San Rafael swell exploring

We are back from our way too short visit to the desert. I have a ton of photos to share with you guys, so this will be the first of a few posts on our stay in the San Rafael swell, or The Swell, as it’s generally called.

We haven’t been to the swell for about 4 years. We didn’t have Torrey, and we still had our truck camper when we were going to the Utah desert a lot. We were a little unsure on were to park this time. When you travel into these areas in a truck camper, it’s not such a big deal to turn around, or go down some random dirt road. Pulling a 39 foot house, is a bit different.

We found a great place though. The nice thing about the swell is there are not a ton of people, anywhere. There is one small campground, and I think people like to go there.

We prefer complete solitude, and views like this though.

It was cloudy and on again, off again rain the whole time we were there. We arrived early Thursday afternoon and in between the rain storms, we were able to go for a great wander through the desert.

This giant cottonwood tree was right near our spot. It was growing along the rock wash and looked so cool. There was a big pond at the base of it that was pretty full with all the rain. There were some frogs in the pond, and at night, Torrey was freaked out by the sound they made. It was pretty funny actually.

Roxy and Torrey were so thrilled to be out in the wilds and able to run and roam to their hearts content.

This is a miniature yucca plant, my name for it. I can only guess it is some smaller variety. They sure are cute though.

After our hiking, wandering Thursday afternoon it started raining again. Thankfully we weren’t too far from the house at that point.

The sand stone has natural areas where the rain water gathers. I love the color of the rock, and this looked especially interesting with the ripples in the water.

After dinner we went wandering again. The sky cleared a bit, and the reflection in this shot was perfect.

Friday morning I caught this reflection while out hiking again.

The cactus, and the wildflowers were blooming. It was all such a riot of colors.

This flower was the brightest pink I have ever seen. There were only a few in one small spot.

Indian paintbrush. It was really low to the ground here.

These cactus are really small, and mostly in the ground. The flowers were as big as the cactus part.

That’s probably enough photos for today. Check back tomorrow for more photos, and the wonderful surprise we had Friday evening.