After our visit to Carlsbad Caverns, we were supposed to go and look for food.
Unfortunately Carlsbad Caverns isn’t really near anything so we decided instead to head to our next destination and figure out something there.
Next destination – Texas. We were headed towards Guadalupe National Park whose claim to fame is that it’s home to the tallest peak in Texas. I’ve climbed taller mountains than that, but since it was on our loop we figured we’d stop in and maybe stay overnight in the RV camp and cook something from our car stash.
It was still early afternoon, so while there, we decided to also ask about trails at the visitor centre. What started with talking about some leisurely day hikes turned into strenuous hikes and back country camping. I really don’t know how. I think because the ranger said something about it being really windy out and that going up might be a bad idea. Nicholas got a bit excited by the news and the next thing I know we’re filling out a permit to indeed go back country camping. And of course, not just anywhere. We were headed up to one of the mountain tops where most assuredly we will be blasted in the face by the wind. Constantly.
I tried to remind my bear bud that we didn’t have proper backpacks, only the tents and sleeping bags because we planned to car camp but at this point I was buried in his daypack and he pretended like he didn’t hear me. Convenient.
A whole lot of last minute packing and many things that didn’t fit into our bags (and thus needed to be hand carried) later, there we were, at the trail head ready to march up.
Might I mention at this point none of us had eaten yet still! Well I hope we get up there quickly so I can eat!
Instead I just kept waiting as the trail kept winding up.
And up.
Eventually we got to the top. By then, the sun was starting to set. Well there goes my chance for lunch. I guess we’re eating dinner now. We hurriedly set up our tent and got to dinner. Being in the back country doesn’t lead to eating luxuries. Campbell Soup Chunky Chicken and Gumbo it was.
Around that time we thought about the fact that we were the ONLY campers at the site. In fact, we hadn’t seen ANYONE else on the trail at all. That thought struck us around the time we also realized that there wasn’t much else to do on a mountain after dark than to go to bed. And then we remembered the rangers mentioning something about bears and mountain lions being in the park. They didn’t seem too concerned about either of them. I wasn’t either. I can take on a bear. I know bear psyche inside out!
So we’re sitting in the tents getting ready for bed as our surroundings steadily got darker and the winds picked up. Soon our tent was shaking and rattling and the wind was howling. Now normally that would be cool but wind howling and blowing can sound a lot like wild animals at night. Which ended up scaring Pokin. A lot. Which started to scare me a little. But I’m a bear and I must be brave! So I timed my shivering to the howling winds. At one point, I wasn’t sure if our tent was going to hold in the wind. Pokin worried about the food blowing off our the animals getting to it. Now that got ME worried about our food to.
A sleepless night later the sun finally started to go up. Originally there was some talk of sunrise photo taking but Pokin was way to scared for that. Works out for me as I finally got to nap a little.
A little while later Pokin got the courage to venture out.
And the scene she was greeted with looked like any perfectly normal tranquil day. And in the tree above the camp was our food. Everything was safe. Overreact much?
We hurriedly got packing anyway. May as well go while the going looks good.
Only to be punched once more face with strong gusts of wind our whole walk down. I was worried I’d get blown off at one point, but Nicholas kept a firm grip on me. Along the way down Nicholas managed to bust up his knee again on the way and Pokin rolled her ankle a few times for fun.
I can’t say how glad I was to reach the car. So glad I promptly ate a chocolate bar even though it was all melted and more than a bit gross.
Well that was quite the spontaneous adventure for us.
It sure was a howl!
