We weren’t entirely sure where we were going. We knew the vicinity we needed to be in and hoped for the best.
We arrived to the camp area about 10pm, and luckily there were people up and awake still to ask, “is this Frenchman’s Coulee?”
The roads weren’t very well maintained, we couldn’t really see how the came was laid out, so we just went up a hill and set up camp.
We knew it was going to be windy, but we angled ourselves behind the cars just right so it wasn’t too bad. WRONG IS WHAT WE WERE. The winds shifted and betrayed us.
It blew wind ALL NIGHT. I’m not even sure if I slept at all, honestly. But then, because we couldn’t put stakes in due to the amount of rocks in the soil, the wind caught my rain fly just right. It completely flipped my tent from under me, upside down, collapsed it, and pushed us about 5ft. By us I mean my dog, me, all of my gear, and a lot of very heavy rocks used to help weigh down the edges.
After 15min of screaming for help but the wind immediately swallowing my voice, I was finally able to get the attention of one of my friends. He hopped out, helped steady my tent so I could find out to get out of it, and then we took off the rain fly to allow air to just pass through my tent. It made it a bit chilly, but it was bearable.
Even though the rain fly was off, the wind was still just too loud to sleep.After what seemed like decades, the started to come up and I could actually enjoy what I was seeing in front of me… and get my tent somewhat taken down. By somewhat, I mean, we grabbed the heavy stuff out, took down the poles, and shoved it in my car because it was too windy to be able to roll or fold it up.
It was a cold, tiring morning. But we still got our butts up and started hiking.
And then we got lost.The three in our group went ahead to find the canyon to cut through while we got the dogs up some ledges we needed to climb. They also got lost trying to find the Sunshine Wall.After 30 minutes of walking in the wrong direction, and texting all three people trying to find them, one of them calls us, and it turns out we went too far and missed the entrance to the canyon (pictured above).So then it was a hike back and a climb down. Climbing up or down with dogs is a mess, but so worth it.Eventually, we got to where we wanted to climb. We met such interesting people from Washington, Idaho, California, and more.Even though we left a day earlier than expected, it was still an outstanding trip. Can’t wait to get my pictures uploaded!
As always, Stay Kind.Follow me on insta; @delaneypaullus
Less Than Elegant 