Getting Ready to Get Ready

Snow, snow, and snow. The day before our big hike down the white stuff came down most of the day. We had seen a lot of beautiful Canyon sights the day before, and the bus we wanted to take to revisit some spots wasn’t running. So we hunkered down in a nearby hotel lobby for a while. We met all kinds of interesting people there – two bicyclists on a big Arizona-Utah trip, a docent at Bears Ears National Monument, two vacationers tooling around the Southwest in a van, a kite-surfer from Germany. Most of them, like us, wanted to hole up someplace warm for the afternoon.

By late in the day the snow had turned to rain and then stopped altogether. Great! We’ll have a clear day for the hike tomorrow! Our plan was to pack everything at night so we would be ready to go bright and early in the a.m.

We were chowing down on some tacos and nachos with some of our new-found friends in the lobby when I realized the market across the way would be closing at 8:00, and we still wanted a few more snackaroos for the trek. I crossed the parking lot, picked up a box of crackers and some peanuts, and headed back. I was gone 10 minutes max.

When I arrived back at the hotel, all was dark, three park ranger cars were parked in front, and no one was coming or going, like you would normally see at a hotel. Strange. I walked toward the front door but was waved away by a security guard. I noticed he looked suspiciously like Rod Serling. Because I had known I would only be gone for a couple of minutes I had left all my belongings in the lobby – my backpack, my phone, van keys, wallet. Just the important stuff. Here I was, standing in the dark outside of a nonworking hotel with no way to find my gear or reach Mr. K. I wasn’t even wearing my Apple watch so I could pull a Dick Tracy. What else to do in a situation like that? I burst out laughing.

It all worked out.

Because we had stayed out so late partying hardy with our pals we decided to leave the packing to the morning. The rain had stopped and it looked like things were clearing up. Shouldn’t take a lot of time to pull things together in the light of day.

At daybreak we woke to four inches of fresh snow on the ground and a crust of ice on the van. 

There are those that say there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing choices. I hate those people.