With several days of inclement weather, earlier in the week,
it seemed like a good time to visit some of the sandier areas near Coral Pink
Sand Dunes – moisture makes the roads more compact and easier to drive. Tom came up with a good plan to get a benchmark
that was located on Harris Point and then, on our way out, we could bag another called
Yellow Benchmark. It was all going so
well - until we encountered a slippery clay section of road and we decided to
turn back – Tom pressed on.
We returned to Monument Knoll (just off a paved road) and began hiking towards
Yellow Benchmark. This ended up being a
good backup plan as we were able to get in a five-mile (r/t) hike. After locating the benchmark, we took a
half-hour lunch break and this gave Tom enough time to get back from Harris Point
and meet up with us on top. Not exactly
the day we planned, but all-in-all a good one!
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| We began our hike just south of Monument Knoll, a hike we did in December 2020 |
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| Within minutes we spooked up some deer |
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| Interesting enough, later, Kent would find this mule deer antler |
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| Yellow Benchmark is on top of this ridge |
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| Just a cool rock! |
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| Yellow Benchmark was placed here in 1954 |
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| Chipper is ready for snacks & we are ready for lunch! |
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Off to the northwest we could see the cliffs of Zion
(This is a zoomed in view) |
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After lunch Tom, Lola & Ezy arrived . . .
Tom wanted to find the two USGS Reference Markers so that he could update this benchmark
(We were interested, too, as they were copper nails & washers . . .
something we hadn't seen before and kind of rare!) |
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Apparently, hiking isn't enough to wear down Ezy & Chipper . . .
These silly boys like to play hard! |
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Tom showed us an old axe blaze in this tree where we were hoping to find one of the two
USGS Reference Markers (the other has since disappeared) . . .
Kent spotted the washer in the dirt . . . the copper nail, it held in place, was nowhere to be found
Here's an example, from Geocaching.com, of how it should have looked |
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| We reunited the RM & the tree for others to enjoy |
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Time to head back!
Hiking is like life . . . sometimes our plans change . . . but that isn't a bad thing! |
