Jason had been promising Jared he would take him on a backpacking trip all summer. Finally the last week before school started they went. The morning they left it was overcast with afternoon thunderstorms in the forecast. Oh well, what's a Uintah trip without an afternoon shower? They grabbed their ponchos along with their packs and headed out the door. It was raining a little at home in the afternoon and I wondered how it was going for the boys camping. About dinner time Jason was getting just enough cell reception to get some texts through. It was raining, hard. Later I got the whole story. They had about one more mile to get to the lake they were going to camp when the storm hit. It was raining hard, hailing, lightening. They thought about putting up the tent and finishing the hike in the morning but they figured the storm would pass in an hour or so. They trudged on through the trail which had turned into a river. Finally they made it to camp and decided the rain wasn't going to let up enough to set the tent up. They set it up with the boys holding the rain fly over it while Jason set it up. By then Jared was freezing cold. Jason was worried he might get hypothermia. Since it was just an overnight camp they didn't have a lot of clothes. He changed into the only dry clothes he had left and jumped in the sleeping bag and started warming up a little. They spent the afternoon, cold, bored and hungry. It was too wet to light the stove and cook food so all they had were their dry snacks. Jared didn't want to admit it but he was pretty scared too. Actually, I think they all were. Lightening was flashing all around them and the lake they were at had steep slopes of boulders and they kept hearing and seeing huge rock slides from all the water. Finally about 10:00 the rain lightened up enough they could cook dinner. It looked like they were at least going to get to go to bed with full stomachs but as soon as they finished eating Jared ran out of the tent and threw up. Apparently, he hadn't felt well all day but didn't want to say anything in case he wouldn't get to go on the trip.
The next morning they finally got some dry weather and got to fish for a few hours before heading back to the car. Jared was keeping a little food down and then had to hike the six miles out with his pack. Luckily it was mostly downhill on the way out. Somehow they made it back and were awfully glad to be home. I guess maybe there were some valuable lessons learned about surviving in the wilderness. I'm sure it's a trip they will never forget!
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