This long overdue post is all about our grand adventure this weekend! It started out innocently enough- naive may be the right word though! We are still acclimating to this new environment. Who knew that with a forecast of 65 degrees for a high and 40 degrees for a low would ultimately mean snowdrifts and sunburns?
We left Friday afternoon around 3pm from Boise. The temp was a warm 77 and we had the top down on the Jeep. We amazingly packed all we needed to camp for two nights into the back of the Jeep and had all 5 bikes attached, too. We were also on a mission to find our 2nd rabbit, Jack, a new home. So he was in a box on the boy's lap. Jack was always meant to be a wild rabbit. He was only visiting us for a couple of weeks.
We stopped in Mountain Home for a late lunch and the jackets for the boys because they were a little chilly on the highway. (75mph with the top down can do that, ya know.) We then left by 4:30 and were on our way again. We figured to be able to be in and set up camp easily by dark. We didn't count on stopping in Burley for another fill up and to ask for the best way into the City of Rocks. We were told continuing down the road to Oakley and going in from there was the fastest. So we went to Oakley, where we realized the Visitor's Center would be closed and we should stop and get firewood. So we did. We stopped at Searle's where the owner was kind enough to run home and get us $5 worth of wood for the night.
Did I mention that before we got to Burley we saw these beautiful snow covered mountains in the distance? I teased John that that's where we were going. Funny how I was right!
We left Oakley to go the 15 miles further into the City of Rocks. As we were going, we left the paved road just outside Oakley and began heading into the snow-covered mountains! Did I mention we still had the top down? So as we continued to climb in elevation, we started to get cold. But the road was clear as far as we could tell and the snow was still higher than we were. Good enough for us! So, we gave no thought to it. We passed a sign that read "Road not maintained in winter." It's the end of April so it isn't winter anymore, right?
We finally came upon a sign that said "City of Rocks, 2 miles" with an arrow pointing left. We were now at 6200ft of elevation and the road continued up. We kinda figured we'd go down on the other side-- which we would've if we could've made it. Notice in the photo how the snow started to cover the road? It only got better.
We came to an area where the snow totally covered the road for about 100 feet. John said, "I've got a Jeep. We can make that, no problem." So he took off into it. Our fist clue should've been when we got stuck within the first 20 feet. But, no. John figured if he got a "running" start at it, we could make it through.
Umm, we didn't.
So, we got stuck in a snowdrift that was crossing the road at about 6300 feet as the sun was setting. We were still in our summer clothes and the top was down with everything packed in the back making it very difficult to get the top up. After assessing our situation, John changed into pants and a sweatshirt and began digging us out. My job was to get the top up on the Jeep so there could be warmth. The boys? They began praying!
After an hour of digging and trying to get out, John had me go scope out a place where we could spend the night. After all, we had all our camping gear and the tents and sleeping bags would be warmer than our present situation. I found a good place, but was not convinced we should give up. Neither were the kids. We all wanted to keep trying, but John's nerves were not wearing well. He kept digging with our pans and had us all start digging out with the pans and lids. After another half an hour, on this incredibly remote road (Did I say remote? I meant EXTREMELY remote!) we saw headlights!
A couple of guys who were on their way to the City of Rocks to go rock climbing "just so happened" to take the road we were stuck on. And wonder of wonders- they had a shovel! An answer to the boys’ prayers!
So, alas, John began really shoveling hard now. The Jeep was stuck up to the frame and was resting on its axles on the snow. The snow was eastern hard packed because of the warm weather during the days. After another hour of shoveling and no progress being made toward the wheels actually catching, a second miracle appeared. Another set of headlights approaching!
This time it was a pickup truck. Robert, Monica and Crystal were just out joyriding on this Friday night and were more than happy to help us out. Robert "just so happened" to get new tires on the truck recently and he had his towing chain with him. What a miracle! Now, the first attempt to reach us ended Robert up stuck in the snow also. But with the 2 first guys and John pushing, he was unstuck quickly. So, the guys used the shovel to dig out the center of the tracks from where he got stuck to where we got stuck. Then with running in and out to make sure his wheels had good traction, he was able to get close enough to us to attach the chain. One good tug, and we were FREE!
We waved goodbye to our new friends in the Sunfire, expressing much gratitude for their help. The trio in the truck offered to show us a short-cut to Albion, which would take us to the road that went into the City of Rocks on the west side. Basically, we had to backtrack 50+ miles when we were literally only 2 miles from our campsite. Ick!
So, we followed Robert, Monica & Crystal to Albion taking some back roads. Once there, they wanted to go ahead and follow us on to the City of Rocks. What the heck! After all, it was only 1:00am. Evidently, there isn't a lot else to do on a Friday night ;o Still, we welcomed the traveling companions.
We got to our campsite around 2am, bid our new friends goodbye and started setting up camp. John got the boys set up, then us. Around 3am, we were finally able to sleep. (And, unfortunately, that's probably when the campers next to us were finally able to get back to sleep too.) Our site was on a pretty decent incline, so I kept sliding to the foot of my bag and the tent! I was also very cold. The mattress under me was allowing too much cold to seep through. Poor John didn't have any pad under him and was even colder! They boys were comfy though, so that's what matters!
Next morning, our neighboring campers (that we woke up at 2am) were getting ready to leave. John went over to apologize for waking them and it "just so happened" to be the Bruce from Boise who trained us in our YMCA belay course. He remembered us and was kind enough to offer John his mattress for the next night. John gratefully accepted. Another act of God! Now we all had insulation under our sleeping bags!
We took over their much more level campsite and proceeded to enjoy our day. After brunch, we loaded up the bikes and went exploring. We stopped and took in all the interesting sights. You can see many of the things we saw on the web page if you click this link.
City of Rocks - Page loads slow - lots of picsThat evening when we returned, we decided to try to climb Bath Rock. We were told it was an easy climb on the backside. After getting there, David, Zach and I decided it was NOT for us. Alex made it a third of the way up, but then decided it was too much for him, too. John, debated about half way up, but then he did it! He free-climbed Bath Rock! He said it was the most scared he's ever been, but he did it!
After he got down, we had re-hydrated freeze dried dinners. Then we built a campfire and enjoyed some hot cocoa before bed. We hit the sack around 10pm. It was a better night of sleep because we had learned a few tricks. First, we warmed up with warm drinks to warm our core. Then, John boiled water and placed it in a Nalgene and put it in the bottom of my bag. We also, all used earplugs. Much better sleep!
We got up and left by 11:30am. We stopped at Shoshone Falls (near Twin Falls) on the way home. Since this was a great year for snowfall in the mountains, the falls had massive volumes of water. It is higher than Niagara Falls at 212 feet. And with the volume of water, it resembled Niagara as well, just set in a gorge! It was pretty neat.
We also stopped off and saw Malad Gorge. We were able to cross the gorge right over what is nicknamed Devil's Washbowl, a 270-foot vertical drop-off. We were able to get some neat pics of it for y'all to see.
At about 6:30pm, we finally arrived home. We unloaded, washed the Jeep and the bikes from all the dirt and mud, and then enjoyed some much-needed baths. After we got all cleaned up, the boys were out playing with the neighbor's dog and Alex got knocked into the corner of the brick of our house. He had a good-sized gash on the back of his head. We all loaded up to take him to the emergency room for stitches, but it stopped bleeding before we were seen and I was able to determine I could take care of it myself. We brought him home and I proceed to cut his hair around it, clean it and bandage it up. He is fine today.
So that's it. Our fun April adventure. I still need to fill in a hole in there from a hot spring adventure we took in March. However, that will have to wait for another day! Hope all is well on your end!
Steph
