This is the view of the Shoshone Mesa of Sheep Creek Ridge from our house.
Today we decided to check out Sheep Creek Range. I see it everyday from the house and it has a flat ridge and is different form the other three ranges I see which have high peaks. A co-worker of Joes said we could drive all the way to the top (where the communication towers are.) So we brought lunch and plenty of drinks, packed the black dog in (Buddy is getting too old for such an event) and set out on another adventure. It ended good but there were some scary moments for me.
We stopped just below the lowest dark line which is a fall of volcanic rock.On the way I was very excited because I had been admiring the ridge and wondered why it had dark lines running down it and no snow. Well, the road up the Piedmont was bumpy and rocky and there were many hair pin turns. So the road basically zigzagged up. I was having fun until we hit mud and got higher. I tried to hold it together and then the tears came and I had to have Joe stop. We parked in an inlet that led to another 'road' going the other way and very steep.
Joe had his new DROID with him and was trying to take pictures which was frustrating. Once he figured it out he took a picture of the truck and he thinks we should send it to GMC. I'm thinking he is just all DROID puffed up cuz the truck is not shiny even thought the scenery is beautiful. This is obviously looking down from where we came.
I have always been one to look at rocks when walking but out here it can become obsessive. I found a lot of cool lava rocks and multicolored rocks and boulders. I kept picking them up and loading my pockets. I see a rock tumbler in my future. I laughed and made fun of my mother when she moved to AuSable Forks for a year and her second focus after painting was collecting giant rocks. She was a drug addict in search of a fix. She would ride around and load her trunk with them. Once again I am turning into my mother, heaven help me. Here is part of my collection acquired at Sheep Creek and believe it or not in my yard. Half of it is stone and that is what you do out here.
I wanted to keep going up the ridge but we were not properly equipped for a hike so we
turned around and went down. On the way we found a recently killed Chucker. We think someone higher up was hunting because there was another truck there. At the bottom we crossed the California Trail which is overrun with tire marks but still cool to see. We headed to the north of the range to find a place to have lunch. Izzenhood Gap sounded like a good place. But it wasn't. We got past the last ranch, took a right onto the gap road and it was downhill from there. We found out why ever
yone coming towards had mud up to their windows. Basically a single lane dirt road that was a few inches thick with mud because of the time of day. I was scared to death we were going to get stuck but I also worry too much. We had to go a couple of miles before there was a safe place to make a 20 point turn. My hero got us out of there! The picture does not capture just how bad it was.We finally got to dryer ground, had lunch and headed home. I checked the map and instead of going back the way we came I found a side road that lead to County Route 505. This would give us a chance to see some new things. I am amazed how different a county road is out here compared to the east. This is a picture of a bridge we had to cross and it hat a big gaping hole in the top lay of slats. The only part of the road that was paved was where you got onto Route 80.
We passed what looked like an abandoned ranch. The map called it 25 Ranch. Then we had 
to cross the above bridge which is apparently not maintained on a regular basis. It is basically 2x4's in layers of three I think. The top layer having a huge rut on the left side which was a bit unnerving as I was driving. We stopped on the other side of the bridge for a photo op and found the front leg of a coyote. Either hit by a car of eaten by a mountain lion.Can't wait until this summer when we can reach the top.
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