Rocks and slots and Lewis

Friday was a rock day.   We collected Pam and John and headed off on a new adventure.    Our plan was to drive through Canyon Sin Nombre  and then continue along to investigate the Mud Caves.

the sand wash below leads into Canyon Sin Nombre

We took lunches, plenty of water, maps and a book detailing the mileage and some waypoints to guide us.

The beginning of the canyon had one rocky spot to navigate through, but from then on the trail was basically sand.    It's walls were beautifully colored.

We walked back a small side canyon and found a nice place to have our lunch,   We did a bit of further exploration before continuing on through the canyon.

Our maps showed a clear connection to the Mud Caves via a combination of named washes.    Some of the washes had small markers giving their names, some did not.     Following other people's tire tracks usually helps you stay in the main washes, sometimes not.    Wind and precipitation patterns change the look of these washes and navigating is not as straightforward as you'd like.

one narrow spot required extra care to drive through

 What starts out looking like a pretty simple A to B drive turns out to include some unplanned detours.      "Does this look familiar to you?"   "Hmmmm"   "What direction are we going in now?   Is that the way we're supposed to be heading?"   "Isn't there supposed to be a side wash right here?  The map shows another wash right here!"      "No matter what, we don't want to head toward Diablo Drop Off and Broken Shaft Gulch....no matter what....."

watching another vehicle go down Diablo Drop Off
(Yep, the one we weren't supposed to go to!)

Luckily we always end up in the correct place, the place we were heading for, even with these little detours.   The only problem is that they eat up time and daylight and we never really get enough time to fully satisfy our curiosity!   We do see a lot of the countryside though....

We explored a few slot canyons and peered in some of the fabled mud caves before continuing along towards home.

Pam peers

look up Dave!

we found such interesting mud "rocks" in the small slot canyons

an interesting "street sign" atop a hill
(what's up with the crutches?)

Since you've suffered through all these rock pictures, here's one of our sweet Lewis, snoring away on the couch last night.....