The Beginning
Mount Rushmore: 6/1–6/4
Below is a collection of excerpts from my personal journal beginning with an entry from the genesis of my journey, the morning I left Colorado…
I feel ready. I don’t feel as scared as I did a few days ago. I’m ready for this adventure. This journey. I’m ready to grow. I’m ready for a transformation. I’m excited to be alone. I feel like this is the beginning of something great. I’m going to rely on myself to survive. I’m the captain of my ship. I’m the Master of my fate. I dictate where I go in life. I decide what’s valuable to me. I’m ready to disconnect. I’m ready to become fully enveloped in the wonder and beauty of the natural world. I’m ready to take pictures. I’m ready to read and write. I’m ready to listen. To appreciate the stillness. I’m not ready to drive. Driving kind of sucks. Ugh this is crazy. I’m crazy. I do crazy things. I go to crazy places. I have crazy stories. I’m not sure when all of this adventuring came to play in my life. I just remember feeling stuck in South Florida. Even back in high school. There just wasn’t enough going on. I wasn’t interested in my surroundings. I always wanted more. I always felt the need to get away and be alone. My first time adventuring was going to Israel via Birthright and the subsequent backpacking trip through Western Europe. Then my next big adventure was moving out to Colorado. This will be my 3rd great adventure, and I don’t think it’ll be my last. There’s so much of this world to see. I want to knock America out of the park. I’m hitting a lot of it. Granted, I haven’t seen everything. There’ll be more to see and experience, even after this trip. I’m hoping for clarity, however I feel clear. I feel good. I’ve felt lost before, but right now…I’m comfortable. I’m happy to be who I am. I’m 23 years old. I’m young, but I’m not getting any younger. I’m ready to grow. I’m ready to cross the threshold from adolescent to adult. I’m ready to find my hustle. I’m ready to provide for myself. I’m ready to figure things out. I’m fucking ready. I’ve been preparing a long time. Life is a slow-building process. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Figuring things out day-by-day. What’s next after this? I don’t know, and that’s okay. I’m confident I’ll figure it out. I’m ready.
I fucking made it…
It’s pretty wild that I’m here right now. I stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming after where I went to the Luxury Diner and got an average burger after two hours of driving. Nothing special. Then I drove through Wyoming and into South Dakota.
As I was pulling out of a gas station, I got into the left lane because the truck behind me was driving really fast. Little did I know that this was a 2-lane road and I was driving into oncoming traffic. Whoops. I looked up and saw a semi barreling towards me. I was less than 10 seconds away from a head-on collision and certain death (sorry Mom). Luckily I realized what was going on and got back into my proper lane. I was low-key tweaking after that. Driving through Wyoming was cool. I listened to the The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck on Audible. Wyoming was pretty green. A lot of open space everywhere. Lots of rolling hills. Some of the highways were paved with red clay. Bugs died on my fingertips as I waved my hand through the wind in sync with my music (Travis Scott: The Birds Sing McKnight; Kendrick Lamar: DAMN; Frank Ocean: Blonde).
South Dakota started to show more hills and mountains. The Black Hills look pretty cool. They’re similar to the Flathead Mountains in Boulder. Once I got to the Mount Rushmore area, I got super happy and excited. Horsetheif Lake is a gorgeous spot right next to my campsite. I can’t wait to jump in.
My campsite is chill. I was having some trouble putting up my tent but I figured it out. I ripped off one of the corner straps though. Whatever. The tent looks funky but it’s standing. Tomorrow I’m going to see Mount Rushmore.
After my first night…
I woke up at 4:30AM to a cacophony of bellowing birds as dawn’s first light was creeping over the horizon. I dozed in and out of consciousness until the sun beamed through my tent. I crawled outside and reveled in the beauty of my surroundings. I ate a peanut butter, honey, & banana sandwich for breakfast before climbing a rock formation adjacent to my campsite. I witnessed a small white bird with green slivers pluck a mosquito from the sky. The circle of life. I returned to my tent and placed my yoga mat among the trees. I stretched and acknowledged my breath, mind, body, and soul. I listened and was present.
While driving to Mt. Rushmore I saw people outside of their cars taking pictures. I didn’t think much of it, and continued driving until I saw two mountain goats chilling near the road.
Naturally, I decided to join the crowd to take pictures as well. However, i was sad to see people walk right up to these creatures. The mountain goats were obviously scared of the people who were invading their personal space. As I left the scene, I looked up and saw George & company looking off into the distance.
I continued exploring along the Iron Mountain Road until I reached the C.C. Gideon & Doane Robinson Tunnels where the presidents were visible through each opening. I stopped (for awhile) and did my best impression of a professional photographer before continuing onwards.
I started to get hungry so I pulled off and fired up my trail stove. I made a simple meal of Campbell’a Chunky Savory Vegetable Soup and rice.
It started to rain as I was finishing my food, so I packed up and headed back to my campsite. Surprisingly, nothing inside was wet. I started to get hungry again (I’m noticing a common theme here), so I cooked up some potatoes, peas, carrots, and pasta. It wasn’t delicious. I think this may get old quick. A 60-year old hippie named Stan came up and struck up a conversation. We talked about our travels, and he told me about his past. He said he hasn’t spoken to his family in 2 years and I told him that I have a philosophy of not burning any bridges. I told him to consider reconnecting with them. I hope he does.
I woke up the next morning feeling lonely…
I called my mom and dad. I ate breakfast (PB, honey & bananer sandwhich). I did my exercises for my knee. I took 100 conscious breaths. I went to my car to brush my teeth, and met Dustin and Jason, who were both avid rock climbers. They invited me to go climbing with them that afternoon. I was hesitant because I’ve never been climbing before and I didn’t want to hold them back. They assured me it wouldn’t be a problem because another beginner (Nate) would be climbing with us. I watched Jason, Dustin, and Nate set up their gear and scale a climb before I put on my harness.
When it was my turn to climb, I laced up my knee brace and Jason’s size 8.5 (I wear a 10) climbing shoes. They were crushing my big toe so my plan was to climb to the top as fast as possible so I could take off the shoes. I flew up the line. It reminded me of my childhood when I would scale the rock wall at Boomers. According to Jason, I did a TR (Top Rope) Beta (first time climbing a route after watching somebody else do it first) Flash (super fast). I have chalk all over my hands and scrapes on my fingers. It was fucking awesome.
I woke up feeling lonely, but that didn’t last long because I met some awesome people. It’s amazing how the universe works. It would be amazing to get paid to do this. I’m trying to figure out how to turn my lifestyle into my livelihood. I like testing and challenging myself. The Black Hills were a great first stop on my journey, and I’ll definitely be back. I don’t have any complaints. So far, so good. I feel very comfortable moving onwards. Next up is the Grand Tetons, and then Yellowstone. Let’s get it!
