I’m beginning to think that whenever the weather forecast is iffy, I should automatically plan on getting outdoors to enjoy the sunny weather. It was supposed to be mostly cloudy and rainy/snowy yesterday, but instead it was sunny, albeit a bit chilly. Traci and I decided at the last minute (mid-morning) to drive the car down into the Swell to do some hiking and play some vigps.com contests. Since we would be in the car we were limited in where we could go, and ultimately we decided on the Wedge for a bit of hiking.
We first made a quick stop to dig up a buried bottle near the dinosaur quarry. The road was a bit rough, and once I felt a rock scrape the bottom of the car as I drove over it. We found the bottle easily and photographed the contest instructions inside, then made it back to the main road without damaging the car. After that we continued to the Wedge, and we parked at the dead-end on the Lower Wedge Road. I’d only been out there once before when Mark and I tried finding a route to the far southeastern tip of the Wedge about three years ago. I’m continually amazed at how much awesome scenery there is out there, and I don’t think very many people get out there to see it. We decided to just hike to wherever looked the most interesting, and we ended up going roughly due east toward the rim of Buckhorn Wash. Along the way we saw some interesting Navajo Sandstone formations, and a few small alcoves with springs/seeps in them. Shortly after we began hiking, we saw a small natural arch, and we made it our goal to reach it (well, ok, I made it my goal to reach). 🙂 Upon reaching it, Traci and the kids were tired and didn’t want to go any farther, so I left them there to play around on the rocks while I kept going east and ended up at the top of a cliff looking down into Buckhorn Wash. It was an awesome view, and probably one that not many people see.
After taking some photos from the canyon rim, I returned to my family and we made a beeline back to the car. From there, we drove to Fuller Bottom to find another buried bottle. I was pretty nervous about this one because I had to cross the San Rafael River on foot in order to reach it, but I wasn’t sure how much flow to expect. I had crossed the river there only once before, on my ATV, and the flow was pretty low then. Fortunately the spring runoff wasn’t heavy yet, and the water level was still quite low. I changed into some old shoes and pants, then crossed the nearly freezing water while everyone else waited for me. It was a fun experience, and I was the first to find this bottle (unlike the last one), so it was entirely worth it.
I tried fixing the fuel leak on the truck a few days ago. I spent half an hour taking things apart before realizing that I was in over my head, so I put it back together and I plan on taking it to Landon’s Diesel Service this week. The last time I dealt with Landon’s, they said it would be a week before they could even look at my truck, but then they called me the next day saying that they had found the problem and could have it fixed before they closed that day. I’m not counting on that kind of service now, but it would be nice if they could get it fixed before next weekend. I really need to get out and ride my ATV in the Swell!