At home, I always liked walks. Small hikes into the woods, maybe a couple of miles or so (usually under 5) to just enjoy my surroundings, usually with my father. Given here, in Wyoming, things like getting food and my current state of shelter are rather similar to home (we’re quite literally in a dorm), a lot of things didn’t feel too different; just a lot hotter in the sun. The hiking, though, was definitely different. I’d assumed, naturally, that it could either be 1) easier, especially if we were in flat prairie regions, but also much hotter in this case, or 2) tougher in the mountain slopes, but also cooler due to being in the trees. All of it was based on the geography of where I’m from and a guess based on the fields the Inner West is known for, but I quickly found that both assumptions could be true at once, in a combination of the harder parts of each.

Having hit the trails today (albeit with my group; I have a knack for getting lost when alone), I found that yes, the mountains were tougher due to the slopes, but that the mountains out here, unlike the ones in PA, are still sparse in trees. Not as bad as the flat prairie regions, but not enough trees to even provide an ounce of shade during the hike. The hike wasn’t terrible – a good 3-4 miles, if I were to guess, but the sun and the slope, paired together with the scattered rocks that made my ankles say prayers, made it a lot more difficult than I’d anticipated. Thankfully, our guide was close to a guide from PA: fast moving, knowledgeable of the trails, and good at knowing when to pause and let everyone catch their breath (specifically after some rather steep slopes). The last few traits make sense, but the first might seem odd; why want a fast trail guide? Quite simply, momentum is a saving grace. Being used to hiking only with other hikers, I’m used to moving fast, and while I expected (and saw) a lot of varied pace adjustments due to the hills and the rocks, the group, other than the guide and some of the guys, moved a bit slower. Moving slowly means losing momentum; losing momentum means having to push to start back up again. Trapped in the back a few times, I felt myself choking on kicked up dust with my legs hurting more than usual from the lack of tempo. I learned fast to stay towards the front, right by the guide, where I found a familiar, steady pace being set. So, thank god our field guide was setting a good pace.

I made it through the hike, of course, albeit with an annoyingly placed sunburn down the inner part of my forearm and over my thumbs. Some knowledge I brought in worked well, albeit with some hiccups: I brought enough water, but I did still drink more than expected due to the sun always being on us; I had the right boots for the trail, but I did still have to navigate a lot more carefully than normal due to the sheer number of scattered rocks at points; I was dressed appropriately and had already put on sunscreen and bug spray for the trip, but, evidentially, I put too little sunscreen on my inner arms which would normally be lowered and away from the sun, but in having to take field notes and a lot of pictures, my inner arm was exposed and became burnt. There was some knowledge, too, that I just didn’t have. Mostly, I couldn’t recognize any rock types, and even now, after they told me the names a bunch of times, I can probably only spot two (of which I may butcher the names anyway). I firmly believe this knowledge gap led to many of my miscalculations about which rocks were probably big and buried, and thus stable to walk on, and which were weaker rocks that had likely broken off of larger formations, lacking stability and grounding, and thus a slip hazard when stepped on. This wasn’t a major issue, of course; I did return with my ankles intact, after all. Still, though, it did show me I lacked a lot of geological knowledge. In PA, rocks are more spread out, and identification, at least for me, never went beyond “well, it’s a rock alright;” rocks just weren’t the focus, nor a big obstacle, nor a hazard. Here? They’re a focus, a major part of Wyoming history, and a highlight of your day because you’ll be looking at them for the whole hike if you want to avoid falling and meeting them face-to-face instead.

Moving forward, of course, I’m bound to give my new sturdy friends a bit more time. I will, as well, be better at lathering myself in sunscreen and trying to stay at the front of the group while on the move. (which also gave me better pictures, since as everyone fell behind us, I had shots with fewer and fewer photo bombs). My only disappointment, of course, was the lack of any crazy fossils. I suppose yesterday’s trip to a geological museum and the introduction to stromatolite and its bacterial origins and formations (some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth!) more than made up for it, though.

Oh, and we finished everything off with a dual moose sighting!