In July, nine Wimberley High School graduates set out on an ambitious journey to hike and camp in the major national parks of the western U. S. and Canada. In all, they traveled 8,ioo miles through more than a dozen states. During the month they were on the road, they answered only to themselves, faced challenges and experienced people, places and events they’ll never forget.
Making the trip were Aiden Dornak, Ivan Becken, Gavin Bock, Reid Leinneweber, Tison Sames, Brock Williams, Dorian Bishop, Christian Garcia and Cash Toomey. The travelers set out from Wimberley in three vehicles. Aiden and Ivan were in Aiden’s 4Runner, Dorian, Cash and Christian were in Cash’s Ram truck, and a quartet of friends, Gavin, Reid, Tison and Brock, were in the third vehicle. Here is part two of their story shared by three of the nine members who made the trip: Aiden, Ivan and Gavin.
Part Two: Medford, Music and Canada Now approximately halfway through their trip, the group of nine gathered in Medford, Oregon where Dorian Bishop’s father owned a farm. They enjoyed hot showers and good food and several of them went swimming in the Applegate River. Their visit coincided with the massive “Fairwell Festival” in nearby Redmond, which included an impressive lineup of country music performers.
“There were over 30,000 people there each day. All nine of us went and that was really a memorable experience,” said Gavin. “A lot of the people we met were from Austin, all of them country music fans, who had flown up to attend.”
After their time in Medford, the group took off for Olympic National Park on the northern border of Washington State and the province of British Columbia. Driving across the eastern tip of British Columbia, they drove to the city of Calgary, in the province of Alberta.
“What an experience,” said both Ivan and Aiden. “It was so fun. We stayed in an Airbnb penthouse on the top floor of an old building downtown for $35 each per night.”
“You can do everything there when you’re 18,” said Gavin, “so we partied and went to a casino.
The food was very French-oriented and good. The French culture is prominent in Calgary. People were very kind and we met a lot of locals. They really took us in and said ‘We’re calling off work tomorrow so we can show you around.’” “That was the best culture we encountered by far,” said Ivan. “They were very kind, welcoming and sophisticated people.”
After their time in Calgary, Dorian, Cash and Christian headed back to Wimberley. With another week of travel time, the group, now six, headed to Banff National Park, a little over an hour’s drive east of Calgary.
“It was just so crowded because it’s just 75 minutes from Calgary,” remembers Aiden. “There were at least 5,000 people there that day. But Lake Louise was probably the single most beautiful mountain lake we saw on the entire trip.”
After exploring the sights of Banff all day, the group drove straight through to Driggs, Idaho where they slept for a few hours in a parking lot, ate a hot meal in a local diner, and then, about an hour and a half afterwards, started hiking up to Hurricane Pass in the Tetons.
“That’s where we saw one of the best views of the trip,” said Aiden. It was something else, amazing and magnificent. Right under us was a glacier and you could see the glacial flow empty into a mineral green lake below us.”
From the hike in the Tetons, the group drove to a swimming spot in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where they enjoyed cooling off, and then set out on the nine-hour drive to their next destination, Leadville, Colorado, to summit Mount Massive, the second tallest peak in the Rockies.
“We arrived at our campsite late,” Aiden remembered. “At about 1:45 a.m., Ivan, Brock and I were outside the tent. Brock was eating something and I had a can of soup that I was too lazy to heat up. It was the end of the trip, our guard was down and we were feeling invincible. And then we heard this tremendous crashing and branches being broken.”
“For some reason, we began laughing,” he said. “Probably because it was late and we were sleep deprived. When we looked in the direction of the sound, about 20 yards away, a giant black bear ran out from a stand of trees, heading straight in our direction.”
Meanwhile, in his sleeping bag outside the tent, Gavin was drifting off. “I had my eyes closed and was nearly asleep, when all of a sudden, the guys went from easy banter to complete silence. I heard feet running behind me. After a second or two, I heard running again and the sound of car doors opening and slamming shut.”
“The minute we saw the bear,” said Aiden, “we ran and piled into the car. Tison and Reid were already asleep in there, and Ivan, Bock and I basically crammed in there on top of them. We shut the doors and locked them, completely forgetting about our good friend, Gavin, out there.”
Outside, Gavin is beginning to stir. “I’m waking up a little,” he remembered. “I thought the guys might be pranking me, but something seemed off. I raised my head to look around and saw this bear staring at me, from 10 or 15 yards away. I have zero memory of running to the car. When I tried to open the door, it was locked. I hung on it yelling, ‘Let me in, let me in!’ For two very long seconds we all froze, staring at each other through the glass. Someone hit the lock and I jumped over three bodies into the back of the car.”
“Shortly after Gavin jumped in the car,” Ivan said, “the bear took off. Not ten seconds later, this guy comes running out of the trees.”
“He was about our age,” he said, “shirtless, shoeless and completely covered in mud. We had no idea where he came from – we hadn’t seen another person all day – but within seconds he was at the car, pointing at us and demanding to know who we were. Behind him we could see another bear come out of the trees. Somehow we managed to find out the guy’s name was Nate, while trying to tell him we’d seen bears come out of the trees behind him.”
“That guy was so out of it,” Aiden remembered. “He didn’t seem to understand what we were saying. We tried to tell him, ‘Dude, there are bears out there,’ but he insisted there weren’t any. Then midconversation, he turned around and took off in the direction of the trees but not before tripping over Gavin’s backpack and faceplanting hard. He just got up and ran back into the woods.
“For a while there, we thought we should go out and find this guy,” Gavin said. “But it was pitch dark, the middle of the night, and in the middle of nowhere. Reid suddenly said, ‘He’s a skinwalker. Nate’s a skinwalker!’ but little by little we arrived at the consensus of staying put. By the time we came down from the adrenaline, it was about 2:30 in the morning.”
The next morning, Aiden, Ivan and Gavin woke up at six to hike Mount Massive, their most challenging climb of the trip.
“The hike was rough, especially since we hiked it on very little sleep,” Aiden said, “but once we made the top, it was worth it. The view was awesome.” To reach the 14,429 foot summit, the three hiked 4,000 feet up and another 4,000 down to return to camp.
After the climb to the top of Mount Massive, the group of six began the long drive back to Texas, stopping in Salida, Colorado for a dinner of “really great pizza” before eventually rolling back home to Wimberley.
Takeaways
In the two weeks following their return home, Ivan, Aiden and Gavin had time to re-flect on their experience. Here are a few things they shared.
Gavin: “My favorite thing about the trip was the balance of doing what was required of us, of having fun, making decisions, and experiencing mind-expanding discoveries together. We were our own people. We made our own decisions and did what we wanted and needed to do, splitting ways and then meeting back up again.”
Aiden: “Things didn’t always go the way we planned. When the car with Gavin, Reid, Tison and Brock broke down, they had to change their plans but they made it work for them until we could meet up again.
Sometimes there’s nothing you can do but enjoy the time and make the best out of the hard parts. Everyone says ‘just go with the flow” and on this trip we really had to. Unfortunate things happened and we learned how to make the best of it. I mean, there we were with all of our friends, in a beautiful place that other people might give anything to experience”.
Gavin: The other day, I was with my brother on Canyon Lake on our jet ski when the engine exploded in the middle of the lake. It was terrible, but I thought, well, we’re safe, we’re okay and it’s insured. Yeah, we gotta pay for it to get towed, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s just not a big deal. I learned that from the trip. It’s easy to get caught up in the little stuff and overreact, but there’s no reason for it.
Aiden: On this trip, I think everyone gained a wider perspective. When I looked at my life in the big scheme of things, I realized how insignificant my life was compared to everything else.
