You had a long hike yesterday, so when the tent wall starts to let in a little light, you roll over…read moreand hope to catch a few more minutes of sleep before beginning another day. That's when you notice he's already awake beside you, staring up from his back at the dark blue sky through the gray mesh of the tent's roof. You slept without the rain fly last night and enjoyed an incredible show of brilliant stars before falling asleep together, too tired to make the moon's encore performance.
"Are you awake?" he whispers, as he gently tucks a wisp of your long hair behind your ear.
"Ya," you respond in your croaky morning voice. You clear your throat and continue, "I was just thinking about going back to sleep but I kinda want to see the views over the cliff."
That's one of the reasons you chose this campground, as the last few campsites abut an incredible cliff that looks off to the west. Feeling the soreness in your muscles, you mange to turn over and prop yourself up on your elbows, so you can just peek through the top of the tent to see where the sun has already landed in the valley below.
"Whoa!" you blurt out, a little too loudly, "Look!"
Now you're both on your elbows, and you can just see a band of bright yellow and orange on the far western horizon. The sun is still behind a small hill that's protecting you from its rays, but it has managed to lay that stripe of amber incandescence on the valley and you can make out all kinds of rocky formations in the distance.
You unzip the tent and make your way out, not worrying about your shout or the zipping noise, as most sites here are well-spaced and you won't disturb your neighbor. Together you climb out and convince your muscles to take you over to the picnic table; there's one per site and yours is looking out over the entire scene as it unfolds. You quickly escape to the restroom--just a simple, roofless, pit toilet and not much in the way of privacy; but it does the job.
When you return, he's already heating milk over his small stove. "I thought you might like some hot chocolate--and not the powder kind; I brought some sipping chocolate." He plops in a few squares of high quality chocolate and your heart is with them, melting. He knows you and your love for chocolate all too well.
You sit at the table and soak up the silent scene. This is another reason you chose Cowboy Camp. Oh sure, Horsethief is bigger and not on the rough, hard to find dirt road and you still have to pay $15/night here, but this campground is much quieter (just 7 sites), accommodates tenters, and you just feel more connected to nature and each other. Buttes and towers are illuminated from the top down in the distance as the pink and orange hues slowly descend.
You sip. You snuggle. Later there will be talk of where to hike -- you're near Canylonlands, Dead Horse Point, and of course never too far from Arches, Moab, and everything back down the highway. But for now, you sip some more. You snuggle a little closer, and you breathe deeply. This is your happy place.
