desert rain

It started raining lightly yesterday, and rained lightly-but-steadily through the night. There was a flash-flood warning in Yuma, the biggest/nearest town. People are always surprised to hear of floods and drowning in the desert but it definitely happens. Newbies sometimes camp in arroyos because they feel protected from the elements and observation. But those low

solar challenges

solar I mentioned that I am in the NF above Midway, UT. Solar power yield had been marginal due to partly cloudy conditions and partial shading from the (birch?) trees.    The rare pullouts on this forest road are shallow and don’t leave a lot of room for solar-friendly placement: Under normal circumstances I finish

rainwater/freshwater bucket upgrade

Today’s goal:  add spigot to bucket find where I stored the spigots – half day drill 1″ hole – 5 mins install spigot – 60 seconds     I’d picked up the spigots off Amazon last month.  They are typically used for bottling homebrew – the [primary] fermented beer is racked into the priming bucket, priming sugars

rainwater catchment v3, Tangles, solar yield in the rain

Rainwater – some good news Finally had a successful run of rainwater catchment, though it was rough at start. I rejiggered the tarp when the clouds gathered again: This method has more surface area but is less likely to funnel rain where i want it.   More experimentation needed.   It rained medium-heavy for a short while

southerly walk, and a failed experiment

Muffin and I walked south today to see that part of the canyon: There’s a dam down there in the lower left, and a line-of-sight comms install for it on the canyon rim in the upper right. As we came back on a different part of the trail we saw a small group of people