The journey home

Posted by: Rebecca Chen

On June 10, 2018, the Kammok summer interns left Vail to return home to Austin, Texas -- the end of their first adventure together but the beginning of their summer adventures at Kammok HQ.

 

[Check out our trip to Vail: Our first 48 hours with Kammok]

 

After working four days at the GoPro Mountain games, Addie, Owen, Emily and I (hi, Rebecca here) left Vail, Colorado with sandwiches packed for the 16-hour drive back to headquarters. This time, a little more familiar with one another than before.

 

After breaking down our tent at the GoPro Mountain Games, we packed up Dunebug, our van, and headed out of Vail to our first stop at Independence Pass. We’d heard from a Kammok coworker that it had stellar views, so we decided to check it out. We weren’t disappointed.

 

 

Next, we headed over to Grottos White River National Forest. Along the way, we saw a giant pile of rocks begging to be climbed. We took a quick Dunebug break and scampered up the rocks to explore.

 

 

At Grottos White River National Forest, we caught the start of a sunset. We lingered just long enough to soak in the moment then hustled back to Dunebug, knowing our campsite at Alta Lake was still five hours away.

 

 

We drove, we drove, and we drove, racing the setting sun. We arrived in the dark forests of Atla Lakes after midnight. We travelled as far into the forest as we could before the rough terrain and our droopy eyelids forced us to make camp.

 

 

Early the next morning, we set off to Trout Lake where we met Jim Gingerich. Jim has been painting his whole life, and recently he’s been traveling around Colorado to paint the landscapes.

 

 

From there, we drove another hour to hike up Bridal Veil Falls -- intent on packing in as much exploring into our trip as we could

 

 

 
The hike was worth it. (It always is, isn’t it?)

 

 



We stopped by one last waterfall before heading to camp—Cornet Falls. Whoever said you shouldn’t go chasing waterfalls?

 

 

At Priest Lake, on the last night of our trip, we set up camp in daylight for the first time. The next morning we woke up at 5am to drive all the way from Telluride, Colorado to Austin, Texas.

 

 

Our first week at Kammok was quite the adventure. From meeting our intern team, to traveling with them for 16 hours in a car (in one direction), to living with them 24/7 for a week of work and play, we became closer than we could have expected and made memories that will last us all summer and beyond. We can’t wait to share the rest of our summer journey with you.

 

As always, thanks for hanging.