we saw this huge lizard shortly after we started hiking. it's definitely the largest one i've ever seen in the wild. during out time at the swell, we saw at least three different types of lizards.
we were surprised to see how much water there was in the swell. it was fun to see so many oases in the desert. late in the afternoon, we used our water filter to refill our water bottles. 
we liked the reflection of the rock wall. 
we saw so many wild flowers on this trip. so many. i've always heard that the desert can have a lot of flowers, but i've never seen it like it was on this trip--bright yellows, pinks, red, oranges, purples, whites. so much variety and so beautiful. 
this is the hole at the top of the cave we went to in december (remember, roro and cathy?). we were careful not to get to close to the hole since it would be certain death if you fell through.
a lichen pattern on the rock.
cool rock wall.
we love the rustic trees you see out in the desert. this one was especially fun with the swirly pattern.
we hiked up high on the swell for awhile and then decided to head down to the canyon floor. not wanting to backtrack, we looked for a way to go down. we found a way that looked promising until we got to this point. it might be difficult to tell, but each of the pool levels would have been possible to get down into, but it wouldn't have been possible to go down any further (past the second pool) or come back up. we didn't want to end up like edward abbey where he almost died in a place very much like this. thankfully, we noticed that if we went up higher, we could continue making our way down. so, we didn't have to backtrack or end up dying in one of these pools of water. win win!
a nice, shady side canyon we explored.
b taking a rest. we did a lot of hiking--most of which was either uphill or in sand. we were tired by the end of the day (or even before the end of the day).
this is the second lizard b caught. this one, as you can see, was big.
here's a cool gas station store in hanksville. it was built into the rock. 
we decided to camp saturday night up in the henry mountains. we had never been up there before and were excited to do some exploring.
we were the only people up in the mountains. we didn't see anyone or even a car during the 21 mile drive up the into the mountains.it was a beautiful camp setting.
some big bird footprints b found on the ground sunday morning.
we hiked up the side of the mountain to do some exploring. we didn't see a lot of wildlife, but we did see a type of junco we don't usually see, and we saw a fox head (but not the body). we also found some cool rocks with neat black flecks in them. we collected a few to bring home. 
as we drove back towards hanksville, we stopped to enjoy the wildflowers and to collect some rocks. we found some cool pieces of petrified wood. 
lovely yucca plants.
a plain full of yellow flowers.
we made our way back to hanksville and went to church there. after church, we drove around hanksville some and then made our way back to the swell. we did some more exploring and realized that we had only scratched the surface of the swell. so, no worries, we'll be able to go back again!
the back side of the swell--a part we haven't explored yet. 
a beautiful view of a part of the swell that we haven't been in yet.
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