I had been tossing around the idea of camping out for a night in Big Cottoonwood Canyon when I first found this particular trail on Storm Mountain about a week ago. It treks into some of the most amazing scenery filled with sharp mountains that jab at the clouds and a cold mountain stream that reminds you that even Deer Park isn’t the real deal. Rollins words, Get out before you find a reason to stay in, drove me from the house around 6:30pm and after an hour of biking and hiking I was at camp gathering firewood. I spent the next 3 hours warming next to the fire, reading, listening to timeless water pour over quartzite and granite stones and watched the wind carry my thin, pale smoke down into the valley below while the stars dotted the moonless night sky.

When I noticed the wind change directions I became aware that the air had gotten slightly warmer. I then looked up to examine the sky and found thick dark clouds above me and a wall of black creeping over the ridge behind me. I then decided to pack up my skeleton camp of sleeping bag and pad and took out my oversized rain jacket so I was ready just in case things got ugly, but I couldn’t shake the bad feeling about the situation. When I looked back again the wall was nearly on top of me and just as the first drop of rain hit I shook the fire down and began navigating my way over rocks and streams back to the wooded path via fading headlamp. The storm had me tailing it back to my house. I could see lightning and heavy rain fall in the bottom of the canyon where I was headed but there was a road there and that was more promising than staying put. All down hill made the return trip fast. I made it home with an adrenaline high.

It was more than I was prepared for and exactly what I wanted.