This fall, the 7th grade students descended the Sundance Trail into Dark Canyon for a week-long backpacking trip. Dark Canyon is a wilderness area in southeast Utah marked by steep canyon walls and a winding stream that feeds the Colorado River. It is one of Utah’s most beautiful and least visited canyon systems, and this was our home and classroom for a week of integrated field studies.

During our trip, we explored the canyon’s rim and floor, ran map-reading and orienteering classes, read wilderness literature, and created our own content in journals. Days were filled with spectacular hikes, research, sketching and writing. Students prepared meals in cook groups and maintained camp in tent groups, working together to take care of each other’s basic needs of food, shelter, and companionship. Nights were dedicated to journaling in the tents by headlamp, reading stories around a campfire, and stargazing.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to lead students through such unique and rich learning experiences, and we were proud of how students responded to the challenges that the canyon presented.

~Jamie Hozack
Upper School Director
Trip Leader