Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Here's another photo of the small pumpkins we saw at Hunsader Farms last week.

Angela from Just Go is holding her very first Blogapalooza & in the process is also having an awesome goodie bag giveway. Here's what she asked us to do: On October 29, put a photo of a pumpkin at the top of your post (check) and tell us the story of your strangest or scariest trip ever ...

... here goes ...

I wish that in the spirit of Halloween I had a spooky - in a creepy way - strange tale to tell, but unfortunately I don't (though I will admit that I did consider making one up ...). Instead, I'll share a camping trip adventure that nearly scared me out of my britches.

In my mid-twenties, I shared a house with three guy friends and we would often run away for a weekend of camping. We usually headed up to Mingus Mountain, but once we learned there was a seasonal waterfall, well, we just had to make the trip (sorry, I can't even remember the area let alone the name of the falls) ... understand that waterfalls in central AZ are not all that commen, so this was a pretty big deal for us. It should also be noted that though I can play a pretty good pack mule, I am not known as a daredevil ... that said, we made our eight mile hike into this secret canyon and actually found the waterfall. There were boulders to climb on that were huge (taller than me by more than double), beautiful river rock and everything was so lush. Pretty cool even if the waterfall was not much more than a trickle. It was still pretty amazing. We found a nice ledge down "stream" (more aptly dry bed) from the fall that was about 10 feet above the bed and level, so decided to set up camp there. That night we were pretty exhausted after a day of playing and good camp food, so when it started sprinkling we all decided to turn in for the night. That sprinkle turned into a pretty big storm. It rained most of the night and was still raining when we woke. Thanks to being in a canyon, we weren't beaten up by the winds, so I guess that counts for something. ... when we came out of our tents that dry bed had turned into a raging river ... and wouldn't you know it, the trail out was on the other side. The waters were still rising, but the rain had let up a bit, so we broke camp. There we are on the wrong side of the river with the waters still rising and the only way out was UP THE SIDE OF THE CANYON ... I kid you not. The boys had to do some pretty serious cajoling to get me to agree to scale the side of the mountain, but they managed to & I actually made it to the top. The hike out was a good 20+ miles (ok, not really ... remember it was eight miles in and we took that shortcut up the side of the canyon) ... by the time we got back to our truck, we were all exhausted and so ready for a hot meal that we took our rain soaked stinky selves to the nearest Denny's to rehash, revisit and retell our adventurous waterfall trip.

I really should be fast asleep, but I didn't want to be a party pooper ... I'll try to find pictures from the trip when I get home from work tomorrow ... if I find them, I'll be sure to add them.

Now, go check out the other Blogapalooza players HERE (listed on Angela's side bar) ... who knows, maybe one of them will have a wickedly haunted trip to share.

24 comments:

Cathie said...

Forget the canyon story -
three guys and YOU - sharing a house????? NOW that's scary. We have more in common than I thought!!

What a great story Michelle - you truly are a free spirit (in every way!) and it certainly shows in your art.
Enjoy this beautiful Autumn day.

Jessi Nagy said...

ha ha ha.
your a wild one.
happy halloween
oxoxox,
jessi

ICQB said...

What a harrowing tale! Trapped in a canyon with waters rising and the only way out straigh up!

Glad you made it out ok. Cheers to the adventurer in all of us!

Thanks for the tale - it's one of my favorites of all the blogapalooza stories.

Unknown said...

That is one wild hike! Glad you made it out safe and sound.

JES said...

EXCELLENT choice of a scary story. That's one of those trips that families tell and retell for years. "Remember the time you..." It'd be interesting to hear from the 3 guys (and I'm with clevelandgirlie about that, btw) about THEIR versions. :)

Kate Tracton said...

Well, all you'd need to add would be some Navajo ghosts to your story to add the creepy halloween edge to it.

But it was plenty scary enough without those!

Happy Halloween,

Kate

Angela K. Nickerson said...

How scary! Thank heavens you lived to tell about it. Thanks for participating in Blogapalooza!

sruble said...

Sounds like an amazing adventure, and a bit scary too! Good thing you were able to climb and hike out!

Anonymous said...

Sounds fun in its own way :)!

Kelly Polark said...

Cool hiking story! I think natural disaster type things like that are scarier than those of the Halloween sort!

Rosa said...

Good on you that you lived to tell the tale. I guess fear brings out our strengths as well as our weaknesses.

Adrienne said...

How scary - I'm not sure I could be talked into scaling the mountain.
BTW, love your art!

Sara Cox Landolt said...

Wow! Pretty scary coming out of your tent and seeing that. I know my parents had a train shine its light straight into their tent, which they had set up in the dark... the train's track curved nearby and away from them at the last minute. Yikes!

ArtPropelled said...

Glad you got out to tell the tale. You had me right there with you as you told the story.It sounds like a very close shave!

Kimbra Kasch said...

I love that story. Good thing you hadn't set your tent IN the dry bed. Otherwise, you would have woke up in a real wet bed.

Must have been a secret door ;D

Linda Summerfield said...

I think I would only go capming in a life vest with floaties on my arms after that.

Mescrap said...

OOh ..my dear friend. I receive a surprise from you. And I gonna to tell you that I love the postcard so much !!!!
And I impress with your your doodle skills.
Thank you :)

Unknown said...

What a scary adventure!!! Happy Hauntings girl!

Spooky Sandy

Lea said...

Happy Halloween oh Muse!!!XOXOXO

Cat said...

I'm so glad you didn't set up camp 10 feet lower on the dry bed! Flash floods are horrific! What a site in the morning and having to climb out! Having no other options brings courage.

I've never witnessed a flash flood like that from below, but have been higher in the red rocks of Southern Utah and saw a rain storm hit and watched water rushing down the rocks.

Scarry stuff. Good story, you're brave!

dkuroiwa said...

What a great story to tell!! Sounds fun in a dangerous yet oh my God we were okay kind of way!!
Hope you had a good Halloween!!

Oh...BTW...forgot to tell you, but...I finally did that meme you gave me...maybe last Wednesday...or not...it's been a long day...but I did it!! :-D Go and read if you have the time! Thanks!
Toodles!
d.

oliver rain said...

That is quite an adventure. Did you get into a lot of trouble in your twenties. I certainly did, but nothing compares to that. I like the pumpkin picture.

I love that ostrich picture from the last post. I think I have almost the same one from my summer holiday! Great pumpkin photos too. I wish we had a pumpkin patch nearby.

Attic Rat said...

The canyon trip sounds like a trip of a lifetime. Glad you scaled out okay. It would take more than cajoling to get me to climb up like that! - TeresA

Anonymous said...

Wow - scaling the side of a canyon...wish I could have seen that! =) I would have just floated away on the river...=)

Great story!