Caught Between a Rock and a Crackhead

July 17:

It's been a little while! We've been busy. You try living in the woods while maintaining a blog! Just kidding. Seriously though, this last week has felt like living with one foot in society and the other in the wilderness. I'll explain:

bri hiking hermosa creek trail

We recently (within the past few days) became members of the Fort Lewis College Rec Center, meaning we now have access to fun things like the gym and the locker room (which has showers) and the laundry room. So while we are camping in the woods, we are now able to go to work out and then take showers. This is a very drastic change from our previous sweaty, unkempt and unwashed selves.

Updating the blog is not really that difficult, and therefore my only excuse is that it is not very enticing to sit in front of a computer for an hour or so when instead I could be tubing down the Animas River, hiking on the Colorado Trail, or drinking beer in town during Happy Hour.

That being said, Brianna and I did put our noses to the grind stone and rented ourselves (and our friend Ethan) a house on the outskirts of town beginning August 1st. Rent in Durango, especially anywhere in town, is very expensive. 3 bed/ 1 bath homes 3-5 miles away from downtown consistently rent for $1600 +, so we are all super stoked to secure our new house for $1400. And it's super cool! The backyard is HUGE and is just full of potential- horseshoes, barbecues, fire pits, a garden... the list goes on.

Now fellow readers, I know this blog has been started to chronicle our life in the woods. Have no fear, I simply had to share my enthusiasm on getting my first ever house! But August is 2 weeks away, and Bri and I have a lot of camping and outdoor living to do in that time!

[This story has been edited] Allow me to digress for a moment and share with you all my amazing story of how Bri and I battled crackheads in the woods... and won! Like many stories, mine has simple beginnings. Brianna and I were fast asleep in the tent, when suddenly we were both awaken by loud yelling and laughing (hootin' and hollerin'). We calmly got out of our tent, walked across the road, and Bri politely asked the two ruffians to be quiet because we were trying to sleep. They slurred half-hearted apologies, and we fell back asleep... temporarily.

Maybe an hour later, we were both awaken again to one of the men screaming obscenities. I don't know if he was screaming at himself, everyone around him, or the sky, but I ran out there and yelled at him to please shut the hell up. He slurred some nonsense and I yelled at him again. He was quiet for maybe another half hour, then started screaming again. Another neighbor at this point called the cops, but when a sheriff came around 6 AM, the men had fallen asleep in their tent. There was "nothing" the sheriffs could do, so they left.

the new house!!

Around 7 AM, I got out of my tent and decided to try to start the day, but was infuriated to find the damn crackhead sitting on a picnic table smiling at me. He began trying to get me to come over to him, saying all sorts of weird things, so I just went to my car and called the sheriff. While this was happening, Bri had gone over and began yelling at the man, demanding to know what his problem was. 20 minutes later the sheriff showed up and took the man to detox.

Bri and I went to Fort Lewis and rented tubes and set off on a day of leisure, but after talking to her dad, we realized the situation probably shouldn't be taken lightly, and we knew we had to leave.

Fast forward to the next day, and here I am sitting in front of a morning fire, back in our original Madden Creek campground in La Plata Canyon, glad to be back in the wild away from crackheads.

-Mickey