more fins, more things

It was about ten degrees (Fahrenheit) colder on Sunday, plus dark as we were a week away from the winter solstice, so we didn't get out onto the trails until just after 10 a.m.  Continuing with our plan to do busy trails in the off-season when they aren't busy, we decided to return to Fins N Things, this time in reverse, going in the exit and walking against the traffic.  If there was even going to be any traffic.  There really wasn't much going on out at the Sandflats Recreation Area: the guy manning the fee station just waved us through without bothering to check our pass.

 Pretty easy to follow the 4x4 trail

Although it got a little brighter as the day wore on, it was breezy and never warmed up enough for either of us to take any layers off, despite the steep, short climbs we were doing out on the sandstone.  This 4x4 trail (or at least the six+ mile portion we did) was about half slickrock features (the "fins") and half dirt/sand jeep tracks (presumably the "things").

Milton on a fin

We only saw two jeeps while we were out there and again marveled at having this wonderful, beautiful place to ourselves.  It'll be good to remember this later this summer, when it's over 100 F and the Sandflats are swarming with OHVs.  Milton was very happy off-leash and did quite well coming right back to us when we met those two jeeps.

All the different layers and levels

The whole route is over nine miles, too far for us this day.  We planned to exit via the radio tower cut-off but when we got there, we saw a short out-and-back to a scenic overlook that we figured we should check out.  We're very glad we did because the view is down into the upper reaches of Grandstaff Canyon and we found a trail leading down into the canyon that we will go back to explore.

Winter desert

We retraced our steps back to the cutoff, then took it out to the Sandflats road.  From there, it was less than a mile back to the truck, where our beers were waiting.  As we stood there, watching the rarely passing vehicle traffic, we realized that cold beer is not the best post-hike beverage in December.  As we still have a lot of winter exploring to do, I sense hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps in our future.

Hike stats:  6.66 miles; 2:20 / 2.8 m.p.h moving; 2:37 / 2.5 m.p.h. overall; 980 feet elevation