# Over the Long Weekend



## Steerpike (Sep 3, 2013)

Here in the U.S. it was Labor Day weekend. Here are some pics from my trip, where I was (for the most part) out of internet range:


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## T.Allen.Smith (Sep 3, 2013)

Looks incredible!

I can see why you were so quiet over the weekend....


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## Nihal (Sep 3, 2013)

Wow, that place is stunning!

Someday I'll visit a temperate forest... someday.


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## MFreako (Sep 4, 2013)

Which state is it, if you don't mind me asking?


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## Caged Maiden (Sep 4, 2013)

I'm assuming that's California.  But it looks like my trip up to Colorado for an archery event. I'm the one in the red dress in the background.  I camped in my car (though my friends had elaborate tent set-ups, as you can see), and the view was stunning, mountains and a valley, stretching out as far as you could see.


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## CupofJoe (Sep 4, 2013)

You've got to love any place that has "Caution Rattlesnakes" signs...


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## Caged Maiden (Sep 4, 2013)

yeah... there was a rattlesnake spotted at my event, too.


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## CupofJoe (Sep 4, 2013)

I've never met a snake I didn't like...


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## Sheilawisz (Sep 4, 2013)

Wow Steerpike, those pictures are really artistic and stunning!!

I can tell that you have a high quality camera, and it was a beautiful day for taking pictures. Where is that exactly? My favorite is the fourth picture... Who is that, maybe your daughter?

Please share some more pictures, I am curious =)

@Maiden: I have always wanted to visit Colorado one day, was it very cold?


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## Svrtnsse (Sep 4, 2013)

I too was out of internet access over the weekend, and the week before it. Here are some of the pictures I took while at Burning Man.


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## Steerpike (Sep 4, 2013)

Thanks for the comments guys.

The pictures are from in and around Flagstaff, Arizona (which does look a lot like SW Colorado). The weather was great (I lived in Colorado as a kid, and it is beautiful there as well, and plenty warm in the summer).

That is my daughter in the 4th picture. She's going to college in Flagstaff, and I drove out there to visit her. 

The pictures were actually taken with my cell phone. The Lumia 920 has a really nice camera, and I'm very pleased with how the images came out. 

We did see a snake while hiking, but it wasn't a rattlesnake. 

Burning Man looks like fun, svrtnsse. How many people were there?


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## Steerpike (Sep 4, 2013)

Here are some more:

My daughter and my niece (who drove with me) being funny:







My daughter and her mom at the top of the mountain:








A woman we saw climbing the rock face of the canyon:







The trail we hiked:


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## Caged Maiden (Sep 4, 2013)

Colorado was very warm and though it cooled off at night, we had clouds, which kept in the heat a little.  Over night, it was beautiful and I slept great.  Don't often get to say that now that my camping buddy, Orion, is dead.  Yep...zipping an eighty-pound bundle of fluffy love into your sleeping bag often wards the desert chill, but last weekend I took a camel wool blanket and slept like a dream.  Best camping sleep I've ever gotten.

I'm a cheater camper, really.  I have a Honda Pilot I fold the seats down in and I lay on three doubled up sleeping bags, with one open, flat on top of those, and a fleece blanket on top of that (so I don't have to touch the nylon).  Three or four pillows and a couple more blankets (including my camel one this time) and I'm good to go.  It's nice, because I never have to break down a camp or sleep on the ground.  I just toss my cooler in and hit the road.  

I hang towels on all four door windows, and open the two doors on the side, then I have a sort of bathing area and changing room (so I don't have to change clothes in a hot car).  It works well.  I don't know if you can call it roughing it, but I love my set-up.  I take a bath every afternoon with a bar of soap and a gallon of water, even wash my hair.  I joke that if there was an award for "best-smelling camper" I'd win it.    I can't sleep well if I feel filthy.  Of course, by "bath", I literally mean I ball up a sweaty sock or worn underwear, use it as a washcloth, and rinse all the important parts with soap and water whilst wearing a t-shirt and boxers.  So you know... it's rather utilitarian.  But still.. 

Nothing quite as nice as sweating all day and having a nice cool refreshing bath by the car and a clean change of clothes as soon as the sun starts going down.  Besides... I hang the "washcloth" up to dry and have new clean socks or underwear in case of an emergency (like if it rains and things get muddy or something gets full of poky weeds or something).  

one of the things that makes camping so nice is my natural salt deodorant.  if you've never tried it, I highly recommend it.  Rather than a chalky antiperspirant (which my mother-in-law turned me off of because it can lead to breast cancer), I use Kiss MY Face's natural salt roll-on in Patchouli.  Salt absolutely allows you to sweat but not smell, by inhibiting bacteria growth on the skin.  I've completely abandoned common deodorants for three years and it's never so noticeable as when I'm camping and smelling fresh... amongst many, MANY very less fresh people.

It's funny... since I started doing my version of "roughing it", I've found wonderful ways to incorporate "field bathing" into my writing.  I forgot my toothpaste this weekend (a mix-up because I found my tiny tube said "Kids Bubble-gum Flavor" and I tossed it out, but forgot to replace it with a mint one).  SO I told one of my friends about it and we discussed medieval oral hygiene.  I said sage leaves are wonderful for brushing your teeth (which I've done), because sage is a natural antiseptic, and has a rough texture that helps scrub the teeth.  I wrote that into a novel once, after a tense moment, a MC gets all silly, overjoyed her breath won't stink because she found sage growing wild and starts brushing her teeth.    Oh, the great things living imparts to our art, right?


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## Legendary Sidekick (Sep 4, 2013)

Nice pics…


Steerpike said:


>


The black diamonds threw me at first glance, but of course they indicate hiking difficulty. I wouldn't expect there's ever a time of year that people ski in Arizona.

This is bringing me back memories of Utah. (Only place I've ever skied west of New England.)


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## Steerpike (Sep 4, 2013)

No, they're ski slopes Legendary Sidekick. Actually, Flagstaff AZ gets some of the most snowfall of any incorporated municipality in the U.S. (they average just over 100 inches per year). The Snowbowl in Arizona gets lot of snow and has a pretty long ski season


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## Legendary Sidekick (Sep 4, 2013)

11.5K' elevation? That's right up there with Park City and some of those other Utah mountains I've been to. Man… I was born in the wrong part of the world. I love skiing out west!


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## Svrtnsse (Sep 4, 2013)

Sunrise:






...and sunset:






Burning Man this year had a permit for maximum 68,000 people. I don't think quite that many were on site considering how many tickets seemed to be on sale in the days before the event. It was probably fairly close to it though. The picture with all the people in it is from the Temple Burn which is a silent event. It's quite a moving experience to be there with all those people and everyone being quiet or just whispering to each other.

It's a great experience for anyone who think they can handle the heat and the dust and I heartily recommend anyone to try and attend it at least once in their life. Just make sure to be properly prepared and try and get in touch with a camp so you have some veterans to camp with. I wouldn't want to go out there alone and on my own.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Sep 4, 2013)

@Caged Maiden,

I own a Pilot myself, so yeah, that's roomier than the Jeep Cherokee I "camped" in when a friend of mine ran a LARP in Maine. I can't say I was nearly as clean. I thought I was doing better than most guys because I shaved. (War paint and stubble don't mix.)


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