I am camping for the night about 30 feet from the Duchesne River. The quickly flowing river is making that wonderful sound of a rushing stream. I am about 14 miles from my destination tomorrow of Tabiona, Utah.
I have had a great time having my 13 year-old grandson, Trey, along the last three days. It is more fun walking with company, particularly with family, than by yourself. Trey is big for his age and a strong hiker. He is using the outing to meet some requirements for the Backpacking and Hiking Merit Badges for Boy Scouts.
We hiked over the summit at Wolf Creek Pass today, elevation 9485 feet. That is about 5000 feet above the elevation of my starting point in Salt Lake City. It is bit of work pushing the 100 pound cart and myself up miles of 8 percent grades.
We happened upon an interesting camping site yesterday afternoon. The sign on the main road said, “Memorial Monument.” Since, we were in a National Forest and the area has no restrictions on where you can camp, we turned down the short road to a vacant parking lot. We found a flat peice of grassy ground that looked perfect for pitching our tent.
After we picked the spot for our tent, we went over and read the inscription on the granite monument. The monument had been erected by the Janpanese Association of Utah to memorialize Masashi Goto who had crashed near here on July 4, 1929. It appears that he was on something like an around the world flight and died in the crash.
The word “refugee” is usually used meaning a person fleeing large scale violence, leaving their home and fleeing to another country. If a person flees their home to a temperary location inside their own country, they are called an “internally displaced person.” In both cases, the persecution is often based on race, religion or ethnicity.
There are certainly many people around the world suffering as refugees. I feel that it is a blessing to me to know the people of South Sudan who have suffered as refugees. South Sudan is probably on the list of the top ten poorest and most undeveloped countries in the world for people who make those lists after studying such things. The efforts of Southern Sudan Humanitarian to care for orphans and provide for elementary education in the villages is a basic and essential effort in developing a country suffering from poverty and the effects of war. Please sponsor me on my “Thousand Mile Walk” to help. A penny a mile, a dime a mile, or well, whatever you can give will be appreciated.
Video at the Masashi Goto Monument