The 30% chance of weekend snow that was forecast on Thursday turned into 100% chance on Friday (gotta love those weather forecasters), so my plans for hiking today were shot down. It snowed all night Friday and all day Saturday, but we at least didn’t let that ruin our plans for a shopping trip to Provo/Orem yesterday. Mark, Samantha, Traci, and I headed out early yesterday morning, and UDOT hadn’t yet plowed most of US-6, so the drive up there was nerve wracking. I don’t normally mind driving on that highway, but when there’s snow on the road, I feel like I’m risking my life. We came up on a semi wreck in Price Canyon right after it happened, saw several cars that had slid off the road (even witnessed one of those), and saw a really nasty wreck that required two ambulances to cart off the victims.
Traci and I got most of our Christmas shopping finished, so the trip was worthwhile. It was also nice having a break from the kids. When we got home, I checked to see what kind of weather Green River and Hanksville were having, and it was pretty much the same as in Price. I don’t think it would be fun (maybe not even possible) to hike on the steep sandstone of the San Rafael Reef when there’s snow (or runoff) on the ground, so we’re gonna have to postpone that trip, maybe even for a couple of months. 🙁 I found two websites that mention the existence of celestite geodes and jasper in that area, so this will have to be a fair-weather trip.