Desert trip! (part 3)

So where did we leave off? Oh yeah, the night we spent just a little bit ‘stranded’ after bailing on our Paria Canyon through-hike because it was so wet and we were cold and miserable, covered in icicles. It was a very chilly night, down into the single digits but momma made us sleep in our jackets, and kept Lolo and I between her and daddy in our  doggy sleeping bag that was covered with their puffy coats, so we all stayed nice and warm while everything else in the tent froze solid. Including all the wet shoes and socks from the day before and even hand wipes with alcohol in them. Everything!

Now, as you may remember, we were limited on water only because the river we spent so much time falling through the ice on the day before is actually super silty. Momma’s plan was to filter water through a T-shirt once or twice before trying to get it through our regular water filter. But she thought she would start by first trying to get us a ride out of there! Largely because she didn’t want to ruin her shirt or then have only a wet (and likely frozen) shirt to wear!

So, in the middle of the night while we were sleeping soundly, she was worrying about the water and the potential frozen shirt (and thus, the ride) because we still had not heard back from the original shuttle driver who had dropped us off. Remember how I said people there in the desert weren’t like people everywhere else that are glued to their phones? So Tim, our shuttle driver yesterday, wasn’t really expecting to hear from us of course so he wasn’t checking his e-mail, and all momma could think of was how she was so thirsty but didn’t want to drink any of the water because she knew Lolo and I would be thirsty with our breakfast in the morning, plus we do a LOT more running around than they do!

Luckily, she found another company that ran a shuttle service that was very near to where we were strando-camping. When she got up to go to the bathroom she saw a fancy Mercedes car pull into the parking area with two people going on a hike and she decided even though it was super early in the morning, it was definitely late enough to try to call, because even fancy Mercedes city people were up and about!

The lady she called, Susan, was happy to help us out (even if momma did wake her up, we think) and didn’t even try to rip us off because we were quite literally stuck in our situation! She is a dog and a horse person and very friendly, trusting us enough to drive us before getting her cash. She also came and got us pretty much right away, which meant we would probably still have enough time to go off and adventure that day! When we got back to the car momma tried to use the remote entry to unlock the car, but it wouldn’t work. From having Pedro, we know that this usually means the battery is KAPUT. Luckily, Susan was still there and gave us a jump to start the car. So basically, she saved us TWICE that day! The car also then told us the tires were low on air. So it seemed our epic wasn’t QUITE over yet! After letting the car run and sorting gear to pack the car again, we went to fill the car tires and find coffee for momma because she was pretty much a hot mess without it, which is nothing new.

When we got her some coffee we went to a hike that was up a DRY wash, very key for all of us to go see the Toadstool Hoodoos. It was a short hike that allowed for us to do tons of exploring in the area.

Now, we still needed to figure out where to sleep that night. Daddy really liked where we had camped the night before, so we went back there but with OUR car and with plenty of water, so it was a much more pleasant experience. There were a few other people camping in the area that night, but they were nice and pretty much kept to themselves after we said hello.

Lolo and I liked camping here because there was a lot of places to run around. We could stay pretty warm just running around and when we got tired momma had us curl up in the car. It was perfect!

The next day we went to the Wahweap Hoodoos trail which was again up a DRY wash and it was so much fun because it was wide, open land and there were a BAJILLION bunnies for Loki and I to flush out. We’d run after them for just a little bit, but honestly we have more fun in the “hunt” aspect of sniffing them out versus the “chase” aspect where they are worried we might kill them! Because let me tell you, I would NEVER! I can’t say the same about Lolo though, since he did once kill a chipmunk this summer.

It wasn’t super warm this day, maybe up to 40 degrees but Lolo and I were so looney that momma and daddy thought we might overheat and would sometimes make us stay with them or rest a bit before we could even drink water. I was calm for maybe a mile or so when I found this antler that I carried around – it may be hard to see, but it’s in my mouth in the picture just above this paragraph here! But eventually I saw a bunny that was more interesting and I ditched the antler and resumed my running around.

The only downside to the Wahweap Hoodoos trail for Lolo and I was that there were a ton of stickers and prickers that we kept getting into our feet. We would limp up to momma with them poking out of everywhere! She was getting exasperated with pulling all these things out, but we didn’t really care once they were out we’d be on our way again!

After this hike momma and daddy decided to drive home, which was probably a good idea because they were starting to get really smelly not having had running water in almost a week. Momma wanted to drive all the way or sleep in the car again because she thinks hotels are disgusting and full of fleas and bugs and doesn’t want Lolo or I to touch anything. I think she’s probably a little weird about that. We did make it all the way home at about 1am on Christmas Day when we drank about a gallon of water because it was from our regular water bowl.

I can’t wait to go back to the desert, it was just so beautiful it was hard for momma to take a bad picture of us, even if we weren’t looking at her! Maybe we will be able to take our Muzzy on a trip in Pedro when he’s done being at the shop getting fixed up!!