The Case of the Missing Tent

Hi all!

ANOTHER post already - I know you can't believe it - but we are doing laundry AGAIN and we can't waste this free wifi and spare time! This is going to be an interesting one so sit back and relax. It's a pretty crazy story but it has a (relatively) happy ending so don't despair!

As you know, Matt and I left Colorado for the warmer (and by warmer I mean swelteringly hot) skies of Moab, Utah a couple of days ago. The landscape had changed drastically in the six hour drive. We left behind rocky mountains and arrived in what I can only assume is a similar climate to Mars. Moab and the surrounding area is red and rocky, beautiful in a weird sort of way. Once we had secured a campsite on the banks of the Colorado River, organized our lives and ran some errands, we headed into Arches National Park to do a sunset hike to Delicate Arch, an astounding 52 foot tall freestanding rock formation in the heart of the park. At 8 pm when we started the hike it was still 95 degrees out. It was worth battling the heat though - the arch really was amazing. We had an uncomfortably warm sleep that night and got up early to maximize the cool(er) morning the next day.

Our plan for the day was to hike a 7 mile loop deep in the national park that would give us views of 8 arches. It was a hard 7 miles, even though there was very little elevation change the heat and sandy walking conditions tired us out. We stopped for a picnic lunch near another view point and then decided to make the drive to nearby Canyonlands National Park to check it out. We putzed around there for a bit before returning to town. We had planned to dart back to the campsite to grab our books from the tent before heading to a cafe in town to take shelter in an air conditioned building. As we pulled into our campsite though - we immediately noticed something was wrong....our tent was missing.

Trying not to panic we ran out of the car and to look around. We found a couple tent pegs lying on the ground but no other sign of our home. Matt's first impression was that it had been stolen but I wasn't so sure. As we looked around at the other sites we could see the other tents around were FLATTENED and that there was dishware and other nicknacks lying all over the ground. It appeared that a windstorm had blown through. This was not good news. As we calmly (OK let's be honest - I was bawling at this point) searched around our site some more, we resigned ourselves to the fact that the only place our tent could have gone was in the river. This was almost inconceivable as our site had been blocked from the water by a set of 6 foot tall shrubs and that our tent had been full of sleeping bags, pillows, clothes, books and mattress pads, but there seemed to be no other option.

In shock, we decided to drive into town to talk to the visitor information center. They sympathized with us but had no real information or advice. As we were walking out, the man at the counter suggested that we might try talking to Canyonlands by Night, a boat tour company on the river as if anyone was to have fished it out, it would have been them. We weren't very enthused, but having no other real option we popped into the boating company to inquire if they had seen anything unusual floating down the river. The lady at the counter didn't think so but phoned down to the boat which had just returned from the day cruise to ask. Amazingly they HAD found our tent and were just offloading it as we arrived! YAHOOOOOO! I have never been more excited in my life! We walked down to the dock and saw our heaping wet pile of belongings lying there. Our sleeping bags, mattresses, crib board, pillows, stuff sacks and clothing survived unscathed. Our tent footprint had a rip in it but would be fixable with duct tape. As we took a closer look at the tent though we knew it was a goner. The tent poles had snapped in half and were badly misshapen and the fly was nowhere to be found. At this point I didn't care. If the tent was all that we had to replace we were doing just fine. Further inspection revealed that our headlamps hadn't made it either but again I didn't care. We thanked the lovely boat drivers (our heros) profusely, and they told us that our amazing little-tent-that-could had floated THREE MILES from our campground without sinking to the bottom of the big river. CRAZY.

We gathered everything in the car and drove directly to the laundromat where we washed and dried our belongings while planning our escape from Moab. Screw this town I thought, we are moving on a day early. We popped into a gear store and though they didn't have the MSR Hubba Hubba that we had originally had, we found a descent Big Agnus alternative. We got in the car and drove to a motel halfway between Moab and Bryce Canyon (our next destination) and never looked back. And so friends and family, that is how we lost and then found our tent and other belongings. Before you ask, YES it was pegged down securely and YES we thought our site was relatively protected from the elements as it was surrounded by brush on three sides (the fourth being the road). The only thing that might have contributed to our downfall was that we had had the fly rolled up to allow some air circulation within the tent (wouldn't you at 100 degress F?!) but I think that must have been how the wind picked up are tent and dropped it in the river. In time, it will make a great story though for now I still feel little pangs of loss for our beautiful tent. Putting it all in perspective though, it is only gear and money. We are both healthy and happy and this story ended a lot better than it could have!

We made it to Bryce today and are currently drying our sleeping bags a bit more, as they are still damp. We did a great hike down into the canyon today and we have a big one lined up for tomorrow. Our new tent is clean and shiny and I'm excited to test it out tonight! The temperature here is much more agreeable as well as it is only in the high 70s. All in all - only good things to report!

Love and miss you guys!
Heather and Matt