On Friday I went for an ATV ride to lower Range Creek. I did the same ride with Chris and Cortney at the end of July, but last week somebody placed a geocache along Range Creek, past where we’d turned around on our ride. I left home at around 8:20AM on Friday morning and I was on my ATV riding up Horse Canyon by 9:15AM. I was wearing snow pants and a heavy coat to keep warm, and they were definitely needed. It was cold! In some of the shady places between Horse Canyon and Lila Point there was an inch of snow on the ground. I didn’t stop for photos much while riding, since I’d seen it all before. I stopped at the confluence of Turtle Canyon and Range Creek to try to find a geocache that Chris had placed (and later lost the coordinates to) while we were there in July. I wasn’t sure I would find it because I was almost 300 feet away when he placed it, but I was able to find it easily. After that I kept riding southeast along Range Creek, crossing the creek eight times over the course of about four miles. I parked at the BLM’s barricade and began the hike.
I was a little nervous during the hike because I’d seen a lot of bear scat the last time I was in the area, but this time I saw none. That didn’t keep me from being cautious whenever I approached the thickets of brush and trees along the creek. I crossed the creek 10 times on the way to the geocache, and all of the crossings were pretty easy–I managed to stay dry. The water flow in the creek seemed to be the same as it was in July. The cache owner had e-mailed me and told me about a Fremont pit house and granary near the cache, though he didn’t give specifics on the locations. I was able to locate both of them on my way. After finding the cache and signing the log book, I looked at the time and debated whether to keep hiking all the way to the Green River. I really wanted to see the river, but I barely had enough time to hike back to the ATV and ride back to the truck before dark. I decided to save the hike to the Green River for a later date when the days are longer, and headed back the way I’d come. It was an uneventful hike and ride back, though it got really cold after the sun went down. I stopped a couple of times to warm my hands on the ATV’s exhaust. I got back to the truck before full dark, and made it home in time to eat dinner at my in-law’s house.

Photo Gallery

GPS Tracklog and Photo Waypoints (Google Earth .KMZ Format)

GPS Tracklog and Photo Waypoints (Google Maps)