Winter 2020
Once I finished moseying across the country after finishing the Pacific Crest Trail, I convinced my hiking-partner Lebowski (Andrew) to roll the dice yet again and move to Salt Lake City with me for the winter. We worked for the same company I did in Lake Tahoe, a free on-demand ride service called Empire Express that served Park City, UT. It was a fantastic winter gig, we got paid quite well to drive people around the mountain in jacked-up Sprinter vans, make small talk and jam to good tunes. We lived down in Salt Lake at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, where we spent much of our time skiing. Our house was always full of life and many other ski-bums, all of whom we came to be quite fond of. As an added bonus, three of our closest friends from the PCT also ended up in Salt Lake, which made the season all that much better. Snacks, Ruthless and Bullfrog are often pictured below.
I made a point to telemark ski full-time this winter, as well as become a competent backcountry skier thanks to my good buddy Bjorn, who studies geography at the University of Utah in Salt Lake. Nearly 500” of snow fell on the mountains during our time skiing the Cottonwood Canyons, which led to considerable avalanche danger throughout the winter. Regardless, we got plenty of days on the mountain before COVID-19 closed down the resorts for the season. We had planned to go to a bluegrass festival and enjoy spring skiing in California after our time in Utah, but the quarantine stopped us in our tracks. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Salt Lake, but it solidified my desire to avoid major cities at all costs. For now I’m waiting it out in Cleveland until travel is unrestricted, then I’ll head to Maine living out of my soon to be overhauled RAV4 while working as a backpacking guide on the Appalachian Trail. Life continues to be intoxicating, and I’m beyond stoked to see what the rest of this year brings.
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My Toyota RAV4 Build