Thursday included a couple of hikes on the northern part of the park.  We had traversed the dirt road across to the north earlier before the latest rain and noted the uniform brown color splattered on the official white pickup that came into camp via the dirt road.  So today we started our driving by going around via paved roads.  It adds about 50 miles and zero time.  The dirt roads are pretty rough courtesy of the flooding rains they had about 2 weeks ago.  We finished our hikes around 2 pm and feeling brave we headed toward home across the rough but passible dirt roads.  This route would have been really fun yesterday as I noticed tracks in the road indicating someone had been traveling with tire chains yesterday.  Fortunately, it had dried quite a bit since then and there was only one real muddy spot.  We noticed heavy equipment tracks as well.  That is good, maybe they have worked on the many places where sand was washed onto the road and portions where edges were washed out earlier. 

We were on the home stretch when we met a ranger about 2 miles from camp,  “We just pulled a car out of the sand ahead.  It is only soft for about 50 yards.  You’re going downhill so keep your momentum up and don’t spin the wheels and you should be fine.”  Well that adds a little stress to the trip.  Now, we can turn around and go back about 80 miles or we can take our chances in the sand pit. We have come this far, we may as well at least give it a look.  When we get to the area it appears when they worked on it today they must have removed too much roadbed and were left with only deep sand.  Opps!  Anyhow it seemed passable so we slogged through and found our way home.  It was a little challenging but we made it.  Probably will go around if we need to go this way again.  We had considered taking this route with the motorhome,  THAT would be a mistake now.

Update! While finishing breakfast we noted (4) rolloff dumpster delivery trucks with tagalong trailers hauling empty dumpsters past camp.  They had already passed the sand pit which was kind of a surprise.  In about 1 hour the empty trucks and trailers went past camp going toward the sand pit presumably headed back to Las Vegas.  It wasn’t long until we noticed a Preserve Backhoe scurrying up the road toward the sandpit.  Over the next couple of hours various combinations of the trucks went by in various directions until apparently the backhoe was successful in freeing the 1st truck and clearing a path so all the trucks could make it north.  Seems like it must have been a fun morning for all involved.  We enjoyed watching all the activity out the Motorhome window.