daily cardio on the grand mesa
Last night on Muffin’s last potty break I thought I heard running water in the distance. I consulted Osmand+ offline maps and it said Whitewater Creek was nearby.
So today I put on Real Shoes, grabbed the daypack and trekking poles and headed down the steep path to see what was below.
Running fast and clear enough that it would make good cleaning/cooking water. I don’t need drinking water but if I did I’d
- put it in the racking bucket and let debris settle below the spigot
- pre-filter through a coffee filter to remove debri, capturing in a 2nd bucket
- rinse racking bucket, pour water back in to allow gravity feeding to…
- a Sawyer Mini ceramic filter (0.1micron absolute)
The sawyer is reverse-flushable for cleaning but prefiltering helps reduce clogging.
The creek runs about 200yds to the west before falling off the mesa in the general area seen here:
There are a couple nice camping spots down there but again I think a UTV would be the best way to access them.
We walked up the other side and got a little clearer view of the valley floor ~5,000ft below:
We started heading back and got a view of the van:
It wasn’t that long of a walk but the sun is brutal at altitude and the air is thin enough to remind one not to overdo it.
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