My Experience as a First-Time Camper

Background:

I will start this off with a backstory about myself. I'm a gay man in my mid-twenties who has lived a typical urban life. I grew up in the suburbs and moved to the city after I turned 18. Basic, I know. Hallmark, please make another movie starring my totally unique life. 

This is the first time I have been camping. My family never made it a point to escape the city and detach from life's stressors, ultimately leaving me with a sour taste regarding camping. I've gone hiking here and there throughout my life but living in Phoenix makes it a challenge. Midday in winter, and you'll still suffer from the hot sun. It inspires a lack of “pizazz,” if you will.

I was reticent to say “yes” to my cousin’s invitation, but after the recent events that happened before she came out. I thought,

“Fuck it. I could get out of the city.”

As I said, I was hesitant to attend this trip, so I prepared a plan to cut it short since I assumed I would hate it. After the trip, I told my cousin this plan, and she was rightfully appalled; but she had a good laugh since she knew me too well.

Day One:

We started the Sunday off easy by taking our time to Sedona. Once we got there, we got lunch at this mom & pop Mexican restaurant in search of Birria. Sidebar, can you believe Belinda, who’s been all over the world, has never had Birria? However, this particular restaurant did not have what we were looking for. So Belinda had this amazing tamale, and I had a delicious carnitas burrito enchilada style.

After lunch, we made our way for our first-weekend hike. (I say weekend as we were out there from Sunday till Tuesday.) We landed at Airport Loop Trail. Belinda was concerned about my lack of outdoor experience & my mixed feelings about the outdoors, so she chose easy ones for us to accomplish. It was about a 4-mile hike and took about 2 ½ hours to complete. I didn't even realize it had been that long until the last 30 minutes. It was a beautiful hike, with incredible scenery and lovely people along the trail. You could see the entire valley throughout this hike; it was quite a sight.

After the hike, we decided to take a small stroll through downtown Sedona and, of course, grab a drink. My typical is a Gin martini, very dry with a twist. Belinda’s is a beer. Doesn’t that paint the picture of your typical gay suburban boy?

We make it to our campsite just a few hours before the sun sets. Once there, we set up camp. When I say we, I mean it was mostly Belinda setting up the tent and the hammock while I sat on a bench, taking in the view and our surroundings. She was trying hard to ensure my first camping trip was great, so she procured some good ‘ol fashion marshmallows to make smores over the fire. Typical yet delicious.

We also made dinner; dehydrated food is oddly satisfying; why? I’ll never know because it looks disgusting. Anyway, we sat around the fire, gabbed about the secrets of each other's universe, made smores, and sipped on bourbon.

Sitting under the stars was grand, and getting to know my favorite cousin better.

My favorite part of this trip was in the middle of the night; I woke up to pee, and it was pitch black. I could barely see a thing, and I was not going to make my way to the ungodly restrooms. They were built in port-a-potties with fly traps and crumbling toilet seats. The smell alone was just unholy. Anyway, as I was standing outside taking care of business, I heard a loud whisper saying, "Kodyyyy," and I started looking around, obviously freaked out a bit.

I think Jason has found me, and soon I’ll know what my insides look like. I wait a moment, frozen, and it comes again. Like the typical dumb blonde in the movies, I whispered, "Who's there?" Obviously, I’ll need to plan my funeral soon because I am that guy, apparently. I’ve seen enough scary movies to know better, but instinct leads the way when you least expect it. This said, I recognize the voice as Belinda’s, so I make my way over to her. I find her sleeping in her hammock. It was about the mid-’30s outside, and I was thinking, “this girl is crazy. It's fucking cold!” She asks for an extra blanket because she’s too cold to move. I laughed at her and went back to the car to grab her.

And yes, I slept in my car. I have a Chevrolet Traverse and put the seats down to make way for a comfy bed. I had never been camping before, so I cheated and kept to my car. I still went, ok? The whole scene was just hilarious.

Day Two 

At about 4:30 am, I woke up. I was curious to know if Belinda was up yet. Since it was freezing, and I wasn't planning to get out of the car anytime soon, I figured I’d see her moving about the site when she got up.

So I did what any first-time camper would do. Appreciate that I had cell service in the middle of the woods and scrolling through TikTok. This was my game plan until the sun rose enough to read my book without relying on a flashlight or turning my car lights on.

It was about 6 am, and I finally got out of the car. I see Belinda's head pop out of her hammock like a little prairie dog.

"Morning! Finally, you wake up!" As she quietly yells over.

I responded, "I've been up for hours but couldn't tell if you were up, so I just stayed in bed."

She didn't have service, so it's not like I could have texted her to see if she was up, and getting out of the warm car was just not an option for me. We laugh about it as she's also been up since about 4:30 am and just stayed wrapped in her little cocoon. We get the day started, Coffee first, obviously. We sat around for a bit, had breakfast, I read my book, and she cleaned up camp sight a bit. After a while, we decided to get dressed and hit the trails.

We headed to Devil's Bridge a little later than initially planned. I really enjoyed the quiet morning with coffee and a book. We arrived at the trailhead, and as we were preparing our packs, I realized the spare key to my car was missing. I left it with Belinda for in-case purposes. Belinda felt terrible and decided to forgo the hike and instead take us on a hunt in downtown Sedona to retrace every place we were yesterday to look for my lost key.

We checked every place we went to except for the bar since they didn't open until 11 am. I knew she was freaking out and felt terrible. Now some of you may think, “it’s a spare key. Why freak out?” Well, new car keys are about $500. Stupid expensive for no reason, am I right? She was hoping that the key was at the bar. Thankfully, it was! She gave the man who gave it back a big hug and finally breathed.

Since it was about midday at this point, we decided to go for a wine tasting across the street to de-stress Belinda. Yes, she had a panic attack over the situation. This place had decent wine, but the views were better. Overall, a perfect way to relax.

Afterward, We decided to head to slide rock for some water fun. Now, for reasons I don't care to disclose, I do not swim. I sat with my feet in the water, reading a book while Belinda slid down the rocks and enjoyed the water; which was freezing, mind you. It was beautiful, peaceful, and just all-around a great time. We ran into more great people; everyone is so lovely when you're outdoors. It's different from the city, quite refreshing, I must say.

Belinda wanted to jump off this rock into the water like other people. Now, as you know, Belinda seems unlikely to back down from anything, especially when outdoors. However, she did back down from this jump. The whole crowd of people was cheering her on, but she just couldn't do it until I walked away, of course. She ran to the car to say, “I did it.” And then showed me a video of her in action.

I was so proud.

To top off the day, we decided to take a small hike to the birthing cave. It's an easy hike that only gets strenuous in the final quarter-mile stretch. You climb the side of the mountain into the cave, which is breathtaking. Literally, it’s a steep hike up, and the views are immaculate.

Belinda decided to scale the side of this hole-in-the-wall cave, giving me a panic attack. There is barely a ledge, and she would tumble straight out of this hole in the side of the mountain and down the side of it. The funniest part is that the legend behind this cave is if you touch the flower in the hole, it's supposed to bring you a healthy pregnancy. Yeah, the girl who has unequivocally no interest in being a mother touched the flower. We found this out after the fact.

 

We ended the day by returning to our campsite and delving further into the secrets of the universe… and bourbon.

On the last day I spent with Belinda on this camping trip, we packed up camp early and headed for the Devil's Bridge. Yes, finally. This was by far the best hike we went on. We had to park about a mile off the trailhead since it's a pretty popular hike. We made it up to the bridge, and everyone was friendly about taking turns to get some photos on the bridge. We sat, hung out, and chatted with a few other hikers. The only downside to this hike was as we were making our way down the side of this mountain, the path was really narrow and meant for only one person at a time. This large group of people was too impatient to wait and practically bulldozed their way up, pushing past others, so we sat on the sidelines and waited to make sure others got down safely. One thing I learned about hiking is it's essential to be respectful of the earth and one another. Don’t be that asshole.

My final thoughts about camping:

I wasn’t expecting camping to be so peaceful and tranquil.  To be honest, my life has been quite chaotic the last couple of months leading up to this. However, for those two days, I have never felt so relaxed in my entire life. Waking up in the mornings while Belinda made us coffee, sat by the fire, and decompressed from the city life, listening to the birds and the sounds of the creek. Watching people move slowly to start their day with a book in hand. It was like coming home for a home-cooked meal after being away for so long.

Camping was a wonderful experience for me, something I can’t wait to do again. Being outdoors and somewhat disconnected from the real world was a pause I needed more than I thought. This was exactly the reset I needed.

So, If you have a friend or a family member who wants to take you on an adventure, say yes. I’m glad I did because now I have a new community that I belong to. I could not be more grateful to Belinda for this truly magnificent experience.