April 30, 2026. The magic has not worn off this campsite. One more night here. Tomorrow will be a long day, a Costco run in St. George, laundry, water, trash, a smaller grocery store, and then about two and a half hours of driving toward southwestern Colorado. We'll be meeting up with a nomad named Greg, a favorite spot of his he's willing to share.
I had a rest day yesterday. I still did things but I made a conscious effort to slow down. I've been on the go for a long stretch, and even the days holed up in the van have been active, project to project. Yesterday I let myself switch off for a bit. Took a few naps.
I've got my speakers set up on the edge of the cliffs, music playing off the laptop on the picnic table. Today I want to get my mini portable DJ controller hooked up so I can mix whenever the mood hits. If I get that one thing done, that's enough for this day. Then I can enjoy being here.
I'm fairly certain I saw a bald eagle overhead yesterday. There's some debate about whether it might have been a hawk. We're waiting for it to loop back for a better look. Hummingbirds seem to be attracted to Shannon's rig.
Lizards everywhere. Several rattlesnake sightings. The hot sunny days are the ones to watch, that's when they're out warming themselves on the rocks. They don't seem to share the skin cancer concerns that plague the human sunshine experience. There are also jackrabbits with comically large ears sticking straight up. Coyotes most nights, heard but not seen, though I've found the evidence. Elk prints down the trail, huge ones, not far away.
I've been using the Seek app to identify plants and try to memorize as many as I can. The Prickly Pear is easy, it's everywhere and right now it has beautiful pink flowers. The Stansbury Cliffrose is another common one but that name has a hard time sticking after about an hour away from it. I love these desert flowers. The prickly pear blossom smells like a perfumey cucumber.
Shannon keeps telling me that if I love this campsite I'd love backpacking, because you get access to places like this constantly. She's probably right. It's not the first time backpacking has presented itself as the next frontier. I have other friends who are into it and it does feel right in my zone. The main constraints are van security, gear cost, and van space for that gear. It's not happening right away. But it's starting to feel inevitable on a longer time scale.
It's become clear that not being able to work on videos this past week has been a blessing. If I'd had a hard drive I would have been at it constantly, and with the amount of footage I have the job would feel endless and never done. That's not a healthy relationship with the work. I need shape to it, guard rails, a sense of completion when something is finished. Nobody is going to acknowledge that for me. That's my job. I've learned I need to tend to these nuances to keep everything sustainable over time.
I'm starting a simple notification system for the site. A basic way for people to get updates on whatever I've been up to without having to check back manually. More on that when it's up.