Things got complicated!

[wispfox]

So I failed to sleep at the hostel from which I last posted, for reasons of entirely useless curtains for the middle of a city, noise even through my earplugs, and that the rest of the people in the room came in later than I did.

For this reason, I instead found a place to camp near Flagstaff two nights ago, and after conversing with metahacker in the morning and early afternoon, went off to find and make camp. The place I found was lovely, reasonably secluded even though it was only barely off the dirt road I took to get to it, and best of all entirely free. I have pictures, once they finish uploading. :)

The sound of coyotes is lovely and haunting to hear. The stars were impressive enough with the moon up, and astounding once it went down (got up in the middle of the night to pee). Can totally see the Milky Way. :) Not really fond of solid waste vs liquid while camping (digging in rock... is... problematic. The top layer or so of sand is easy, of course). Very pleasant experience.

Next morning, I had plans to go watch a Hopi dance/ceremony for - as most of them are - rainfall. Figured that I'd spend the night there again, and left my tent and the stuff in it - including pillow, weighted blanket, and earplugs - as they were.

Drove the 2.5 hours to Second Mesa in Hopiland, to go to the store I mentioned previously with the amazingly helpful man. He was not there, but had said I should go there before going to any ceremony. I talked with his wife, who gave me useful instructions before I left, and was able to answer some of my questions. Turns out that you should not ask questions about the ceremony (not that shocking), pictures and any other recording types including sketches are not ok (and are not ok anywhere in Hopiland), you'll want to park somewhere that you can leave again without being blocked in and are not in the way, and there will not be restrooms or similar available to you. Eating is fine. If you are wearing a hat, the kachina who deal with discipline may gesture you to remove it, as wearing a hat during a rain dance may make the rain not come (but she told me to keep it on until/unless I was told to take it off, since it was to protect against sun). If you catch any of the various food items thrown to the spectators, it is yours to do with as you will (I did not, during either of the two sessions that included that that I was there for). It is fine, and indeed they encouraged me, to visit multiple villages ceremonies throughout the day (I did not). Also, get on top of the buildings with everyone else, via the ladders around for that purpose, as this offers the best view and means you won't be in the way of the events.

I spent about 2-3 hours at the closest one she pointed me to, only leaving because I needed a bathroom and was very tired of sitting on stone. _very_ interesting to watch, especially the contrast between the kachinas and the clowns (who were in this case covered in yellow clay) who are basicaly there to demonstrate being not-Hopi and be appropriately chastened and then punished by the relevant kachinas. Also as comic relief. At one point the clowns were auctioning off various items, specifically having suggested that the white visitors should get out their cash. Initially, it was only white people involved in the purchasing side of things, but then some of the Hopi also got involved (although I think every item was won by a white person. Not even just a non-Hopi, but I think actually white in every case, even though there were some people who were not Hopi and also not white). I kept cringing, expecting some sort of retaliation from the kachina at that point, but none occurred while I was still there to see it. I did not take part in the improptu auction, and would not have even if I had not left my money in the car (it's in the same container as my camera). The clowns all had English names written on their backs in black paint or something, the only ones I recall are the "Aflac Duck" and "Geek Squad Virus". Another was birthday boy 67 or something, and another was Chief something or other.

Tried to go to the Hopi Cultural Center at this point, but they had closed at 3, about when I left the ceremony. Also tried to find a few shops which were open before heading back the 2.5 hours to my campsite. Most of them were closed, but one place was open and looked interesting.

After being startled by three very exuberant dogs which I had not initially seen, and greeting them, I went to the door and knocked. Waited a few moments, then decided that it was yet another instance of "Open" signs being inaccurate. As I was heading back to my car, the owner came to the door. He had apparently been next door watching golf, and was in fact open.

Browsed his shop for a long while, with lots of really random and interesting chatting. At one point, I coughed or something, and he commented on the dust. My reply was a confused one, and then he started talking about a forest fire in Flagstaff. This, as you might imagine from the fact that I was camped very close to Flagstaff, caught my attention. With a bit more back and forth, determined that it was probably not where I was camped, but that I really needed to get back there as soon as I could. On the way out, I described his dogs as puppies (all dogs are puppies), and then he pointed out the _real_ - and adorable - puppies. The smallest one was also the bravest, and according to him the smartest, and he commented that she needed a special owner. I have no idea if this was a hint, but I replied as if it were, and noted that I can't have a puppy right now (I can't! Partly because of the whole 'not being home again until August', partly for reasons of renting, partly because I would not get a puppy no matter how sweet without discussing with the people I live with. Also, I have no idea how to train a puppy). But if I could... that one was so sweet. :)

After a few minutes with the puppies, I reluctantly had to leave. (I hope to return, since I left so abruptly!)

When we had gone outside, I noticed that I could smell the smoke. And that the clouds that I noticed near the end of the part of the ceremony I attended, and which had been steadily increasing, were not in fact strange rain clouds (I had attributed this to unfamiliarity with the area's weather), but were actually smoke. Lots of smoke. Covering the sky almost entirely in Hopiland, smoke. And the shop owner had commented on the reddish color of the 'clouds'.

Got into the car, started the drive back. Paused, pulled over to the side of the road, and texted metahacker that there was a fire back at flagstaff which I needed to determine if my stuff was involved in. I entirely neglected to mention that I was 2.5 hours out, however. Mrr. After about 30 minutes to make sure I did not have an immediate reply, turned off the phone to conserve battery (the charger/GPS stand I have does not work with this replacement for the car that was in the accident; it's BAD. Need to find out what I can do about this).

Turned on NPR for reasons of news, kept hearing about two fires; one which (Hardy) was 30% contained and which was allowing people to return from evacuation, and one (Schultz) which was 0% contained, at 3000 acres at that point, with 300 firefighters. It was, of course, the latter which was potentially a problem.

Continued on my drive. Watched the clouds change shape as I got closer to the source, and about 1.5 miles away - I was not driving directly toward the fire, though - I started to be able to see distinctly reddish tinges to the ground under the smoke.

Continued to get closer, and the reddish color kept getting brighter and more ominous. At some point, I drove what felt like due south of the fire itself, which was also creepy. Looking to my right, reddish ground and smoke. Everywhere else, clear, blue skies.

Not long before the next paragraph, I saw some elk on the opposite of the road from where the fire was. You don't usually see elk so easily. This was concerning. They were not in motion, but their presence was strange.

Finally, I got to the turnoff for the dirt road my campsite was on. And it was closed to motorized traffic. I presume this was to prevent anyone from trying to camp there. Unfortunately, all my stuff - including all the stuff I need to sleep at night - was behind that barrier, about 1.5 miles away from what I recalled from what the GPS said that morning. After taking another look at the direction in which I knew the fire to be, and talking to a couple who were parked nearby, I texted metahacker again, to update him and to say that I was going to hike 1.5 miles in, pack things up, and bring it back. He called, but the signal strength was nearly none, so could not hear me. After a little bit of texting, during which I was putting on my hiking boots, emptying both my computer backpack and my hiking backpack, grabbing water & gorp, and using the _utterly_ useful strap that jasra lent me a long time ago to help me attach bags to each other and not use my wrists to carry things, I headed out.

The hike on the way in was almost entirely uphill. Tiring and unpleasant, but better than the other way around, since I'd have all my stuff on the way back. It was starting to get dark-ish near the end of my hike in, also. On the way in, I passed two more groups of elk, going the other direction than me, but not at a rapid pace. This made me nervous, but the fact that they were walking and not running meant that I kept going, both times.

I also kept an eye on the area where I could see smoke, and the entirely green and lush-looking side of the ridge between me and the smoke that I could see. That remained stable the entire time, as well.

Once I got there, I packed up pretty quickly, but not rushing as it'd just make me make mistakes. Similarly to the one time in each direction that I almost twisted my ankle (almost twisting my ankle is actually rather common for me; I'm therefore very good at preventing it), rushing was the worst thing I could do. Got everything packed into appropriate locations, clipped and attached as I was able, drank an entire bottle-full of water rather faster than I should have based on the nausea until hours later, refilled it, and then dumped out the rest of the water for reasons of less weight to carry. Attached my headlamp - best investment _EVER_ - and set off. There was still light for a little while longer, but after a bit I needed to turn the light on.

There is something surreal about hiking over a mile with only a headlamp light to see by. Also, the light was purple and confused my eyes for a long while until I figured that out. Kept seeing confused beetles on the path, saw at least two bats fly by, did not step on numerous ants, and a few spiders.

Realized after my feet were complaining bitterly that the fact that I was hiking with very little light and mostly downhill meant that I was walking oddly. Adjusted my gait to work better with not being able to see clearly what I was walking on and still be able to walk downhill at a good clip, and that helped a bunch. Kept having to adjust locations of things as they kept bumping into me, also. A 15-20 lb blanket is not a thing I would have brought with me had I intended this to be a 'hike to camp' situation! Heavy thing.

After a whole lot of 'you just need to keep going. If you keep going, you will find the end of the road and the car, even though you can't see much and you're damn tired and your legs and feet hate you', I saw headlights of a car on the road I was heading toward. (I also looked up a few times, to see the gorgeous stars) This gave me renewed energy, since I _knew_ I was close - at a guess, 1/4 mile remained at that point.

Finally got to the car, threw things in where they would fit, wrote a text to metahacker to let him know I'd arrived (I'd turned off the phone during the hike, since I had little signal and no sense wasting battery)... and there was not enough signal for it to send. Drove to the nearest hotel, periodically trying to re-send, and it kept failing. Was at this point about to beg anyone at all who was at the hotel if they could text him that I was ok! Thankfully, not long after I'd parked, the message actually sent.

Got into the hotel/restaurant and asked if they had any rooms. After I heard the price, I winced, and noted that I didn't have much choice. Explained why I was there at all, and they gave me a small discount. Very kind of them!

Went into the room, showered (SOOO DIRTY and also sweaty!), wrote a short email write-up of the mess to send to metahacker while I decompressed from the hike.

Feel asleep not long after. I apparently woke up at least once during the night to moisturize my hands (and likely pee). I have no recollection of this.

Last check, the Schultz fire was _still_ not contained, and at about... 7000? acres? And additional areas were being evacuated.

So now, I will be going to Winslow to camp. And I will _not_ leave my site set up. And will tomorrow and perhaps the next day do some more Hopi areas and Northern Navajo areas that I was going to do later, and come back to Flagstaff in a few days. Didn't yet do much here, but here is not where I much want to be.