Twin Rocks

Chimney Rock

The Castle

Fruita Schoolhouse

Navajo Dome

There was actually a lot more snow in the park than there had been in Torrey which was unexpected.

I continued on through the park but it stopped snowing just south of the entrance and there wasn't even any on the ground so I thought I might investigate the road out to Factory Butte. I only really intended to go to the Butte but I just kept going. Soon I reached this valley which looked too tempting to not go down into, I didn't have a map of any kind but how lost could I get?

I followed the rather dirty trail for a few miles then came to Muddy Creek, it looked a bit treacherous with a layer of ice over about 6 inches of water and a soft bottom, it was also starting to snow a little. For once I decided to turn around, I remember stories of dirt bikes being swallowed up by Muddy Creek.

On the way back I decided to have a quick look down the other branch of the road into the muddy valley and after a few miles again found the creek. It was a lot narrower here and somebody had obviously crossed it recently so what could I do? No problem, the road goes across the middle of the picture and behind the reeds on the right side. Only now it was snowing quite hard and I still didn't know where I was exactly.

And then it really snowed, this turned out to be the road to Goblin Valley but I couldn't see anything at all for several miles.

Eventually I made it out to Highway 24 north of Hanksville (on the Green River side) which was also completely socked in with about 3 inches of snow on it, that's why I have a 4wd truck! I headed down to Hanksville where one of the stations was out of gas and the other had a very slippery forecourt. Just west of Hanksville on the Torrey side is the old town site of Giles.