Winter Storm

Campsite 4, March 22 - The worst part of sleeping in the back of the Jeep was getting in and out. The Jeep is covered in red mud from Moab. Without seats in the back, it’s good for sleeping but awkward for entry and exit. I really don’t want mud on my clothes. 

The morning was a little windy but no rain so we decided to make pancakes for breakfast before the weather turned bad. Around 9:30 we decide if we were going to do anything today, we needed to get on the trail. 

Wearing light-weight jackets under rain coats, we headed for the trail. 

We were camped only a few feet from the National Park boundary (and we have a park pass that is good for the year) We knew the California Riding and Hiking Trail was less that a mile inside the park from our camp, so we hiked up a wash and soon encountered the trail. 

As we hiked south, the wind picked up. Then it began to rain.

The desert was flat and sandy with a few small rocks scattered around. The vegetation was similar to what we had seen near the park entrance the day before. The hills in the distance were covered by jagged black rock totally unlike the rounded white boulders deeper in the park.

Landscape near the

North-Eastern Park Entrance

We hiked on. We saw a red object a little way off the trail. We went to check it out. It was a barrel cactus with red spines. 

Red Barrel Cactus

We looked around for others like it. At first we didn’t see other cactus of the same species but after hiking a little farther we spotted more among the rock on the nearby hills. 

It was raining now and the wind was occasionally gusting to 45 mph. (When we lived in Kansas, the wind would routinely hit 45 mph. I know this is the wind speed where I start having problems walking into the wind.) Our rain jackets were good protection from both wind and rain but our pants were soaked. We decided it was time to turn around. With the wind now at our back the hike to the Jeep was a quick one. 

Hanging out in the vehicle, we read and worked on blog posts while listening to the rain.

Weather forecast for tomorrow: wind. We’re planning on driving down the Geology Trail. That could change.

Update: The Geology Trail was flooded the next day so we had to postpone that bit if the adventure. Days later we went back and the road close sign was still up even though a park ranger assured me all the trails were open. We were disappointed again. Later in the day we tried one more time. This time it was open. I think they forgot to move the sign. It was late, so we had to hurry, but we thought it was the best trail in the park. The trail had varied terrain with long views across a valley. Then we found wild flowers in a small canyon at the end of the trail. I’m glad we kept trying to take that trail.

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