Heading west towards Utah. Took a side detour on travel day with a site seeing trip in Thompson Caynon & Sego Canyon (ghost town). There's a Shell_7/11 gas station at exit 187 (I70) with a large truck parking area to leave the truck/ 5th wheel at while taking a few hours to see the area. We did ask for permission to leave it....wouldn't be a good day to return and find out it was towed away.
If you google these location it's interesting to find out about the past history. Anyways makes for a nice afternoon.
Some rock art





Remains of the town



Late in the day arriving at a boondock spot on BLM north of Moab.
One of the signs at the board as you enter the area.

Next day finishing the drive and after some scouting found this spot on BLM that will work so Caynon Lands NP (Needles area) can be visited. A few miles down a gravel/ sandy road off the main highway. Plus Verizon & 30+ OTA channels.



Forgot to take the camera last night when I took the dog for a hike, the sunsets are pretty nice with the long views.
Enjoy

 

I am loving your trip, photos and narrative. Question: Do you leash the dog when you hike? I was thinking about rattlesnake encounters, but in my backpacking days (when I still had cartilage in my knees), I mixed between unleashed, where my dog would chase deer, and leashed, where I saved both a skunk and a ranger encounter. LOL!

 

It depends. If we're in a busy public place always on a leash. Areas like this no leash but always have it on me incase, along with hand gun or small can of bear spray. These areas look barren of animals but they're there (both 2 and 4 legged ones).
When its warmer and the snakes could be out I'll keep him closer to me he's fairly trained/ obedient. It's the squirrels/ ground rodents that kick in his herding drive. Now with us moving back towards the desert environment I'll do more of our walks in the early/ late day when it's cooler/ cold out. So far we've had only had 3 rattlesnakes in camp "that we know of".

 

I find the Rock Art extremely interesting, we do have Petroglyphs in the local area, Fallon, NV that date back 8000 years. The Pictographs in the third picture down of them are particularly interesting as some of the figures do not seem to be human and how did they get so high up on the rock face?

Once again thanks for this great continuing post.
Bill

 

Traildust, I find it interesting also and would guess they must have had a make shift ladder of some sort or maybe they stood on each other's shoulders.

 

The Earth's gravity was lower back then.

 

Throughout the United States there are thousands of pictographs and petroglyphs with the greatest concentration in the American Southwest. The site that has the most is the Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico. At the monument, archaeologists have estimated there may be over 25,000 petroglyph images along the 17 miles of escarpment. A small percentage of the petroglyphs found within the park pre-date the Puebloan time period, perhaps reaching as far back as 2000 B.C. Other images date from historic periods starting in the 1700s, with petroglyphs carved by early Spanish settlers. It is estimated 90% of the monuments petroglyphs were created by the ancestors of today’s Pueblo people. Puebloans have lived in the Rio Grande Valley since before 500 A.D., but a population increase around 1300 A.D. resulted in numerous new settlements. It is believed that the majority of the petroglyphs were carved from about 1300 through the late 1680s.

Native American Symbols, Pictographs & Petroglyphs
Arrow Protection
Arrowhead Alertness
Badger Track Summer
Bear Strength
Bear Paw Good Omen
Big Mountain Great abundance
Bird Free of worry, Carefree
Broken Arrow Peace
Broken Cross Circle Four Seasons, That Which Revolves
Brothers Unity, Equality, Loyalty
Buffalo Horns Success
Buffalo Skull Sacredness, Reverence for Life
Butterfly Everlasting life
Cactus Sign of desert
Coyote & Coyote Tracks Trickster
Crossed Arrows Friendship
Days-Nights Time Passing
Deer Track Game plentiful
Drawn Bow & Arrow Hunting
Drying Rack Plenty of Meat
Eagle Freedom
Eagle Feather Chief
Enclosure Ceremonial Dances
End of Trail Peace, End of War
Evil Eye This symbol protects from the curse of the Evil Eye.
Facing Arrows Warding off evil spirits
Four Ages Infancy, Youth, Middle, Old Age
Gecko Sign of Desert
Gila Monster Dream Time
Great Spirit The Great Spirit is a conception of universal spiritual force, or supreme being prevalent among most Native American tribes.
Head Dress Ceremonial
Hogan Permanent Home
Horse Journey
Kokopelli Flute Player, Fertility
Lightening Power, Speed
Lightning Arrow Swiftness
Man Life
Medicine Man’s Eye Wisdom
Morning Stars Guidance
Mountain Range Destination
Path Crossed
Peace Pipe Ceremonial, sacred
Rain Plentiful crop
Rain Clouds Good Prospect
Rattle Snake Jaws Strength
Saddle Bag Journey
Skyband Leading to Happiness
Snake Defiance
Squash Blossom Fertility
Sun Happiness
Sun Flower Fertility
Sun God Mask The Sun God is a powerful spirit among a number of Native American tribes.
Sunrays Constant
Swastika Four corners of the world, Well-Being
Tipi Temporary house
Thunderbird Unlimited Happiness, Caller of Rain
Thunderbird Track Bright Prospect
Water Running Constant Life
Wolf Paw Freedom, Success
Zuni Bear Good Health

 

Slowly moving south stopped for the night on blm near Blanding, UT took a late afternon drive to see some ruins.
Comb Ridge
http://www.blm.gov/visit/butler-wash-ruins

Then found out there are dinosaur tracks not far from camp.

There are 3 in the pic, one behind and two in front.

On the way in saw this little buck 50' away just standing there.

 

The deer down south/out west could care less.It's amazing.Up here,they smell you in the woods and they're long,long gone before you can catch a glimpse.They have to make a mistake in order for you to see a tail or something lol.Look at that.What an easy shot.Would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
The mule deer out west,oh my word.Amazing.Those things will just keep out of reach of petting distance!Wouldn't surprise me if people took time to gain their trust,could have them eating apples out of their hands.
That's so cool.I haven't seen dino tracks yet.

 

I was driving my truck home from the dealership last night and up the street from my house there was a mule deer eating someone's flowers. The deer up in the mountains where I hunt are just plain stupid. One walked up to my blind while I was hunting elk. I was talking to it and throwing stuff at it and it wouldn't go away. Elk, by comparison, are geniuses.

 

I brain fartted and should have poured a little water in each dino print to stand out better.

Traveling west again, stopped for a quick shot where Forrest Gump stopped running in the movie. US 163, mile post 13 Mexican Hat, UT

 

Another boondock BLM location near Zion NP. The mesa in the background on the way to Zion known to locals as "Flying Monkey Mesa" a little history http://boxcanyonblog.blogspot.com/20...ry-of.html?m=1
Flying Monkey Mesa House
Good side trip on the way to or from Zion for the views up the road. 1250w/ Mesa rd., Virgin



Thinking of the folks winterizing thier rigs

 

Relaxing at the campfire after Tday dinner enjoying a cocktial, listening to coyotes in the distance with the changing colors on the mesas as the sun goes down.

 

I have been following this thread since the beginning and absolutely love it, my wife and I are envious of scraprat and his travels that's for sure. We love the high desert of Nevada for pretty much the same reason lots of us love the great wide open spaces. If this picture leaves you wondering then there are lots of places out here that will bore you.



Nothing between here and there but a fence post and the fence post needs to go.

 

Traildust nothing like a long view and big sky.