Today was my last day of work for this week. After this, I only have to work four days for the rest of the year. I managed to get one last hiking trip in before the snow hit this week. I took the boys out on Sunday and we hiked a little bit at Swazy Hole and in Buckhorn Wash. They didn’t feel like hiking too far, so I’ll have to go back without them another day to check out these places more thoroughly. We found an arrowhead factory (a lot of chippings) near Swazy Hole that is definitely worthy of a return trip. We hiked almost half a mile up Furniture Draw from the bottom, but we didn’t reach the narrows or the rock art before we got too cold in the shady canyon, so we turned back. We also did a short hike in the canyon across the road from Furniture Draw. There are some petroglyphs where progress up-canyon ends at a dryfall, but I believe further progress can be made by climbing up out of the canyon about 500′ before the cliff and continuing along a ledge to the top of the dryfall. That’s not a climb I would take the kids on, but it would be a lot of fun either alone or with Traci–if I can ever get her to go with me.
We haven’t done much of our Christmas shopping yet, so tomorrow I’m planning on spending most of the day shopping. I don’t relish the idea of being on my feet for hours on end, but it’s something that’s gotta be done. After that, I’ve got an ATV trip planned for Friday. I’m shooting for somewhere (an as-yet unplanned location) in the San Rafael Desert. I don’t know how much snow is down there, but regardless of the weather that area has had, the sandy terrain should make it easy going for the ATV. Anywhere in Carbon County would turn to snotty mud if the snow melted, so I’ll be content heading farther south.
I haven’t heard from Carbon Emery Motorsports for more than a week regarding the progress on the repairs to my ATV. I should have called them sooner to ask about it, because now I’m to the point where I’ll be nearly irate when I call them in the morning to inquire about my precious piece of machinery. This Friday (less than two days away) it will be two full weeks that they’ve had my machine in order to effect repairs. Regardless of whether it’s done by Friday, I’ll probably take Traci’s ATV on my trip to the desert. I’m trying to keep our mileage about the same, and I’ve overshot hers by more than 60 miles since the cold weather hit us a couple of months ago. She can’t disregard the weather as easily as I do, and winter riding doesn’t appeal to her as much. I just want to see some new country, and momentarily escape my usual life in the process.