The mindset business owner Myle Walsh takes toward running her Heber City boutique, Water from the Moon, is the same one she had when she got lost on the most active volcano in Indonesia 43 years ago: Dive in headfirst, fly by the seat of your pants and trust the process.
She was on a seven-month backpacking trip through Asia with her then-boyfriend, now-husband, Mark, in 1983 when they decided to climb Mount Merapi.
About three hours into the roughly four-hour climb, Walsh decided she’d had enough and would sit and read a book while Mark, insistent on reaching the summit, completed the climb. They agreed she would start heading back down the volcano at 4 p.m. if Mark hadn’t returned.
That time came with no sign of Mark. So, Walsh began slowly making her way down.
It had been cloudy on the climb up, but the early sunset made visibility even worse.
“All of a sudden, I can’t even see my hand in front of my face,” Walsh recalled. “I knew that I shouldn’t keep going because I remember there were a couple of dangerous places that, if it was dark, and I couldn’t see, I maybe could have fallen to my death.”
She called Mark’s name several times to no avail. So, she unpacked her backpack. She didn’t have a flashlight, but she did have a sweatshirt and towel, which she laid out on the trail. Trying to ignore the anxieties in the back of her mind, she stargazed, eventually drifting off to sleep.
When she woke, she made her way down the volcano back to the village where she and Mark had started their journey. She’d spent about an hour sipping tea in a tea house, unsure of what to do, when her boyfriend sauntered in.
“I had held it together pretty well. But when I saw him, I started crying,” Walsh said.
Mark had made it to the top of Mount Merapi the previous evening and had begun climbing down. He expected to find Walsh on the way down, but she had taken a wrong turn somewhere on the trail.
“When he got to the bottom, I think he was like, ‘Oh, man. This could be over,’” Walsh laughed.
The exterior of Water from the Moon at 118 S 500 W, Heber City. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record 
Water from the Moon sells cutlery and dishes that add a colorful touch to any dinner table. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record 
Water from the Moon owner Myle Walsh stands outside her shop located at 118 S 500 W, Heber City. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record 
Equestrian- and Western-themed products sold by Water from the Moon. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
As she had been stargazing on Mount Merapi, Walsh had to keep reminding herself that she had already trekked 300 miles in the Annapurna mountain range in Nepal, a three-week journey with no toilet or shower. If she had made it through that, she could survive a night on a volcano.
That seventh-month backpacking trip through Asia shaped Walsh, who turned 70 on Tuesday, in a way no other experience could have. When she opened her boutique, Water from the Moon, 10 years after her trip, the trials and tribulations of small business ownership seemed like small potatoes.
Walsh grew up in Newport Beach, California, before moving to Park City when she was 13. Her mother had purchased the Blue Church Lodge inn for $20,000, which still stands today but is no longer owned by Walsh’s family.
Since she was 10, Walsh had worked as a buyer in several surf and ski shops, including those owned by her mother. So, when she stumbled across sweaters, gloves and hats handknit by a Tibetan seller during her backpacking trip, she knew she could resell them to the Park City crowd.
Sure enough, the apparel sold like hot cakes. Within a year, she’d returned to the Indonesian island of Bali, which she’d fallen in love with on her trip, to buy more souvenirs.
Walsh estimated that she’s spent about a month in Bali annually for at least the past two decades.
“Probably the first thing I fell in love with was the people. … They’re super creative. Everyone’s an artist,” she said. “It’s a place that’s connected to culture, art and nature, and that just has always fed my soul.”
After her first visit 43 years ago, Walsh kept going back, accumulating a store’s worth of jewelry and clothing.
“I remember the first couple of times I went, I thought, ‘Oh God, I wonder if I’m ever going to run out of things to buy?’” she said. “The only thing I ever ran out of was money. And then, I’d make a list for the next time. That’s still going on.”
She began hosting “Bali parties” in Utah, California and Colorado to sell the souvenirs she’d accumulated. She describes the parties as pop-ups before pop-ups, transforming friends’ homes into mini-versions of her future boutique, Water from the Moon.
Walsh’s first permanent location was a small space in the Avon Theater available to rent for $300 per month, which she began doing in 1993.
“I was kind of thinking, ‘Well, you know, if it doesn’t work, it won’t break the bank.’ But then, within a year, I’d bought this,” she said, gesturing to the building that now serves as Water from the Moon’s current base of operations.
The historic home is one of the oldest in Heber City. It was originally a log cabin built by Scottish-American shepherd and Latter-day Saint settler and polygamist John Murray Murdoch. Some of the original logs can still be seen behind a glass display installed on the wall of the building.
The home has since been expanded from the original log cabin and become very colorfully decorated thanks to Walsh’s influence.
“All these millennials, they want everything gray,” she said. “It’s like taking all the color out of your life. It’s kind of sad to me. I want to be happy with life.”
Like that of any great boutique, Water from the Moon’s stock is truly a hodge-podge of products: books, coffee mugs, cutlery, books, soaps, jewelry and lots of clothes. The only common denominators are floral patterns and popping colors. It’s truly a reflection of Walsh’s taste.
“I have a lot of people come in and say, ‘Oh my God, are you the buyer? I love everything in here,’” she said. “I like things that are fun and colorful and happy, not gimmicky, not ‘I’m not going to like this next year.’”
Unlike the Bali parties of yore, Water from the Moon now sells mostly domestic products, with some products from Bali, particularly sterling silver jewelry, thrown in.
Walsh still visits Bali every year, along with Morocco and Oaxaca, Mexico, as a travel guide, which she has been doing for 23 years. Now, the focus of her Bali trips is more so keeping up the energy than gathering products for her shop.
“In doing this, I have learned so much about myself, about people, about boundaries, about how to bring people together, and a lot of it is communication and enthusiasm and just saying, ‘This is what we’re doing. Come on, let’s do it,’” Walsh said.
Her energy must be effective, because she’s almost always booked months in advance. She doesn’t feel the need to have a website, relying on word of mouth and repeat customers to fill each trip’s roster of eight to 12 people. She travels with about 50 to 60 people annually.
“And a lot of times, people go on a trip with me, and then, right away, they’re like, ‘OK, where are we going next year?’ So, one trip kind of leads to another,” she said.
Despite being so well-traveled, Walsh has no intention of moving from her home in Midway or shifting Water from the Moon to another location, despite the fact that Heber City hasn’t been the easiest market.
“It’s been a challenge. The only consistent thing about Heber is how inconsistent it is. And I’ve done everything to make it. Everything. Events, home parties. I haven’t just had the store,” she said.
While Water from the Moon does well with tourists, Myle hopes to see local shoppers more often.
“Once they come, they love it,” she said. “I’ve had this store for 33 years. They’ll walk in and go, ‘Oh, my God, this is so cute. I had no idea.’ I go, ‘Oh, do you live down the street?’ (They’ll say), ‘Yeah, I’ve been driving by here for 12 years.’”