accompanied my walk.
After the backpack concluded, I drove a two-track road along the canyon rim, camped out in the back of our truck for the evening, and made my way into the canyon the following day.
I mainly had the canyon to myself and only saw three other hikers.
The images impressed me after years of not seeing them. The red figures revealed more intricacy the longer I looked at them, and I lingered there with the place entirely to myself.
Only the occasional local resident greeted me overall in this quiet and remote part of the world we call home.
