The rain that had started just as we crawled into bed persisted throughout the night - a consistent patter on the tent, its rhythm never letting up. This was no surprise, really - near enough to town that we had cell service, we'd seen that several flash flood warnings were issued for the area, and we hoped that we'd be able to continue our adventure in the morning. In no rush to get up in the deluge, we lingered in bed an extra hour or so, hoping that the forecast - which was for rain the rest of the day…
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Preface You'll note pretty quickly that this trip took place right near the beginning of what has become a worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. At the time of the trip, there had been approximately 600 cases and 24 deaths across the USA. 18 of those deaths were from the Life Care assisted living community in Kirkland, WA. Schools at all education levels were still open, and while some companies were starting to allow employees to work from home, it was not widespread, and definitely not mandated. There were no travel restrictions - or even really talk of such restrictions on a broad…
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I was sure to get up early for our last morning in Utah - our location on the top of a plateau ideal for capturing the sunrise over Bears Ears. As it does, the light started subtly, working it's way to brilliant oranges and pinks above the horizon - one of the best sunrises we'd had all trip. But, that was seriously misleading. Behind me to the south west, a south westerly breeze was pushing clouds on the horizon closer. They were far enough away that I didn't even take notice as I climbed back into my tent to enjoy…
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March 28, 2019. It was a chilly night - at least compared to the last - our tents covered in a layer of frozen dew when I awoke in the morning. A quick glance out the window was enough for me to realize that no spectacular sunrise would be visible from our location, so I pulled out my Kindle and finished reading whatever action-thriller I'd been in the middle of at the time. That didn't take long - there hadn't been much left, so I pulled on a couple layers of clothes and climbed into the truck to finish writing…
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March 27, 2019. Unlike basically every other night where wind and snow were possible in the forecast, this night turned out to be just as pleasant as the last , and when my alarm went off for sunrise, I was well-rested and ready to see what the day had in store. I wasn't disappointed. And, I was lucky. After snapping a few photos around camp, a high cloud cover began to develop, and I took the cue to climb back into bed for a couple more hours of shut-eye. That turned out to be a great thing since - as…
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Bobby Jo camp couldn't have provided a more pleasant place for us to sleep for the night - temperatures just right and only a light breeze to keep the air moving around within the tent. Having hit the sack relatively early, I'd been sure to set my alarm for sunrise - hopeful for just a few clouds, I was keen to catch the needles silhouetted in the morning light. As I climbed up onto one of the house-sized rocks around camp, it was clear that we were going to have a great day, but I wasn't sure what sunrise would…
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Before heading to bed, Monte (@Blackdawg) tried his best to prep us for what lay ahead. "It's a long hike." he said. "We can make it 10 miles or even 14, depending on the route we take. But don't worry, it's mostly flat." Well, it wasn't mostly flat - except maybe on his computer screen. But of course, I'm getting ahead of myself. Nestled in our little alcove on BLM land just west of Canyonlands National Park, it was obvious when we went to bed that there wasn't going to be any spectacular sunrise - the landscape just didn't lend…
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Just before our two trips to Anza-Borrego, Monte @Blackdawg reached out to see if we were interested in a late-March trip to Canyonlands and some hiking of a few nearby slot canyons - perhaps even some that we'd attempted in our F.U.Rain trip last year. Not really realizing how close it was (5 days) to the completion of our trip, and definitely not realizing the work that would need to be done to the truck between trips, I responded in the only way I knew how. Interested.turbodb As it turned out, it was a mad dash between trips. I had…
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I woke up on the last real day of our two-week adventure having slept well through the night. The rain stopped a couple hours after we went to bed, and as I looked out the tent window at an orange sunrise, I could see that most of the clouds had been blown away as well - it was going to be a beautiful day. With no rain to worry about, my first order of business was to sleep for another couple hours - the tent warming up and mostly drying off in that time. Perfect. I couldn't hole up all…
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It rained on and off through the night. We were more sheltered though, so it wasn't too bad - and I'd definitely prefer rain at night to rain during the day. Well, assuming it stops early enough to dry out the tent! I woke up around 7:30am, the rain still coming down and decided there was no reason to rush out of bed - so I didn't. Instead, I read the last of my book for an hour, waiting for the rain to let up. Coincidentally, just as I finished the last page, the rain stopped and I hurried to…
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I'd gone to sleep with all the tent windows and doors tightly zipped closed and earplugs in - to protect me from the wind raging through our camp. I've been in windy conditions before - in fact, our night at Point Sublime just a week before was a pretty windy affair - so I wasn't all that concerned - in fact, the wind rocked me to sleep a bit as the tent and truck flexed under its force. But then, at 3:30am I was awoken by a whole new sensation - my tent was trying to kill me. I quickly…
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In perhaps the most uneventful morning of the entire trip - a good thing! - it was 8:45am before I woke up and climbed out of the tent, our perch at the mouth of Escalante Canyon beautiful under clear blue skies. I wandered around a bit exploring the edge of the canyon, torn between wishing that I'd gotten up early to go explore the canyon itself, and the 8-hours of uninterrupted sleep I'd gotten. I suppose that, given the canyons we'd seen so far, the sleep was likely the better option, even if I hadn't made it purposefully . And…
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The rain continued lightly through the night - I'm not sure if it ever really stopped, but it never poured and the weather around us stayed calm - resulting in a restful night's sleep all around. It also meant that there was no need to get up early for sunrise, and so it wasn't until 8:45am that we all - simultaneously for the most part - climbed down out of our tents to greet the drizzly-gray morning. Despite the weather - which we hoped would clear - this was going to be a special day. In fact, where Mike @Digiratus…
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The wind and rain continued steadily all night, though we were fortunate to not have any more lightning and thunder, given our exposed position. With earplugs I slept soundly - rocked now and then by the wind on the tent - until 7:30am, when I'd normally be out of the tent enjoying the sun peeking over the horizon. Not today though - today the rain was coming down hard and I was thinking to myself, "We're going to have an interesting trip out of here..." But that would come later, and for the time being, I read my book and…
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The warm, pleasant weather continued through the night - a welcome respite for us all - so as morning rolled around and I woke just before sunrise, I was excited to look out the tent window and see the sky starting to light up over Lake Powell. As sometimes happens, I'd planned ahead - hoping really for this situation - and I had my camera in the tent with me. So, having woken at exactly the right time, I spent the next several minutes enjoying the pinkish-orangish-purplish light as it illuminated the surroundings. And then, as quickly as it started,…
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I'm pretty sure it didn't rain all night. It was amazing. You can imagine my surprise when I awoke just before sunrise and could see blue sky along the entire horizon, my open tent window (door really) facing east. But it was chilly, and rather than get up to take photos, I opted instead to stay warm and toasty under my comforter - definitely the right decision! And so I stayed for another hour or so until the sun started peaking over the horizon, warming the air, my tent, and ultimately me - to the point where I figured I…
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I'd returned from The Re-Tour a mere three weeks before our departure date, but that didn't mean there were only a few short days to plan for our next epic adventure. In fact, quite the contrary - we'd been planning our trip south to Arizona and Utah for nearly a year - knowing that there was way more ground than we could cover in the two weeks we had allocated for the excursion. Our plan was simple, if long. Start in St. George, Utah, and work our way east - first along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, then…
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March 18, 2018. To say it was one of the more blustery nights we've spent in the tent would be an understatement. Perched on the edge of the canyon wall, the rain fly was getting whipped around, and the tent was acting like a sail in the bed of the truck - shaking the entire truck to and fro. @mrs.turbodb asked if there was any chance we might roll backwards. "Not really," I said. (and then I proceeded to put my clothes back on and get out to chock the tires - you know, "just in case." We slept soundly…
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March 17, 2018. Our night at the Doll House was the calmest of the trip. We all slept soundly and though we each awoke a different times, we all experienced a beautiful morning. Having nearly missed the orange horizon the morning before, I refrained from hitting the snooze button on my alarm, and I crawled out of the tent about half an hour before sunrise. Being up so early allowed me time to scout a reasonably good position to capture the magic light of morning, since I could see exactly where it was going to come over the horizon, and…
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March 15, 2018. Day 0. As we pulled out of the parking lot in Idaho Falls, we were already late. See, the plan had been to show up at @cbi offroad fab when they opened at 8:00am, and have the new bumper install done by 10:00am so we'd have our choice of routes down to Hanksville, UT where we were meeting Ben @m3bassman and Zane @Speedytech7 for a three-day adventure into The Maze District in Canyonlands National Park. My hope was that we'd choose the scenic route, down 191 through Wyoming to get to our meet-up and first nights camp…
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