San Rafael Reef March 2011; Day 1

Note: Some of these pictures were taken with my iphone's "hipstamatic" camera, which I really like. Sorry if they don't look like traditional pictures.

This was the 6th year in a row that we've done a camping trip to the Swell in March, but this one was cut a day short due to weather. Still, we made the most of the opportunity to be down there.

We had been watching the weather report and for at least a week out, it was looking pretty good, then doom and gloom (i.e. cold and rain/snow) started showing up on the forecast and things weren't looking so good. Still, we carried on with our plans because part of us (me) were optimistic that the weather man would suck (as usual) in his forecast, while the other half of us were just hell-bent on continuing the tradition.

On our way down we encountered heavy rain/snow all the way until we reached the green river area. Things were looking somewhat hopeful when we started to see some blue sky, then we arrived at the Reef and it started to hail like crazy.

This is what the ground looked like at our favorite campsite (which we always luck out and score when we go there)



We even experienced seeing some awesome run-off of water and realized how quickly an amazingly a flash flood starts. No, we didn't see a flood, but in the short amount of rain/hail that happened, there was quite a bit of run-off off the reef into little ditches all around. It was awesome.

The wet slickrock around our campsite



Like typical Utah desert fashion, it dried up quickly and blue skies started showing up. We quickly set up camp and hung around for a bit.

Caiden and bailey played in the sand for a while













We also explored around the reef. The dogs were loving their new freedom







My new all-wood Proof sunglasses



We decided to head north to Farnsworth canyon to do a little hike. I forgot how much I LOVED Farnsworth. It's easy for kids and there are some really scenic spots in this slot.

The trail going toward the canyon



Farnsworth canyon in the background



Dropping down into the canyon and looking East



Bailey taking a ride



Caiden







Bailey found a little chair



It starts to narrow up







So cool to see how much flash flooding can change a canyon. A year ago we came here to this spot and had to scramble around multiple potholes of water. This time they were full of dirt and rocks





Under the large rock and choke stone







Same spot that was full of water last year (reverse angle), along with last year's picture



(last year)



Selfies on the way out







It started to get pretty cold, so we headed back to camp, made dinner, sat around for a bit, then hit the sack