I went out yesterday for a drive in the Swell with Sam and Mark to look for a place to camp in two weeks. Six months ago when I was down on the old Spirit Railway railroad grade, it seemed good enough to drive my car on (even though I was in my Mazda at the time). So we took the Taurus there, but that didn't last long. The road was pretty wet and a little too rough for my car, so we went back to Price to get my truck. Shortly after we returned and passed the place where I turned the Taurus around, I had to get out and turn the hubs in. Not long after that, I had to put the transfer case into 4-low. And awhile after that, I had to turn the truck around. The road had been completely obliterated by flash-flooding. The road was washed out, with a five-foot deep gash across the road that will probably never be repaired. I don't see why the county or the BLM (whoever maintains that road) would bother with it.

Buckhorn Wash Road was barricaded with a sign saying that the road was washed out as well. I'm willing to bet that the two geocaches I placed nearby there recently are stranded now. Each of them required a drive over jeep trails that are prone to washing out and that crossed several washes. I was lucky enough when I placed those caches that I could get my truck out there, since neither of the roads looked like they'd seen a road grader in decades (if ever), but I'm hoping I can make it back out there next year to check on them.

Anyway, after two unsuccessful trips to where I had wanted to camp, we decided to give Cedar Mountain a quick look just so the day wasn't a total waste of time. We actually came upon a place where I'd camped two years ago, but I seemed to remember it being much further up the mountain. In fact, it was pretty close to Cleveland, and only six miles away from the nearest pavement. So that's where we'll end up going, and now I'm looking at maps and aerial photos for a good place to leave a geocache. There's a hill called The Nipple nearby, and that's looking pretty promising. :)