On another day of exploration, thinking we might like to camp there on a future trip, we set off to explore Temple Bar on other side of Lake Mead, in Arizona. To get there, we headed back to Boulder City and from there, took HWY 193 south, past Hoover Dam until we reached the turn-off to HWY 143 which took us east to Temple Bar, another National Park Campground. The scenery was spectacular – sandy colored monuments rising up from a sparkly blue lake. We stopped at the Ranger Station to get more information about the area but like so many others in this Recreation Area, it was closed. Next stop…..the campground.
Not a soul was there. Driving around the campground, we were startled to see a car and said to each other, “Oh! Someone IS camping here after all!” We checked out the license plate – Texas. Then we looked past the car for a tent or other signs of habitation and found quite the opposite….a body was hanging from the tree beyond the car. I said to Michael, “Some idiot has taken one of those blow-up dolls and made it looked like a hanging body!” At this point we were startled and still inching forward past the scene so decided to go around and take a better look. The next time round I said to Michael, “Don’t get out of the car! It’s probably some weirdo who will turn around and shoot you!” I couldn’t get it through my head that it was a real body. Michael hollered at it – nothing! We took a single photo in case we needed to show it when we reported it – not knowing where that would be in that moment.
We zoomed out of the campground in a panicked daze; found a marina that looked deserted but which turned out to be open. Entering the building we saw some staff members on duty. Stuttering and stammering over how to share our discovery, we showed the picture (which we deleted right after) – the three girls in the office gasped in horror but….they took immediate action and called the ranger. Fifteen minutes later, the ranger came flying in on his float plane…turns out he’s also a pilot! I had never seen this before but after landing smoothly on the lake, the pilot/ranger drove that float plane right out of the lake, up the boat ramp and parked at the door to the marina.
Mike went with the ranger to show him where it was and soon came back, verifying that indeed it was a “real” body hanging there and that it was a suicide (the suicide note having been found on the dash of the car.) Until then, I still could not believe it was a real body, hoping and praying it was a hoax of some sort. The image stayed in my mind for weeks and I couldn’t stop thinking about it and how sad and lonely this person must have been. I kept wondering what would have caused a person to come to this far-away, seemingly forgotten place to die and what the circumstances were….how could this have happened….or been prevented.
It was a sober, thoughtful drive back to our own camp at Echo bay.
ENIGMAS 