In early to mid-August of this year, Hope and I spent about 11 days in western Wyoming. Originally, we had grand plans to drive out and take nearly five weeks on the road, but new jobs, logistical constraints, and a surprisingly busy summer led us to scale that back. Instead, we flew to Salt Lake City and used it as our staging point. I flew in from Pittsburgh; Hope flew in from Arizona, where she had been working. We met on August 4.

After a few days with family in the Salt Lake Valley, we drove north and began our loop of western Wyoming by stay overnight in Thermopolis, Wyoming, where we soaked in the hot springs and admired the travertine terraces. From there, we headed into the northern Bighorn Mountains for a weekend of cave surveying in the Bighorn-Horsethief System, mapping nearly half a mile underground. After 25 miles of rough travel on BLM roads, a tire on our rental car gave out, and we ended up getting towed to Cody. From there, we drove into Yellowstone National Park for six days. At the end of the trip, we passed through the Tetons and returned to Salt Lake City before flying home.

Although we shortened the timeline, we didn’t scale back the plans. In about 14 days, we managed to cram in:

• 44.5 hours of driving, covering around 1,900 miles
• Two flights totaling 9 hours and roughly 3,000 miles
• One flight was delayed by three hours
• Hope also took a third flight (~2 hours)
• 27 miles of hiking
• Approximately 15 hours of caving, during which we took photos and surveyed about 2,400 feet
• Over 100 sheets of film exposed:
  • 50 black and white negatives
  • 36 color slides
  • 20 color negatives

Packing for a trip like this — and prepping the house to leave — takes several days. The amount of gear needed for both a photography and caving expedition, including camping in multiple locations, adds up quickly for two people. Altogether, I ended up bringing five bags totaling roughly 180 lbs of gear.

The living room became a staging area for it all, eventually spilling across the entire floor. I sent a photo of the scene to several friends and family members. One of them replied, “I didn’t know FedEx had a passenger service.” Despite the sheer volume of gear, I’ve gotten pretty good at packing things down. The biggest limitation is weight.

Some bags are packed by necessity: I cannot (or will not) check irreplaceable items like cameras, laptops, or anything with lithium batteries. As a result, all photo gear and electronics go into my carry-on bags — essentially everything in the foreground of that photo. The remaining equipment gets loaded into a large red duffel and a backpacking pack. For weight balance, one set of vertical gear and a tripod go in each.

In the end, everything fits surprisingly well — heavy, but compact. Some folks think this much gear is overkill. I know plenty of people who do similar trips with just a backpack. But typically, they’re not carrying both a large format camera system and a cave photography setup. I could probably get away with borrowing vertical gear from friends, but I prefer using my own. I know it, I trust it — same goes for the camping gear. Admittedly, I’m a bit prissy about clothes; once they’re sweaty and dirty, I really don’t like wearing them again if I can avoid it. In the end, we used everything we packed.

Not pictured: several boxes of film. I mailed those to Salt Lake City in advance due to increasing issues with TSA's reliability in hand-checking film. Many agents don’t realize that the newer CT scanners will destroy film — unlike the older X-ray machines, which were relatively safe. With over $400 worth of film on the outbound trip and an invaluable amount of exposed film on the return, I’m no longer willing to take chances.

My travel day began before dawn with a drive from Central PA to my parents’ place in Perryopolis, where I dropped off the car. From there, my grandparents drove me to Pittsburgh International. A beautiful red sunrise greeted me as I left Lewistown — the kind of quiet, glowing morning that makes you feel like things are off to a good start.

That didn’t last. While we were eating lunch a few hours later, my flight delay notifications started rolling in — first an hour, then two, then three. For the second time in a row, my flight was delayed longer than the flight itself. By the time I checked in, I knew it would be a long day.

Security was smooth, even with me having to unpack some gear. TSA often can’t tell what my camera lenses are — once they mistook them for giant wax candles in Atlanta. But Pittsburgh agents were chill. With nearly five hours to kill, I walked all the terminals, watched a fighter jet take off, and explored more of the airport than I ever had before. My Dramamine kicked in right as boarding should’ve started, so I spent the last two hours in a bit of a fog.

The plane — a newer Airbus A220 — was worth the wait. I had seat 1D, first class, right behind the bulkhead with two panoramic windows. From there, you can almost see ahead of the plane and well past the wing. It’s easily one of the best coach-class upgrades I’ve made, especially since I paid in miles.

That upgrade made more sense than ever: Delta charges $160 for two 50lb bags round-trip, but if you're even slightly over, it jumps by hundreds. With first class (and my Amex card), I get three 70lb bags for free. When traveling heavy — with camera gear, vertical gear, and camping equipment — that’s a huge savings. For me, it's a no-brainer.

We finally took off around sunset — nearly three hours late. As we climbed out of Pittsburgh, the sky had already gone dark. But ten minutes into the flight, while crossing 12,000 feet, the sun came back up — my second sunrise of the day. We chased it westward for nearly two hours, bathed in surreal sunset light that painted the clouds with color and texture. It wasn’t until we were over Colorado that I finally lost sight of the horizon.

Eventually, the glowing grid of Salt Lake City appeared, tucked against the Wasatch Mountains. I landed at 1:00 a.m. Eastern. It had been a 21-hour day.