relo away from heat Dominguez Escalante NCA
The heat in our impromptu spot was oppressive (high 80s) so we drove about an hour and gained about 2,500’ in the Dominguez - Escalante national conservation area. It is 64F here at elevation with a bit of intermittent light rain.
My original plan was to scout the Dominguez campsite but it was tiny, in trees, and had no mobile data signal. I bailed and backtracked until I found a dispersed camping site with a bit of Verizon signal.
The whole area allows free grazing and this spot appears to be an abandoned watering station. There is a fenced in, bermed area just across the dirt road from us, and several empty unmaintained tanks on this side of the road.
I walked around the berm and it is a plastic-lined tank (water catchment) with plumbing heading toward the tanks. On that side of the road is a culvert set verticially with a ladder leading down to valves. On our side of the road (about 10’ elevation difference) is a watering trough that used to have plumbing attached and a float valve. Seems to me the water would collect in the tank and fill the watering trough as needed.