Camping At Mt Charleston, A Better Experience

Last time we went to Mt Charleston we had to deal with the Wicked Witch of McWilliams. On that day off the mountain I decided that I would never return to that mountain. Nino made me break my vow. If you have ever read anything on this site that is one of the better stories. But I’m thankful that I went because the experience we had this time was much more enjoyable and MUCH quieter!

Nino decided it was time we went to Mt Charleston and had a little hiking and overnight camping adventure. And an adventure it was. Right from the time we left the house there were issues. One of them being hiking boots and the other being my inability to pack an internal frame backpack. I thought I had plenty of experience in packing up my stuff but for some reason this internal frame thing was kicking my ass.

Nino forgot his hiking boots at the house, even though we had plenty of time to get prepared for this trip, they remained in the house for this trip. There was no way we were going to attempt the mountain hike with sneakers, tennis shoes for those of you not from the East Coast, simply because the rock fallout would have broken more than just my toe. Oh yeah .. I got a broken toe courtesy of some bad footing on the way down. It feels much better than it did, and much better than the 3 blisters on my heals … thanks.

By the time we spent 4 dehydrating hours climbing this easy Trait Canyon Trail, we made it to the top with barely enough time to get our tents out and get some water gathered up for dinner and the trip down. (Thanks Nino for being a trooper and getting all the ice together) My feet were dead and they had just enough feeling left in them to be bandaged up and hobble over to make dinner and melt some ice. (Remember to bring more gas next time) Those big camping pans helped to fill my camelbak a couple times for the walk down.

The next morning I wanted to see some of the sights that I heard about the night before. However, I couldn’t move ten steps without feeling the sensation of falling over in pain. Well, such is poor foot preparation. My bad! (Don’t forget Mole Skin next time) I did get to see some of the sights but missed out on the major ones because of the pain still being there in the morning. Even after several Alieve it just wasn’t in the cards.

We headed down the mountain and that only took like an hour and ten minutes. Dang!! I didn’t see it while we were walking but the trip down was actually really fast. We got to see some crazy fools climbing up the rocks! Koo Koo!! I used to do that but now that I can’t stand on a chair without freaking out .. no more! Maybe one more time though to show Nino how it’s done. I must be crazy!

The only bad experience I can say I had with this trip is …. There was this guy that was heading back down the mountain when we had just made it to the top. He was all “Guess what I did” and “Why Why Why” and then wanted to talk about some girl that was walking down the mountian and how he talked to her for like an hour and how hot she was. “Did you see her .. Did you?” What a douche that guy was. All night I was thinking “Man I wish my feet wouldn’t have hurt so much so I could have stuck my foot in that jerk offs ass.” It’s sad to think that some people are climbing in nature to go dating. Go to a camp or something jeez.

All in all though I loved it up there. So quiet at night and so dark. If it wasn’t for that bobcat attacking Ninos tent in the middle of the night, everything was safe and sound atop the mountain.

Read More about this and other Camping Stories on EarthArticles.com! And buy some Camping, Backpacking and Hiking Equipment there to!