the cost of mindlessness

I wish I could say that our silent night camping was interrupted only by the soothing sounds of the wind blowing and the owls hooting, but that be ignoring the sound of a search helicopter swooping by our camp about five times - seemingly lower with each pass. Regardless, I awoke a couple times during the night to readjust the "Nalgene heater" to warm my feet. I hadn't planned to sleep in such frigid conditions and I was a bit unprepared for the 32-degree weather. So, it wasn't surprising that I was out of the tent the moment the sun peeked over our rocky surroundings.

I walked over the crunchy, snow-covered rocks toward Paul and Kristi's tent to wake them for the view. I then hiked a little further east and climbed some rocks to get the full view of the valley. It was amazing how much the landscape had changed as the sunlight spilled over the mountains. I snapped a couple pictures as Kristi and Paul joined me. Paul brought out his stove and started working on cups of coffee. I'm not exactly sure if the coffee was warming me from the inside or if the sunlight started to heat the air, but the cold seemed to disappear as we started moving around. Even so, as I looked about the landscape, I noticed that my leg was still a bit cold, as if the wind was piercing my jeans. I looked down and noticed that I had somehow caused a small defect in the crotch of my jeans to grow into a full-blown, five-inch tear down the inseam. I was strangely relaxed about the ordeal and Paul graciously donated some duct tape to make myself decent again. As we enjoyed the sunrise, the Sheriff's search helicopter alerted us that the search continued for the two missing girls.

Around 8am, we broke camp and headed back down the trail. The rocks that were covered with ice last night had begun to warm and the ice was melting away. Many of the rock faces trickled with water that had melted away from the snowy summit. We crossed paths with several hikers making their trek up the trail and were notified that the search and rescue team had organized at the trailhead and were still actively searching for the two missing girls. The path was far easier to follow under the bright sunlight and we made it down the trail easily within an hour and a half. Back at the trailhead, we discovered that the two girls had been found. As it turns out, they got lost last night and were forced to camp overnight and follow a different trail back to the trailhead.

With that news, we headed back to the cars and I had nothing more on my mind than to change my pants and charge my phone. I quickly emptied my pockets and placed my camera on the car before heading to my backpack to get my phone charger. I plugged my phone in and ran to the pile of clothes I had displaced from my pack last night. It was time to change into shorts! I ran into the public restroom and changed out of the somwhat ruined jeans. As I headed back, everyone was rearranging their things and had put out a small bag of trail mix. We snacked on the mix for a bit before deciding to head into Tempe for coffee. Buddy and I had a couple of appointments shortly after the noon hour. So, we packed up the car and headed out back towards civilization.

The drive went slowly and my somewhat restless night was evidenced by my brief lapses or consciousness as we drove in the broad daylight toward Tempe. I awoke as we pulled into a parking lot on the north side of campus. I got out of the car and started to gather my things together and noticed that my camera was not in its usual spot in my backpack. My stomach sank as I realized what must have happened. Did I leave it on top of the car? The answer became evident as we searched the car without any success. Even worse, we had just driven forty minutes from the trailhead. If we went back, there is no way we would be back in time for our 12:30 appointment. In a desperate attempt to salvage the camera, I called the realtor and pushed our appointment back half an hour. Hopefully, this would give us enough time to go back, scour the parking lot, and drive back.

So we headed back toward the trailhead. I was acutely awake at this point contemplating what I was more upset about; losing my camera or losing some of the greatest pictures I have taken. We got back to the trailhead and saw the same deputy that greeted us as we left the trail. Unfortunately, he said that no one had turned in a lost camera and the impression I got was that the chances of that happening would be fairly slim. I guess deep down, I knew that would be the case, but I had hoped that one brief moment of mindlessness wouldn't end like that. Disheartened, we headed back toward Tempe to look at another property. Despite pushing back the appointment, it didn't look like we would make it in time. So, I called to see if he could wait just a bit longer. He said that he was taking off and maybe we would be able to reschedule for tomorrow.

With that, we headed towards the other property we looked at yesterday. When we arrive, we noted that once again, the workers were not there and we would not be able to walk through the property. I called the realtor and set up an appointment for 9am tomorrow. Only later would I realize that an early appointment would mean that we would need to stay in the hotel again. So, we repeated our ridiculous hunt for a hotel room and wound up encountering the same issues. We wound up back at the Days Inn and Buddy and I set up next to the pool to utilize the wireless internet. I didn't have much luck with any other properties but Buddy found a couple. He also got in touch with another realtor that may have some promising results.

Paul and Kristi headed out to Scottsdale where there was some renowned brewery with about 130 overpriced beers on tap. They called us and we tried to finish up our last bits of business. Unfortunately, after we finished and showered, they were on their way out. So, they decided to meet us back at the hotel so we could make plans for dinner. We eventually met up with Sandra Till for Ethiopian food at the Blue Nile and beer at Four Peaks Brewery. I was exhausted at this point and it showed as my eyelids began drooping at 11:00pm. After becoming near-painfully full of food and beer, we retired back to the hotel.