Since end of May, right after my high school graduation, I have been on a cross country roadtrip (going to a total of 43 states!). This incredible experience has allowed me to learn about myself, gain independence and confidence, and influenced the direction I want to take my future.
The majority of my stops were national or state parks, or other outdoorsy places. I got to experience so many places I'd never been to, especially out west since I grew up on the east coast. My favorite place I went to was Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, with Acadia National Park in Maine being a close second.
Most of what I did was hiking, though I got to check a few other activities off my bucket list, including white water rafting, ocean kayaking, outdoor bouldering, cliff jumping, biking, and spelunking. I'm already waiting to plan more trips to get to do more of these activities! In terms of hiking, I got to do some iconic hikes like Half Dome in Yosemite, Angel's Landing and the Narrows in Zion, Beehive in Acadia, Mt. Mitchell (highest peak east of the Mississippi), and Delicate Arch in Arches.
Both to make the trip more cost effective and enable me to travel for longer, I lived out of my SUV. It was surprisingly comfortable since I had a mattress in the back and a camping stove to cook with, but it wasn't without its challenges. This further helped me become even more independent because most nights I slept on the sides of dirt roads somewhere in a national park or forest without anyone else around. I had to stay organized, plan everything I did, stay on top of weather and other safety factors, cook everything on a small stove with limited ingredients and utensils, and stay responsible to make sure I was safe.
The trip as a whole went smoothly, though there were a few hiccups (I just view them as more chances to learn!). In North Cascades NP in Washington, an eighteen mile hike turned into a 25 mile on because a rock slide made the trail impassable at mile 12.5, making me turn back and hike the 12.5 miles back, even though I was less than 6 miles from the end. In Arches NP, I went to Fiery Furnace which is a permit-only, unmarked trail. Without service and without a map (because no map exists), I had to spend hours trying to navigate my way out (it took me 3 hours, though I heard they had one person stuck in there for 13 hours before they found there way out!).
I had to deal with temperatures below freezing in the mountains, with snow, ice, and road closures, as well as temperatures up to 113 degrees in Death Valley. I had to be prepared for bears (though I luckily usually saw them from my car, only once on a hike), and got lucky to see moose, tons of bison, elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and marmots!
As a whole, this was an incredible experience, both in terms of self growth as well as the sights I got to see and activities I got to partake in.
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