yesterday i followed a tip from a friend and took a very long drive into the mountains with the intention of exploring two boulder fields. i was prepared to hike and loaded for bear, with snowshoes, rain gear, camera, brushes, rope, a harness, and plenty of water stuffed into my backpack. throughout the drive i tried hard to keep my expectations low; i knew there would be boulders but given the status of chaos canyon i expected to find a snow-filled talus field and at the best maybe a few exposed boulders. at least i would get to go for a nice hike on a beautiful day with a close friend.

as it turns out, the road to access the first area was closed, and the road to access the second area was too snowy for my little versa to pass. no boulders, no hike, nothing. a perfect shutout.

the drive home afforded plenty of time to reflect on the day. i drove upwards of two hundred miles, didn’t climb, didn’t hike, and didn’t see one new boulder. a disappointment in the short term, but i know that with a bit of dedication eventually something worthwhile will be discovered or rediscovered or looked at with new eyes. i plan on making a return trip in one month. 

on a side note, i experimented with the free iphone app ‘all trails,’ which not only maps your hiking route and lets you drop pins at certain locations, such as a majestic boulder or key landmark, it allows you to share your route and pins with others using the app. i didn’t get to play with it too much, as there was no hiking or pin dropping that day, but i think all trails or a similar application could be a great tool in the development of a new area. instead of getting hazy directions and estimated distances from a friend, you could get a satellite-accurate mobile map to guide you. maybe this would diminish slightly the excitement and adventure of exploring new areas, but it could also reduce the amount of time spent bushwacking off-trail in a futile attempt to find the mythical boulders a friend of a friend told you about. i’m all for that.