Howdy, there. Long time no read.
Well, the first semester w/ boy away at college has proven more enjoyable than I expected. So, come New Years' weekend, with him ensconced in his bed approximately 18 hours a day, if not asleep til 1pm then playing video games, I said: 'I think I might go to Big Bend this weekend.' Boy wasn't thrilled about me going to 'the wild west' alone, but he also had no plans to spend New Years' Eve with me, and the 30th was his dad's birthday, so I figured a 4-day weekend was not to be wasted. He didn't take me seriously on the Friday night when I started pulling all my stuff out and piling it in the hall. Saturday morning he protested when I went to tell him 'bye' but it was probably mostly because I woke him up. He said he was worried I'd die out in the desert all alone, or murdered by some bad guys. I told him if bad guys wanted to drive all the hell the way to BiBe to murder me, then so be it.
Made it to PJ about an hour before sunset. No sites to be had in the Basin, natch. Sites at Cottonwood and, oh, I think Talley, were available. Nope. So...welcome to my first zone-camping experience. Ahhh, I should say it was at this point I had the pleasure of meeting Eric Leonard. I got a zone permit for that night and a permit for Grapevine Hills 4 for the next two nights. As I parked on the side of the road to head into my zone, I realized I'd given Eric the wrong license tag--I'd given him the one for my old car, which, so memorably, was BVD-xxx. Can you blame me? The new one of 4.5 yrs is nowhere near as memorable, and my memory is going. I went back to PJ the next morning and told the incredulous ranger my story. He said, 'you came back here to tell us you gave us the wrong license tag?' I said, 'well, yeah; I figured it was in my best interests for you to have the right one.'
In short, I had three very quiet and peaceful nights alone in the desert (including a small sandstorm that Casa Grande also experienced in the Basin on New Years' Eve--started up about 15 minutes after sunset and coated everything in my tent with a fine dust), a couple of good burgers in the Lodge restaurant, Grapevine Hillls hike, Window hike, nothing strenuous at all but very relaxing. Had a bit of adventure out near Croton when I missed a trail marker, but I could see my car and had map compass water etcc and scrambled my way back just fine. When I stopped and thought, hey, maybe this is the trail, I looked down and my cairn was right at my toes.
Betcha a dollar, though, that I have the most surreal BiBe story. On the 30th, my first night at Grapevine Hills 4, I was in my tent just before sunset, changing into dry clothes. I have the tent fly on, so no one can really see me, but my car is nearby and so pretty obvious someone is home. A car pulls through the loop at GH4 with the stereo blasting. Crap. All the way out here and I still have to listen to someone else's stereo. It goes around the loop again, and stops at the top of the little rise. Two young men get out. They look at my tent. I admit I got a little nervous and found my pocket knife. One of their cell phones rings. Well, hell, if his works out here, mine works out here, so declare my presence by going to my car and getting mine. I get back in my tent, blackberry in one hand and my knife in the other. He answers his phone...and starts speaking in Arabic, or Farsi, or something similar. Now I'm a bit more nervous (and admittedly prejudiced, whether more against men, young men in the desert playing music loudly, or ethnicity: your call). I do manage to refer myself to earlier argument about bad guys not taking the trouble.... (I guess if I'd really been scared, I would have stayed in the car.) He rattles on and I hear "...Big Bend...CAMPING...." He ends his call. Then they pull out of the car
prayer rugs, unfurl them on the top of the little rise there, kneel toward Mecca, and pray their evening prayers. Afterward, they rise, roll up their prayer rugs, get in the car and drive off.
