Why
The last year and a half of my life have been made on very rash decisions. So far everything has worked out too well for me to learn any lesson besides everything works out in the end and there is no need to stress. At the end of January something happened in my life that made me realize where I live is very boring and there is no longer a need for me to be there. That night I applied to photography and guide jobs to locations all over western US as I've always wanted to go there and DATA from the Appalachian Trail made it sound like a place I would fit right into and love, he was correct, but I'll get into why later.
The Job options
I got a few call backs from Ski mountains in Vale Colorado. Sounded like a few great options until I realized the pay was bad and i didn't get a season pass to the mountain. Why would i move to Colorado and not snowboard? I sure as hell couldn't afford a pass with the pay they offered. As i was about to give up and go back to accepting that I would be living my boring day to day life catering and being a waiter in the greater Boston area I got a call while as work. "Hey this Jess with Aspen..." blah blah blah. Holy shit, this sounds amazing. A job on top of a mountain to take photos and snowboard? Free season pass? I told her i was extremely interested. A few days later she called back for an interview, that went extremely well and I told her i could drive out to Colorado in 4 days.
The trip to Colorado
So there I was about to move across country in my 2006 Subaru Legacy GT wagon cars all packed up ready to go. In a span of 10 or 12 days i went from wanting to move across the country to having my car packed and on the road. All was going well, the trip was going to take 31 hours, about days and 2,400 miles. No problem! or so i thought, the second day when i was in Ohio diving through i got hit with the worst storm i have ever seen and ending up hydroplaning into the median going about 45mph, hitting the front left of my car spinning around hitting the back right than hitting my front left once more before coming to a stop facing the wrong direction on the the highway. Thankfully i was perfectly okay besides a little shaken and scared that i would have to go back to to Massachusetts. One guy pulled over behind me to make sure i was okay, he let me get into hi pickup while we waited for the highway patrol and AAA to tow me car. While waiting i was able to call my mom and tell her what happened, you can imagine how a mom would react to you just totaling your car in the rain 700 miles away from home in the middle of nowhere Ohio. She drove out in 10 hours to meet me at a motel room and find out a plan to get me Aspen. Without her i can't say this is would be possible. No matter how much she wanted me home she let me follow what i wanted to no matter how insane. So 3 days in a motel room in Norwalk, Ohio, we found a truck, a 2000 Chevy Silverado with a camper shell. My plan was to get this and then sell it in Colorado to buy another Subaru as i fell in love with them, but this car grew on me. 2 more days of what was the most anxiety provoking driving after signing the title i hit the Colorado border in what seemed to take forever but boy did that feel amazing. I remember pulling over next to the "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign and just grinning ear to ear. That night i drove through some of the scariest mountain roads i have ever touched, maybe my nerves were getting the best of me from my recent car crash, I pulled into and slept in a gas station parking lot in Silverthorne Colorado in the back of truck in -4 degree Fahrenheit at close to 9,000 feet above sea level. I went from just outside of Boston close to sea level where there's nothing around besides a few small hills to in the most beautiful mountain range in i have ever seen in my life. The next morning i woke up in the ice covered cab of my Silverado. I guess over night when its -4 degrees out condensation will stick to everything inside and freeze into ice which took close to an hour to thaw, while i waited i checked craigslist for apartments and i lucked out big time. I found a room for rent very cheap in Carbondale Colorado. The moment i say Mount Sopris i knew i would love it there, i immediately fell in love with the town.. I showed up after calling them and i got the room right there and then. After the weekend i went to Aspen for the first time ever to meet my new boss and where i was going to to work. I was on stationed on top of Buttermilk Mountain, one of Aspens four ski mountains. The view was incredible.
Why it felt right
Well first off i was surrounded by mountains bigger than i have ever seen 360 degrees around. Ever sense i started hiking the mountains have been where i felt most at home and this was perfect for that, although i never got to summit a 14er or any large mountain due to my fear of avalanche's and lack of knowledge how to hike in the back country of Colorado i didn't mind, standing at the top of Buttermilk with my camera all day just looking out into the glacier carved valley below was enough. Then after a week i went to the rock gym there as i needed to sign up for a gym and climbing is a huge addiction of mine. I would go nearly every day of the week with maybe only one or two days off. I started to meet people and they started to invite me to climb out doors and that's where Carbondale got a permanent place i my heart. The location not only is beautiful but it's also perfect, 3 hours to the west is Moab, UT which has mind blowing hiking, rock climbing, biking, and just all around scenery. 30 minutes south is Aspen which I've already covered. 3 hours east is Boulder with the flat irons and a very big history in rock climbing. and then within an hour in any direction there are a countless number of rock climbing crags even some known world wide. Then what made me really fall in love was just the all around life style, on the east coast when people learned i spent 5 months hiking the Appalachian Trail i got a lot of "Wow, that's so cool. You're crazy" and stuff like that, In Carbondale people weren't calling me crazy, it was a life style they have lived in some sort of way whether it was living out of vans year round, or just in the summer for road trips to go rock climbing, it may not be the same but when you break it down to having only the necessities it really is, a van is no different than a backpack and a tent besides you get from point A to B a whole lot quicker. People were more active and a whole lot nicer, i hear maybe 3 car horns the whole time i was there and within being back in Boston for 15 minutes i heard at least 10. From what I've gathered people in cities seem to be a whole lot less happy and less willing to try new adventures. My new goal is to get a van to live out of as that's the life style i connected with and it just feels right. Currently my truck will do, as of the time i'm writing this me and my mom have spent countless house measuring and cutting to many pieces of wood to outfit the back of my truck into a livable space.