Explorers

April 2024

These cute little explorers were among the fabric I received from Jocelyn over at Happy Cottage Quilter. I fussy cut them, and then dug into my scraps bins to make the string and four-patch blocks. The backing fabric is a print of boats, telescopes and compasses – everything an explorer needs for a grand adventure.

As a sailor, backpacker and general fan of the great outdoors, this saying speaks to me:

“Not all who wander are lost”
                            — J.R.R. Tolkien

Well in my case, not always. There was one backpacking trip when my husband and I were lost, but only for a little while. While training for the John Muir Trail (JMT) back in 2009, we hiked Canyon’s Cottonwood and Marble Canyon Loop trail in Death Valley, a 28-mile cross country hike. For those that aren’t hikers, cross country hiking means that there are no posted route signs marking the way, and you must rely on the topo map and compass. We did have a SPOT GPS tracker with us in case of an emergency.

We went in January, when the weather is nice – not too hot during the day, and not too cold at night. It’s also a time of year when there are fairly reliable water sources along the trail. The first day was pretty uneventful as the trail follows mostly along a 4 wheel off-road trail. Day 2 is when the cross country navigation begins. We did fine until the afternoon, when instead of going over a ridge and dropping into Deadhorse Canyon, we turned too soon and began descending into a dry slot canyon, mistaking it for Deadhorse Canyon. We were probably a half mile down the hillside when the rocks and boulders became nearly impassable and we determined that we had taken a wrong turn coming off the ridge. While we may have been able to scramble down the dry slot canyon back to the prior day’s 4 wheel off-road trail, the risk of hiking a dry slot canyon was not one we were willing to take. These canyons are extremely dangerous in the event of rain: in the desert, they become dangerous, raging rivers. We decided to turn around and head back to the ridge – the point where we believed we had gotten off course.

It was late afternoon at this point, and we felt it would be safer to set camp and get a fresh start in the morning. As the sun was setting, we saw wild horses on the ridge, not a 1/4 mile distant. It was an amazing sight, and had we not gotten temporarily off course, perhaps a sight we would not have seen otherwise (not saying being lost was a good thing, just seeing the horses was pretty cool).

The next morning we headed back to the top of the ridge and found our way to Deadhorse Canyon, which led down through Marble Canyon (pictured below) and back to our car.

I have no plan yet for where this baby quilt will find its forever home. I’m looking into local charities that serve kids in need.