Part 4 of this Adventure was foreshadowed early on in our trip. It began with the fact that thunderstorm activity in the region meant we had to drive, instead of fly. And was compounded when we arrived at the suspiciously unclaimed campsite and announced it to be the “best campsite ever.”
And it was. Until the rain began.
See that draw there? It’s basically channeling all the rainwater from higher elevations down through the Mogollon rim.
What’s also important to note about this draw is that it runs directly through our campsite.
You can probably see where I’m going with this.
We were a little caught off-guard, because the heavy thunderstorms were further north of us, and we were only getting a light rain at the campsite. However, slowly but surely, all that northern rainwater was making its way towards us.
Things were starting to get soggy. We scurried to put anything and everything on tables and in vehicles because even the tents weren’t safe.
In a burst of inspiration, Chris took our little camping/trenching shovel, and began clearing a channel to direct the water through our campsite and away.
So there we were, a line of coolers defending our foods and a trenched river running just past them.
We trenched around the Tent Majal, too.
There was even some hail thrown in, as if just to make sure we didn’t miss out on Mother Nature’s big joke.
But then, almost as quickly as it began, it was over.
The side benefit of being in a draw is that the water doesn’t stay long after the rain is done, it just keeps on going. We named this event the Great Camping Flood of 2009.
Now all we needed was a little Camping Miracle.
