Along with all of the amazing sights we saw this past weekend in southern Utah, we also did a little camping. I reserved a spot for us in the Buckboard campground before we left so that we wouldn’t have to worry about it when we got down there. It cost $9 extra to do this, and even though the campground was likely only 25% full, it seemed worth it.

We didn’t get up to our site until sometime around 9PM on Saturday night. I quickly made a fire while Kim prepared a couple of drinks for us to enjoy with our Chex Mix dinner. Once everything was all setup we sat down and enjoyed the fire for a couple of hours. After some time I heard a grunt from over my right shoulder. Immediately I started thinking of the sign I read when coming in. “You are now entering bear country.” And from the look on Kim’s face, she must have been thinking the same thing.

We both quickly got out of our chairs and headed for the safety of the car. I turned the headlights on in an attempt to see what was out there, but we saw nothing. We waiting for ten or fifteen minutes, kind of hoping to see something, but we saw nothing at all. We went back to the fire and only minutes later heard the same exact sound. We were thinking that maybe the fire or something else had made the sound before, but after hearing it twice we weren’t willing to take any chances.

I cleaned up the campsite quickly and we both retreated to the car. We watched for awhile longer but never saw a thing. It was safe to say that we were both a little freaked out from the experience and we’re feeling pretty safe inside the car. And that’s where we spent the night, sleeping inside the car. So much for being one with the outdoors. More stories from our weekend to come later this week.