An old ranch well is being refurbished...

after being little used for more than 60 years, since the time when the ranch was subdivided into five acre parcels that now comprise our small rural community. Considerable sedimentation has occurred in the 180 foot deep - 16 inch diameter (55 m - 0.4 m) bore that is located mid-valley and will have to be jetted out before pump installation.

Once fully refurbished the new landowner will allow the Castle Valley Fire Department access to the high yielding well for use in emergencies. A big thanks in advance!

The acid test for a newly tuned bike...

is an early morning lap at the Slickrock Trail of course! The shop mechanics at Poison Spider Bicycles in Moab are top notch and do terrific work. Highly recommended (no commission earned).

Large-scale trough crossbeds dominate the Navajo Sandstone (Lower Jurassic (201.4 Ma - 174.7 Ma)) and the coarsely etched foresets in the rock adds texture to the rolling landscape. The lack of joints and fractures in this area above Moab makes it particularly fun to ride but there is considerable vertical relief as this image shows, making the trail challenging due to the steep ascents/descents and off camber riding.

View down Grandstaff Canyon from the Slickrock Trail with Arches National Park on the skyline.

The most capable off road recovery crew...

in red rock canyon country is Trailmater Offroad Recovery and that’s a fact. While I wasn’t in need of their rescue services today, they are conservationists at heart and promote the protection of endangered species in the high desert. So I bought a t-shirt in support of their efforts to protect the endangered Diamond-billed Rock Pecker that was hunted to near extinction due to the damage they cause by drilling holes in the surrounding sandstone.

The recovery fleet of purpose-built wreckers parked in front of the shop on US Highway 191 south of Moab: Old Blue, Trailmater and Mini-Mater (left to right).

Show your support! NO commission earned: T-shirt and Sticker.

Castle Valley Drive has finally reopened...

above the newly constructed monstrous arch culvert near the entrance to the community. It is astonishing that the natural streambed was not carried through the oversized rip-rap that is placed directly in the channel, choking it, rather than simply protecting the side slopes.

The natural cobble bed channel of Castle Creek versus the newly engineered channel choked with rip-rap.

Finally nearing completion...

with the road grade reestablished atop the new arch culvert on Castle Creek. Road paving and placement of rip-rap still remain as tasks to be completed before the main entrance to our community reopens to traffic.

It will be interesting to observe the backwater effects of the new structure and the rough, bouldery channel created by use of oversized rip-rap during future flood events. Upstream pooling of water, slower, less efficient passage of flood flow, increased deposition of fine sediments in the channel and increased bank erosion upstream are likely going to occur.

Well behind schedule...

and over-engineered as well, the community is still patiently waiting for the new arch culvert over Castle Creek to be completed. The size of the rip-rap being used here is absolutely absurd for the size and energy and sediment load the stream possesses in this reach, even in flood.

The new arch culvert...

being constructed on Castle Valley Drive is six weeks into the project, with formwork for the upstream and downstream wingwalls taking place today. The old culvert has been demolished and Castle Creek is in its new bed beneath the new corrugated steel structure, but considerable work still needs to be completed before the road reopens.

Slow progress is being made...

in replacing the culvert beneath Castle Valley Drive, now three weeks into the two month-long project. Castle Creek still flows through the existing corrugated steel culvert, now fully exposed, while footings are prepared alongside for the new arch culvert.

Phone and fiber optic utility lines dangle across the excavated work site.

Two Blackhawk helicopters on maneuvers...

over Castle Valley this quiet early morning, landing multiple times on Castleton Road over several hours time, shattering the Sunday morning silence in the valley with tremendous noise and reverberations off canyon walls. No search and rescue is underway, so why all the disruptive commotion?!

UPDATE: Aerial operations have continued each of the last several days. Low and slow, it’s quite annoying.

"Coffee with the Chief" is an instant success...

in our tiny community of Castle Valley, a small, weekly social gathering, the brainchild of the Fire Chief Ron Drake, shown in the red shirt at the far right in the image below. Read all about it in his weekly column: Coffee with the Chief. Great job, Ron!