Spring is finally here! Last Wednesday I rode my ATV from home to Coal Creek, hoping again to get all the way to Soldier Creek Road (which leads to Nine Mile Canyon). Instead of being stopped by deep snow like last time, I was turned back by mud. I got more than a mile farther than I did previously, however. After the mud-fest, I returned to the main road and tried getting farther up Coal Creek Road than I’d done last time. I made it past where I got stuck in the snow the previous time, but less than half a mile beyond that was a locked gate. It was a good ride despite not being able to go where I wanted. Most of the roads were dry and a little dusty, which is a big departure from the riding I’ve done in the past few months. Here are some photos from the ride.
The following day I went geocaching with the whole family. We only found three, though that’s a lot for us in a day because we (or I) usually find caches in pretty remote areas. One of the caches we found was near the golf course, and I’d read in somebody’s cache log that there were some graves on the actual golf course. So, after finding the cache, the kids and I set out across the golf course to find the graves. They were pretty easy to find, surrounded by a red wooden fence, and right next to a paved golf cart path. It’s always nice finding interesting things like that while geocaching.
On Saturday, Michael and I rode my ATV along the Mexican Mountain Road to look for a rumored cabin that’s supposed to be in the Lockhart Box/Lockhart Wash area along the San Rafael River. Lockhart Box is a very short, deep canyon that drains into the north side of the San Rafael River, and Lockhart Wash is a long, shallower canyon that drains into the south side of the river directly opposite the Box. My plan was to get as close as I could on the ATV, then hike to the top of some cliffs overlooking the river to look for the cabin. We first hiked along the bottom of Lockhart Box, but we quickly ran into a huge dryfall that couldn’t be climbed down. We hiked out of the canyon to the west and then followed the rim the rest of the way to the river overlook. The river gorge’s walls were so steep and there was so little dry land in the bottom of the canyon that there was no way a cabin would be near there. If it exists, it must be up-river where the terrain is more level. I had originally planned on ATVing around to the south side of the river to look there, but it would have been a long ride and I just didn’t feel like spending that much time in the saddle. Instead, we rode to the end of the Mexican Mountain Road and found a geocache there, then headed home. Here are the photos from Saturday.
Sunday was a gorgeous day, and I spent it doing some work around the house and yard. I also went for a couple of short ATV rides north of town, with each of the kids taking turns as a passenger. This afternoon I gathered some pinyon pine for firewood on Wood Hill, where somebody (presumably a utility company) had cut down a bunch of trees under some power lines. I loaded up several hundred pounds of wood, returned home and unloaded it, then cut some of it to size with the chainsaw and split some of the larger logs. I also raked the front grass to get the last of the fall leaves and dead grass. Between the raking and firewood lifting, cutting, and splitting, my whole upper body is sore. It felt good, however, to work outside, and to top off a fine spring day, I enjoyed my first glass of iced tea of the year. Yes, I think I’m digging this change in the weather.