I spent Friday geocaching around Huntington and Ferron, but I got frustrated by not finding a couple of caches and it turned out being only a moderately good day. Only one geocache in particular, called Ferron Mesa, turned out to be a fun find and made the day worthwhile. I spent more than an hour up on the mesa enjoying the view and looking for and finding bits of Fremont pottery.
Yesterday I went for a 4-wheeler ride in Lost Spring Wash in the eastern San Rafael Swell. I had planned on riding from the Green River Cutoff Road south through Lost Spring Wash for about seven miles, then west several more miles along a trail that ends at a point overlooking the old railroad grade near Tidwell Draw. I only made it about three-quarters of the distance through Lost Spring Wash before I hit a section of the trail that was too rough and steep for me to make it across. I stopped there for a while and debated whether I should proceed, and though I think I could have made it down the rough spot, going back up would have been pretty difficult, especially riding solo, so I turned around and headed back the way I came.
During the ride south through Lost Spring Wash, I’d seen a few piles of animal droppings that were full of juniper berries, and I really wanted to believe that it was just coyote droppings. As I passed them again on the way back north, I paid more attention and thought that perhaps they could belong to a black bear instead. The more I’ve thought about it since then, the more I’m sure that it was bear scat. I’ve always wanted to believe that there were no animals living in the Swell that are big and mean enough to eat me. Now that I know better, I’ll be a lot more wary when hiking in that area. Which may be next weekend.