2022-04-14, 05:28 PM
OK we're up to day 4 now.
Eric had a bee in his bonnet about Striped Butte, so he rented a Farrabee jeep and we drove down there. Farabee seems to be a pretty good organization, though it is a bit funny to be in their office and hear discussion of the Echo Canyon road (lower part) which I've done multiple times in a sedan. Anyway... It took 2 1/2 hours to drive down from Furnace. Lesson: if you want to play in the Warm Springs Valley, best to make it an overnight! There was much jeep traffic up there and a whole mob scene at the Warm Springs (?) camp where the road transitions from HC to 4WD.
![[Image: dv22_564.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv22/dv22_564.jpg)
Yup, it is striped all right! Nice views from the top, though an easy cimb.
![[Image: dv22_567.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv22/dv22_567.jpg)
Stripes show well coming down the more gentle back side
![[Image: dv22_582.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv22/dv22_582.jpg)
Day 5 we went up to a very cool arch in the Cottonwoods, based entirely on beta from Kauri. The Cottonwoods are so full of fossils!! These ammonites (? can anyone verify) were right next to the road when we were walking along to eyeball some possible alternative descent routes.
![[Image: dv22_583.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv22/dv22_583.jpg)
Well some poor nav by yours truly took us a bit off route. You have to cross a gully system and if you cross it low, as Kauri shows, it's easy, but we tried to stay high, which was tough and loose and steep until we bailed and went down lower. The rest of the team was getting restless and talking about eating lunch at the next flat place and doing something else, when we caught first sight of the arch in cliffs high above.
![[Image: dv22_585.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv22/dv22_585.jpg)
Well that supplied the motivation and the rest of the climb up was straightforward. You get up behind the arch on a big flat area. Note there there is almost no vegetation and zero shade on this whole walk.
![[Image: dv22_591.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv22/dv22_591.jpg)
But the arch is big - 30 feet or so high - and we sat under it in the shade, with a totally grand view of the valley south. This struck me as a really awesome place, and I've seen a few places out there. I could have spent more time but it was a bit too rough to take a nap. Super lunch spot.
![[Image: dv22_592.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv22/dv22_592.jpg)
On the way down I slipped at one point, and my hand ended up on this rock. Seemed to be a theme of the day. We ended up going back down the way we'd come up, but there is a bunch of country up there to explore, which we did a bit of.
![[Image: dv22_609.jpg]](https://web.media.mit.edu/~geek/webpix/dv22/dv22_609.jpg)
On the drive out, the wind had picked up and the sand was blowing across the road. It would blow across the flat, hit the berm of the road, and plume up into the air in a stream. Visibility was pretty low but the road was pretty sandy at that point so it more or less pushed us to stay in the tracks back to the SPW airport and pavement. This may have been our best day, by my reckoning. That arch is pretty special, and the rocks are very interesting on the way.
Eric had a bee in his bonnet about Striped Butte, so he rented a Farrabee jeep and we drove down there. Farabee seems to be a pretty good organization, though it is a bit funny to be in their office and hear discussion of the Echo Canyon road (lower part) which I've done multiple times in a sedan. Anyway... It took 2 1/2 hours to drive down from Furnace. Lesson: if you want to play in the Warm Springs Valley, best to make it an overnight! There was much jeep traffic up there and a whole mob scene at the Warm Springs (?) camp where the road transitions from HC to 4WD.
Yup, it is striped all right! Nice views from the top, though an easy cimb.
Stripes show well coming down the more gentle back side
Day 5 we went up to a very cool arch in the Cottonwoods, based entirely on beta from Kauri. The Cottonwoods are so full of fossils!! These ammonites (? can anyone verify) were right next to the road when we were walking along to eyeball some possible alternative descent routes.
Well some poor nav by yours truly took us a bit off route. You have to cross a gully system and if you cross it low, as Kauri shows, it's easy, but we tried to stay high, which was tough and loose and steep until we bailed and went down lower. The rest of the team was getting restless and talking about eating lunch at the next flat place and doing something else, when we caught first sight of the arch in cliffs high above.
Well that supplied the motivation and the rest of the climb up was straightforward. You get up behind the arch on a big flat area. Note there there is almost no vegetation and zero shade on this whole walk.
But the arch is big - 30 feet or so high - and we sat under it in the shade, with a totally grand view of the valley south. This struck me as a really awesome place, and I've seen a few places out there. I could have spent more time but it was a bit too rough to take a nap. Super lunch spot.
On the way down I slipped at one point, and my hand ended up on this rock. Seemed to be a theme of the day. We ended up going back down the way we'd come up, but there is a bunch of country up there to explore, which we did a bit of.
On the drive out, the wind had picked up and the sand was blowing across the road. It would blow across the flat, hit the berm of the road, and plume up into the air in a stream. Visibility was pretty low but the road was pretty sandy at that point so it more or less pushed us to stay in the tracks back to the SPW airport and pavement. This may have been our best day, by my reckoning. That arch is pretty special, and the rocks are very interesting on the way.