A few months ago, I found myself in the most unexpected vacation spot: Provo. Utah. No, it’s not someplace remote or unheard of, but it was the last place on Earth I ever thought I would find myself. See, I was supposed to go to college in Provo. Suffice it to say the life I expected to find in Provo was not for me, and I cancelled my enrollment just a few weeks after graduating high school. Instead, I joined my best friend on a cross-country road trip to Florida.
It’s a story that I’ve written many times, and I won’t bore anyone with its dramatic re-telling now. Ever wondered how I ended up in Orlando? Now you know.
Still, I’m a sucker for any place with good mountain views and decent hiking trails. Say what you will about Provo (and I’ve said plenty in the past), but I couldn’t resist a chance to escape the Orlando humidity and breathe some fresh mountain air. When my younger sister, a freshman at BYU’s Provo campus, told me about her plans to road trip it back to Washington with our dad after school ended, I immediately looked up flights to Utah.
One month later, I was on a short flight from Orlando to Salt Lake City, my excitement replaced with gnawing anxiety. I never thought I would step foot in Provo again. What the hell was I doing!? I should have listened to my mom, skipped the road trip, and just booked a flight directly to Seattle.
All of that anxiety faded when I saw my dad at the airport. Every time I visit my family, it feels like no time has passed at all since I last saw them. Dad was exhausted from driving all day, but we found our way down to Provo fairly quickly. We checked into our hotel a short distance from the college campus, and passed out for the night.
The next day, we woke early and met my sister Michelle in her apartment. Let me tell you, I wish my first apartment was as nice as hers! It had great modern finishes, plenty of natural light, and a gorgeous brick exterior set against the mountains that surround Provo. She gave us a quick tour of her place, and we were off for a late morning hike up Rock Canyon trail, just minutes away from her apartment.
We overshot the trailhead, and as we picked through the rocky landscape in search of a clear hiking path, Michelle lamented that she had never hiked this wonder in her own backyard. We took pleasure in clambering over loose white rocks and through scratchy plant life, emerging at last a short distance up the trail.
I won’t lie. This hike, which I thought would provide a moderate workout (I’m smashing my head on the keyboard now, as I see that AllTrails.com has ranked it as difficult), was rough. The first part of the trail featured a moderate incline over a path of small loose rocks. I didn’t realize just how out of shape I was, until I was gasping for air, staring hopelessly at an endless rocky incline. You guys, I’m totally being dramatic here. It wasn’t that steep. But somehow that made everything worse.
Of course, I’m sure the change in elevation didn’t help. Provo has a general elevation of 4,549 feet. I knew it would be a change from the temperate, low-elevation Orlando climate I’m used to, but I had no idea how extreme the difference would be. A quick Google search tells me all I need to know: Orlando sits at just 82 feet above sea level.
What I’m trying to say here is: I am a moron. My dad and sister are saints for dealing with me as I gasped my way up the trail.
I tried to focus on the sights all around me, and not on my tight chest or the rocks threatening to twist my ankle with each step. It really was a beautiful hike, with vibrant plant life, clear blue skies, and those massive mountains rising up on either side of the trail. I was happy for the opportunity to stop every few minutes and take a breather snap some more pictures.
Short of branching off to climb to the top of Squaw Peak, the trail didn’t seem to lead to any stunning views or end of any kind. After hiking toward nothing for a while, we found a parallel trail down the mountain, and began our descent.
Without the strain of endless climbing, I was free to take in the beauty that surrounded us, and I began to feel like I was in a fairy tale forest. Bright little ladybugs flitted from rock to rock, and butterflies soared across our sunlit path. Even the path itself was better, the rough rocks replaced for a ways with soft brown earth. By the time we reached the bottom of the trail, I felt just as satisfied as if we had actually hiked to Squaw Peak.
We rewarded our efforts with a huge lunch at Cafe Rio, a charming, bright little Mexican chain in town. Prior to the trip, I had researched several tasty-looking restaurants, with the intention of avoiding all chains. But Michelle spoke of this one so highly, and I do love Mexican food, so I was happy to make an exception. Spoiler alert: our dining in Provo was mainly limited to chain restaurants, but since none of them are available to me in Orlando, I didn’t mind at all! Lunch was delicious. Ordering was a Chipotle-esque affair: choose your meal (burrito, tacos, etc.), then adjust meat and toppings to your liking. Michelle and I ordered pork quesadillas, while Dad opted for a fantastic enchilada.
My small headache grew and morphed into an awful case of altitude sickness as we packed up and headed off to our next destination: the BYU Museum of Art.
Provo is a college town, and most of the tourist activities are part of the university. My discomfort grew as we weaved through the exhibits, stopping to admire Japanese sculptures and paintings of America’s past. My favorite exhibit, which moved to a new location in June, was The Infinite Possibilities of Origami. Along with several very impressive origami sculptures, the exhibit featured a look into the ways origami has influenced math and science.
For example, students at the university created a compact, origami-inspired solar panel that could be launched into space and expanded to its full-size once it reached its destination. Curious? You should be. Click here to find out more from Phys.org.
After the museum, we decided to head back to the hotel and take a break from sightseeing. Dad and Michelle checked out the pool, while I crawled into bed and attempted to sleep the altitude sickness off. By the time I woke up again, it was time for dinner. At Michelle’s suggestion, we headed to JCW’s, a local burger joint that was founded in nearby American Fork. It struck me as a regional chain, similar to In-N-Out, but it is actually one of just four locations, housed exclusively in Utah! I ordered a burger with bacon and guacamole, and a small chocolate milkshake…which turned out to be massive! I was still feeling pretty ill, so I spent most of the meal staring longingly at my burger and taking tiny sips of the delicious, creamy milkshake. If I ever return to Utah, I’ll have to return to this restaurant, which had an impressive array of burgers and interesting milkshake combinations, and give it a proper review.
The first day was over, and despite that horrible altitude sickness, I was happy to be in Provo with my family. We dropped Michelle off at her apartment, and went to sleep at last, hopeful that I would feel much better in the morning.
samselim says
Well done on completing the difficult hike! the altitude sickness must have been very tough…great that you still managed to do it and have a lovely time with your dad and sister 🙂
Adventuring The Great Wide Somewhere says
Thank you! It’s a fond memory now, but at the time…I just wanted to crawl back down the mountain and sleep.
Koen B says
Thank you for sharing! This is a part of Utah I’ve never been, but it looks the hiking trails are well worth it. Good you didn’t went for Seattle immediately, or we would have missed this story.
Happy travels!
travellingchingrita says
The hike looks awesome! Congrats on completing the hike but the sights look pretty amazing.
Connie Reed says
Funny how a hike seems like a wonderful way to spend a morning until you’re halfway through it, gasping for breath. Your hike in Provo does sound like fun, though.
As for regional chains, I’m all for them. After all, they’re still restaurants you haven’t tried for yourself yet, and they must be good since they started as a single restaurant and expanded as their popularity grew.
Adventuring The Great Wide Somewhere says
At the time, I wondered if maybe the delicious food had made me sick. Now that I know that’s not the case, I find myself craving it!
Pola (JettingAround) (@jettingaround) says
I love a good hike and this looks great! And I enjoyed learning your Provo story. Funny how things work sometimes, right?
tamarasw says
I laughed when I found this post, because I had just published my post on going to BYU, too, at http://www.postcardsandpassports.com/going-to-byu/
And to make things even more cool, the origami solar panel you talked about in your article is the solar panel my oldest son helped to design for one of his senior projects in mechanical engineering! It’s always a small world when you go to BYU!
Adventuring The Great Wide Somewhere says
STOP! That blows me away. I thought that solar panel was so cool! I showed it to my boyfriend, who is a mechanical engineer as well. Pretty impressive stuff. 🙂