Warning: this post contains an extended weather rant.
After a tedious couple of days in Phoenix we finally pick up our campervan. The hire company customises each van with a unique paint job and fittingly ours is adorned with an Arizona desert landscape.
We love it and are chuffed that this will be our home on wheels for the next 10 weeks.
The first campsite we’ve booked is 130 miles north just outside the small town of Sedona. It’s a gorgeous little site with only 19 pitches sandwiched between a redstone cliff on one side and a bubbling creek on the other.
This would be perfect if it wasn’t for one inescapable fact… it’s absolutely freezing! Oh, and another… it’s pissing down.
At this time of the year it averages 23°C in this region and if you’re really unlucky there’s half an inch of rain for the entire month.
On our first night it hovers between 1 and 2°C and rains for 13 straight hours.
It relents for a few hours in the morning and we manage to squeeze in a brisk hike but then becomes even colder and the rain turns to sleet. The poor buggers in tents on the campsite abandon ship and we dig into our bags to add yet more layers to what we are already wearing.
Everyone we meet says the same two things; “it shouldn’t be this cold” and “It never
rains like this here”. Which cheers us up no end.
rains like this here”. Which cheers us up no end.
Still, things can only get better eh? Well, seemingly not because this afternoon there’s an email from the park ranger at Yosemite informing us that due to the most severe snowstorm in years all campsite bookings for the next 2 months are cancelled.
This is a national park that’s geared up for mental winter weather. Storms and avalanches are the norm but come springtime everything comes up roses. But not this bloody year.
It’s such a bummer, especially for our friends Steve and Anna who will be joining us in a couple of weeks as they’ve set their hearts on visiting the famous Yosemite Valley.
Eventually, on day 3 at the campsite it stops raining. It’s still very chilly but we see some blue sky and head out for some proper hiking.
And it’s beautiful.
In the 1950’s and 60’s scores of cowboy films were shot in and around Sedona and it’s not hard to see why.
The immense redstone Mesas and desert landscapes providing the perfect backdrop for John Wayne and Ronald Reagan to strut their stuff.
Now this is better.
No comments:
Post a Comment