The year ends...

under very dry and mild conditions with an unimpressive snowpack in the high country. Look closely, the rising waxing gibbous Moon can be seen in the center of this image.

Snowpack in the La Sal Mountains is about half normal at the end of the calendar year 2025.

The Tower briefly emerges...

and then becomes obscured by low clouds as the latest early winter storm slowly passes, the first of which that dropped snow flurries on the valley this season. Meanwhile, the high country is off to a good start, sitting at 100% median snow water equivalent for this point in the water year.

Time series plot of snow water equivalent for the Lasal Mountain SNOTEL site.

Normally dry stream crossings...

turned into rapidly flowing muddy torrents within minutes in response to the passing of an intense thunderstorm cell. My neighbor and I were enrolled in the Bronco Off-Roadeo driving clinic and were out on the Dome Plateau trail undergoing guided training. It was absolutely perfect conditions to demonstrate the vehicle’s capabilities and the Bronco powered right through the mud and easily ascended wet and slippery slickrock.

Owl Draw on the Dome Plateau, north of Dewey Bridge.

Why the off road training? I am about to take possession of the 2025 Bronco Badlands/Sasquatch next week in Moab that I had ordered in late June this year. I’m somewhat excited!

3 November 2025 UPDATE: The Bronco has landed in Moab and is being prepped by the dealer.

Quite a difference overnight...

in air quality as a persistent smoky airmass clears the canyons, seen here in comparative images into Professor Valley from a high vantage point on my daily ride.

THE DAY BEFORE around 7:45 am MDT.

TODAY around 8:00 am MDT where one can easily spy Fisher Towers six miles (9.6 km) away.

A highly hazy horizon...

nearly obscures Castle Valley in the distance, likely due to wildfires burning near Bryce Canyon and in northern Arizona. Here’s the view across the sandstone expanse of Arches National Park caught early this morning from the Moab Brands mountain bike trail system.

Parriott Mesa, the Priest & Nuns, Castleton Tower and Adobe Mesa are all visible 15.5 miles (~25 km) away from this vantage point on the Moab Brands mountain bike trail system.

An early morning start...

to my daily rides is increasingly necessary as it’s heading toward 100° F by the weekend.

This morning: Panorama of the Round Mountain Annex to Castle Valley National Park. (Click on image to expandify.)

The singletrack at 7:45 am MDT. Cool. Quiet. Critters. Sublime.

The snow is nearly gone...

and summertime storm clouds blossom over the high La Sal Mountains. Less than two weeks until the summer solstice.

UPDATE: Peak flow on the Colorado River has likely just occurred, capping an unremarkable spring runoff. Here’s the one year hydrograph for the Colorado River at the Cisco gage showing that this year’s peak flow (blue line) is one-third of last year’s value (brown line) and less than half the median value (dotted line).