I’ve been getting more into permaculture and how it can reverse desertification. Much of the world has experienced expanding deserts while losing grasslands and forests. The Great Basin has experienced desertification on a massive scale over thousands of years. The Great Basin contained one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, surrounded by forests filled with wildlife. Lake Bonneville, as the lake is called, was bigger than many modern countries. Now all that remains is the Great Salt Lake, salt flats, deserts, and some forested mountains.
I can’t wait to visit Dove Ranch next spring. I already have tons of work I want to do, and every weekend that I have an extra eight hours, I wish I could go up there. However, Dove Creek Road that runs through my ranch is unmaintained even though it is a county road. That means there is zero snow removal. Also, it means there are plenty of places you can get a vehicle stuck for months on end in the winter without anyone coming by to give you any help. Still, I just can’t wait to get up there when the snow melts, and the road dries enough to be passable.
My dilemma, … I have to drive a six-hour round trip in the spring just to find out if the snow has melted enough that I can get to my ranch. I’m a pretty busy guy between working on my fiction blog, my shogi app, and my writing app (Note: I’ve retired the writing app.) Oh yeah, and don’t forget 40+ hours per week on that pesky day job. Six hours for a wasted trip to find out Dove Creek Road is still unpassable is not my idea of a great Saturday outing.
A winter sunset on a remote stretch of state route 30 near Rosette.
Spring snow melt isn’t the only time snow is an issue. In the autumn, I base my last trip to Dove Ranch by whether the snow has come down to 5000 feet in Rosette, Utah. But, I can’t know about the snow in and around Rosette without doing the six-hour round trip drive. I don’t know anyone in the area that I can call up and ask for snow totals and weather updates.
