As a sequel to my previous blog entry, I wanted to provide a report of our recent trip to Death Hollow.
The first day entails a 13 mile hike in soft desert sand without any water. Last time we did this hike we almost died of dehydration. This time we left at 3am and used headlamps to light our way. Not only did we enjoy the adventure of hiking through the desert at night, we arrived at our destination early, with plenty of water remaining in our packs. The decision to leave early and hike at night was right – dead right.
The second day requires swimming through icy water. This can be scary with shoes and a backpack. We threw ropes back to the younger boys so they could grab on if they got in trouble. This turned out to be unnecessary, but it was the right decision – dead right.
Late on the second day we found ourselves in the narrows when it started to rain. We decided to run down river and get to high ground to avoid a flash flood. No flood came on this day, but the decision to play it safe was right – dead right.
That night we slept in a cave that was sheltered from the storm outside. After we set up camp we found bear scat all over the place. We moved all the food away from our sleeping area, built a fire at the entrance to keep the bears away, and dried tons of wet firewood over the fire to give us extra fuel for a bonfire. Twice during the night we heard a large animal splashing in the river outside and we stoked up the fire really quick. The decision to prepare tons of firewood and keep the fire raging was right – dead right.
The next morning we were anxious to press on in order to get home on time, but it was raining and we decided it would be wise to wait out the storm. We witnessed a deluge of rain for five hours. Huge waterfalls poured off the canyon walls. The river rose and we watched the flash flood from the safety of our bear cave. The decision to wait out the storm was right – dead right.
The storm passed and we finally started hiking at noon. We hiked as fast as we could to try to make it out before dark. When darkness came we pressed on with our headlamps walking down a river in the dark for four hours. We really wanted to make it to the end of the hike so we could call and let our families know we were safe, but we got lost in the darkness. We knew we were close to the parking lot but we couldn’t tell if we had passed it in the darkness, and we didn’t know which way to go. We really wanted to keep looking for the parking lot but we knew it was best to stay where we were until the morning so we didn’t get lost any further out of our way. That was the right decision – in fact, it was dead right. In the morning, we found the way and realized we never would have found it in the dark.
Death Hollow was a great adventure, one that we will never forget. I am grateful for the friends that made the trip so much fun, and for the wisdom, experience, and inspiration that helped us to make the right decisions and bring everyone home safely.