Sunday, April 22/2018

Sunday dawned bright and sunny and the weatherman was more than cooperating again.   I'm thinking that it could be a sun burn kind of day and I can't help but think that our Kimmy would be toast today if she were here.

John has decided that we should make our way over to Hog Canyon today and check out the trails over there.   Kay and I really do not care and will follow and enjoy the sights, sounds and the smells.  Man, I just can't get enough of the juniper smell.  It truly is incredible and I would love to bottle the smell and take it home with me!!

Yucca in the sand

The trails were easy again today with large sand dunes and in some areas, pretty heavy sand.  The color of the sand is awesome and of course it is that fine "blow" sand that Utah is famous for.  It almost has the consistency of icing sugar and any little breeze will pick it up and carry it away!!  Of course by the time we get back tonight, we will be covered with it!!

WATER!!

Booko loves the water

sitting alongside the little creek

We travelled the trails for quite a while and Kay and I were really glad we took the time to get a map of the area.   There are a million trails in this area and it would be so easy to get lost.  Of course this is desert terrain and really quite inhospitable if you were ever so unfortunate to find yourself lost.
Even with the map, we managed to get off on a trail that we inadvertently took (despite the fact that it was labelled) and found ourselves off the main trail and about a mile or two into the back country.    As it turned out, we simply were making a big loop back to the main trail so we really weren't lost, just temporarily relocated!!
We had come to a cross trail which was labelled and I wondered "well how in the hell did we get here when trail 104 A isn't supposed to hook up to trail 101"?   As we were all discussing my ability with a map (I am the chief navigator by the way) we thought we heard a voice.   What!!!
As it turned out, this young woman was walking along the trail and the first thing that came out of her mouth was....."did you see a blue truck"?   She had been walking the trails looking for flint as she does mozaic work and had lost track of which trails she had taken and was unable to find her way back to the truck!!  She was lost and was out of water and that, in this desert, can lead to catastrophe.
We had her hop onto the back of Henrietta and gave her a ride back to the main trail.   She was several miles from help and we really had no other choice than to get her back to civilization.   Of course there was limited cell service out there as well and she was unable to get in touch with the folks she was with.  As she was trying to use her phone, a truck happened along the main trail headed back to the highway so John asked them if they would mind giving this young lady a ride back to civilization.  They agreed and we gave her a bottle of water and wished her luck in finding her friends.  We then got to continue on our way towards Hog Canyon.
Eventually we found the proper trail and set off again towards our goal.   Of course all this adventure with the lost woman had cut into our time and we never did make it to Hog Canyon.
It was getting late and we decided to turn around and head back towards camp.   We still had at least 2 hours to go to hit camp!!

Again.....beautiful sandy trails

Sand and Junipers

Beverage stop on the way home!!

sandstone cliffs along one of the trails

the white mountains - good name, considering the color!!

almost back at camp

Booko - tired after a  long day on the trail

We arrived home safe and sound and John soon had the fire going and we were able to  sit around and re-hash the day's events.    We were still blown away by finding that young woman out in the middle of "knowwhere"  without any decent "survival" gear with her.   We wonder what would have happened if we had not come along as we did.   Even if she had a clue as to where she was, she had miles and miles of trail to walk in order to get back to civilization.  I shake my head and thank my lucky stars that we have survival equipment packed in the quad at all times because one never knows what could happen.
The cats survived another day so that was a good thing too.
John loaded the quads and got mostly ready for tomorrow as it is a travel day again and probably Kay's last day to camp with us before we part ways.  She will head to Nephi and her summer job and John and I will continue our journey back to Canada.

One sleepy boy!!

It was a great day for the last one here at the Peek-a-Boo Trails.   Mostly easy trails but John did manage to find us some adventurous terrain the first day but, we all survived and both Kay and I said we would certainly return here again at some point.   Life is Good......