Woke Last Night to the Sound of Thunder. . .

. . .How far off I didn’t have to wonder, because (apologies to Bob Seger) it was freakin’ exploding right above our camp!

Here’s one thing I learned about REI Signature Camping – when they set up their tents, the pouring rain stays out.  Phew.

Let’s rewind a bit.

After getting back from Angels Landing (I’m petitioning the NPS to rename it the Nine Circles of Hell) there certainly was no additional hike from camp up to the view peak again.  I was moving way too slow – the best I could do was a PCB (Palate Cleansing Beer) and a shower.  They gave us some extra time to relax before dinner (as my dad would say, “the rich eat late and so do we.”)

Dinner was tacos – choice of chicken, soyrizo (yes, soy chorizo is apparently a thing now – who knew?), and tofu.  Shockingly, I went with chicken, although the two times during the trip I had tofu mixed in with chicken, the tofu was quite good.  (I’ve had it before, but for some reason it’s not tops on my list).

After dinner some of us went to the fire, but when it started raining, we made like bananas and split.  The rain sputtered for a bit, driving us away to our tents.  It didn’t rain long or hard, and some people went back to the fire.  I opted to just hang in my tent and read “Abandoned: The Story of the Greely Arctic Expedition 1881-1884" to get ready for the trip Carol and I are doing next June.  After sleeping poorly two of the previous three nights, and doing Angels Landing that day, I was ready for a good night’s sleep.

And, it started out that way.  But around 2 am, the storm came a calling.  In a way it was pretty amazing, hearing the thunder echo reverberate throughout the mountains.  (Editor’s Note: Aha! Got you Mr. Language/Grammar Freak, “reverberate” and “echo” mean essentially the same thing.  Blogger: Not true.  I googled it to make sure.  I will admit though, it’s hard to be right as often as I am.  Editor: Sigh.).

It was raining and pouring.  It was booming.  The flash of lightning lit up the tent; lit up the entire camp area.  Every time the rain tapered off and I thought the storm was weakening, the rain came down, down, down in rushing, raging rivulets.

So, my only option was to grab my iPad, open the Kindle app, and read about the ill-fated Greely Expedition (much better to be glamping in southern Utah than stranded in the Arctic).  Eventually the thunder and lightning part of the storm stopped, and I fell back asleep (I KNOW THAT news must thrill you and is why you are reading the blog).

When my alarm went off at 5:40 (I purposefully set it for that time, but did regret it!), I got up and it was still raining.  I then did the most REI glamping thing ever – I brushed my teeth at my tent, using water from my Camelbak backpack to do so, rather than walk the quarter mile through the pouring rain to the bathroom.

You really haven't camped until you've brushed your teeth using your Camelbak for water.  At least that's what all of us experts say!