Away from Civilization--Sort Of

My nephew, Milo, basking in the sun after a cold, cold night camping

Our camping trip this weekend was fun, but we had to leave sooner than we planned. Every afternoon we had a major storm. And when I say major, I mean one day lightning struck our campsite and one day we had a half-inch of hail. And at 9,000 feet, it gets COLD at night after it rains. So Mother Nature did her part to let us know how inconsequential we are in the whole scheme of things.

But I could deal with all that. What was so funny is that we drove three hours to get away from it all and ended up in a campsite (not a campground--we won't stay in them) where we could hear ranch dogs barking, cattle lowing, and traffic on the dirt road about a half-mile from our camp. But we knew the rain was coming, so we had to pick a place. And the last day we were there, there were two gunshots VERY close to our campsite. Apparently it's hunting season, and apparently you can hunt in the U.S. National Forests. Needless to say, we left immediately. How could we feel comfortable hiking or even moving around in our camp knowing that we could be perceived as prey by our fellow humans? Yikes!

There were many beautiful moments on this trip, though:

• A study of grasses in bloom (see photos below)
• Moonlight shining on a tree at night, which made the new growth look like silver magic
• The haunting call of an owl at dusk
• Tiny little sounds of bats hunting
• Quiet contemplation of the scenery while savoring the delicious dichotomy of having half of my body in the shade, cool, and the other half in the sun, roasting