Hi guys! I wrote this update last September and forgot to post it. Now that I'm traveling and using this account again, here it is! (Repost #4, hopefully with the damn photos.)

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Tl;dr: After a lovely stroll into the Silent City, and a moderately dicey scramble, I was able to retrieve my phone. The case is battered to hell but not only did it not have a single scratch, when I powered it on there was still 43% battery. Go figure.

For those joining us for the first time: Post1

Post2

My takeaways from this comedy are as follows:

1)The Bryce Canyon staff is just lovely. I ran into a ranger (not one of the ones who attempted to hike to my phone) who remembered me from last week. She was happy I came back to enjoy the park.

I also saw a park volunteer who wasn't directly involved with last week's rescue attempt, but was following the drama. She was so excited to see me! We talked for a while and she told me that she had tried to find my phone on her own later that week, since the first rain was forecast for the weekend, but got turned back. She was thrilled that I not only came back but called out to her when I recognized her. I was touched that she tried to help me out even after I'd left. We had a great conversation about volunteering at the parks.

2) Trust, but verify. I absolutely believe that the Bryce staff tried their best to help me within their parameters and investment levels. I'm also glad I tried myself, since I was obviously more invested, had more time to think through possible strategies, and was less constrained by rules.

3) Huge thanks to u/GVL_2024_ for advice and encouragement. I would either have done something stupid or not done anything at all without your help. This is your victory too!

4) Bryce Canyon is having its first ever heritage festival right now. One of the Paiute dancers spoke about a Sneak Up On The Enemy/Victory Over The Enemy dance, and reminded us that the enemy might not be another person, but something dark within ourselves. Wherever it comes from, it's important to heed those reality checks about our worst ideas and compulsions.

5) Shoutout to my friends u/420r1, u/CrisELSa, u/JSC843, and especially u/carolizzy81 for their encouragement and understanding. I'd reassure them that I not only got my own "litter" back, but picked up other people's trash on the way out...but we all know litter wasn't really the point. Stay judgemental, folks!

6) Honorable mention: u/TreeTwig0. I hit Black Canyon on my way back to Bryce and your comment was in my mind the whole time. Thanks for helping me stay safe.

Ok, the story: I arrived back at Bryce Canyon on Thursday afternoon and, like a moth to flame, like a sailor to a sea siren, like the Millennium Falcon to the Death Star's tractor beam, I immediately went to the place where I dropped my phone: the diving board over the Silent City, just south of Sunset Point. The phone was much further away than I'd remembered, not just vertically but horizontally, and the bucket rope I'd brought for a fishing expedition seemed like a solution on par with Reddit's best ideas. Plus, the looks I got from folks on the path were disconcerting and I'm not entirely immune to peer pressure. So I took some photos and posted to the internet for giggles.

Having driven 10 hours and acquired a traffic ticket to get back here, only to be stymied by mere physics, my mood was pretty low.

(Let's take an aside here: You have to understand that this wasn't just a missing device for me, this was a Loss; its absence was larger than its presence had been. Losing stuff drives me batshit insane. Yes, I know it's irrational, but it's also just a human idiosyncrasy.)

Where were we? Ah, low mood. But as we all know, the best medicine for angst is productivity, so I hopped over to the Native Heritage Festival performance at the Lodge. It was good to spend an evening in reflection and appreciation, instead of obsessing over bad ideas. And I did have some Bad Ideas, mostly driven by my inability to Let Shit Go.

To be honest, the odds of me actually trying to scramble down from the top (maybe with inadequate assistance from the paracord I brought for phone fishing) were pretty low. I'm generally a rule follower when the stakes are high, and the risks I do take are calculated and almost never physical. So low odds--but losing things makes me particularly susceptible to Crazy, and the What If...? Whisper was campaigning hard for a stupid and destructive conclusion. Luckily, all that reflecting and appreciating prepared me to accept the Paiute dancer's advice on identifying the enemy, which in my case was an acute case of misplaced priorities.

Once the climbing down idea was decisively put to bed and I made some peace with the idea of never getting the damn phone back, I started to plan the next day's hike in the Amphitheater. And then (because of residual Crazy) I started to think about poking my nose into the Silent City--just to see where the rangers got stuck. To my surprise, satellite views of the park (courtesy of my new phone) showed just one possible, fairly straight-forward route to where the phone was. Topography was hard to gauge--ravines, sheer walls, etc--but if I could easily confirm for myself that there was no way forward, I'd be able to Let Shit Go. And if there was a way forward, then I'd just climb up to the damn thing. Either way, I was done agonizing over this loss (downgraded from a Loss) and eagerly anticipated a nice walk the next day.

I don't think I'll ever tire of watching sunrise over the Bryce Amphitheater. The way the hoodoos glow with that early light is chef's kiss. Walking the Rim Trail at dawn and reading Reddit's comments on Post2 was a really good time. Thanks for the laughs, mates.

Then it was show time. I waaaay overprepared in the unlikely event that I'd be out overnight, but better safe than sorry. This included a cubic ton of water, food for days, down jacket and emergency blanket, headlamp, safety whistle, sunscreen, leatherman, etc. Since I was by myself, I asked a friend to be my virtual wingman. We had a set time for me to check in, and she had the route and the coordinates I was aiming for. I also opened Google Maps and selected the satellite layer before putting my phone on airplane mode.

I started at Sunrise Point and enjoyed the hike down the Queen's Garden Trail, over to the half of Navajo Loop that I would have followed. It was closed due to trail damage, so I started down the big wash that ran parallel to it. Reception was actually decent at the bottom of the Amphitheater, so I was able to update my friend on where I was when I got into the Silent City.

It was a good thing to have marked the route on a satellite screenshot because it was easy to overshoot the turn I needed. Not only that, but realtime GPS got a little wonky in the Silent City, so I ended up backtracking again until I found the right fork between the stone fins. But after those initial stumbles, the route was super easy to follow.

The terrain wasn't terrible either. I have some climbing experience, and I'd spent the last two weeks scrambling all over rocks in Nevada and Utah, so I was comfortable with being off-trail and with the climbing. But I'm also short and only moderately fit, so parts of the later climb were still challenging. I stopped several times to rest, eat, and consider whether I wanted to go on. Near the last 20 feet or so, I nearly turned back because the route got steep and smooth. After consulting with my wingwoman, lightening my pack, and fortifying myself with pretzels, it seemed doable. So I did it!

The phone was exactly where I expected it to be, right on the edge of what I thought I could safely reach. The purple case was destroyed but the phone was in perfect condition, and it powered on with 43% battery after a week. Apparently it powered itself off when it got too hot.

The rest of the day was just gravy. I walked back along the wash and hooked up with Navajo Loop to Sunset Point. My main concern at this juncture was making sure I didn't do something dumb like turn an ankle, which turned into lots of stopping to drink water (it was DRY!) and watch wildlife. Since I didn't, I treated myself to a hot shower at the general store and to dinner at Showdowns in Tropic, just outside the park. Ran into a guy I'd seen at several viewpoint pullouts on highway 12 near Grand Escalante, so we sat and chatted together until I was seated. Then I got tipsy on hard cider, danced in my seat to the live music, and told this story to anyone who would listen.

I've had a lot of adventures all over the world, and have visited so many of the national parks by now, but this is one of my absolute favorite adventures and probably my favorite national park. Big thanks to everyone who kept me laughing and/or commiserated with human fallibility. You were great company.

(30 Sept 2023)