After my first visit to Red Rocks Canyon last February, I have been anxious to return with Jim. Last Friday, Jim and I flew into Las Vegas early afternoon. Picked up our rental car, stop at the grocery store, and arrived Red Rocks Canyon Campground just before dark. Fay arrived just a few minutes later.
Jim and I were planning to camp out in our 3-man tent while Fay opted to sleep in the back of her truck. It is way more luxurious than it sounds. She has completely decked it out with a bed, toilet, sink, and stove.
The plan was to hike for 3 days and then George was flying in to do some adventure rock climbing with Jim for 2 days. For our first hike, we selected Calico Tanks. Before leaving the campground, we were extra careful to heavily secure our tent. There were high winds in the forecast, and we didn’t want our home to blow away.
We decided to anchor the tent to the picnic table which was bolted down. We secured all the other lines with large boulders. When we head out, we felt pretty good about our camp.
It was windy in the park but Calico Tanks is in a canyon, so we were fairly protected from the winds.
We stopped for a long lunch break at the end of the canyon just above the tanks. The sun was out and the wind wasn’t as bad as the forecast had suggested.
Hiking out of the canyon was virtually wind free. The weatherman really missed this one.
When we exited the canyon, we realized the wind was stronger than we had thought. Maybe we should go back to the campground and check on our tent.
Red Rocks Canyon State Park is a one-way scenic loop. Since neither Jim nor Fay had been to the park before, we made quick stops at the overlooks. Though the views were obscured but all the dust in the air. We decided to do a short exploratory hike in a different area. After all, we had heavily anchored our tent down.
When we got back to our campsite, we sat in the car in dismay as we took in the image of our tent flapping in the wind. Once the shock was over, we jumped out and proceeded to collapse the tent. The fly was torn in several spots. Several poles were bent and completely deformed. Our ground tarp was torn with several holes in it. But somehow the body of the tent was still intact, and all our belonging were still zipped inside. Covered with sand but not blown into the next town. Luckily, we had anchored the tent to the picnic table.
Jim and I started to assess our options. First, we tried to check into a hotel for the night, but it was Saturday night in Las Vegas. The only rooms available were downtown and cost between $500 and $1000 per night. Yes, there was a room advertised at $1050 per night. That included a 15% discount for late night booking. Next, we looked at renting a campervan or RV. These businesses were closed for the night and for some reason, they are closed on Sundays. We discussed heading into REI and buying another tent, but did we really want to risk that.
Thankfully, the body of the tent was still intact. We could sleep in it like a 2-person bivy sack. Just let the winds blow over us. Jim and I ate dinner in our car as it shook with each gust. One wind gust actually blew a pot full of water across the picnic table and onto the ground. At 9:30pm, we climbed into our flat tent and went to sleep. We actually slept quite well.
The next morning, the camp host made the rounds to make sure everyone was Ok. They told us the wind gusts hit 67 mph. We found out later they had to shut the airport down for several hours.
Since last night went so well and the wind gusts were only forecasted at 30 mph today and minimal tomorrow, we decided we would just spend the next 4 nights in our collapsed tent. We anchored down what was left of our tent and headed into the park to hike up Turtlehead Peak.
When we returned to the campground that night, Fay noticed one of the campsites had a UHaul moving van. She jokingly said we could sleep in that. We laughed and thought nothing of it, but the seed had been planted.
That night the winds switched direction and started coming out of the north. We were hit with an icy 30 mph wind all night long with nothing but mosquito netting to protect us. Luckily, I had my wind jackets in the tent and used them to keep me from freezing. In the morning, I announced that I was done, and we needed a solution.
The campervans were all rented as were most of the UHaul moving vans, but we did find one on the other side of town. For $19.99 a day, I was happy to call it home. We reserved it for that evening and headed off to try and scramble up White Rock Mountain. I say try because we got halfway up and realized we were running out of time. We had to get the moving van and pickup George at the airport. We would have to come back and finish the climb on another trip.
We picked up the moving van, threw all our stuff in it, and I headed back to the campground to get setup while Jim went to the airport to get George. I was actually surprised how well we fit in the moving van. It was just wide enough for our car camping sleeping pads. It was long enough so we had room above our heads and below our feet for gear.
When the cold winds picked up during dinner, we moved the camping pads out of the way and brought in our camp chairs. We had a lovely evening eating dinner in the van out of the wind. Though the winds nearly stopped completely, they were still bitter cold, and I was so happy to be protected from them.
The next day, Jim and George were up at 5am and off on an adventure climb before 6am. Fay and I made a more leisurely start at 8am. We were all headed to the same area, but Fay and I intended to do a much shorter and easier loop over North Peak. The guys were headed to Bridge Mountain which you can see on the right side of this photo.
We actually ran into the guys on the road on our way out. Only the second people we had seen all day long. That night as soon as the wind started, we moved into the van. It was actually quite comfortable in our camp chairs. And there was no wind to mess with the camp stoves. Life was pretty good.
The next day, George had to head home for an emergency (we think this trip might have been cursed). Fay, Jim, and I decided to head into the park and check out the crag areas for a future trip. We hiked some beautiful canyons and scrambled up to a high point and discussed the feasibility of renting a UHaul moving van on purpose for a return trip in the spring.
We discussed the pros and cons of our three options. 1) RV – everything we want inside including a shower, but they are bulky to take into the park. Maneuvering them isn’t very pleasant. 2) Campervan – better movability but they don’t transfer between bed and table very easily. And the stove is outside the back. We would still have to deal with the wind while cooking. 3) Moving Van – Bed is super easy to put away. Camp chairs are so much more comfortable to lounge in than sitting at a table. And cooking inside is a super easy. Just make sure the side doors open away from the wind.
The major drawback to the moving van is the lack of storage. There is none. Fay, Jim, and I spent our last night brainstorming different ways to organize the inside of the moving van. A few hooks here and there. A couple of collapsible bins in the corners. Add a sun shower and the van had everything.
By the time Jim and I broke camp the next morning, we were convinced that we could make a UHaul Moving van work as our vacation rental car and camper in one. It might be the perfect solution. We are already planning a trip for this coming April. Back to Red Rocks. Stay tuned to see if our system works.
