Safe Landing
Zion National Park, UT
Incase you are wondering that you haven't seen a post from me in a while thats because I just got back from an awesome 20 day trip to the american southwest camping all along and backpacking to the mountain tops and deep into the canyons carrying 30+ pounds of weight at times and completed nearly 200+ miles of backcountry hiking in Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Red Rock Canyon & Lake Mead .
I met some of the most interesting people and had amazing experiences all along, my wife and travel mate accompanied me for the first half of the journey and then I had to fly solo for the rest of the trip which gave me a chance of self reflection and honestly appreciate the time I had for myself.
I have witnessed firsthand some selfless acts from total strangers on this trip that will probably change my perception toward helping others for the rest of my life. On this trip I was rescued twice by complete strangers, first when our car was stuck deep in mud in the middle of nowhere in Arizona there were a group of people headed for canyoneering that were definitely god sent helped us. They got us out of the ditch risking getting stuck themselves without expecting anything from us. Second probably my own stupidity in under estimating the nearest gas station in Nevada, I ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere 10 miles away from nearest service station without cell phone service. I called 911 and they said they are sending a trooper but only after waiting an hour in pitch dark to the right shoulder with my hazard lights on I was surprised to receive a call from my wife when i was not able to make any calls. She then conferenced me to setup a road side assistance from a tow service, while busy in this process without knowing the exact location for an hour I saw someone pull up behind me in a big truck and my first thoughts were that it might be the trooper or the tow company is awfully fast in responding and they managed to reach me before even hanging up. After I got out and spoke with couple of guys who gout out from that truck I learnt that they are brothers from Utah headed for a racing event with their car on trailer and had plenty of gas, they passed me and saw I had my hazard lights on and noticed the lights turned on inside the car and they checked their phones to see there was no cell service and decided to turn back and come check on me. Again they gave me plenty of gas and made sure I made it to the next gas station and they wouldn’t even let me fill up their gas can. In my excitement I only managed to take their names to look them up on Facebook but couldn’t find them, hopefully this post will make it to them someday and will give me chance to say how thankful I’m for them being there in that moment.
But it’s not sunshine and rainbows as I would like to portray this trip while I tent camped in 1 feet of snow bracing below freezing temperatures thanks to my 0 degree sleeping bag and 20+ miles per hour gusts of sand storm winds in Death Valley, I was able to experience the extremes of weather and manage to make the most of it. Definitely a trip that I will remember for the rest of my life and a great adventurous learning experience! Thanks for reading and please share my story and experience with others, maybe next time you see a total stranger in trouble it will change your opinion on going out of your way and helping them.
#helpothers #helpstrangers #selfless act #findmyhelpers
