Julia Geisler
Appearances
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
When I was in my 20s, I was on the Travel the World plan, and I wanted to do some backpacking, and I had a friend, Devin McClive, who wanted to join me.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
We were also, I think, single at the time, both of us, and just like, oh, we're going to go into the woods and we'll probably meet some hot young dudes and get to hike with them. And we met Eric and Alan, who are, I think, in their mid-60s at the time, which was just as good, but not what we were expecting.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
He had so much energy and was just like, the sparkle in his eye, he was smiling, just, you know, stoked on life.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
Him and Alan were definitely world travelers for hiking. Alan was a pretty established mountaineer and rock climber, and I had just gotten interested in rock climbing. I hadn't become one yet, I wouldn't say, but I feel like every rock face, I was like, can you climb that? And Alan would kind of talk about it or other places he climbed.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
I do remember getting messages, mostly from Eric, on updates of life of like, you know, here are the grandkids or Marilyn and I are doing this. I guess I somehow learned of Alan's passing probably through Eric.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
I don't think I'd ever really heard much of the Highline Trail. It's kind of Utah's best kept secret, which might be out once this podcast comes out. But I don't remember that much, like knowing that much. And so him saying, you know, I want to do this trail. It's at, what, 10,000 feet for a lot of it and right in your backyard. Yeah. I was like, huh.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
And my partner Blake was very familiar with it. So I started looking at the map and, you know, it was a pretty cool adventure.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
He invited me to come with him and it was a big snow year and I opted not to.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
When you're looking at going over passes on a high alpine trail, that gets hairy quickly if you don't have the right crampons and poles.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
So that snow took a long time to melt. Even in August, it's still up there in the high mountains.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
And Eric's the same, you know, just these long distance trails that they had done. There's an important distinction here.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
Yeah, I just said, you know, I don't think the timing is great right now. And he respected that. But he was like, well, I'm coming. So can you help me out with logistics of picking me up and getting me to the airport? And I was definitely excited to see him.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
He had physical maps, a compass, a GPS unit, I think a whistle, like just anything you could think of for navigation and emergency purposes, he had it in there.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
From Australia, he arranged to have a rancher dude pick him up in Vernal and take him to the Highline Trailhead, which is, you know, it's not off of a main freeway or anything. You got to kind of want to get there and figure out your transportation there. It's not like a taxi's going to take you there. So you found this guy that, if you could get to Vernal, would take him to the Trailhead and...
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
And it's like, I'll see you in ten days at the Highline Trailhead on the Merrill Lake Highway. And that's the last time I saw Eric was dropping him off at that bus stop.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
I definitely thought a lot about the Appalachian Trail when I was out there and just the amount of rain and walking in wet shoes and monotonous long miles of green tunnel. Like, I was just psyched to have views every day and be out there in nature and it was gorgeous.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
I think that they had both had a lot of experience in the mountains and seen, you know, bad weather and were very knowledgeable on how to be prepared in high alpine terrain.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
They were both pretty concerned with Devin and I's camping shelter setup because I had hiked the Appalachian Trail with a tarp, not knowing that, you know, high alpine terrain with rocks and not a lot of soil or trees is way different.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
A tarp maybe doesn't cut it in a storm or high winds or just a shelter in general. So they were pretty concerned that we had a tarp.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
I just have this image of him walking out of his tent at night or something like that and slipping and falling and kind of off-putting because he was such a mountain man.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
It is just magnificent getting out of Yosemite Valley and into that grandiose terrain.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
You know, we hiked a lot of the hike with them, but not all the time. We did our own plan, but you kind of move along at similar paces and meet up and then separate and kind of goes along that way.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Something you don't have to carry on your back. It's fatty, it's hot, it's pizza. You're psyched. That's what we call trail magic.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
It's a pretty intimate experience being out in the woods with folks. Definitely lifelong bonds, I think, are established. And yeah, pretty meaningful times of life.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
Devin liked to sleep in the mornings and Eric wanted to get going. And he would just like pretty much not yell at the top of his lungs, but loud enough that she would hear like, Devin, it's time to get up. It's time to get on the trail. You know, that was his personality of like he was so happy out there and passionate. I mean, it's a grand adventure.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
It's great to be out there with friends where it gets a little bit boring sometimes.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
Yeah, definitely sharing about family and friends back home. His wife, Marilyn, he talked about a lot and love of his life and, you know, his grandkids. And he had a pretty strong, it seemed like, family network.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
I have this image of actually being up there and Eric in particular walking between these huge spires of rock and there is just light like you've never seen it before. It's like this golden light that shines between these huge spires of rock. And he was just standing between two spires with his arms open, just like basking in that light. Yeah, that memory definitely stays with me.
Uinta Triangle
Aspiring
I definitely struggled coming off that trail because it was a month in the woods and then I was dumped into this city. And it's a pretty eclectic, crazy city where anything goes. So it was a bit shocking and overwhelming to come out of the woods for me that time than I think any other hikes I've done. And I had no idea where I was going next.