Block break in Utah: almost as good as having five wives

photos: Jenny Light

When the dam of 7th block breaks, it feels like all of CC floods into Utah for the last big hoorah of the year. But what is the allure of the beehive state that manages to captivate so many students? It’s warm. But so are New Mexico, Arizona and Southern Colorado. And the cops there aren’t are power-tripping super troopers bent on profiling any person driving a Subaru, a man with hair longer than one inch, or any car with a Jerry Bear bumper sticker. Water is far from abundant (coming from a Midwestern perspective), and unless you count the occasional lizard as wildlife, don’t get your hopes up. 

Utah makes up for these minimal drawbacks ten-fold with what it does offer. Geo majors get their rocks off when they see the multicolored geological formations which make up Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Capitol Reef and Zion National Parks. Desert camping is majestic—leave your tents behind and stare at the stars—plus summer-time weather is only eight hours away from the CC bubble.

“Utah is pretty much the place to be,” said Liz Toner, CC junior and avid Utah enthusiast. “No matter who you roll with, there is something for everybody. Camping, hiking, mountain biking, rafting or just sitting in camp and knocking a few back.”

When the final Wednesday of last block rolled around, I loaded my Jeep up to the gills with backpacking gear and set my sites on Utah—careful to set cruise control at 75 as I passed the “Welcome to Utah” sign, signifying I was no longer in our liberal home state.

Our original plan early in the block was to rent two oar-frame rafts and spend three days floating the Colorado River from Dewey to Moab. However, typical of CC block break planning, commitment was sparse until the night before we left. By the time plans came to fruition boats weren’t available so we settled on cruising National Parks and other public land Utah has to offer away from the Colorado. By the end of class, eight of us were committed to start adventuring at Capitol Reef National Park. We arrived fairly late Wednesday night, had faith in the letter P (as in Parking), pulled over and threw our sleeping bags out in the sand.

The following morning we drove into the park. Capitol Reef offers countless canyons to explore. Whether you want to day hike up Burro Wash—a popular slot canyon – or truck in for a multi-day trip into the narrows, it’s a stop worth making. All backcountry camping is free in the park. You only need to ask for a permit at the visitors’ center and sacrifice having a late-night fire. We chose to break up a ten-mile hike into two days for our first adventure. After parking at the Chimney Rock trailhead, we took the Spring Canyon Trail into the chasm that became our home for the night. 

Six miles in, we found the perfect rock to make camp, broke out our stoves and made dinner. The rock walls surrounding us reminded me how small our presence is in the world. Throughout, it towered over us, pocked with perfect circles carved into the walls. Their coloring varied, allowing me to imagine the sea that once consumed the canyon and gradually disappeared, leaving Utah with the wonders of its National Parks.

However, in my opinion, you’re better served sleeping outside of the National Parks. Find a dirt road and drive into Bureau of Land Management property. On BLM land, you’re left to your own devices and rarely see any other people. A couple miles east of Capitol Reef we found such a road. We forded the Fremont River. As I chugged through the current, my tires spit rubble and water ran up to my car doors. On the other side, we were in BLM land, left to the company of our block brew. “In any other state,” said junior Natch Quinn, “this would all be a National Park.” 

However, for some reason, Utah has chosen to not do anything with BLM land that easily blows many of Colorado’s National Parks out of the water. A flash flood drainage provided an easy exit off the dirt road and the perfect beach to build a fire in.

The following day, we took the opportunity to explore more parks and drove towards Moab. Moab is, without a doubt, the most popular destination for CCers hell-bent to adventure in Utah. It’s a dusty town sitting on the Colorado River and is a haven for any desert enthusiast or river rat in Utah. One CC student speculated that 40 kids swamped Gold Bar the first night of block break. The obvious result was serious drunken collegiate bullshit. They chose to abandon their camp the following day to find a tranquil place to set up shop in BLM land for the remainder of block break. In situations like these, an atlas of Utah immediately becomes your closest friend. 

This situation repeats itself every year when our blocks break. Gold Bar, a camping hotspot just outside of Moab, is immediately over run by CC students with trunks full of Colorado’s booze. Buying anything alcoholic in the land of the Mormons isn’t quite as friendly an endevour as the late night Weber Liquor runs we’re all too familiar with. 

While it is illegal to drive alcohol across state borders, and Utah is a state that actually cares about this pedestrian law, risks taken are rewarded with the dizzy-spells we high-altitude-trained CC students can only get at 4000 feet. After almost every trip through Utah you hear of someone getting fined, arrested or simply harassed by the infamous fascist fun-hating patrol squad. But for the sheer glory of adolescent intoxication, we pay homage to NASCAR and smuggle hooch over state lines.

Before enjoying our bootlegged brews, we spent a day exploring Arches National Park. A few miles from Moab, Arches is home to Delicate Arch, the most photographed arch in the world. In the back of the park is a short hike to Landscape Arch, their longest arch. Here I saw several other CC block break crews. After an extended rock-scrambling session, we hiked back to our car and drove along the Colorado River to find the last spot we would call our dusty home before driving back to the Springs.

17 miles down CR-128, we turned off and drove towards Castle Valley. Unlike Capital Reef, most of the camping along the Colorado is developed and littered with people unaccustomed to the typical CC bedtime. We eventually found our stomping grounds, built a fire and celebrated a trip to Utah done up proper. We were all bruised, blooded and scraped from exploring Capitol Reef, but these are simple reminders of the relaxing time we spent in Utah that will continue to drive us along through the rowdiness of 8th block.