Utah, baby!
- slyeabby
- Aug 15, 2025
- 5 min read
Hey Monster On The Move family. It's been a while.
I think about writing every day... and don't worry I have been keeping up with my journal... but after only a few weeks of living in Utah, I was already overwhelmed by the idea of making a new post.
Every new sight and experience here is beautiful. Striking. Inspiring. Challenging. Amazing. So where do I even begin?
Now, about halfway through the working season here in Hatch, UT, I want to try. Bear
with me.
I've been on 28 hikes since I moved into my Hatch home. I've visited three of Utah's five national parks. I've camped in Utah and Nevada. I've explored state parks and hidden gems along the sides of highways. I've gone to Vegas and Salt Lake City. I've seen Beyonce. I've baked a lot. I've played many games of pool. I've met visitors from around the world. I've paddled rivers and lakes. I've made friends with the horse in town. I even chicken-sat for a couple of nights. My pace of life here is unlike anything I've had before. And I love it.
I started a new journal when I got here. I'm already almost to the last page. Here's the first entry:
My first hike in Utah. I cannot believe what I'm looking at right now is real. I've felt that way since I arrived in Hatch one week ago. Today was my first day off and I knew it was time to go on a hike. I picked one nearby-- only 15 minutes from home. I'm surrounded by rolling and jagged mountains of red, orange and white. Pine trees scatter the ground, looking more evergreen than I've noticed before in contrast to the red rock. Grays look purple here. Spires and hoodoos climb into the sky too, alongside the pines. And here I am. So small. Sitting cross-legged between a spire and her pine. What an honor to be here and call this home.
If this was how I felt during my first short hike here... my adoration only continues to grow as I see more of the country here. Everything is beautiful. More than I could have imagined. But I would be remiss to not write particularly about Zion National Park.
Zion is why I chose a job in Utah. When I was in middle school, I saw a YouTube video of someone hiking the Narrows. The park has been at the top of my travel list since. Before I knew the route of Monster and I's trip, I knew I would spend time in Zion.
The first time I went to the park, all I managed to do was drive from entrance to entrance. I've since learned the unwritten rules for finding parking there (arrive early or late, never midday). But I couldn't bring myself to care too much about not finding a spot to park that day. I was too busy laughing and crying and whooping with joy as I got a glimpse into a place I had dreamed about seeing for so long-- and watching it meet and reach far beyond every expectation I had for it.
There's a part of the drive from the east entrance towards the visitor center where you go through a long tunnel. As you do, you pass windows into Zion Canyon. Blink and you'll miss them. At my first peak, my heart was beating out of my chest. I yelled to no one in particular. "Oh my god that's it" (or something along those lines). My adrenaline skyrocketed. I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day. I wish everyone could experience it. Zion is truly indescribable. As someone who doesn't identify as very religious, I understand completely how it earned the title of Zion, God's Country.
I've since gotten to bring Tyler & Nailah, Zoe, Rachel and Ana through that tunnel. Truly, it's been a favorite part of each of their visits for me. My people. My place. It reminds me that I did it. I made this dream come true for myself. And it's my favorite place.
Every visit to Zion feels like that for me. Bryce Canyon too. You can remember the beauty, the awestruck feeling of being there. You can look at pictures. But it still takes my breath away.
A few pics Zion Canyon (The Narrows, Lower Emerald Pool, Kayenta Trail)
When I finally did get to hike in Zion Canyon for the first time, I had an Angel's Landing permit in hand. I still think back to that hike and wonder how I did it. Truly, it was one of the most physically challenging hikes I've ever done. It was exhilarating, being that high up, that close to the edge, that determined and independent.
"A spot only angels could land on."
I've also been able to hike the Narrows a few times now. Its just as challenging as Angel's Landing, in its own way, but you're the opposite of up high. You're slotted between towering cliffs, feeling the water of the Virgin River rush against your calves and seep into your boots with every step.
And the water here! The rivers and lakes and narrows. Everything is blue, minty, cold, clear. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and the sight of water in a desert really does bring me immense and overwhelming joy. Watching the colorful water cut through the dry orange rock.
As I write this blog post, I am sitting outside at a cafe in Kanab, Utah. The air is dry. We haven't had rain in weeks. The desert, it's no joke. The heat is immense. Weeks ago, the last time it rained, I felt the slightest hint of humidity in the air for the first time in months. I was elated. And I missed home.
I say this because I've learned that two things can be true at once. I can love this place intensely, and long for the wet grass and thick air of Wisconsin at the same time. I can experience mother nature in new ways here and be equally terrified and mesmerized by her work.
In addition to incredible hoodoos, stars and mountains, I've witnessed striking wildfires and flash floods. I've packed a go-bag with my most important belongings "just in case" I needed to leave town quickly. I've been briefed by rangers on the signs and dangers of a flash flood miles and miles away. I've camped in heat that feels biblically intense.
These experiences have been just as valuable to me as driving through Zion's tunnel for the first time. I just keep thinking... I am here, and what an honor that is, to see nature in so many ways. To experience this part of the country, and remember home and love both so fiercely.
I'm not sure how to conclude this jumbled post. But to each of you reading, thank you for being a part of this journey with me. I hope that whatever piece of mother nature you find yourself experiencing right now, that you can breathe deep and feel peace and awe (and maybe a tinge of fear) in it. And I recommend saying thank you to her.
Until next time, here's another journal entry of mine from May, just a few days before I hiked Angel's Landing:
I wonder how people come here... breathe deep and slow, see the mountains, the stars, the colors... and not become poets. Become artists. Become so overwhelmed by the beauty and not expect it to pour from their body or soul somehow. That's how I feel right now.
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