The weather looked bad but we went for it anyways. We drove in an intense snow storm from Spanish Fork to Green River and the weather cleared up just as we pulled into the Temple Mountain area. The roads we planned on taking to our camp site were not too muddy yet but it would not take much more moisture to make the roads impassable so rather than risk getting stuck with the kids so we spent the night in the Goblin Valley campground.
While hiking we got rained on for about 10 minutes then it let up. We drove back to camp to warm the boys up and make dinner.
Camp site 4
After dinner Bowen and I left April and Lanik at camp and drove off to try and find a good spot for sunset. We drove west towards Little Wild Horse Canyon and the road became progressively worse. By the time I had reached the Chute Canyon / Wild Horse Creek wash the road was slicker than ice. 20 minutes later I was headed back to camp with a very muddy vehicle.
This is the point where I was able to turn around, I had at least 3 inches of clay on each tire… what fun.
Wild Horse Butte
After we got the kids into bed I spent some time shooting stars and night painting. The clouds moved in just as the star shots were starting to work for me.
Saturday morning was a bit chilly but there was no new rain or snow so we got right in the car. We drove from Goblin to North Temple Wash, it was much better driving on the sand, gravel, and rock than compared to the clay and mud on the previous day. We drove through the reef to the Vanadium Mine Cabins on east side of Temple Mountain.
Great clouds over the valley this time.
As the next storm started to roll in we made a collective decision to pack up camp and head home. We had made it 24 hours in the area with out getting stuck or wet so we figured we may as well quit while we are ahead. There was a bit of snow in Spanish Fork Canyon but nothing serious.
Sunday morning we took the kids Skiing at Sundance. Hiking, Camping, and Skiing all in the same weekend. Utah FTW!
