Friday:
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time Friday morning to spend time out in nature. But, given the weather that was forecast to come in starting that afternoon, I wanted to squeeze out as much outside time as I possibly could. So, off to the Valley I went just before the sun peeked over the eastern horizon.
I didn’t have a specific goal in mind, aside from just finding a peaceful place to exercise my anxiety away enough to where I could focus on my college stuff. I decided I’d spend my morning climbing around some red rocks and taking pictures of my deer friends.
As usual, the valley was quiet when I arrived near God’s Ass, with the exception of a light breeze hissing through the stubble and a flock of starlings making all sorts of interesting noises in a grove of cottonwoods by the Bradford house. I wasn’t interested in the starlings, so I headed up the rocks into the cave which is where my immature brain came up with “God’s Ass” in the first place.
Despite the stupid name I gave it, the red rock cave was still awesome as ever. A pair of pigeons were nesting in one of the alcoves above the cave, and they looked down at me and cooed as I entered it. While it was too dark to take any decent pictures from within the cave (at least, without a tripod), on the other side were more Fountain formation rocks facing the bright, morning sun. Not far from those rocks were backyards, but between the rocks and the yards was a small field of prairie, on which two bachelor muleys grazed. Both bucks had shed their antlers, but new ones were already quickly growing in, making the deer almost look like giraffes.
As usual, I found a decent spot to get pictures of the bucks, where I could sit on a bare spot on the ground with my back leaning up against the warm face of a small red rock. I rested my elbows on my knees, leaned my head forward so I was looking through my camera’s viewfinder, and began to watch the deer, looking for a perfect moment to capture them without also getting the houses in the background (I was hoping to get the trees instead).
Aside from the wind and the birds, I began hearing a low droning noise, which I assumed belonged to the local valley pilot I’d seen just a few days earlier. However, I got a little more concerned when it started getting louder and louder and louder. Instead of the buzz of an airplane, the noise was more of a "chchchchch" sound, like the blades of a helicopter. I glared back over my shoulder just in time for the deafening sound of a helicopter to fly less than 20 feet over my head, scaring both me and the deer shitless!
The deer bolted for the houses while I sat frozen in place, my jaw practically on the ground. Because I had my back against the rock, the downwash didn't get me (thankfully), but dust and dead grass ahead of me were kicked up as the helicopter veered left towards Willow Springs. As far as I could tell, the helicopter didn’t belong to the military, police, news, or hospital. It was a standard unmarked helicopter passing slowly overhead (it couldn’t have been going faster than 30 miles an hour), probably belonging to some rich dude who just wanted to get an ariel view of the valley.
I didn’t get back to my senses until the helicopter was no longer directly overhead. When I did, I forgot about the camera I had in my hands and immediately whipped out my phone to take a short video as the helicopter moved on its way. Why I did that, I’m not sure. Perhaps, in that moment, I feared that I was going crazy and wanted to make sure that what just happened really just happened.
Now that my heart was going a million miles an hour and my feet were quivering in my boots, I decided it was best to head home.
On the bright side, I didn’t need to drink any more tea or soda that morning. Thanks to that helicopter, I was fully awake!
