Prehike -1 – Saturday 7/11/2020 – On way to South Pass City WY with Justin in his Jeep. We stopped at Rita Blanca National Grassland for the night. I set up my tent while Justin cooked dinner. Then we sat down in chairs with his table and our plates to eat. A delightful beer later we were done eating and chatting. We looked at the sky in the distance and it looked very threatening. Within five minutes the wind started to blow. It pulled two tent stakes out and my tent collapsed. Hurriedly we got up and started scrambling. Plates away. Table and chairs into the Jeep. I went over and got my tent in my arms and stuffed it into the Jeep. The wind continued to blow. We sat in the Jeep and waited. A front went through. The sky got darker. Next the rain started. And then boom – the lighting began. Flash, flash, Boom, boom. The lightening travelled past us. The rain fell steadily and lightly. The sky behind cleared. and then it was all past. So I began to set up my tent. And in the trailing edge of the storm the wind picked up and rattled the tent. What should I do? The wind was getting stronger and so I decided to put it away. Justin offered that I could sleep in the roof tent, but I finally decided to rough it and cowboy camp – no tent, just under the stars. He angled the Jeep into the wind and he helped me hold down the tent drop cloth while I put down my mat and sleeping bag. It was now 10 pm and dark, so I laid down. Justin climbed into the roof tent. The wind was vicious and blew sand into my face. But overtime the wind died down. It got hot again and I unzipped my sleeping bag into a semi-quilt. Finally around 1 am I fell asleep. Wow, that was something! What a way to start an adventure.
