I traveled to the San Rafael Swell, a few hours south of SLC, where my work is, which is at a place called Elements. Elements is an Adventure Therapy program for teenagers and young adults with behavioral and/or substance abuse issues.
On that day, we took the clients on a rappel into a canyon where an archeological site, including a cliff dwelling with petroglyphs and artifacts, is located. I remember saying, “I never ever learned to read or write so well, but I can play a guitar while doing a rappel,” à lá Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” My coworkers lowered me down the 150-foot cliff face while I played “Jumping Jack Flash” by The Rolling Stones, and the clients rocked out.
For the clients, a stay at Elements involves backpacking in the Swell and on the Wasatch Plateau, rock climbing, rappelling, canyoneering, mountain biking, fly fishing, etc., and dialectical behavioral therapy. As staff, instructors join the clients on their backpacking route for a week at a time, living and camping with them to supervise and attend to their needs. I’ve worked there for two years, and my KLOS guitar is always strapped to my backpack as an essential piece of gear.
More often than not, Elements is a profoundly emotional and deep experience for the young people going through it, and music is medicine. Everyone can feel that. Whether we’re laughing together around the campfire or gazing at a beautiful sunset with some soft strumming in the background. So, as I exist in that community now as Elements’ resident minstrel, my KLOS guitar has truly been my most treasured possession. With a surprisingly loud, full, rich, warm tone coming from the compact body of the pack guitar size, it’s lightweight enough that I don’t mind carrying it with the rest of my gear. We can walk anywhere up to 10 miles on our hike days. I’ve been so pleased that I’ve not had to sacrifice real quality sound for the lightweight utility I also need.
At higher elevations, 9,000 or 10,000 feet on the Wasatch, where temperatures are fluctuating and there’s much more weather, the carbon fiber body is a game-changer. I had a wooden guitar with me up there for a while, and after a few weeks, it was toast. The conditions are just ideal for warping wood. No worries with my KLOS carbon fiber guitar. Sometimes I don’t even need to tune it when I take it out of the case. It’s certainly held up to the elements I face camping in Utah, like monsoonal rains, hailstorms, and cold temperatures in the winter.
Nature and music are very important to me outside of work. I’ve had my KLOS guitar with me in Glacier National Park, Shoshone Basin in Yellowstone, Snoqualmie Falls in Washington, to Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon and beyond. When I encounter people in those places, a little bit of music is usually a very special addition to the already impactful experience of being in pristine nature.
I’m a bit of a directionless wanderer, I live in a van and travel around, but I spend a lot of time in Utah.
-Martel Bird
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