I just got home from a quick camping trip up at this really neat spot near Vail along Piney River. We headed up Saturday morning after my hockey game with my parents, my dog, and my cousin Tosha who flew in from San Francisco to join us!
This spot has to be my favorite spot to camp, it's right on the banks of the Piney River and is located where the river bends so it is as if you are on a corner of land bordered on two sides by the river. There are spectacular views of the nearby scenery and it is very serene.
The first day started out decently enough, it was very sunny and warm all the way up to the site and for a few hours after we got there. Then the clouds began to roll in. It began to rain at about 4 and didn't stop until about 9 that night. This wasn't actually as bad as you might think as the four of us enjoyed sitting in the tent together singing songs, talking, and drinking margaretas!
By the next morning the sky had cleared and it was a beautiful sunny day! We went for an awesome hike before we had to take my cousin to the Vail transportation center for an airport shuttle as she is the VP of her company and had to get back for a round of meetings tommorow. If only I had known what was in store for us tonight...
Our plan had been to enjoy one more night in the mountains and pack up to come home tommorow. It seemed like a good plan at the time and it would have been if only...
They may have looked like the storms that had passed through the first night but these were insane! The storms that opened up above us amid bolts of lightning that struck the ground unleashing claps of thunder that echoed throughout the canyon were nothing like I have ever experienced in Colorado! I have never before been afraid of a 6 inch deep river as I was today when the torrents of precipitation cascaded down upon us. I was seriously concerned about flooding as it was not only raining but hailing so heavily that hail piled around the woods as though it were snow, while meanwhile the heavy rain began washing away trails and the 5 mile dirt road that led to this pond we had earlier called a campsite!
Our once mighty fire struggled valiantly against the onslaught but was reduced to an ashey puddle in minutes surrounded by an inch to two inch deep puddle of water! Fortunately our tent was fairly well made and weathered the storm well with only a few small leaks and after moving all of our stuff to higher ground to escape the flooding waters we plotted our escape.
Finally when the hail stopped and the rain hit a lull we scrambled about and mashed everything into our Chevy Trailblazer and headed home! Luckly the majority of the road was still intact and we managed our way out!
I was releaved when we got home! A hot shower has never felt so good and I'm looking foward to jumping into my dry bed! Despite all this though I still love camping and can't wait to go back to that spot when monsoon season is over!
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