## Welcome!
Today I thought I'd share another spontaneous adventure that took place in the desert of western Arizona. After crossing the California border to enter Arizona, we stayed in an RV park that at first seemed fairly...deserted. Well, that makes sense, considering we <i>were</i> in the actual desert. But, even though I had a judgement of the place at first, it ended up being one of the most memorable locations along this whole trip.
My dad was researching things for us to explore around town, and he stumbled upon something called...
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## <center>Palm Canyon</center>
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<center><i>The view from outside the canyon</i></center>
Apparently, within the confines of this canyon, there exists an oasis of palm trees, some of the only ones in all of Arizona. This sounded exciting to us, so one morning we drove about an hour to reach the canyon. The drive was actually nice; I felt like I was in a wild west film with all the cacti and red-brown dirt. While I didn't get to bring my camera with me, I did have my phone, so I was able to take some decent pictures of this trip.
Upon arrival, my judgmental mind was trying to convince me that it wasn't going to be anything too special. It looked fairly plain, but as we ventured into the actual canyon, my opinions quickly changed.
Every once in a while, I would take a look back at the entrance. The deeper we went, the more the canyon framed the outside desert.
<center><i>Looking back out to the opening of the canyon</i></center>
<center><i>It felt like the desert stretched out forever</i></center>
After aimlessly exploring the insides of the canyon for a little while (which included almost falling down cliffs...multiple times), we found a lone sign that pointed towards our ultimate destination.
Now, one thing that we didn't realize beforehand was that there is not an actual trail that leads up close to the palms. They leave you to fend for yourself and clamber up the steep slope where the trees rest, and that's exactly what we did.
<center><i>The view of the palms from the sign (the cluster of palms are close to the top)</i></center>
We set off, not knowing exactly what the outcome of this excursion would be, but excited to find out. We spent over an hour climbing and weaving and climbing again to reach these palms. At one point along the trek, we got stuck. We could literally <i>see</i> the palms about fifty yards up ahead, but a giant twelve foot boulder that seemed practically unclimbable stood in our way of reaching them. The problem that we faced was that all of us could theoretically get up with the help of the other two people, but getting down would be a different story, since there was a very steep and long drop-off right after the boulder. After a half hour of trial and error, we were ready to give up, so my father and brother decided they would stay down below while I climbed up to get some pictures.
I made it up, but it didn't feel the same as having the others up there witnessing the beauty with me.
After snapping photos for a little while, I heard a loud rustling coming from behind me. I ignored it at first, but it became very hard to ignore when the sound came again <i>right behind me</i>. That freaked me out, so I whipped around, ready to fend for my life (not really, but I was scared). What I saw made me both confused and happy...
My brother and dad made it up!
The excitement didn't last very long, because I became worried that we wouldn't be able to make it down. They assured me we would find a way down...and not die...hopefully. Even though I wasn't entirely convinced I ignored the anxiety and stayed in the moment, fully enjoying the amazing adventure that I was on.
We found a spot to sit that looked out over both the palms and the massive canyon wall, all of us seated in complete silence. We stayed like this for quite some time, not speaking a word, soaking in the <i>unwavering silence</i>.
After fully experiencing the palms, we headed back down to the canyon floor, which ended up being much easier than I was expecting. Rather than going back down the boulder path, I went exploring to see if there was another way down, which there was! Easy peasy.
Even though this was only a hike, I learned a lot about myself. It taught me to refrain from predetermined judgments, for there is no reason to think that way. Whether a place ends up being incredible or rather boring, in the end it's all the same. We're all just living one step at a time, and it's better to treat each moment as a new one than the alternative of worrying and trying to take control of a situation.
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So, that was my experience in the desert of Arizona! I really appreciate you reading.
If you want to stay updated on my traveling all across the U.S. and Canada, you can follow me! I'll be posting all sorts of things, but the backbone of this blog is going to be travel.
Peace :-)
!steemitworldmap 33.211179 lat -114.025639 long Kofa National Wildlife Refuge D3SCR
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