DESTINATION White Tanks Western Cuestas 1 Photoset
2023-12-04 | | -
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| Hiking | 3.00 Miles |
300 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.00 Miles | 3 Hrs | | 1.00 mph |
| 300 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Life is unpredictable.
20 months ago I did a 14 mile day to reach Royal Arch and I was bulletproof.
12 months ago I had total hip replacement on one side.
6 months ago I herniated my L3 and L4 and can't seem to get things working again without pain.
It seems that my bulletproof days are behind me.
I've spent a fair amount of time reflecting on my good fortune in having a life full of more adventure than most people will ever experience and coming to terms with falling apart about ten years before I had expected. It used to be I was driven to always go somewhere new, bag a new peak, and now I find myself drawn to the places I hiked years ago as they have become something special and sacred. The Grand Canyon will always be home for me in a way, but for now I can't go back when she is so beyond what I can do. When I decided to get away for a night under the stars the next place I thought of was the Cuestas.
I wrote the description 8 years ago for this amazing place and I have yet to see another photoset of someone checking it out so it feels like it belongs to me.
I actually did three hikes in two days, each about 1 mile to the three smallest cuestas near the south camp. I used trekking poles and went slow, being careful on the off trail I used to scramble over without a care. Everything went fine. I brought speakers from home to listen to music outside in the evening, a coyote howled near my truck as I lay in the bed looking up at the stars and in the morning I made pour-over coffee and cooked scrambled eggs over my alcohol stove and tucked them in a burrito to eat while the sun rose and life was good.
I suppose there's a chance that things will heal and I'll be capable of what I consider adventure again but it's probably wiser to accept the one-mile hikes and make the most of just being out under those stars.
Or is it perhaps wiser to realize that is the way it has always been. There is no guarantee that tomorrow holds anything in store for us and making the most of being under those stars is all we have control over? |
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The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar.
It was tense. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
