We spent a more extended weekend camping, seeing friends, looking at fantastic panels, and performing volunteer work with SHPO to help construct some “buck and rail” fencing.
Our trail work helped mark an easement through this ranching land, which contains access to some of the area’s more unique Fremont panels. The gracious landowner’s main concern is that the hikers do not wander too far into the cattle grazing areas. As the saying goes, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Dugout on private land.
As part of the volunteer work, we met the family, with many area landmarks named after them, and they gave us a tour of one of the family buildings. Gracious hosts and many great stories shared.
Naturally, Joan and I used the opportunity to camp out the night before to see some of the area’s other sites.
View from our first campsite.
From our first campsite, we drove to other places along the way, including an old cabin named after the family we’d meet later that weekend.
And we’d see some intricate and striking panels –
After this sightseeing, we went to another campsite, where we stayed for the next two nights. Our good friends Holly and Dan joined us and performed the trail work with us one of the days.
The campsite provided a close-by base where we’d meet people for the trail work. It had stark but beautiful scenery and was close to other sites we wanted to see.
The evening light show never disappoints in this area –
And a five-minute walk from the camp showed we were not the first to appreciate this view –
We met Holly, Dan, and the other trail workers in a nearby town the following day. After the trail work and stories mentioned above, we all returned to the camp, caught up, and went on a hike the following day.
As typical for our trips in this area, we saw many images with striking colors that “popped” in this otherwise stark terrain.
The reds, yellows, and whites contrasted with the almost gray rock –
Even the locals liked to show a splash of color too.
We searched the area for one panel and did not find it at first, though we found some tantalizing artifacts indicating a nearby location.
Dan spotted the panel tucked into an alcove and in at an unexpected location.
And the colors on some of the images are still highly vibrant –
All in all, an excellent weekend in a place where Joan and I are starting to know more with the passing months.