Monday, November 21/2016

Our trail for today

Into the sand dunes

The Logandale Trail system is based around one main loop.  There are several and I mean several spur trails off the main loop and this is what actually makes up the 200 miles that the system boasts.  Most of these trails are considered "green" trails but there are some definite challenges in some of the spur trails.
Today we found the sand dunes and I truly was captivated by them.  The color alone was something to behold.  The beautiful red color complimented the surrounding sandstone mountains.  We were surrounded by sand and mountains as the sand gave way to the towering cliffs.  It was almost claustrophobic as we wound our way through the dunes on our quest to find the petroglyphs.
Being that it had rained last night the sand was "wet" and the dust factor was negligible and for that, both Kay and I were thankful.

Beautiful, red sand

We met a few other off road enthusiasts in the dunes and that was surprising since we had passed several RVs camped further up the road from where we were camped.  It was good though as there was minimal traffic to have to deal with.  We almost felt like the dunes were ours to discover.

The Easter Egg....not sure why this is named the Easter egg
because it sure didn't resemble any Easter egg I ever saw!!

incredible views

Lots of sand and rock

Several arches in and amongst the sandstone

incredible colors

Our destination

The petroglyphs were found and we took the time to appreciate them.  I don't think I will ever get tired of viewing them and believe me..... we have seen plenty!!.  I simply love the lore and so appreciate that we are blessed to see evidence of long gone civilizations.  One can not help but wonder "what do you suppose this means?"  Each petroglyph tells a story.

The Petroglyphs

Of course there is "etiquette" when it comes to petroglyph and not everyone observes the rules.  No one is to ever touch the etchings as the oils from our hands could very well cause deterioration of the petroglyph.  There is to be no tracing of casting of the etchings either.  They are to be simply looked at and honored.  Of course there are the usual disrespectful people out there who insist on carving their names amongst the etchings and that is truly sad and infuriating.  Who does that??  Apparently "Rowley" thought that it was cool thing to do as that name was scrawled on the wall amongst the etchings.  I'm thinking Rowley should have his ass kicked!!
I am the official photographer for this blog (lol) and I took pictures of all the etchings.  At least "Rowley" can't desecrate the site from this blog!!

The quads at the site of the petroglyphs

We continued along the loop after finding the peyroglyphs and ran into one of the many tour groups from the area.  They take lots of people out so that they too can enjoy the scenery and take in all that Mother Nature can offer.  They are cautious people and employ the companies to bring them back safely....most unlike us who head out and seek adventure on our own.  We have certainly ended up in some peculiar places courtesy of a crazy GPS reading and John's nose!!  And there was one time when we actually failed to get home one night.....but that is a whole other story!!
I must say though, the trail was really poorly marked.  For the amount of traffic that I have seen over the past few days, there seems to be a lot of interest in the trails.  The trail markings were sparse and not very informative.
Of course there were a ton of "No Motor Vehicles" posted along the trail but they seem to be mostly ignored as the evidence of traffic in these areas was quite evident.  Again I wonder, in this day and age when the BLM and the environmentalists and tree huggers want to shut down many of these areas to motorized vehicles.  that people just cannot heed the signs.  It is maddening as this area is really quite unique and is really a jewel in the middle of this Nevada desert.  This ecosystem does not lend itself to regeneration all that easily so any tracks made where they do not belong take years to regenerate. "Rowley" strikes again!!

One of the local tour companies

The face in the rocks

The sandstone, being such a soft "rock" is plagued by erosion and a lot of that is from wind and rain.  Of course with this comes the incredible shapes and one of my favourite things to do is find "faces" in the rocks.  I wasn't disappointed today as I managed to find a few.

Another great ride

We found our way home early and enjoyed an awesome fire while John cooked supper.  We are headed out tomorrow heading Southward.  Not sure where we will land but more adventure awaits, I am sure.   Life is Good