#4 in the series.

On our job shadow day, the first couple in the door came in with a list of questions. Or I should say, the husband did. They had rented an AWD car and he was trying to find out which places he could reach. Kirsten did a great job of explaining in general terms the road conditions, but that these can change quickly and that he must use his own judgement. While he was peppering her with questions, his wife was quietly listening to every word. He changed subjects to rattlesnakes, and wanted to know the situation at a particular site. Kirsten explained that in twelve years she’s only seen one. And of course they are out there, but that has been her experience. A few more round-robin questions and he says, “So you don’t think snakes will be a problem then.” She politely answered, “You’re not listening to me. I said that I’ve only seen one in twelve years, but they are certainly out there. It’s the only information I have to give you.”

Yeah, I’m thinkin’, another know-it-all. I hope not all the visitors are like this.

River House

Sunday morning, our goal was to see three things; San Juan Hill, River House ruins, and the Kachina panel. All of these are more typically seen during a river float down the San Juan. Permits are hard to get, so we chose to take a BLM access road four miles off the main highway. In my zeal that early morning, I neglected to pack any paper maps or guides. In fact, I left quite a few things behind. How many years have I been doing this? Ffej is always ready to go!

Comb Wash Road is more wash than road. The route goes along the wash, in the wash, and across the wash several times for four miles. One needs to pay attention to deep sand, a few rocks, and false trails. Since the wash changes course over time, the route does too. It’s a pretty fun route and a 4WD with decent clearance is necessary, mainly for the sand.

The Ranger handled it all quite well, and “Sand Mode” made a big difference. It’s amazing how the technology has improved over the years.

We reached a wide area where we could park. There is very little signage, and two routes before us had vertical, post-like signs that declared no vehicles were allowed. So we parked and decided to hike the 2 or so miles in.

Our first stop was San Juan Hill. If you read the big sign located there, you will find that after a group of Mormon pilgrims blasted out Hole-in-the-Rock in order to drag their wagons across the Colorado River, eventually beating their way up San Juan Hill to eventually establish the town of Bluff.

It was a horrendous trip and the horses were just brutalized being forced up the terrain. What were they thinking?

Next we came to the Rincone, is Spanish for “corner.” This was a popular river crossing and trading post in the 1800’s and some remnants remain.

There we met a couple camping and they mentioned that we could take a trail along the bench above the river and avoid the sandy road route. They also mentioned that rain was in the forecast for around noon, a serious consideration for returning up four miles of wash! We had seen a similar forecast and had set a “turn around time” that should get us out by 11am.

We found a pretty good dirt road upon the sandstone bench. It crossed a cattle guard and then on past another vertical signpost that said “NO VEHICLES.” A little confusing, at least to me.

Patricia pointed to a faint trail by the signpost and mentioned that the couple had said to take a right on the trail once we got to the top. “That’s not a legit trail, and there aren’t any tracks,” I shot back. We moved on along the road. In the distance behind us, we heard a faint shout. Turning, one of the campers was waving. He had climbed to the top of the bench to make sure we had found the trail…right where Patricia said it was. The wind the night before had blown the tracks away on the first part of it.

“You are not listening to me” is ringing in my head. Yeah, another know-it-all. Me.

I thanked the guy profusely and we followed the sandstone bench right to the River House. Whoa.

It was amazing! And what an idyllic place to live! The house was in great shape and not much sign of vandalism or damage. Also along the path was a granary, with the walls tightly chinked up against the sandstone bluff to keep animals out.

We decided to go for the Kachina rock art panel a couple of miles further. The route was loose sand and slow going. We got pretty close but we realized that by the time we arrived, we wouldn’t have any time to survey it if we were going to stick to our exit schedule.

Looking up, the clouds were building. So we chose to head back to the River House and enjoy a little coffee and snacks while we contemplated the stonework and rock art.

We made it out a little before 11am and the desert rain set in a little after noon. Sometimes you just gotta call it. But I think we’ll be back. It’s a beautiful place!

On Monday, we woke to a cold and rainy morning. We did a little maintenance around camp and then met with our Visit With Respect director to review and discuss what being an ambassador entails. There was a lot of material covered, so we’ll share the details a little later.

Between rainstorms, we took an afternoon hike up the canyon across the highway from us. Flowers were waking up and some were just brilliant, like this firecracker penstemon!

We’re supporting a talk and music tomorrow evening, so the plan is to check out a couple of easy drives, Goosenecks State Park, Muley Point, and Valley of the Gods. Should be fun…