I walked out to check this place while Quepaso found a place to stash the car. The dirt road leading in showed no tracks since the rain at Christmas, so I had no concerns about running into anybody.

I checked out the outbuildings, and wandered through the junkyard behind the house. Finally I went inside the house and browsed around. After a quick look, I determined that it was worth calling Quepaso on the cell phone and tell her to meet me on the dirt road leading up to the place. I walked out through the front yard and back towards the car, when all of a sudden I heard a chainsaw start up. It sounded a bit odd, like perhaps someone was just over the ridge cutting up the old corral at the neighboring ranch, so I walked back towards the noise. As I cleared the corner of the house and looked towards the ridgeline, I spotted the nose of a brand new white pickup that wasn't there minutes before. I looked at the ground, and the sand showed fresh tire tracks. As I peeked around the edge of the storage shed, I spotted two people with axes and saws cutting down dead trees behind the house.

Wood thieves! Its common practice in this area to just go to abandoned property and cut down trees or steal old firewood, rather than buy firewood, or go to the Forest Service for a wood cutting permit. Regardless, I didn't really want to deal with them, so I walked back to the car to pick up Quepaso to explore another nearby ranch. As I walked, I thought about their arrival, and I could only come up with one theory. During the three minutes I was inside the house, they pulled up. As I walked out of the back room of the house, from which I could have seen them, they pulled in and stopped the truck. They fired up the saw just as I walked off the porch. I suspect if they had known I was there, it would have surprised them just as much as it surprised me. Two groups of trespassers, arriving at the same place at the same moment miles from anywhere. Go figure.