Starting Friday I’ll be up and over the plateau twice a day for a week, taking care of T&S’s plants and animals while they’re away on a trip.
The plateau is miles away to the east of the Gulch. But this time of year, if we get a good wet monsoon, it intrudes on my life almost daily. Because it’s made of shale and can’t absorb much water…
And so when the storm cells storm down on the plateau, the water has to go somewhere else. And over who knows how much time, the plateau has carved its ‘somewhere else’ in no uncertain terms. This is where the flash floods start; they collect in the canyons and then come crashing down through the wash past the Lair violently, and often, when we get a wet monsoon. This is starting to look like the wettest monsoon we’ve seen in eight years. If this summer is anything like the summer of 2013 I’m going to get very sick of digging out my drainage ditches – and sick of wondering what new wonders the wash will come up with over and over to complicate my life.
On the other hand, some moisture in the soil would really be nice for a while.
Pretty and desolate. Can see why a Jeep or horse is a necessity, not a luxury. Drive with care and low gear. :-))
Looks like a good spot to get stuck. Unless you have several hundred feet of cable on a winch.