We Made It!! Camping Continued..

Ok folks, this is how things went down….!!

Our morning started out stormy, literally!! We got up at 7:00 am and packed the kids and their stuff in the car so they could sleep over at my sister’s house! Thanks so much Dip!! The roads were ice and the snow was coming down so hard it was difficult to see in front of us. What were we doing?...but we carried on. We considered making it safely to Pleasant Grove a feat in itself!

As we watched the storm, we still hoped we could make the trip work out. We had some last minute things to get at Cabelas so we stopped by there on the way to Fred’s house. One of the things we purchased were camp pillows to make sleeping a bit easier. These will come in later in the story...

Me met our friend Fred at his house and put all the gear into his car because we needed the 4x4 to get up the canyon. Thanks Fred!! The car was stuffed full just with our three packs. It was a scary sight when considering we had to haul these up a hill.

When arriving at the White Pines trail head the parking lot only had one car in it, the guy who was servicing the bathrooms. He left shortly after that and as we were standing there alone I was getting more cautious about what we were going to do. Then another car drove in. Oh good, someone else is here so it can’t be that bad. This man got out of his car with his cross country skis and said he was going for a quickie up the trail. Small talk here and there, and we said we would likely pass him again on his way out. It took a few minutes to finish attaching things we needed to our packs, locked up the car, then headed off. As we walked you could only hear the sounds of the snow crushing under our feet…..and the clanking of our packs that looked like we had an attached junk yard, as Fred put it. The snow was still coming down but the wind started to pick up. This is where I worry because we really don’t have the right equipment for high winds. Nor do we have any gear for avalanche safety. There had been continuous warnings on the news about avalanche danger and with the winds picking up it makes the tops of ridges top heavy with snow and then they come crashing down. We had a place in mind to head to on the trail but as the wind blew I kept looking for safe places to dive into in case I heard the rumbling of a mountain coming down on me. We weren’t in a really bad place because there were trees surrounding us, so most likely we would be fine which is why we carried on, but I still had that “what if” thought in my mind. Fred was way a head of us breaking the trail while Jeff hung out with me and my little steps. The wind kept blowing and at one point it got so bad that it was a complete white out. I had to stop where I was because I couldn’t even see my feet, let alone the trail. I yelled to Fred because I thought staying together was a good idea. I didn’t expect a response, so when I heard him say “Right Here!”, it surprised me. He was just standing a few feet in front of us. At this point I was seriously considering turning back. But the boys didn’t seem bothered so I thought it to be just me worrying, so we carried on. I kept telling myself that it’s all about perspective. If I stay positive then it will all be fine, if I worry then things could get uglier. I decided to keep a positive outlook and kept telling myself “it’s just a little wind, what harm is it really going to do? We have tons of gear and could stay here for a while if we needed to. But what if there’s an avalanche, what if it takes out all these tree’s and us too?....(pause in the mind) Then we’re going to die….that’s all there is too it. So lets just hope that doesn’t happen.” We continued on up and then that same guy we met earlier was on his way down. It was nice to see someone else. Then he mentioned that he wanted to hurry down because he was afraid he was going to get stuck. That made me feel great….

In between the gusts of wind I was able to look up and admire the beauty of it all. Everything was freshly covered in sprinkled powdered sugar. Then I pictured Heavenly Father making some seriously detailed cookies for the spirit kids.

We kept hiking. What took us about an hour seemed like days in these conditions? I just wanted to find a good place and pitch the tent so there was some place of security for my mind. The winds died down as we reached our destination!! It was a blessing, it even stopped snowing for a few minutes. We picked a spot not to close to the trees, so as to not get dumped on by falling snow, but out of the wind enough so we wouldn’t get too battered all night. We used our snow shoes to pack the snow for the 8x8 site needed for the tent. In circles we went, stomping our feet, smiling and happy to be there. The fact that it stopped snowing was such a blessing because our tent is a three season tent, meaning it has a rain fly that is added after it’s set up. Jeff and I found this out earlier in the year when we took a family trip to Moab and tried setting the tent up in the pouring rain. We then had to take a small towel that we had luckily brought and soak up the remaining water and ring it out outside of the tent. Needless to say it took a while. But what can you do but laugh. But in this case you can’t get your hands that wet with no where warm to dry them. There were no dead trees in site so the idea of a camp fire was out. All we had was a tiny stove that Fred brought to warm up water. Thank goodness for that. But this stove didn’t produce enough heat to dry anything like gloves and we only had one small can of gas and we needed it for cooking, not drying things out if we could avoid it. If it had been snowing our tent would have been so wet inside which would mean a very cold, if not dangerous, night of freezing.

Now seriously, not right after we got the rain tarp on, it started snowing again. We couldn’t believe the luck or maybe the fact that the Lord was being nice, and possibly having a good laugh at watching us try and figure this out. Either way we were very happy. As we started putting the gear in the tent it was already covered in snow and so were we. As I mentioned in the first blog, we were going to have time to kill. Well I have to say that tons of time went by trying to rid ourselves of snow before entering the tent!! It was pretty much a joke but we had to do our best. Luckily it was so cold that the snow didn’t melt if it wasn’t near our bodies and I was able to use a tent broom to sweep it up and dump it back outside.

Finally it was dinner time, maybe 4:30ish but I was starving and didn’t realize it. We were so busy trying to get our gear laid out and organized in the tent and out of the weather that I wasn’t thinking about all the calories I had burned up. Exercise program: Get a really small tent, get enough gear to add up to another 3 people. Shove 3 people and all gear into small tent, put on 4 layers of clothing not forgetting hats, earmuffs, gloves, snow boots, gators, etc… attempt to lay out mats and sleeping bags all at the same time, discover there’s not enough room and then rotate gear from side to side as one person makes their bed. Lose needed items as things are being rotated and kneel in circles trying to miss from hitting gear and friends with your feet, smack the side of your tent to reduce the snow build up that has been created and is now taking up an additional foot on each side of tent. Then sit and wait patiently as your sweat freezes while you watch the next person attempt this feat and then get wet from the condensation build up now on the inside of tent......

What an awesome exercise program!! Fred said “just think about all those people working out at a gym, running in place…..when we’re out here in the most beautiful wilderness!” I was thinking, “I bet they’re warm though and not worried about being buried by an avalanche or being eaten by some really hungry creature who’s prey has gone down the mountain.” My positive thinking took me forward though and I thought, "but where’s the glory without the guts?” I was truly happy to be there aside from my fears. Sorry, back to dinner, that beef jerky and cheese we brought never tasted so good!!!!! We actually started up the stove for a needed hot cup of Roman noodles to warm our cores before bed time.

Starting the stove means going outside, getting snowed on, freezing, drinking liquid, and then the ever dreaded, peeing in the woods! Not so bad for the guys with the attached hose, but I was going to have to stick my bum out there in the freezing cold and try to make it as graceful as possible so I didn’t end up wet one way or another….

Our bathroom was stomped down snow which created about a 2 foot wall to hide behind so it worked out well I must say. And I certainly didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing me. The only people in the area were us, so there was one guy at the tent and the other guy handing me toilet paper. LOL Gotta love marriage! You see, I tried doing it myself the first time, it’s no big deal, but when it came to doing it, it was a much different story! Falling snow and freezing weather makes dealing with toilet paper a whole issue in itself!

If you can imagine, I was trying not to fall over while grabbing the toilet paper that I’m trying to protect from getting wet in the snow, while wearing my gloves to keep from freezing, and with gloves nothing comes easy, it’s all in slow motion and it takes a zillion redo’s until you give up and take the gloves off anyway so you can deal with the matter and then cuss and hoot because your hands are freezing off… So Jeff took pity on me and would hand me the toilet paper, what a guy!! But for his sake and my sake, I drank sparingly.
The dinner was yummy and before we put the stove away I had the boys boil me some water to put into my water canister so I could sleep with and it would act as a heater. The warmth lasted about half the night, I was pretty impressed. So as the evening moved on we situated our sleeping areas by blowing up mats and stuffing our bags with extra blankets. As I was starting to get cozy I remembered the pillows we bought that were going to make this so much nicer! I asked Jeff, with an excited grin on my face, if he could please hand me the pillows and I would inflate them…… I was then handed two pillow CASES. I looked at Jeff “What’s this, where’s the pillow?........... We bought 6 dollar pillow cases!! I have free ones at home!!” Jeff and Fred were laughing it up! Jeff said, “I’m sorry love, I thought you knew that’s what you were buying, you’re supposed to stuff it with extra things, like gloves, hats, and such….” I put my head down, bummed, but what can you do at this point…I smiled at their laughter but continued to tease Jeff about our lousy pillows as the night pressed on. To kill time we attempted to play a certain card game called Golf, but without a level playing area it was more like 52 card pick up. So we gave up on that and just chatted for a bit, waiting until that last moment when we couldn’t hold our bladders any more and relieve ourselves for the night. We knew we would have to and it was just a matter of time before we would have to disturb our slumbers and venture into the cold again, putting on cold snow boots, releasing the warm air that we worked so hard to build up in our sleeping bags, get covered in snow, pee, then take another 15 minutes brushing off snow and then trying to get back into our sleeping bag with all the layers and extra blankets. It’s like trying to stuff a bread roll into another bread roll without taking out any of the insides. ( I know, laugh, it’s all I could come up with to describe it.)

It was now bed time. The clock said 10:40 and we could now rest our heads and hope the calm night would last. I read the boys a bedtime story, a few words from a favorite guy of mine, Bear Gyrlls, and then the guys were out. Out like the lights….it was now dark, I had two sleeping people next to me and just the eerie quiet of the night. I attempted to listen to my MP3 player but my thoughts just went to “who’s going to be the lookout when we get attacked?” I tried everything to redirect my thoughts but I just wasn’t tired enough yet to sleep away the night. I laid there…and laid there. I eventually stopped the music in hopes that I could hear Jeff move and discreetly wake him to keep me company…I know, mean…… and the worst part of it was I had to go to the bathroom again! It had been a few hours of watching the snow pile up on the tent and then slide down as it got too heavy....this was my all night view....

but I had drank too much hot chocolate, and how could one sleep when you have to pee really badly? I felt so bad but I didn’t want to go by myself, there’s creepy things out there and the potty is about 20 yards from the tent. So I did it, I woke up poor warm and cozy Jeff so he could go with me….I cursed my small bladder that has never worked the same after having the kids, and we put our boots on and ventured into the freezing cold.

I crawled out from underneath our makeshift vestibule, which was a tarp we added later, (thank goodness we brought it and extra rope…) and beheld one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. The clouds had gone away for the moment, it has stopped snowing, and the sky was mostly clear and was lit up with the most beautiful stars. It had been so long since I had seen a night like that. Living in the city really kills star gazing. What little clouds existed where lit up some how, maybe by the moon that wasn’t visible to me or maybe by the city lights but it reminded me of the northern lights in Alaska except they weren’t moving. The night was so still and perfect. The snow was untouched everywhere because it has fallen so much throughout the night. It was the most perfect quiet that I could ever imagine, …all I could say was WOW, over and over again in a whisper as not to wake up Fred. I could have stayed there all night if I wasn’t absolutely freezing, and in my heart I thanked Heavenly Father for letting me be apart of such a beautiful place! It had been great fun up until now but that moment was worth the whole trip! It was worth the hard work, sweat, fear and risk. It sounds really lame, but it almost felt like the wilderness was thanking me for my efforts and trust I had in it to make me smile.

We climbed back into the tent which was much quicker this time because we weren’t snowed on!! And I attempted to fall asleep. Jeff said he wouldn’t fall asleep until I did so I could have my “lookout” but I just laid there….what seemed like forever. When finally my eyes got a little heavy and I actually fell asleep…..but then there it was, the noise that disturbed the night, a horrible sounding growl that was coming from my right side…I woke up startled and then the sound came again, but it was closer than I imagined…it was in fact, sleeping next to me. Fred was snoring so loudly!! And that’s right, for the rest of the longest night of my life, Fred continued to snore. My muscles were so tight from constantly being tense because of the cold that I had this aching cramping feeling throughout my body, and I couldn’t get my “pillow” just right and I just wasn’t warm enough to make myself relax. My cat naps through the night were just enough to get me by for hours of watching the snow slide down the side of the tent. I wanted morning to come so badly.

Finally, I knew it had been hours….. Fred’s snoring had woaken up Jeff too so at least I had some company, so I asked Jeff to check his watch because I was just knew the sun was going to come up soon. It read 4:00 am. WHAT, that’s it? FOUR!! This sucks!! (but in a whisper)

But the morning did come. Blood shot eyes and all!

It was harder to tell because there was so much snow built up on the tent that it was a bit dark inside, but at 7:00 am I was sitting up and wanting to get going. No more of this sitting around business….get up boys…who’s making the pan cakes?! They weren’t so keen on getting up so we sat a bit and talked of how our nights went. Fred mentioned he only got cat naps as well. I beg to differ!! I heard how much he slept, and it was most the night!! Love ya Fred!

As Fred looked around the tent for his hat and gloves he came upon a flat, black, pancake looking thing....Jeff said "Oh no, is that your hat? ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Yes, it was his hat, frozen solid!! But then Jeff couldn't seem to locate his gloves....found them! Just as solid as Fred's hat. If you banged them on something they probably would have shattered! LOL!! Mine, were of course, tucked neatly in my sleeping bag throughout the night so they were warm and dry in the morning! ;0) Thanks Dad for the tip!!

Breakfast consisted of hot chocolate (mine had a roman noodle in it so I got my fill) ….. Notice the ring of snow around the top of the boiling hot chocolate....think it was cold outside?.........

I think the boys had something else to eat. Fred brought a little coffee maker thingy with him. I think he was excited to try it out. I didn’t think much of it until the boiling water was poured into the filter and then slowly dripped into his cup….and did I mention it was freezing outside so by the time he got his coffee it wasn’t so HOT! LOL. Sorry Fred!!

After breakfast I asked Jeff to boil me some more water so I could have another heated water canister as we hiked down. No problem there except I used a different bottle this time. It was smaller and would fit nicer in my coat…until it melted in my hands!! Nice!! We quickly transferred the precious boiling water to another bottle that we knew could withstand the heat, while my fingers got burned from the melting spill. Good times……. Needless to say we threw away that bottle…Why would someone even make such a stupid thing? It’s not like it was some generic one. It was made by Columbia and was made for the outdoors….at least I thought! Good thing it was given to Jeff and we didn’t spend money on it. As it was melting in my hands there was a sticker on the side that said “Hand Wash Only”!! LOL Lame!

It ended up taking quite some time to pack up the gear and tent.

Taking down the tent ended up to be interesting as it's difficlut to untie anything in the freezing cold weather..... but we also found that the condinsation had made the rain fly freeze to the netting of the tent.....! Here is our spot, all clear of our tent. Jeff and Fred putting the last things on their packs and helping eachother hoist them on.

Time to get my snow shoes on...
It was still snowing when we left our little haven. We had about 2 feet of fresh snow to travel through. We took some lasting pictures and went on our way. The wind wasn’t blowing so I was able to look up and admire the scenery as we walked. My snowshoes malfunctioned only once on the way down opposed to the three times on the way up. That was nice…and things on my pack fell off only a few times and Jeff had to freeze his hands in attempt to retie them. It was a leisurely walk on the way down because……it was down hill. ;0) I enjoyed being out there so much, I enjoyed lugging my uncomfortable pack, I enjoyed my malfunctioning snowshoes, I enjoyed sweating, then freezing, I earned my bruised hips and shoulders and my tired, blood shot eyes….because I was out there instead of inside wondering…dreaming…of what it might be like.