The Vortex

 

A route description this is not. I needed one because I saw a Facebook post from Josh Carlson with his kids at the Vortex and thought, I could bring my kids to the Vortex. After looking it up online, I found out it was in Dammeron Valley near Gunlock. This was about a 45 minute drive from our house even though it felt close by. I had not spent much time out in that area, so it was worth the time to just head out to a new spot. Following the route description worked well and eventually it got us to something that represented a trailhead. We had to continue to follow the route description from there. 

From what I knew, we crossed a wash and then went up a slickrock route to a giant hole they call the Vortex. There were some people out and about, but I couldn't really tell if they were headed to the same destination as us. Anyway, we figured, as long as the slickrock was easy walking, there was no reason to do anything different than follow the way that we thought that we were supposed to go. Besides, we had a lot to talk about. Much had happened in the last month and we were now debating whether to return to teach at McKenzie again. 

For the past 2.5 years, we had taught at George Washington Academy. This school was one of the best in the state of Utah and I felt lucky to be a teacher there. The colleagues, staff, and students were all amazing and it had made me grow as a teacher in ways that I could not imagine. Still, there was something missing and I was not sure I was going to find it there. I had come up with so many ideas of what I wanted to do as a teacher and I knew at McKenzie I could make those a reality. Still, why give up our security. Financially we were in a good place. Our kids were happy, though they did not have a ton of friends around. 

There were so many ins and outs to deciding if we wanted to make the move, that we could spend a ton of time talking about it and not come to a conclusion. Still, the opportunity was there with a math teacher opening and an elementary teacher opening. On top of that idea was the looming threat of coronavirus. I could not see how they could shut down school due to a virus, but the questions were still out there. So as we plodded up the slickrock, we discussed these topics. I was impressed with our kids as they did not seem to have any issues with the uphill. 

Conrad was turning into a pretty good hiker and Zyla never seemed to have too many complaints. Once they were out there, they always enjoyed it. We got to what we thought was the top of the slickrock expanse. There were a ton of cairns built in one spot. We continued a bit farther, but it seemed we had gone too far. I consulted my watch and route description, and eventually we came back to the Vortex. The Vortex was one of a series of slickrock depressions created by water. I wouldn't say it was anything out of the ordinary, just larger than most that you come across. This pothole would be a difficult scramble in and out of.

 There was one pothole filled with water, but another that was dry. Everyone enjoyed it and we took a bunch of pictures. What was more impressive was just being out on the slick rock. It doesn't matter how often that you go, there is just something about bare red rock that makes it worthwhile to explore. You are always searching for that one unique view. We had the whole thing to ourselves, which was great and after we were done, we headed back down. Now we were the ones with the advice for the people going up as most people were trying to find this feature the same way that we were. Definitely worth a trip there for the experience and a good trip for the whole family.