donny h
01-09-2006, 03:08 PM
All my safety gear and supplies were left behind as I left camp in Steves Jeep, we were just headed up around the bend for a few minutes...
Certain authorities made it clear that no more fireworks were to be launched from our camp, so we figured the rest of the desert was fair game.
We set off into an area I've never been, but Steve claims to know all, this is the 13th annual New Years party near Joshua Tree, in Ca.
We celebrated the freedom of our country by blowing up a small piece of it, and got lost on the way back.
Steve was getting panicky, I kept telling him to stop and I could tell which way camp was. He was doing the classic lost in the desert routine, he wanted to head for lights that were just over there, I suspected they were 20-30 miles away. Lights are funny in the desert at night.
The irony is, just before we left camp I found Polaris in the sky, and tried to tell a couple city friends about the sky, and how to find north, they bickered amongst themselves about how wrong I was, they heard this, they heard that, they had no idea which way was north, but what I showed them couldn't be right, that they could agree on.
When I got Steve to stop and let me out, I knew in a second which way we needed to head, but I couldn't convince Steve, either. Deja Vu.
I had to give him a twenty minute lecture about Polaris and orientation before he would believe me, and head in the correct direction, exactly opposite the lights he saw.
He was still panicky but I calmed him some, and when I was able to point out our own tracks in the sand he was okay, and when I pointed out some debris we remembered, it was all good.(rocks and bushes are useless markers at night, watch for man made markers) I had to get out and backtrack with a light in a couple spots, but were back at camp in thirty minutes, after he had us out there for a couple hours.
Steve is the 'don' of that crowd, he's in charge, rightly so, most of the time. Giving control to me hurt for him, but when he saw that campfire...
Funny, now I'm the bona fide 'outdoors' guy with that crowd, because I can find one stupid star in the sky.
Certain authorities made it clear that no more fireworks were to be launched from our camp, so we figured the rest of the desert was fair game.
We set off into an area I've never been, but Steve claims to know all, this is the 13th annual New Years party near Joshua Tree, in Ca.
We celebrated the freedom of our country by blowing up a small piece of it, and got lost on the way back.
Steve was getting panicky, I kept telling him to stop and I could tell which way camp was. He was doing the classic lost in the desert routine, he wanted to head for lights that were just over there, I suspected they were 20-30 miles away. Lights are funny in the desert at night.
The irony is, just before we left camp I found Polaris in the sky, and tried to tell a couple city friends about the sky, and how to find north, they bickered amongst themselves about how wrong I was, they heard this, they heard that, they had no idea which way was north, but what I showed them couldn't be right, that they could agree on.
When I got Steve to stop and let me out, I knew in a second which way we needed to head, but I couldn't convince Steve, either. Deja Vu.
I had to give him a twenty minute lecture about Polaris and orientation before he would believe me, and head in the correct direction, exactly opposite the lights he saw.
He was still panicky but I calmed him some, and when I was able to point out our own tracks in the sand he was okay, and when I pointed out some debris we remembered, it was all good.(rocks and bushes are useless markers at night, watch for man made markers) I had to get out and backtrack with a light in a couple spots, but were back at camp in thirty minutes, after he had us out there for a couple hours.
Steve is the 'don' of that crowd, he's in charge, rightly so, most of the time. Giving control to me hurt for him, but when he saw that campfire...
Funny, now I'm the bona fide 'outdoors' guy with that crowd, because I can find one stupid star in the sky.