"Glorious" or we weren't that lost.

So, let me first say; We were not lost, more temporary misplaced.  We went looking for a newly placed cache in the northern part of the Cibola National Forest. It was in one of the most beautiful places I've been here, always surprised by the "new" places we find, and the interesting spots I have never been to after living here all my life. It is the perfect time of year, fall, my favorite. Everything is changing and the light of the afternoon sun lights it all up:

Got to really break the Jeep in:

But totally worth it:

Finding the cache(kinda long and I'm no camera man)

So after finding it, we headed out, but not the way we came in, and I had a bad feeling about it, but we did. We hit the edge of the National Forest and could proceed no further:

(we're the blue dot)

So it was dark by the time we doubled back and started to head out. We ended up missing our original road in the dark, and took a very long bumpy road out. We ended up going way too far South East,

 and got home about midnight. Not without scaring the kids a little and having to stop and make a good action plan for getting out. Good thing our GPS had full charge, and TOPO maps with roads, so we plotted a course that would lead our to the main road. This helped calm the kids calm, letting them watch as we got closer t the waypoints. 

  

Lessons I knew but forgot:

1) Always turn on Trails at the beginning of the trip, for obvious reasons: Good to look at your whole trip afterwards, and of course to get back out., I had mine off for purely aesthetic reasons, and that was stupid, epically when you can hide them even when on.

2) Always have a spare set of batteries. Mine were fully charged, but still.

3) Don't rely solely on your GPS, take a map.

Lessons I became more aware of:

1) Don't panic, your only as lost as you think you are

2) Be prepared to stay put if you have to. Daylight is very refreshing.

3) Take lots of water, always.

This was one of the funnest adventures I've been on in a while, here are all the pics. Want to go back to and remark the road...