The truth is we are not the extreme primitive camping types. We love to camp…with a blow up mattress, pillows, sleeping bags, ice chest full of beer, a stove, lots of food and shower at least within walking distance. To our surprise, when checking in, we were told we would have to hike our stuff in, “about a mile”. No big deal…right!
At this point we were realizing that it definitely was a big deal. We had only been hiking for about 1/2 a mile, but we were dragging at least 60lbs of stuff. The incline was rocky and getting worse and it was about 90 degrees with hardly any shade available. Should we turn back now and make it a day trip instead? This was only the first load of our camping gear, the second load was even bigger. Nope, we came to camp and we were going to camp. There was still a part of us saying maybe it won’t be all up hill or maybe we are almost there. 2 miles and 2 hours later we finally approached our site. We made a quick burger and went down for the second load, a 75-80lb duffle bag.
The second load was even more torture for us. We made it back to the campsite with just enough light to sit and enjoy a nice cold Modelo. After our nightcap we climbed in the tent, took a few photos and tried to get some rest. The night brought all kinds of interesting things. Scorpions, roaches and a raccoon attempted to steel our food. We were so exhausted but we couldn’t sleep. Tomorrow we would have to hike everything back down and go home. We thought we’d have time to hike everything but I guess this adventure turned out to be a lesson in primitive camping and learning how to pack light in case we find ourselves in a camping situation like this one. Lesson Learned!
We started early to take advantage of the cool of the morning. We took our first load down and made it back up to make a cup of coffee and enjoy the last minutes in our campsite. It really was a beautiful place. The morning sun highlighted the warm colors of the landscape. It’s too bad we didn’t get to enjoy the area longer and that we didn’t even make it to the main rock. We decided we would have to go home after this last hike and leave that adventure for another time.
It had already gotten so hot and our bodies were screaming for rest. We cooled off by putting wet shirts and towels on our heads to make it through our final hike down. We met other campers who were experiencing the same over packing situation we were going through.
Next time we will all camp at ground level, where the grass was greener and the campers were care free, and close to the amenities. Until next time Enchanted Rock!
