Just talking about taking a Ventures trip with the Museum of Northern Arizona lightens Rick Whitbeck’s mood.
“Ventures takes you where you have never been, to places you barely or never knew existed. After the experience you ask yourself why you didn’t go sooner and wonder how soon you can go back,” he says. “Talking about it makes me forget a long day. I’m badly in need of a slick rock fix.”
Whitbeck works as the Director of Continuing Education for Cleveland’s Case School of Medicine, a career he describes as nonstop intense and demanding. “Thankfully, I’ve been able to incorporate the peace of mind I found on Ventures into my daily living.”
Whitbeck discovered MNA Ventures programs through an ad while visiting the Grand Canyon in 1991. Since then, he’s taken ten Ventures. His favorite trip was a backpacking expedition in 2000 with his daughter through the lower Grand Gulch, an elegant canyon running across Cedar Mesa to the San Juan River in Utah. “It was so quiet I could hear the rush of air under a raven’s wing. I like finding places that are not popular and the MNA guides are really good at mapping out where people usually don’t go.”
Led by archaeologist Don Keller and poet naturalist Ann Walka, father and daughter backpacked a 25-mile loop, investigating petroglyhs, thirteenth century Pueblo living and ceremonial sites, and lush springs.
“I look for peace and solitude. Sometimes we’d go for days without seeing other people,” says Whitbeck. “Don Keller and Ann Walka are two of my favorite people. I’ve made a lot of long-term friends on Ventures. I often remember listening to Ann read poetry. We were sitting on this ledge and the smell of a damp sage field nearby was filling the air. It was so uplifting and incredible. Like the Navajo say, walk in beauty.”