Winter Storm Advisory

4/4/09

The radio warned throughout the day that a winter storm was coming. And it hit Olympia and I as we hiked the rim trail. How bad it would get would only be discovered in the morning.

Wind buffeted our tent all through the night, even though the forecast was that the winds and storm would subside by midnight. To sty warm, I stuffed several hand-warmers into my sleeping bag and curled up with Olympia, covering her with the extra blanket I had brought along. Occasionally during the night I would wake up to snow drifting through the bug mesh - blown under the rainfly by the winds. We would awake to a desert winter wonderland.

The winds had not stopped at midnight, and with all the blowing snow I wasn't certain that the snow had stopped falling. I packed up as fast as I could, but first had to empty my boots of snow that I had left in the vestibule of the tent. Both the tent and rainfly were coated with snow. Six inch drifts formed against the tent and the tires of the car. I had to stomp around in the snow to find Olympia's water dish buried.

Our drive out was eventful. Winds shoved snow into drifts in the road. The bumper of the Subaru played snow plow through the drifts. The wind tried pushing the car around. And even in all this misery, the Moab Marathon was about to begin as I drove past the starting line.

Next year I'm going at the end of April.