Apache Creek is a free campground run by the Forest Service. It’s at the intersection of highways 12 and 32, a few miles from Reserve, New Mexico, in the Gila National Forest. It’s a nice place that had been recommended by my new pal, Warren. It was a holiday weekend, so I wasn’t surprised there were a couple of RVs and a few tent campers already there.
Friday had been overcast and gloomy. Eh, can’t have sunshine every day. But it started to sprinkle about the time the sun was setting. Hmmm. Rain, in the mouth of a canyon, near a creek… Thoughts of flash flooding came to mind.
I noticed that the tent campers and all but one of the RVs had left. Was it because they’d planned on leaving anyway? Was it because camping in the rain is no fun? Or did they know to get the hell out before there’s flooding?
Better safe than sorry, right? But where could I go? I needed a place to spend the night where flooding wasn’t an issue. And if I was going to be cooped up in the Rolling Steel Tent, it would be nice to have cell service so I could get on the net, check the forecast, entertain myself. I consulted the map and the closest sure thing was Socorro, a hundred miles away. (Show Low, AZ, might have been closer, but the route was through the mountains. If I need to drive in the dark, in the rain, straighter roads get my vote.) This is the downside of being out where civilization is sparse. Oh well.
The rain increased. There have been thunder showers this morning with more predicted. It’s good that I’m not up in the mountains. But now what? Time to adapt.
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