Bluff and off roading!

A lazy start today, just a short trip into Bluff, a little over three hours. We arrived at the Cadillac Ranch RV Park where we have stayed several times before. There were two rigs ahead of us checking in, both towing Jeeps. The photo here was taken when we stopped, hence no dust.

Once we were settled in and just starting lunch one of the newly arrived people came over and said he had notice that we too have a jeep, they were going out shortly on an easy trail to a very picturesque area nearby with some interesting ruins, rock painting, pottery shards etc. and we would be welcome to come along.

We scoffed down our sandwiches and trailed along. (Actually were in the middle.) Harry and Nancy took the lead, and their Jeep was certainly a little better set up for this kind of driving than ours. Joe and Judy took the rear, their Jeep too is well equipped.

Nancy suggested that we ask Harry why the body and paint looked so good on their 5 year old off-roading jeep. Harry admitted that he had rolled it last year! It was a lot of fun and also Gillian's first off road, or to be more precise, unimproved dirt road/trail. There was lots of deep sand and a few rocky places, in and out and even along a few washes. We needed 4WD low range in a few spots.




Sometimes we could see where we were going:

 Sometime not so much:

Sometimes Gillian didn't know which to worry about most, the paint; 

 

Or the whole Jeep!

We finally got to the end of the trail. It was worth the drive:

Then we had to do the whole route back the other way. The photo of the Jeep going down the switch back was taken on the return.

Surprisingly, the trail we were on had a name, Comb Wash Road, and was even on the GPS! The river is the San Juan. While looking at some ruins along the way we saw some people rafting.

Back at the RV park Art hooked up the Jeep so we would be ready to go in the morning while Gillian took the dogs for their walk. He also gave the interior a bit of a dusting!

The weather had been sunny all day but the wind was cold and the overnight temperatures were below freezing. The forecast was for 27F tonight so after we had both showered Art emptied the holding tanks, disconnected everything except the electrical cord and put the hoses away.