This year’s geocaching event at Potter’s Ponds was yet again a great one, although it was too short. I’d taken Friday off work so that we could take our time getting the trailer loaded, and we arrived at camp relatively early Friday afternoon. After setting up camp and visiting with a few people who were already there, we spent a couple of hours fishing. Nobody caught anything, and I spent a lot of my time untangling the kids’ lines, but it was an enjoyable time. A lot of friends showed up that evening, and we spent it around the campfire.
We were slow to rise on Saturday, and after a late breakfast a group of us set out to find some geocaches and visit a place on North Horn Mountain where it overlooks the San Rafael Swell and areas beyond. We started out with five ATVs and a Dodge Durango in our group, and we picked up a motorcycle along the way. We stopped at every single geocache between Potter’s Ponds and the Lowry Water turnoff, though I’d already found all of them except one. After finding the cache on the Lowry Water road, I decided to just ride on and skip the rest of the caches along our route. It had gotten hot as we descended into Joe’s Valley, and stopping roughly every 3/4-mile was getting tiresome. I was worried about the legality of riding the ATVs on the highway around Joe’s Valley Reservoir, but when we got to the pavement there were OHV speed limit signs, so I took that to mean it was legal. We rode around the reservoir on the pavement for several miles before finally getting to the gravel on the south side of the reservoir and began gaining elevation once again. It cooled off as we slowly climbed, and we eventually found a shady spot for lunch. After lunch we pressed on to North Horn Mountain. We reached the overlook and the views were simply stunning. I could see most of the northern San Rafael Swell and parts in the south as well. Cedar Mountain, Window Blind Peak, and the San Rafael Knob were all clearly visible, as were more distant landmarks such as the Henry Mountains (about 75 miles away) and the La Sal Mountains (about 110 miles distant). I placed a geocache at the overlook, then we turned the convoy around and headed straight back to camp without making any stops. That evening we had a potluck dinner, and then some after-dinner “festivities.” I overdid it on the “grape juice,” and ended up turning in early.
Sunday was a lazy day. My family stayed at camp all morning, while other people came and went. Slowly everybody took down camp and trickled out of the area, and for once we weren’t the last ones to leave. We convoyed home with Mark and Sam following in separate vehicles, stopping to make some lunch once we reached Highway 31. When my family and I got home, I backed the trailer into the driveway and we unloaded the fridge and a few essential items from the trailer, then took it easy the rest of the evening. It was nice to have some time to wind down from the weekend before returning to work the next day, but it would have been great to be able to spend more time with all the great people who were at the event.