Cedar Mesa Cicadas

Wending our way northward on highway 261, we camped a short distance down Snow Flat Road. In the morning Roxanne noticed a number of cicadas had crawled up the sides of the tires and were emerging from their shells.

In my early childhood in Japan, a lifeguard at the nearby pool used to fish them out and save them for me. I kept them a few days before letting them go. They are one of my spirit animals.

Cedar Mesa, Utah

I spent the past week roaming the area west by northwest of Blanding and Bluff. Road conditions vary with many having extended sections of what appears to be sand but is, in fact, clay.

When it gets damp it becomes slippery; and when it gets wet it forms a thick, impassable gumbo. 

I was camped near The Twist on Hole-in-the-Rock Rd when clouds started to gather. It meant leaving sooner than planned, but after an all-night rain the next evening I was glad I'd made the decision. I could move about in The Valley of The Gods without having ten pounds of mud on my feet (see next post).

For those unfamiliar, Cedar Mesa is said to have more archeological sites than anywhere else in the world. And this is the best time of year to visit. By the end of next month daytime temperatures will average 35 degrees centigrade and higher (upper nineties).