THE SEDONA ADVENTURE

Part 3: Us Vs. Nature

"I have to die to live!"

With our bellies full of food, we traveled down the winding mountain road back to our campsite. The warmth of Jessica's Jeep Cherokee's heated AC was slightly cooking my feet. I sat in the car and thought "I know I'm going to miss this feeling as soon as I crawl into that tent." Oh how right I was. We arrived back at camp, turned on our flashlights, and walked towards our empty tent. With everyone inside the zipper cover of the tent was shut. It would not be opened until early the next day.

For about an hour the four of us either slept or read a book. Conversation throughout the whole trip was surprisingly light and with my worrisome nature I couldn't help to think that something was wrong as a result. Those worries were replaced by others as soon as mother nature decided to punish us for daring to sleep out in the wilderness. One drop of water fell from the sky and hit the tent. Then two in succession. Next you hear the rhythm of the drops pick up a little tempo and in hardly any time imaginable Mother Nature turned on her faucet above our tent. We had a tarp and a rain cover, but we forgot to do something very important when we set up camp.

Camping area 19 had a slight slope to it. Hardly noticeable, but it was there. We should have dug a small trench around the tarp to prevent water from flowing over it and underneath the tent. Of course we did not do this, and water did indeed flow underneath our tent. There the water would slightly freeze and soak through the bottom of the tent for the night. Frozen water underneath the tent made condiitions quite unbearable for my friends. With my cortex jacket, thick down sleeping bag, and foam pad underneath, I was able to survive quite unscathed from the harsh weather. John, Jessica, and Brian weren't nearly as lucky.

The rain kept falling through the night, and the bottom of the tent soaked up more water. At this point the weather is already freezing, the water soaked up by the tent turning into icy slush, and the temperature inside the tent was dropping rapidly. Brian and Jessica woke up in the middle of the night realizing what had happened. Their sleeping bags were almost soaked through and anything touching the bottom of the tent was drenched with icy cold water. John woke himself up just from shivering too much. To fight off the cold, John kept descending deeper into his sleeping bag. Soon he was ready to close the entire bag around him to be protected from the icy death trying to eat his skin.

"That's it, I'm closing this sleeping bag completely. I'm going to suffocate. I HAVE TO DIE TO LIVE!"

This made me laugh as it reminded me of a tagline for a very silly movie.



No one was comfortable, and I was still having problems sleeping. While the rain didn't stop, hope came back to us as soon as light started permeating through the nylon walls of the tent. The sun was coming up, and morning was soon to arrive. Everyone agreed that as soon as the rain stopped, we were packing up and going home.

Of course the rain finally stopped, and everyone got their gear together in a hurry. No time to pack things properly, we shoved everything as fast as we could into the back of the Jeep. Our gear was wet and filthy. We were wet and filthy. We were ready to go home. Driving away from Sedona my mind kept thinking about what I just went through.

LESSONS LEARNED

1. Pay attention to weather reports
2. Dig a trench around your camp site
3. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT IS "SELF-HEATED"
4. Wherever you go, there you are. Your pain will follow you wherever you go.
5. Wearing many layers of clothing is the key to surviving the cold.

Now that I'm back in my warm cozy house, I find myself in the same situation I was in before I left. This spur of the moment one day camping trip wasn't going to solve any problems. However, it was at the very least a learning experience. One day I will return to Sedona but hopefully on a day with better weather conditions. Until then I'm looking forward to hiking through Havasupai.