Rainy Roadtrip 1

The monsoon season rolled into the southwest, and with it I was free to get out on the roads again. It had been a while since I last explored and I knew that mines, caves, mountains, and adventure lay out just beyond the horizon. As I drove north, the air grew thin, the temperature dropped, and the mountains rose.

On my first night in the San Juan mountains I was seeking out a place to pitch my tent and spend the night. Too cheap for one of the Forest Service's paid campsites I decided to find some backcountry accommodations. Backcountry being the dirt pull-out just yards ahead of the sign announcing the fee area's boundary. Another car was already there with a tent right next to it. Surely one more wouldn't be a problem.

But slowly as the evening wore on more and more cars pulled into our dirt lot. The backcountry was getting crowded. It wasn't long before a motley collection of climbers, backpackers, and peak baggers had gathered around a campfire.

Late into the night we talked, laughed, traded stories, passed bottles around, tested bear spray, and blasted air horns at the mountains. Even as the rain began to pour, the party went on.

A dirt parking space was transformed into part of our wilderness playground that night. We had gathered here for the same reasons, our love of the mountains, the will to test ourselves against them, and of course, our desire to avoid camping fees.

The rain poured and I took pictures of dead flies on the dashboard.

At one camp I awoke surrounded in cattle.

-2016-
bayou goula towhead

-2015-
the sea test

-2014-
the circumnavigator pt5
the circumnavigator pt4
the circumnavigator pt3
the circumnavigator pt2
the circumnavigator pt1
falling dream
the darkness
one hell of a mile 3&4
he will return
the believers
the horror pt2
the horror pt1
traces
death valley
whiteout

-2013-
paradise of outlaws
the mountain climbers 1&2
brought to surface
one hell of a mile 3
primordial
the lost world
inner gorge
a ghost story
the riddle
slaying the minotaur
heart of darkness
bayou
public lands
organ music
two sought adventure
the virgin river
the road north
preparations

-2012-
steal the world
the end of the world
el dorado
the valley of the kings 2
the valley of the kings 1
one hell of a mile 2
one hell of a mile 1
the mountain climbers rr4
heroes rr3
rainy roadtrip 2
rainy roadtrip 1
the transgression
sandstorm
sinister 2
sinister 1
dehydrated
anatomy
sleepwalking
new chapter

-2011-
like sedona?
torn in two
blink
bridge to nowhere
the door
hitting the wall
elusive 2
elusive 1
harquahala
hole
pick up lines

-2010-
revisited 2
revisited 1
which way?
lost mines
chute
monolith
freeze
slice
in their footsteps
a dance with death

-2009-
goodbyes
undercurrents
casting the bones
mountain thief
the deer hunter
strange temple
sanctuary
burial pt. 3
burial pt. 2
burial pt. 1
the apparition
return to hell
forsaken
the lower depths
underground lake
stretch sewer
the hidden lab
shadow movements
meager rations
sw8: the conclusion
sw7: lost gold mines
sw6: the big tubes
sw5: gold!
sw4: el calderon
sw3: redondo
sw2: ghosts
sw1: westward bound
leviathan
formaldehyde dreams
the underdark
in the beginning