Visiting the National Parks by. Stephen Foster

From Northern Utah to Southern and everything in between we have seen some awe striking sights. Arches, Canyonlands, Glen Canyon, and Capital Reef National Parks. All interesting things to see. Along with sightseeing we also hiked 30 miles plus on this last expedition. All of this preparing us for our final expedition in the Grand Canyon that is coming up with in the next week.
When we visited Arches National Park we went on several day hikes. The Devil’s Garden loop hike which amounted to about seven miles up hill, downhill, and on the edge of cliffs and sandstone fins. Up there you could see everything for miles and miles around. We could even see the storm that had passed over us the night before dropping snow on nearby mountains. It was definitely something that I will never forget. On that trail we saw the world’s longest arch and an arch that some brave pilot decided to fly through with his Cessna aircraft. Really cool stuff. The next day we woke up to a clear beautiful sunrise on our morning jog, really starting my day out with a smile, and then we completed some school work before heading out to see the world famous Delicate Arch ( The arch that is on the Utah license plate.). As we headed up there we would look down on the valley and just see it like it was one of those scenes from an adventure movie, just a lushes ‘valley full with wildlife and full with vegetation. But we really knew that there was not much down there, but it was awesome none the less.
After we finished our three day and three night stay at Arches we left and made our way to the Canyonlands National Park located about three hours driving distance from Arches. Once we get into the canyons we found ourselves surrounded by high mountain cliffs and barren desert. All I remember thinking when we entered the canyon was “Well, I think that we made it to the middle of nowhere!!” On our two-night stay in Canyonlands National Park we were able to see some really cool ruins left by the Native Americans and the ever more recent Cowboys. One of the ruins was some Native American Petroglyphs (drawing left behind by the Indians that tell a story or stories.) They aren’t half bad at drawing big-horned sheep! We also saw some grain and seed storage bin made of rock and clay that could have been used by either Native Americans or the Cowboys, or maybe both. Right after the short hike out to the grain storage container, we to a much longer trail that lead us to an old Cowboy settlement and corral under the ledge of a rock! This was one of the only habitable spots in most of the desert because less than 0.2 miles away there was one of the only running springs in the Canyons. It was called spring cave. There was also Indian Petroglyphs to see there and some little hands that were drawn/ painted on the rocks by Native Americans. They were about the size of your average 6-7 year olds hands so I would guess that they were made by the children of the Indian tribe.
After our interesting two day stay at Canyonlands, we hopped into the Big, Black, Beast (Our van which is really tall because of the custom suspension and is just a hawse) and started our 3 hour trip right on up and over to Capital Reef National Park. While we were there I learned that Capital Reef was the Mormons most isolated settlement that never held more than about 40 people at a time. It was a very habitable place that the Mormon settlers ended up turning into a farmland and orchard. That must of taken a lot of hard work even though they had plenty of water coming to them from the Colorado River flowing to and through the canyon. This river was fueled by the occasional rain and several underground springs. The only problem with having this powerful river in their canyon was that it would flood. And the entire canyon was its flood plain so when it would flood the more powerful ones could rip trees from their roots and carry them away along with animals, grass, and grain. During our stay at Capitol Reef we had our backpacking trip take place. Helping to get us ready for our final expedition that will be coming up very soon. We hiked Mueller’s twist, a average sized canyon trail that stretches a total of 23 miles on relatively flat land. Hiking about ten miles or more for the first 2 days and then we hiked only about 3 miles on the last day, but most of those three miles was up really steep hills and down really steep cliffs. At one point we were on a cliff side leaning our weight on the wall with the loose rock around us falling! Jon was hiking right inform of me when a rock about his side came loose below his feet, he slide down a little and then finally got his feet gripped on the rock and came back up like nothing happened! It was really a physically demanding hike on the finally day, because we were literally scrambling up rocks with our full 30-40 pound expedition packs on our backs. It was pretty extreme. The next day when we got back from our backpacking trip we took a day to work on our school work and then we went around and learned a lot about Capital Reef and how it was settled. We learned that Capital Reef is located in the Water Pocket Fold that is located smack dab in the middle of the Utah Desert. The next day we left for Grand Junction, Colorado and stayed at a State Park, which name escapes me. When we were done settling down for the night we took a night out to eat at Golden Corral and just chowed down. On everything from awesome steak, fried chicken, sweet potato casserole, and tacos. It was one of the most filling meals that I have ever had! We ate like kings, in SOAR terms! That night we got to bed as early as possible so that we could wake up as ready to go as possible as any human is able to be at three O’ clock the next morning to catch our flight.
I am really looking forward to our next expedition and adventure in less than a week. Since this is our final expedition we are going to be running in almost on our own. We will lead each other with our the motivation of the staff and we will be making the decisions on when we need to get certain things done and when we need to be moving on to something else. We will also be doing this while backpacking over twenty miles down and back out of the Grand Canyon in an area called Phantom Ranch. The downhill park will be by far the most challenging area of the hike, for we will be carrying 40-50 pound expedition packs while going down steep cliffs. Our knees will be dead by the time we get down to our campsite! Since the packing list is up to us this time I am going to pack as light as I can possibly can, without taking the stuff I don’t need to bring with me. Like, several pairs of the same pants. Why not just use maybe two for the four days that we are backpacking. You know? So I really can’t wait until our next adventure and until the 27 days until I get to see my family and friends again during the holiday break.

Stephen Foster's Biography

My name is Stephen Foster and I am a 15-year old student at SOAR Academy. This is my first semester here and hopefully the first of many semesters to come. I came to SOAR from San Ramon, located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
When I am home I live with my mom, and my brother, Graham, along with my two Basset Hounds, Max and Bella. Max is around 6 or 7 years old, and Bella (The younger of the two) is only about 3 or 4 years old. My family is truly a melting pot of many different cultures, Scottish, Irish, German, Norwegian, and even a little bit of Cherokee Indian. Both sides of my family are Scottish and that leads to many cool and interesting stories along with a lot of rich history.
When I get free time, either after school or on the weekends, I like to participate in an array of cool activities. [Activities like, baseball, football, rock climbing, airsoft, and video games]. When I get free time I like to participate in these activities. When I have finished my homework and my friends have also done the same, we like to go out to our local sports park and go and play football or baseball for a good 2 or 3 hours every day. In only a few months I have gone from being terrible at baseball and football, to being amazing in the minds of everyone around me. It really makes me feel good to be good at something. On the weekends, though, I like to take a break from football and baseball and I like to go out and play airsoft at CQB City, the world’s largest indoor arena. It is located only an hour away from my house. I normally go there and play for a good 7 hours a day. It is really fun to do and very challenging for the body and mind. You need to figure out tactics and how to get out of situations on the battlefield.
While I am at SOAR Academy, I am hoping to get a better education (Which I now have all A’s which I have never had before in my life), better social skills, and learn more traits in becoming a leader. After I graduate from high school I plan on becoming a police officer somewhere around Henderson, Nevada, or somewhere in Arizona. After many years in the service I am planning on going to college and studying politics and then getting a job in Government so that I can really help change the country by lending my talents to our nation.

Utah Expedition By Jonathan Adkins

Hello, my name is Jon Adkins. I am going to be discussing some of the things that happened while I was in Utah.


One of the things that I did while I was there was go to Arches National Park. Things that the team and I did while we were there was go to the Devils Garden and a handful of the other arches.


Another place that the team and I went to was Capital Reef National Park. One of the things that the team and I did while we were in Capital Reef National Park was going on a three day, twenty-five mile hike. It was like a small desert in parts, then canyonous and mountainous in others.


The other place that the team and I went to while we were in Utah was Canyon Lands National park. Activities that we did while we were there is a bit of a blur to me, but mostly was a fair amount of mini hikes to some arches, and learning about the natives that were once there and what they left behind.



In conclusion I feel that the part of the expedition that took place in Utah will be my most memorable part of the expedition for me, and that I will think of it always.

Chris Veno's Biography

Hi my name is Chris Veno. I am 19 and from Malvern, PA. I have three brothers and their names are: Cameron, who is 9, Aidan, who is 12, and Shane, who is 15. I have one sister named Kelsey, who is 17. I have many cousins. I have two cats and their names are Skittles and Snickers. I have two goats and their names are Cinnamon and Spice. I have one dog and her name is Willow. I have a bunny and its name is Sugar. I also have one hamster that my brother has not yet named. I am really good at identifying plants and animals. I am really good at science. I love reading field guides in my free time. I am skilled at the drums. My hobbies include playing the drums, guitar, and bass. Listening to music and building forts in the woods are some of my hobbies. The sports that I engage in are soccer, basketball, golf, and snowboarding. The things that I do for fun are playing music, sports, and gardening. Every year my family goes to Canada and North Carolina for vacation. My parents are very nice people. In my future I would like to be a carpenter and a horticulturist.

Utah Expedition

Utah Expedition
By Chris Veno

I had a lot of fun on this expedition. We went to Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capital Reef National Park, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We also went to Moab, Utah.
The first place that we went to was Arches National Park. It was absolutely beautiful and amazing. In Arches we slept in tents (which was a luxury), we also went on many day hikes. The hikes were really cool because we saw a lot of arches and other amazing things. In Arches National Park we saw lots of Prickly Pear Cacti and lots of Juniper. On the first day at Arches it rained and we got to get an extra hour of sleep, which was nice and well needed. In Arches it was very windy and our stuff would blow away. We did a lot of day hikes in Arches National Park and all of the views were amazing.
The next place that we went to was Canyonlands National Park, which was really cool because of all of the canyons and chasms and all of the Native American Artifacts and dwellings. While I was in Canyonlands National Park I wore my warm hat for many days in a row. I had dreadlocks form in my hair because it got really matted and I twisted the matted hair into dreads. They were sicknasty. In Canyonlands we also saw lots of Prickly Pear Cacti and it reminded me of my cacti back at home, which are bigger than the Prickly Pear that we saw out west.
The last place that we went to was Capital Reef National Park and that is where we did our backcountry trip. Our backcountry trip was a three-day backpacking trip through the canyon of Capital Reef National Park. It was really cool. In the canyon we hiked through a cave, which was a really cool experience. We had to squeeze through the end of the cave and we got all muddy. In Capital Reef National Park we saw a Tarantula and it was really awesome. I was not afraid of it like some of the other members in the group were. In four days I did 840 pushups and I was ripped.
I really enjoyed this expedition. We went to Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capital Reef National Park, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We also went to Moab, Utah. I am really going to enjoy the hiking of the Grand Canyon on the next expedition.

Mitchell's Biography

Hello my name is Mitchell Wilkinson- Harrison. I’m 18 years old and from Richmond, VA. My grandpa has a 400-acre farm in PA and every summer I go and work on the farm for my grandpa. I have a basset hound; her named is Violet. I like to play a lot of video games and I love to do hay work on the farm. My mom is now working at the pharmacy in Kroger. My step dad is working for my grandpa’s company. My Grandpa has a Decking Company.
I played baseball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at my old school back in Va. I play with my dog when I’m at home, and I enjoy playing my xbox360 after a hard day at work on the farm. There are many places that I have traveled to with my family and SOAR. Those places are Belize, Puerto Rico, Coast Rica, Colorado, Canada, Texas, North Dakota, Montana, New York, New Jersey, North Caroline, and South Caroline. I like to drive my gator around on my grandpa his farm in PA. I have been coming to SOAR for six school semesters and two-summer program. I want to be a mechanic, a farmer, and a businessperson for My Grandpa’s Company.

The Utah Expedition By Mitchell Wilkinson-Harrison

This Expedition, the Yellowstone team went to Utah. On the first day of our trip we stayed in Archers National Park. When we were there we did some day hikes around the park. One of the days it started to rain in the morning and we all were staying in tents. Suzanne Wes let us sleep in until the rain stopped. Most of the time on the expedition we were doing homework and going on day hikes through the National Parks. The National Parks that we went to on this expedition were; Capital Reef National Park, Cayonlands National Park, Archers National Park, and Glen Canyon National. Before we went to Glen Canyon we drove into Moab to a little gear store to fill up our water jugs and we all went into the store. We drove to Glen Canyon for our three backpacking trip. We hiked about 25 miles in the canyon. After we finished everyone ran to the Big Black Van and everyone gave the van a big hug. We drove back to Capital Reef National Park and stayed there for two nights. On the last day of our expedition we all went out to the Golden Coral and ate a lot of food. The next day we had to get up early so we could get to the airport on time. We all had a good time hiking with Suzanne and Wes.