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| no partners | | This is a log entry for an overnight car camp at Collom Mine.
Important things first:
1) No signage. It's at the end of FR 442. No major driving issues for this short stub.
2) It's said that a Spring is there. If it is, I couldn't find it. Nor could I find the Mine.
3) Two campsites with fire pits next to Adler Creek, separated by about 100 feet and trees.
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This was part 3 of 3 of a 3-day "excursion." This was just an overnight to recharge before driving back to Phx the next day.
Since I saw bear scat in the camping area of the Rock Creek (TR 42) TH, I decided to camp at a different location. Collom Mine was just up the road (that is, north) and a short drive. I arrived around 5:30 in the evening.
Upon arrival, I pulled out my GPS and tried to find the Spring. And the Mine. No success.
The Creek was dry. It was dry the next day too, even after a night of rain from thunderstorms.
AFAIK, no trails here. But the satellite shows a road/dirt path that loops counterclockwise and ends up at another Spring. I didn't hike it as 1) it was already late in the day and 2) it started to rain lightly. So I napped in the Blazer for a half hour while it rained.
I didn't see any animals. I heard a few birds. Very few.
At dusk, after the rain, while setting up camp, I heard an animal that I've never heard before. At first I thought it was a very loud bird/crow. It was calling from about 200 feet away, along the road. But it had a growling throat sound that started its call. It went something like "gwAAAAAAaaaaaah."
It did that three times. I yelled "What animal are you" and it stopped and I never heard it again.
Your guess?
Thunderstorms were moving into the area, as there was lightning to the south. I started a campfire and had dinner.
The lightning came closer, and now thunder. I probably don't have to tell you how awesome it is to hear thunder echoing off the mountains.
The storms rolled in around 9:30, so I crawled into my tent. (Which, as a side note, held up well. Even tho the RH hit 100% (I was in cloud at 4:30 in the morning), I've never had condensation in this tent.)
Even though there was a lot of rain and thunder and lightning, there was zero wind. Strange. (I'm not complaining.)
While laying in my tent, the lightning came closer. There were some very bright flashes with near instantaneous loud cracks of thunder.
I don't know what it is about the sound of rain on your tent - maybe it's reminiscent of being in the womb? - but I fell fast asleep during all this.
The storms stopped sometime after midnight. Around two in the morning, I was awakened by what sounded like an animal sniffing near my head and pawing at the ground. I shouted but it didn't stop immediately. It wasn't until I turned on my headlamp that it stopped.
I eventually stuck my head out of my tent and looked around.
Nothing. If there had been something pawing near the corner of my tent, there were no traces in the soft dirt.
I dunno - maybe it was my now sagging tent fly flapping in the breeze?
Anyway, since I was kind of spooked, and since I had slept so heavily during the rain, I restarted my campfire and sat in front of it until about 4:30. Then I suddenly went blind.
Actually, what happened was that I was in cloud. The temp/dew point spread had dropped to zero and the clouds had descended onto my campsite.
I crawled in my tent and went back to sleep.
Woke up around 8ish, had breakfast and packed up. I took a photo of the clouds covering the mountain tops.
As I said above, I expected that the Creek would be running after all that rain. But it was still dry. So were all the creek beds on the drive home.
The Forest Roads were a little slick driving back. (I "drifted" twice.) 4x4 helped minimize that. |
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| Be careful. It really is "a jungle out there." |
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