long winter weekend

We had never been in Moab in February so we thought the recent long holiday weekend might be a good opportunity to do so.  We checked (and rechecked) the weather for both Friday and Monday and it looked like we would be in the clear; driving the sixty mile stretch between Spanish Fork and Price is particularly sketchy in bad weather so we wanted to avoid that.  There was a storm moving in Friday night but we stayed ahead of it the whole way down. 

Mill Creek

The weather forecast for the weekend wasn't stellar, with the best weather on Friday and then getting colder and cloudier as the days wore on.  Our Saturday morning was taken up with errands and settling in.  We did attempt a drive up the LaSal loop road from the Ken's Lake side but had to turn around before long: the road wasn't plowed. 

Old power plant on Mill Creek

Back in town, we walked Milton to the Moab Barkery to check out collars, and then to the Kokopelli Lodge to see if any dogs were in residence.  We struck out in both cases but enjoyed the walk regardless.  Later we stopped by the Moab Brewery for a couple of beers and conversation.  There had been a trail run that day - the Red Hot 33k/55k - and we talked with some of the racers.  I would have been exhausted after an event like that but they were happy to chat with us.

Looking downstream

Sunday morning surprised us with pretty clear skies and we were determined to get out at least for a little while.  We three drove over to the Mill Creek trail head to see how far we could get up the canyon without getting our feet wet.  We didn't get that far, only to where the canyon splits into the north and south forks, where you have to cross the creek.  It was in the mid-30s and we decided wet boots would not be the way to go.

Coming down from the ridge

On one short stretch, we did have to cling to the rock walls above the creek for a few steps.  Milton was a little nervous in this section but calmly waited for H to help him across the slippery bits.  After that, we took another trail up to the ridge just to keep the walk going.  We found a number of inter-crossing trails and jeep roads, eventually picking our way down a steep hillside back to the trail head parking lot.  We next did it from across the creek: walking down the "dump road" to Potato Salad Hill, a notorious, short, rocky hill that OHVers like to try to drive up and over. 

M gets a drink

Our mileage wasn't high but we were glad to get out into the sunshine for a bit - especially since the clouds were starting to build.  We walked to Woody's for beers around 5 p.m., talked with the bartender and some locals for a while, and then when we headed back, a full-on snowstorm had settled in.

Ah yes, more snow

It snowed all evening and all night, and we ended up with over six inches of snow.  H and Milton saw a local when they took their morning walk - the guy was not happy with the snow at all.  Moab often gets snow but then the sun comes out and it warms up, melting everything quickly.  This year is apparently the coldest and wettest winter Moab has seen in years.

Monday's sunrise

Stymied by the weather (this weekend really hadn't turned out like we had hoped), we waited out several additional snow squalls before hitting the road Monday afternoon.  It continued to snow all the way to Green River, but once we turned north on Route 6, it cleared up, the roads dried out and we had an uneventful drive home.  And then H had to shovel at the house because it had snowed there too.