A Night on the Mountain

In a recent post titled, A Hiking Cornucopia, I shared that while on a hike I passed by a great location for a camp site on the side of the mountain at the very bottom of Big Baldy mountain. On that day I made the decision that I would camp there within the week.

So Wednesday night, I did just that.

Two of my daughters, Yana and Riri, decided to join for dinner on the mountain and then they went home and left me all alone on the mountain. Of course, I was totally groovy with that. Although, it would have been great if they stayed.

• 

• 

• 

As soon as we arrived, the girls started working on the camp dinners and I began making camp for the evening. Yana used the camp stove to make pasta and sauce. Riri used the Jet Boil to make chicken and rice.

We arrived at the site before 7p and the sun was getting close to dipping behind the mountains across Utah Lake to the west. You know I love to shoot sunsets.

• 

• 

After our delicious dinner, we started have fun with the cameras. We first went to “the chair” and took some pix and then Yana and Riri enjoyed snapping pix of each other.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After the girls left, I put all of my stuff into my 1-person tent and laid down for a moment and took the shot below with my fisheye lens. The view is looking out into the valley toward the sunset.

I started getting sleepy and zipped up the tent. Right before I dozed off, I took one last look outside and saw the valley at night. I had not seen if from here before. I loved it, especially with the remnant light from the sunset highlighting the clouds. So I shot the pix and video below.

After peaceful and mostly comfortable night of sleep, I got up and looked at the tent. The sun was just beginning to rise. I looked to the east and saw these shots. They were taken about 5 minutes apart.

• 

• 

After taking a few pix, I came back to the tent and packed up my gear. It didn’t take long as I was by myself. I should have taken a picture of everything I had with me in the tent. I had my big pack, my camera bag, a water bottle, shoes, my hat, a hunting knife, a pillow, two super light sleeping bags, my phone, an extra battery and a block of ice in the shape of a goat.

Oh yea, I was in there too!

I had a short half mile hike back to the car.

It was a great time with my girls the night before and it was a great time just to be in nature. I love sleeping outside. I look forward to when it is a bit warmer and I can sleep without a tent.

And then…the stars. Oh, the stars.