I went for a hike yesterday on the Wedge, in the snow. I almost didn’t go because I was worried that the snow would be too wet for hiking, but it was just right. I parked just off one of the main roads and hiked 2.5 miles to an overlook of the Little Grand Canyon and Good Water Canyon. The hike was great–in fact, it was probably through the most scenic area of the Wedge, not including the overlooks into the Little Grand Canyon. Most of the Wedge is flat and covered in juniper and pinyon pine, but this place had a lot of Navajo sandstone cliffs and a little ponderosa pine forest that was unlike most places in the San Rafael Swell. The view from the overlook was the usual–i.e., spectacular.
I didn’t really notice it until yesterday, but every winter since ’05/’06 I’ve hiked to some remote overlook on or near the Wedge to place a geocache. Yesterday’s was number three, and though I hadn’t done it on purpose, I might have to make this a yearly tradition. I just did some quick measuring in my mapping software, and there are 30+ miles of sheer cliffs surrounding the Wedge, so there’s no shortage of places for me to go in the future.