With warmer weather, I headed south again to explore parts of Utah that I haven’t experienced yet… and before it got too hot. This time I headed to Hanksville and then west on Highway 24 for a few miles. I could then turn north on a dirt road into the North Pinto Hills area.
Since the purpose of this trip was simply to explore and see what was out there, I started driving all the dirt roads that I could find. There were interesting pictures to be taken just about everywhere.
The wind and sun was perfect for flying my drone.
Among other things, I also found the Mars Desert Research Station.
While exploring nearby areas, I ran into several ATVs with people donning spacesuits. They motored out into the hills and I noticed them practicing the collection of soil and rock samples. Interesting. (I hope those suits were air-conditioned.)
Another site that I stumbled upon was the Hanksville-Burpee Quarry. This appeared to be an area where dinosaur bones had been found near the surface and was now a protected site.
In another location near the highway, I found a number of places where fossil shells littered the ground in abundance.
While I spent most of the day exploring the area east of Factory Butte, to end the day I took the dirt road that rounded Factory Butte to the north and headed south down the West Factory Road.
This road was at the west foot of North Caineville Mesa. I rejoined the highway just around the corner from Caineville..
I still had some daylight so I drove down the county road that follows the Fremont River between the Caineville Reef and Caineville Mesa. Here I found a perfect area for flying my drone just as the sun was beginning to set.
Then there was nothing to do but head for home again.