Desert Snow: Version 2pointOh

So, I know this is post has been a little slow to make it up, but um... yeah, here it is. And yeah, I think the only thing that this post has in common with the other Desert Snow post is snow, and the desert, and I could see those mountains from 'The Camp Spot'.
For Easter weekend, I met up with the ol' lady down in Green River to venture into the San Rafael Swell to do a little camping and canyoneering. Since I don't have a rope, we did some of the non-techy slots. Being Easter weekend it was a tad bit busy, especially on the Goblin Valley side. We made it down there on Thursday, and the place was already packed. We decided to do Ding and Dang Canyons, as there was a only a couple cars in the parking area.

I hadn't done these canyons since back in '04, when the nickname "Neil 2005" was established. Here is why:Get it? Cause my shorts were from the future. Even young Jason can't take his eyes off my ass. Oh, and it is kinda funny that we thought 2005 was 'The Future' and now it is, like, forever ago.

Well, back to the present. Ding and Dang Canyon. I never really know remember what one is which, but we did it in the reverse order that most folks do it, just cause there was some sort of church group of about 50 leaving at the same time.

I saw a lady bug.

After that jaunt, I thought I would trust my luck at getting to the back side of the reef and finding 'The Camp Spot'. The further we made our way back, the less RVs and ATVs we saw, so that was awesome. I was able to drive right to it. I had got a little help from Andrew via text message a couple days prior to this though. This here Camp Spot is Andrew's find. And it is magnificent. The panorama at the top of this post is a 180 degree from it, and here are a few more:

Someone had really shown some love to the site with some rock borders, and a table/cook area. I did pick up a little garbage from the surrounding area, but it wasn't bad at all.


The next morning, we woke up and did Mud Canyon. Word of mouth said it wasn't that great, but it actually turned out being kinda cool. Not the typical sexy sandstone, and not a lot of little bouldering moves, but it was a fun hike.
And the trek out towards the butte that Quandary is on.
That night the storm blew in. It was windy, rainy and then snowy all night. So, that morning, we woke up, and packed up our shit hastily, and drove into Green River to hang out. I took a few photos on the drive out. The desert is kinda cool when it snows.
We checked out the John Wesley Powell River Museum. It was pretty cool, turns out he only had one arm. I talked to Old Man Devin later and he said that his dad can trace his lineage back to JWP in two steps. I asked OMD at that point "Well, wouldn't you be able to trace your lineage back too?" He said yes. Then I told him he is lucky that all his family has both arms.

I also found a pretty awesome breakfast burrito. I would have never of thunk it walking into a restaurant that is named after what is considered a noxious weed, but the Tamarisk Restaurant in Green River served up one delicious meal. Enough so that I got it twice (different mornings of course).

Oh, and here are a couple more photos from back in 004, just for fun: