I just travel
is my current response when people ask where I’m from. Then after a long awkward silence I ease their confusion with, “but before that I lived in Lake City” to which they’ll inevitably follow up with “Oh cool!”
In June, I moved out of my Lake City office to once again hit the road for a nomadic life full of new horizons or new experiences each day. No storage unit, no office, just me, my two puppies, my old Buick SUV, and the gear trailer. Back to The Good Life I tell myself. Back to The Best Life I tell others.
My empty LC office after three lovely years.
There’s no ill reason to why I left Lake City. I just wanted to live life a little fuller, and in the way I intimately knew that life on the road could deliver. A life that is more present because when you have nowhere to be and nowhere to get back to then where you are is simply where you are.
I would say the urge to return to the nomadic life began in April after a stellar month in the canyons of Capitol Reef; living out of my car, waking up leisurely with the sun, and sipping coffee until I was either 1) ready to work, or 2) ready to adventure. Life in Capitol was simple in obligations, full of freedom, warm on the face, and healthy for the mind. This canyon time also coincided with the fall through of the new commercial space in LC, the lack of motivation to boost visibility of the current LC office, as well as feeling stagnant in both Lake City business and personal development. It seemed to me that every day in LC was exactly the same as the day before. Some individuals love that routine. Me personally? I believe it’s a life well wasted.
Me just soaking up the morning sun in the canyons of Capitol this past April.
Since the move out and the once again ridding of all unnecessary possessions, I completed my first 30k trail run with my best friend, Sonia, in Bears Ears, Utah and it was BEYOND fun! So fun that I immediately signed up afterwards for Moab’s Deadhorse Ultra 50k in November.
Me loving life. Sonia questioning life.
July and August have been in Colorado. Specifically in the Arkansas River Valley and Silverton. In the ARV, I climbed my 33rd and 34th Colorado 14er - Mount Harvard and Missouri Mountain - as well as hopped on the Fractions section of the Arkansas River where I somehow navigated the class 4 rapid called House of Rock. Somehow.
Doran & I on Missouri Mountain. Such a fun climb!
Me on Fractions way before the House of Rock!
In Silverton, I learned loads about wildfires due to Gold Mountain fire, led a stellar father-son trip up Handies Peak for GoBundance, and FINALLY hiked the 50 miles from Molas Pass near Silverton to Spring Creek Pass near Lake City along the Colorado Trail. What a section! The Weminuche Wilderness took me straight back to the Pacific Northwest where sights = indescribable.
The GoBundance fam on top of Colorado 14er - Handies Peak!
The Weminuche Wilderness near Molas Pass!
September will be super rad as I kick it off with a 5-day Rim-to-Rim hike of the Grand Canyon and wrap it up with 14-day thru-hike of the 163-mile Collegiate Loop in the ARV. After which, I’ll head back to Utah to spend all of October in the red rock canyons where I will be living out of my car, waking up leisurely with the sun, and sipping coffee until I am either 1) ready to work, or 2) ready to adventure.
Me in Capitol Reef on an overnight at the Golden Throne.
And this life at 41 and a half. My days are fairly leisure as I try my best to keep them outside, simple, and in pursuit. I do have a couple BE projects that keep me working on the laptop, but for the most part…
I just travel.
~ Belay
Me on Missouri Mountain’s super fun ridgeline.
