Today Danny and I drove up on the Lamb Point road. He needs a little experience driving off road so he knows what the jeep can and can't do. It rained pretty good last night and that always helps keep the dust down and makes driving in deep sand a little easier. Jared and Rod made one of their little moviettes in this area. I believe the jeep has a few more squeaks and rattles now that it did then!
This is looking out across the Coral Pink Sand Dunes toward the west. Canaan Mountain is on the horizon at the extreme left of the picture, Harris Mountain on the right, and faint mountains right of center is Pine Valley Mountain. You can even make out the West Temple in Zion National Park. I had to make do with the point and shoot today. I brought the Nikon but left the memory card at home!
This part of the country generally lies between 6000-7000 feet above sea level. The above photo is indicative of the terrain that we were in today: sandstone outcroppings and sandy soil. You can also see most of the types of major vegetation we encountered: Ponderosa pine, Colorado (or two-needle) pinon pine , Utah juniper, sagebrush, manzanita, and Gambel Oak. There's even a clump of rabbitbrush.
A side road leads to one of the heads of Water Canyon. Now here's the cool thing about this picture: it's not the view! It's the Englemann spruce trees in the bottom of the canyon. Here we've gone from the drought tolerant species we've been driving through to this secluded, moist, and protected little canyon that can support a little grove of trees normally found at higher and wetter locations in this area (think Kaibab and Cedar Mountains).
Any day's a good day when you're out in the sticks.
1 comment:
I just took Spencer down water canyon last month! It was his first canyoneering experience, which was awesome on some of those 95' rappels...I had no idea that you guys are so into the outdoors: closet outdoor enthusiasts! Call me next time and i'll send you an invite on my next adventure.
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