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I've returned. My travel adventure is finished and its lessons – big, small, and life-changing – will inspire my reflection for some time to come.
Here's an idea I got from Nic Antoinette, a writer, long-distance hiker, and author of the adventure memoir How to Be Alone. She also has a monthly podcast called "Rose Thorn Bud," in which she and her friend Julia Hanlon talk about their month past, "what we're learning, struggling with, celebrating, questioning, and more."
"Rose Thorn Bud" is one part of their exceptionally well-organized and thoughtful conversation.
Rose – something that went well
Thorn – something that didn't go so well or was hard
Bud – something to look forward to in the next month
Each month, Nic and Julia choose two areas of life to focus on; for example, at the end of July they applied Rose Thorn Bud to Wellness and Work.
I'm going to riff on their idea and share my Rose, Thorn, and Bud for each of the three, loosely defined pursuits that I write about – Move, Play, Learn – as I experienced them during my Arizona-Utah travel. This post, Part 1 of my reflections, is about Move.
Rose
My hikes during this trip turned out to be a mix of plans fulfilled, scaled back, or let go. My Rose was an excellent morning in Arches National Park, which came after a really bad day in Zion followed by three days of mostly recovery and driving.
I didn't intend to hike the entire Delicate Arch Trail, a 3-mile trail that the park service information terms "difficult." But I couldn't find any signage for two shorter, easier trails listed in the guide. So I just kept climbing on the trail, following other hikers, and it wasn't all that difficult. Finally I reached the top of the trail, rounded a curve of the rock wall to my right, and there it was – the Delicate Arch, huge because it was so close. I could have walked down a short slope and right underneath the arch, as some people do. It gave me a rare moment of awe, of feeling invited into something great and ancient and vast.
Thorn
Definitely the hike on Saturday, July 22, in Zion National Park, which I did not finish because, shortly before I would have finished back at the trailhead, I collapsed from heat exhaustion and was very lucky to be rescued and taken to a hospital, where I quickly recovered.*
That was a day in a week in which the news was full of reporting on the extreme heat bearing down on much of the country; tragic stories of deaths; descriptions of the effects of heat on your body; and instructions for staying safe. One big mistake I made was to go out too late in the day. One of the cautions that every park in the area broadcasts is, "Avoid hiking between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m." It was 11:15 a.m. when I started hiking the Watchman Trail, rated "moderate" in the park's information guide.
The friendly park ranger who drove me the next day from the hospital back to my rental car disagreed with that rating. He considered the Watchman Trail to be more difficult.
Another mistake I made was to ignore the signs that I was in trouble, which according to the park service guide include "stumbling and poor coordination, fatigue, weakness, and confusion" – all of which I experienced. I knew I was close to the finish, and I'm used to pushing myself. This time, I pushed too far.
*Okay, I'll toss in one more Rose for the Move category: This park ranger also told me that my rapid recovery, once the paramedics got to me, was due at least partly to my physical fitness.
Bud
I want to take this month of August more slowly and gently in all ways. I want to stop, or at least ease off, pushing myself and instead allow myself some time for the three R's: rest, recovery, reflection.
What I'm looking forward to is simply maintaining – even downshifting – my exercise routines. My Bud is to take a day per week off from Pure Barre classes (much as I love them) and other strenuous exercise, which means that I also will not restart my streak of days that I close the Move ring on my Apple watch. (Look for this story in my next post, about my Rose Thorn Bud for Play.)
So my Bud this month for Move is to take a rest day each week, and to find out how that feels.
Final note: At the top of my post about my plan for the Arizona-Utah trip, there's a stock photo of the Delicate Arch. I didn't know anything about it, except that it was in one of the National Parks I planned to visit. The photo here is mine.
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