1162 October 13, 2024 Home Again
We settled last evening at around 6:30pm. I read and then slept. At 1am, the stars were out and Orion was bright and beautiful. The moon still hung in the sky and so the Milky Way was not visible.
When we got up, the sky was just beginning to lighten. We watched the sunrise as we had our coffee. It was too windy for a morning fire. We had a rare 3rd cup of coffee; reluctant to leave this place.
We spotted the Skywalk!
We packed and left by 8am.
We stopped at the Burnt Canyon Overlook intending to hike to the Rim. The trail was not clearly marked. We followed a wash for a while and then maybe a game trail. We went about .35 miles and then turned back. We could still not find the main trail and we could see tall trees in the distance. We did not think we were on the right path to find the edge. We weren’t sure exactly where we were and we still had 80 more miles to drive!
We stopped in the pines for breakfast. There were lots of nice cacti here as well.
Whipple cholla.
More prickly pear.
We saw a longhorn cow drinking at a muddy water hole. Tim stopped so that I could get a picture but she ran. She did finally pose for me.
A bathroom in the middle of nowhere…such a luxury!
Hitchhiker.
So pretty.
We were nearing the end of our trip when we saw a bunch of girls and a couple of women standing in the road near a ATV that was turned on its side. We stopped to help. A Jeep with a winch arrived at the same time that we did and the couple was able to pull the ATV out of the ditch and then reattached the winch in a place where he could pull it over. Tim and the other adults all pushed until the vehicle was righted. The woman who had been driving must have taken the turn too quickly and the whole until flipped and rolled. Fortunately, no one was injured. The riders had all helmets on. It is dangerous out here. There is a lot that can go wrong. You have to be careful and be prepared. The wonderful thing to witness was how every single person got out to help. We check on every person that we see biking or hiking. We always make sure that people have adequate water. We always stop. It was nice to see others will do the same…people are good.
Almost there!
We got back in early afternoon. The day was spent getting stuff sorted and clean!