Sun. Mar. 13

Sunrise

Sunrise

We rode our bicycles about a mile, to the SW corner of the camping area, which covers thousands of acres. Then we locked our bicycles and took off on foot. We planned to start at the mouth of this wash and hike up into the canyon.

When we climbed down the bank, Steven found a good rope tied to a cement block. Probably somebody's anchor when the lake was fuller. He untied it from the block, coiled it, and attached it to his camelback pack. It was a good stiff rope, like a lasso.

The wash was full of scrub willow and it was hard going, so we climbed out the other side. It was basically a flood plain up there, a gravelly area that ran to the base of some bluffs and washes. We hiked across it to the base of the bluffs.

In the middle of the picture there is a jack rabbit.

This was crossing the "flood plain", which used to be under the water of the lake.


There were these weird sink holes here and there.


I found a fishing pole in the sand and carried it along.
Later, I used it to knock off some of these BeaverTail cactus to take back to camp and cook.
I put them in a bag and tied it to the outside of my pack.
They're covered with small "spines" called Glochids, and you can end up with
hundreds of them in your skin, and they're hard to find and pull.
They sting and itch if you're unlucky enough to have that happen.
What I've heard is that the Indians rubbed the cactus on the sandstone to remove the Glochids. There were different ways to prepare it, but locally I've heard they boil them and eat them with salt and butter.


In one wash we found water, which pleased the dog immensely!

We walked for a while on a burro trail on the side of the wash.

Ahead of Steven you can see the trail we were following.

I tasted this white residue and it was very salty.

I wonder if it could be gathered and used in cooking?

It would be hard to separate it from the sand.

We decided to climb up the dirt wall of the wash, to the desert floor above us.

It didn't look that far, but we found out we could only see about the first half from the bottom.

I also learned not to climb right below Steven. Dirt and rocks were pouring down on me.

This is from the wall we were climbing, looking across at the opposite wall. There's a burro trail angling up, but on our side, there was no trail. I was precariously balanced with my feet on loose soil that wanted to go tearing down the hillside.

Notice on the opposite wall, at the top it gets steep.

It didn't occur to us it would do that on the side we were climbing.

Another picture from the slope we were climbing.

One misstep and we'd slide down with tons of dirt.

The dog kept racing back and forth between Steven and I, and knocking the soil loose. Steven dug his feet in and threw me one end of the rope and I climbed up to him, and we repeated that, about 10' at a time. When he'd climb, I'd brace myself to the side and hope that if HE fell, I could at least slow him down enough to get some traction and stop.

The top 8' or so was almost straight up. Steven had me stand on his hands and he pushed me upward as I climbed, to the point where his hands were over his head. There wasn't really any foot holds or handholds in all that loose dirt/caked mud. I finally scrambled over the top.

It turned out to be a fin that stuck out between two washes. The top was only about 6' across to where the dirt wall dropped again. I braced myself just over the hump of the top, sitting with my feet dug into the dirt and the rope around my back, and Steven climbed up.

Interesting we found a rope on the day we'd need it.

God is amazing.

We hiked for miles on the desert floor, angling uphill and around the top of washes to avoid climbing into them. We finally stopped to rest and have a snack in the shade of a rock.

That's the fishing pole I found, jammed in the sand.

We ate dried pineapple and teriyaki beef jerky.

We drank the last of our water here, and still had about 4 miles to hike back to the bicycles, and another mile to the uhaul on bicycles.

We came to the power lines and followed the access trail along them, down to the houses at Stewart's Point. We rested here on a hill top, and Odie got in Steven's lap.

Because it was the only shade around! lol

Two miles to go, to the bicycles!

When we got back to the uhaul we drank some water, then went swimming to cool off.

On Monday itwas in the 80s again. We stayed near the uhaul, recovering from yesterday's grueling hike! I put potatoes and carrots in the solar cooker, since it was sunny. We worked on our writing and I read a book on the lawn chaise in the sun. Steven finished up with putting the thermostats in the truck (there were two!) and put the antifreeze back in. I shook out the rugs and swept the floor, and Steven washed dishes. After lunch he got back to his writing, and I put on my neoprene 'dry suit' and went swimming. The water is too cold to stay in very long without the suit, and I like to be in the water for longer than that. Odie came down to the shore with me, but after getting a drink she played on the hillside, trying to catch lizards. It's funny to watch her. She hops around this way and that way, leaping around bushes and rocks!

For dinner I mixed up half a box of stove top stuffing, and I made gravy and put in a can of chicken chunks. I mashed the potatoes and carrots that were in the solar cooker, and we ate it with the gravy and stuffing.

The end of another fun (and warm!) day!