Leaving California: Day 11

I forgot to mention the comet. After I wrote last night's entry, I went out again and looked at the sky, and there it was. The head looked like a diffuse star in the Northern sky and the faint tail covered about the width of a hand. This was a very exciting experience, especially since I didn't really look for it, it just popped up.

In the morning we wake up and it is still very windy and quite cold. Looks like the storm front finally moved in. The sky is still clear though with only a few clouds in the Northwest. Because of these conditions we decide to have a cold breakfast and get an early start.

While we are packing, the woman from the camp next door walks up to us and starts talking. Turns out that they are pretty nice people from Colorado. They will visit Switzerland soon and so we exchange addresses and stuff.

We finally get going at about a quarter to eight and head out across the Elaterite Basin. The wind is cold and strong and a cloud bank appears on the horizon. We don't stop much as there is no good place to do so. No rocks, no trees, just wind and space.

So pretty soon we reach the junction where North Trail branches off the jeep road. The clouds get more numerous and create a nice pattern of light and shadow on the buttes and cliffs. After a while on the trail, the sky gets darker and darker and the first rain drops reach us. They soon turn into hail of sorts and so we accelerate our pace until we reach a shelter, just in time as a major snow shower starts to fall.

This is the same place where we stopped on the way down. Then, it was to seek shelter from the scorching sun. There is a nice piece of flat rock which forms like a table under this overhanging cliff. We break out the kitchen and prepare a hot soup and chocolate to warm us up and get energy for the final ascent. I'm not so much worried about the rest of the hike, than about the 50 miles of rough dirt road that lie before us once we reach the car.

We waterproof ourselves and our gear as good as possible and stumble on. The snow intensifies and by the time we get to the narrow part of the canyon at the bottom of the climb, Rebecca's pants are so wet and cold that her legs hurt. We seek a small shelter under a rock, and just as she takes off her wet pants to change into my sweat pants, there is the sound of rushing water, which announces the arrival of a miniature flash flood coming down the trail.

So I say: "Now seems like a good time to get out of here." and we scramble across the rocks and wade along the trail, now turned into a small stream, until the trail finally starts to climb out of this canyon. The higher we climb, the more snow lies on the ground and by the time we reach the top, which takes a lot of pathfinding skills, there is a blanket of about 5 to 10 cm depth. Our spirits are pretty high though because we are warm and only the feet are wet.

Also the weather distracts from the climb and the weight of the packs, and it's actually fun to look for the "ducks" sticking out of the snow. We reach the car in the early afternoon, throw in our packs and immediately start driving, since it's not clear what surprises await us down the dirt road.

After the very rough and rocky part to the ranger station, we pick up some speed and continue into the grey clouds and walls of snow showers. Surprisingly, everything goes pretty smooth, even though we sometimes barely see the road. When we finally reach the paved road again, we turn North and head for Moab where we hope to find a civilized meal and bed.

Our good old car makes a few hiccups along the way, to tell us that this wasn't really what it was supposed to do and that we were lucky it got that far. We agree and promise to look for a tune up soon.

We find exactly what we were looking for in Moab and after pasta, beer and a shower we fall asleep.