However, I've said this time and time again...sports (yes camping can be considered a sport...or a hobby) are a rich man's territory. Especially if you get the good stuff too. I don't know if you know how camping goes, but with car camping it obviously doesn't matter how much stuff weighs because it all goes in the trunk and then you pull to a designated camping area, unload and set up. However, backpacking is a different world. Weight matters because it is on your person. Every pound counts and people even get crazy to account for ounces. John got that crazy naturally. All the camping gear he has was not really backpacking quality. It would be too heavy for us to efficiently pack and obviously I can't carry weight. So John went all out. He bought a brand new tent, brand new sleeping bags, a stove, a cooker, a mattress pad, dehydrated food, utensils...I mean everything you can think of and everything was EXTREMELY light weight. Light weight like I could lift the whole tent, a 6 person tent, with my pinky. A three day camping excursion fit into two brand spanking new back packs and it was extremely lightweight and comfortable to transport around. Referring back to how expensive this sport is...John easily spent $3k on this 3 day trip. Of course it isn't only for 3 days...I'm stuck doing this for the rest of my life, but dang...$3k is expensivo! However, the stuff is amazing and it's compact and light weight and our sleeping bags are designed to go in 0° temperature and still be warm and toasty.
Anyway, so we get all the gear and we are gearing up to go. We were supposed to leave around 7am, which is still late by a backpackers' standards, but we didn't end up leaving until like 11am...so we were REALLY bad.
These could be the reason as to why we were delayed....
We load up our doggy Sasha whom immediately regretted her eagerness of hopping in the truck because she knew she had a lot of work ahead of her. We drive to a beautiful area close to West Clear Creek and park. We grab our back packs and strap up. Along our way we saw a big horn sheep...which is crazy rare to see. Even more crazy was that it was running towards us, which gave us the impression that there was either a hunter up yonder the mountain or some predator that spooked it. Either way, we enjoyed the rare sight.
We start walking into the wilderness for about 45 minutes in high grass and a rustic pathway. Eventually the pathway gives way from dirt, pebbles and grass to beautiful large red rocks that we must scale, hug and hop over.
We cross rocks like this for another 30-45 minutes before we decide to cross the river to get to the read wilderness. As you can see, Sasha is already pooped. Poor thing, she doesn't get much exercise apparently.
When we approach the river, we scout around to try to find a proper and safe area to cross, but for the most part there wasn't one spot that wasn't the best place to cross. So we buccaneer it. I am lucky to be able to cross by hopping from rock to rock. John "Daniel Boone'ed" it by crossing on a broken log.
You KNOW you can't do that!However, Sasha was being a downright chicken. Coaxing nor taunting made her budge her butt from the bank. So John was forced to go back and carry her chicken butt THROUGH the freezing cold winter water.
That's just sad. A dog that afraid of water is just not a dog.We walk along the other side of the river scouting a good area to set up camp and eventually came to a nice clearing where we decided to set up camp. The thing about backpacking is that you skimp weight by leaving behind tools such as a hammer...so we used a rock to hammer the pegs into the ground while setting up the tent.
Then we set up the inside
Then we ate :P
The thing about camping is that obviously you are outside so there is no electricity. When it gets dark, you are stuck with the darkness and all you have is conversation. So we sat and chatted, which is really easy for us to do anyway. However, after an hour or so we were so tired from our hike and carrying the weight (regardless of how light it is, it still is extra weight you are carrying around) and we went to bed early.
The next day, surprisingly we slept in. I figured we'd be awake at like 7am, but no! we didn't wake up until 11am! I don't know about you, but I am a coffee addict. I need my coffee in the morning or it just isn't a good morning-for me or for you. So I make "breakfast" and we eat.
Fact: Did you know instant coffee was invented by NASA? As my cousin says, "If it's good enough for astronauts, it's good enough for me". I agree and disagree...I love my freshly brewed coffee, but with instant coffee it's always "NASA fresh".
After breakfast we decide to go fishing because I personally love fishing. We decide to hike down to this large pool where we are hopping some fish are a-swimming. Unfortunately, we don't get any fish there because we are positive that's a popular spot to fish. It wasn't in vain, the view was gorgeous.
That's the first time John actually looks tiny. It's hard to be tiny when you are 6'4".
Afterwards we decided to move down the river closer to where our camp was, hoping to find a better fishing hole. No luck, but it was pretty fun nonetheless.
Later, about midday, we realized it'd be wise if we went and collected wood for the night. The night before it was chilly and we had just barely enough wood, so this time we decided to collect a large amount of wood to be safe.
I am a pioneer woman with a hatchet. Watch me hack.
And this is what we yielded. We might have over killed it a little bit.
But because of that we got this
We were very smart to collect wood when we did because it actually began to rain during the day. As the night crept above us, the rain worsened and it was hard core pouring the entire night. Thank goodness for his amazing quality tipi because it kept us dry the whole night and thank goodness we had all that wood because it would've been freezing our city tooshies off. We remembered we had a deck of cards we brought, but ironically we didn't know any easy going card games to the tee. We played Go Fish, but I'm pretty sure we made up some rules to fit our need. However, John did teach me how to play Texas Hold 'Em and let me tell you, that game is sick. Unfortunately, I am not too friendly of playing for money because I'm not a gambling gal, but I would like to watch the boys play.
Anyway, we did that for a while before deciding it'd be best to go to bed. However, poor sweet John stayed up most of the night because he kept feeding the fire.
The next morning we actually woke up "early" around 9am. In fact, I don't think we truly got a good night's sleep because the rain started pouring hardcore and a little bit was seeping in from the ground being wet all around us. With the weather being as crazy as it was, John thought it best to pack up and get out of there right away. We were worried about the river rising to a point where it'd be impossible to cross, which by the time we packed up and hiked our way over wasn't too far off. The water was too high for the log and rock crossing, so we had to take our shoes off and foot it across. Let me tell you, I've never felt a colder temperature on my body before this. Wet, freezing cold and rushing water is not so much fun. We carefully hike our way back to the car.
Sasha was very angry with us
The view...it doesn't look bad, but trust me-it was
The weather actually gradually became worse where it even began snowing! We were very smart to leave at the time we did, otherwise we would've most definitely been stuck!
To celebrate our safety and our camping trip as a whole, we went to PBC: Prescott Brewing Company.
I'm a sick and fat person...but I LOVE beer and chicken wings. Every time we come to PBC or to ANY bar, I must ALWAYS order beer with chicken wings...I can't help it. It's like a compulsion, but I crave it and must have it.
We decide to stay in Prescott since it'd be another 2 hours of a drive home and we were both exhausted and with the weather raining and snowing we figured it's better to be safe than sorry. When we woke up the next morning the whole valley was blanketed in a thick, crispy, cold fog. It was difficult to see the road way let alone the car in front of you! However, John is a skillful driver (that and he had to get back to Phoenix for work) and we made our way home.
See, I wasn't exaggerating!
Here are some beautiful views of our drive home after we beat the snow/fog/rain
John dropped me off at home before he had to go to work (poor guy) and I can honestly say that it felt SOOO good to take a nice hot shower in a sanitary environment. Camping is a super fun experience, I will definitely do it again. However, this time I want to go maybe for longer and I want to go in the spring time to see what it's like during a different season and also go in a different direction to see what it's like in a different terrain. :) This made John vvveeerrryyy happy (but honestly did I have a choice after he spent 3k?!) ;P
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