Decompression Time

Time for some R&R. School, work, church, life..it all adds up, and it was time to break away for a couple of days. Last week a friend and I headed up to Lockett Meadow, outside of Flagstaff for some camping, hiking and stargazing.


Being a desert rat travelling to the high country always brings a bit of trepidation with it. There are two things that have been drilled into my head from years of living in the desert. Will I be warm enough and will I have enough water. Not everyone in the world gets cold when it drops below 80 degrees, that seems to be a trait reserved for desert dwellers. So when I checked out the weather and found that that there was going to be a freeze warning in Flagstaff the night we were headed up I did a quick mental check list. Question one, am I out of my mind? Possibly. But, a couple of years ago my wife gave me a wonderful down sleeping bag for my birthday.



As an aside this leads to one of my all time favorite jokes.



Q. How do you get down from and elephant?

A. You don’t get down from an elephant, you get down from a duck!!!



Question two, is twelve gallons of water for two people, for one night really enough? Like I said, water is a great commodity to us here. (It was enough, even to completely drown the fire with).

Camping is one of my great loves. My parents started us out camping when we were kids, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I know a lot of people can’t relate to being outside like that, but I get a great satisfaction out of it. I hate to pack up and leave when it’s time to head back. I’m very fortunate that my wife enjoys camping as much as I do, and so does Hobie. She (Hobie) doesn’t care for the fire and being outside at night though. Her idea of a pleasant evening while camping is curled up on the bed in our pop up.

This trip Bruce and I tent camped. We did a great hike up into the inner basin, about 4 miles round trip, ending up at about 9,800 feet. Dinner that night was cooked over the open flames of a campfire, and that just about rounded out our day. We wandered into the meadow to see the stars. And there were stars, and planets, we could even see the swath that the Milky Way cuts across the sky. It’s sad to say that it is a strange sight to see that now. When we first moved to Phoenix you could see stars, and the Milky Way like that. No longer though.



A great trip, with a good friend, and back to life with gusto!