What do you get when you combine a mountain man, a cowboy, and a farmer? -The most incredible man alive. -Uncle David.
This man can live off the wilderness with nothing more than a knife in his pocket. If he doesn't have a knife, he will make one.
In his Southern Utah town, Uncle David acquires the feral horses no one wants and tames them with extraordinary methods. He helps anyone in need, even the hitchhikers he brought home to meet his family. Unbeknownst to Uncle David, they had just murdered a man.
Uncle David is larger than life, and that is why I asked him to take me on a great adventure.
"Why did you bring us here?" Heather cried on day three, deep in the slot canyons of Escalante, Utah. The backpacking trip had thrown challenges we hadn’t prepared for. When Heather woke up sick with a high fever, her spirit broke, but only for a moment.
Months prior, Aunt Marge warned, "Be careful going with David.” She rubbed her knees, still remembering her Mammoth Caves misadventure with Uncle David. "You don't know what you are getting into."
"It will be fun," I said, full of hope.
She shook her head.
Perhaps I should have heeded her advice. I am glad I didn’t.
I wanted to prove my worth to my hero and would do anything Uncle David had in store.
"We will descend Hell’s Backbone the first day. Make sure you bring plenty of water because we will not have a water supply until day two. On the second day, we will swim through a little bit of water. You’ll need to wrap your supplies in Ziplock and plastic bags to keep things dry." I did one better, I put the plastic-protected supplies in a dry bag.
Day two had me nervous, but I didn’t tell Uncle David. I get cold easily, and I didn't look forward to swimming in artic water that rarely saw the rays of the sun.
"Don't worry. It will only be for an hour or two," David had said. I guess I could swim in icy water for two hours.
We started day two by entering the narrow slot canyon with its rich sandstone and slick rock. My heart sank when I felt the water. Was it even 50 degrees? I gasped as the cold took my breath away. It felt like a million ice-needles put a paralytic toxin in my muscles. “I can do this. I can do this.” We floated the stream with our packs. The frigid water locked our muscles, making it hard to swim. To our surprise, we swam through water for the next day and a half, not the two hours that Uncle David had promised. I violently shook the entire time. I have no doubt I had hyperthermia, but I needed to look strong for Uncle David. I didn't complain. It had been an unusually wet spring, and the slot canyons had filled with high levels of water.
We did have moments of reprieve where we could walk on dry ground. At these times, I ran ahead to sprawl out on the giant black boulders to soak up as much heat as possible until Heather and Uncle David caught up. Then, I would run ahead to the next bolder for more warmth.
We propelled and dove off rocks and cliff edges. We saw little dry ground, seemingly to be more on a swimming expedition than a hike. I have never been so cold in my life, and I hope never to be that cold again.
When night came, we found a little slice of high ground and made camp. When I removed my gear from the pack, I felt devastated to find everything soaked through. My Ziplocks, trash bags, and expensive dry pack had failed me. I bit my lip to hide the sorrow. The temperature dropped. If only I had dry clothes and a warm sleeping bag to climb into.
The following day, we began again. Despite the cold water, Heather and I kept our spirits up. We loved the chance to reconnect. I also cherished this time with Uncle David. We hoped the water would soon end, yet we spent half the day swimming through it.
"What do you think?" I asked Uncle David as I looked across the black water. This section of slot canyon had no edges or sides to hold onto, only an ominous black stream. It snaked around a bend, so we couldn’t tell how long we would swim. There would be nowhere to escape once we got in.
"I don't know how long it is," Uncle David said, rubbing his chin.
Could we swim the entirety of it without gassing out? What if the water went for half a mile or more? We couldn’t see the end.
Uncle David said, "We have no choice." We had passed the chance to turn around a long time ago. We tossed our packs in the water, held onto them, and kicked our legs.
The freezing water had exhausted me. This next swim was deadly, and I knew I had to get through it. Somewhere within, a spring of energy came to life. I paddled my legs like a motorboat and eventually made it to the other side. Uncle David and Heather didn't have the same luck. Their leg movements did not push them through as they turned in circles and barely advanced. Their energy waned. I said a heartfelt prayer, then tossed a rope and helped pull them through.
-A miracle indeed.
In the later part of the day, we finally found more dry ground and less water. Eventually, we set camp and rested. The next morning, Heather woke up sick.
"You have to keep going," Uncle David told her, now a day behind schedule. “People will eventually worry about us.”
Heather, a champion in all realms, put her backpack on and continued the hike. We followed the water but thankfully had dry land to walk on. Unfortunately, poison ivy covered the edge, which we walked through for the rest of the day.
On our last day, we met the roaring Escalante River.
"We will only have to cross it a couple of times," Uncle David reassured us.
The torrent river tried to knock us down and claim us as its own. It took exceedingly skill to stay upright as we traversed it. Uncle David had not realized how full the river would be, and we crossed it twelve times. At least the water was warmer than the water in the slot canyon. Finally, we reached our car at about midnight and collapsed in our seats. Heather and I had gotten an adventure that would stick with us for a lifetime.
And that is how it is with Uncle David. He never does anything ordinary, and that's why I admire him. He has survivors’ skills that would get him through the apocalypse. He can eat anything with his iron-clad stomach and not get sick, even a rat. Uncle David sees everything as a problem to solve, and his brain immediately creates solutions. On his own, he built a garage triple the size of his house. —90% of the tools in the garage he manufactured.
Uncle David, an Airforce Veteran, eventually retired from farming, but he has never abandoned his worn cowboy hat and boots. Always a man of the land, he currently takes troubled youth into the rugged wilderness where they live during their treatment, and Uncle David teaches them valuable life skills.
Would I follow Uncle David on another adventure?
-In a heartbeat.
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Everyone Needs to Know Uncle David
by Stephanie Daich
