Unscripted- Spring Break Lake Powell -2018- -
That was us. That was the unscripted week where the weather held, the water was high, and the friendships were forged in red rock dust. If you are reading this in 2025 or beyond, you cannot go back to 2018. But you can chase the ghost of that trip.
Because there is zero light pollution in the middle of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the Milky Way looked like a crack in the universe. You could see the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye. We lay on the top deck sleeping bags, passing a bottle of Fireball, not talking. A shooting star crossed every thirty seconds. It felt scripted. It felt like the sky was putting on a show for us . Unscripted- Spring Break Lake Powell -2018-
By: A. J. Rivers
Furthermore, the culture changed. By 2019, drones became pervasive. The "unscripted" vibe gave way to the "content" vibe. The magic of 2018 was that you had to be there. There was no live stream. There was no story until we told it around campfires months later. That was us
I remember waking up at 6:00 AM on Wednesday. The water looked like black oil. The reflection of the canyon walls was so perfect that when a fish jumped, it looked like the rock face was coming apart. A few of us took a paddleboard out before the wind came up. We drifted silently into a narrow slot canyon. The walls rose 300 feet on either side. The sound of the paddle dipping into the water echoed for four seconds. But you can chase the ghost of that trip
Around midnight, someone killed the generator. The silence was deafening. Then, the stars turned on.
