Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Day 13: The Best Laid Plans....

7/29/11

Because we only had a few hours of driving to get to our last locality,  Liz kept remarking how great it was going to be to get to our campsite in the early afternoon with plenty of time to set up camp and cook dinner. Unfortunately, we passed through Ely, Nevada without replenishing our water supply. This wouldn't be too big of a deal under normal circumstances, but since we were in a part of Nevada where we could drive for hours without passing through a single town, it was a bit of a problem. We got really excited when we saw signs for a petroglyph recreation area, hoping there would be water. When we pulled off the highway, however, there was a big sign reading: No Water. Because a lot of us had never seen petroglyphs before, Liz and Tony left us to hike around and see the rocks while they drove to the next town about 40 miles away to get water. It was nice to be outside, but it was really sad to see that a lot of the petroglyphs had been vandalized. Liz and Tony got back a little over an hour later. We got back in the cars and headed towards Gatecliff, our last site. While driving on a dirt road, one of our tires went flat. So not only did our good start get delayed by a lack of water but also by a flat tire. At this point dark thunder clouds had rolled in. We were all certain we'd be changing the tire in the rain, but we managed to fix the tire and get to our campsite before the rain hit. After our experience at Thunder Camp two days prior, we were ready to set up camp in the rain. Liz made some amazing posole (a perfect dinner to warm us from the cold, rainy weather) and we all huddled together to eat out of the rain and lightening, which proceeded to strike the mountain directly above us as Liz told us horror stories of people getting struck by lightening. The rain stopped at the perfect time and allowed us to continue setting up our tents in the beautiful valley adjacent to Gatecliff Cave.



Petroglyphs. 



The view from our 'hike' around the petroglyph recreation area. 



A collared lizard Jonathan caught. 



Our flat tire under the gathering thunderclouds. 



During a brief break in the rain Daniel carried around hor d'oeuvres. We kept it classy.




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