In 2021, the CP crew were camping at Mather Campground near the south side of the Grand Canyon. We called this trip “Camp-O-Ween” because it was at the end of October. The nights were quite chilly but the days were beautiful with perfect skies, sun, and perfect weather. Shortly after breakfast on about the third or fourth day of the trip, we were all sitting around the campfire relaxing and chatting about how various philosophical topics. Just as this was taking place, out of the corner of my eye I suddenly noticed a deer standing at the top of the small ridgeline, through the trees, staring at me. Slowly and somewhat quietly, I alerted the other campers to what I was seeing. Waiving my hand I said, “Look. Look. Look.” As the others turned to see the deer, one of our friends and fellow campers (Jesse) called to attention that the deer was not alone. There were fawn present as well! To our surprise, the deer were not afraid of us. In fact, they were gradually moving into our campsite one by one. Jesse thought quickly, wanting to attract them even more. So he slowly moved his way over to our mini kitchen area and grabbed a handful of Kirkland brand tortilla chips, tossing them close to where one of the larger deer was standing. The deer paused for a moment, sniffed the chips, and then ate them all! Soon after, we counted 10 deer entering the campsite. Over the next few minutes, all of the deer began laying down in various shaded areas around us, and as those quiet moments passed we noticed that nearly all of the deer began sleeping! They were taking a nap! We all sat back down and for about 30 minutes and took a nap as well, with the deer in our presence. If there ever was a sacred moment, this felt like it.

Slowly the deer began getting up, gradually moving on to another space in the campground and out of our view. We then went about our day, all feeling astounded at what had just occurred.