My favorite photo story is about getting lost at The Wave the day of the Annular Solar Eclipse for @jarvie to get this picture.
On May 20, 2012 we had a grand adventure! The day started waking up in my car (gotta love car camping) to this beautiful view at a random place in southern Utah at 7:39am.
An opportunity to get a sibling picture!
The we headed to Willis Creek to explore some slot canyons before making our way to Coyote Buttes were The Wave is located. The wave is a protected area and you have to have a permit to enter. Scotty has a friend, Stacy, and she had some extra permits. Permits are really competitive only 20 issued per day, especially in May and more than ever during an eclipse. I jumped at the chance to see The Wave and I drove up 5. 5 hours from Mesa to join the Utah group.
We started hiking at Willis Creek at 9:30am.
A group picture the slot canyon at 10:22am
Then we made our to the trail head (Wire Pass) and started the adventure at 13:45pm. It is a 6 mile hike there and back. With an average hike time it would be a 2-4 hour trip. Of course we wanted to enjoy The Wave, the eclipse at 16:33pm and the main goal for Scotty was to get a great night shot. Little did we know that our adventure would not end until the wee hours of the morning.
We were in high spirits have a great time on the way to The Wave, it is desolate yet beautiful landscape.
The hike out to the wave is sandstone so there is no trail to follow. Parker had a map that had pictures and so he led us with directions such as "turn left at the boobs" because the picture looked like a woman's boobs.
In the day light we were able to follow the map and made it to The Wave. It was really something!
At 14:33pm we stopped and put on our special glass so we could enjoy the Annular Solar Eclipse.
A selfie during the eclipse 14:45pm
Being a working professional I was the first to leave the party as I had hike back to my car and then drive 5.5 hours to Mesa to get to work on Monday morning. I left the group while it was light out. However I didn't have the map Parker led us in with and got lost pretty early into my return trip. We had walkie talkies and I called for help. They were too far away. I wandered in the desert for a little bit until I found "the boobs" and knew that my friends would have to pass them to get to the car. I was also out of water and it was a hot day. To conserve energy I sat at the base of "the boobs" and called for help on the walkie talkie and as night approached I sent out light signals with my flashlight.
I kept calm for a while, the darker it grew the more anxious I became. I knew that Scotty was getting star shots so he was still out there. Finally, Parker and Austin found me. It was nice to have others and we could work together, which we did. It was now very dark and so we used Austin's super flashlight and Parker had the map. Being that there was not a trail to follow and the landmarks were too hard to see in the dark, even with Austin's flashlight we were lost for many hours. Parker had about a third of a 16oz bottle of water left. We rationed it between the three of us. I vividly remember thinking that we should just lay down and sleep on the sandstone and wake up in the morning and find our way. It was a warm evening and I was tired. We had started the day at 9:30am hiking in the slot canyon. Eventually we did sit down to rest and strategize. We also wandered around for many hours. Miraculously as we passed an area that reminded me of something funny someone said and that made me remember a turn. By God's guidance and help we made it over the desolate sandstone back to the parking lot.
The next problem was that Parker and Austin had come with Scotty, Stacy and Toni and didn't have keys to Scotty's car, so if I left they would be sitting in the parking lot waiting. We were also very worried about the other group getting lost too. Parker and Austin sat in the front seat of my Avalon and I took the back seat so I could sleep and get a little rest before my long drive. I was able to get a little sleep, it was very fitful as I worried about my brother. At about 2:00am I was woken up by Parker letting me know that they had made walkie talkie connection with the other group and were going to go find them with Austin's awesome flashlight and bring them back. What a relief. It was a miracle that the walkie talkies connected that far away. I can't remember the exact time that I left (probably around 3:00 am) but I was able to make it to work in Tempe by 8:00 am. I am sure I was a sight, as I had not slept really and didn't shower or change after being out wandering around southern Utah for two days.
Scotty got his amazing picture and we all got a story of being lost in the desert.