Capital Reef National Park

Sunday, April 1, 2012
Where we are: Capital Reef National Park near Torrey, Utah, Fruita Campground, sites 34 and 35. 5 dollars each with geezer card. No mifi signal.
As I write this the sun is shining on the tops of the rock cliffs just opposite the campground, but the wind is really whistling around the cavemobiles. When we left Bryce Canyon NP this morning it was beginning to cloud over, and was expected down into the 20s overnight. It has been windy most of the day, with strong wind advisories posted. We have taken our time and stopped a lot of places along the way, and probably travelled less than 200 miles today. We have gone through many different kinds of scenery.
We had a fairly early breakfast and then headed out, stopping for more pictures along the way, and pulling off into most of the viewpoints. As soon as we left Bryce we started heading down, and got a couple of pictures looking back up. Just a different angle on what we had been seeing in the park.
Not too many more miles down the road was a VC that had a stamp or two, so we had to do that. We got a brochure about travelling on Utah 12, so had that as a guide for our travels. It is a beautiful road to travel. We must have stopped at three or four different Visitor Centers to get a variety of stamps.
We started in Bryce at about 8000 feet elevation, and went over a pass that was 9600. I think that was fairly close to the viewpoint we pulled into where it was howling wind, and cold! We didn’t stay very long!
One of the featured highlights of the road was a place called The Hogback. The brochure says “as the asphalt clings to this thin razorback ridge of slickrock, the terrain spills steeply off to each side…”  When we got there, we weren’t even sure we were there yet, and felt it was given quite a bit more drama than it deserved. Although there was a quarter mile or so where there were no shoulders of any kind along the road, and it was very steep on each side.
     


Besides being low on battery power for the computer, our mifi coverage hasn’t been real great in some of the back areas we have been in, so our blog postings are slow.

We finished the day by pulling into the Fruita campground of Capital Reef National Park and found a spot to spend the night. Then we went back to the VC and watched the movie and looked around at the displays. They had a pie and baked goods display that was advertising a house right next to the campground where there is a small store and museum. So we stopped there to pick up a couple of pies (the very small ones) to have later.
We still had plenty of time, so took the scenic drive through the park, went back to the campground, dumped the tanks, and crashed early. The wind was very strong, and very cold, so we are tucked in for the night. Good night all.

The Beauty of Bryce Canyon National Park

Saturday, March 31, 2012
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Sites 35 and 36, 7.50 per night each with the geezer card
What a beautiful day we have had today.
After breakfast we set out to see the sites of this great National Park. We started at the VC, got our books stamped, watched the movie and looked around through the exhibits.
Next up we went by the General Store to check it out. They are opening tomorrow, but actually had shortened hours today. That didn't really matter to us, but we saw that they had showers, so checked that out. They looked good, and we made plans for later.
We stopped at the viewpoints all along the way out to the end of the park road, and that included many stops, with lots of walking, and a stop at the flying plate picnic area for some lunch. It was windy, and we had to hold everything down. Betty's plate took to sailing after depositing her hard boiled egg in the middle of the table. Barney was able to collect the plate, and the egg was rescued, so we weren't littering.
This park has some awesome views, and we took lots of pictures, but the camera doesn't do quite as good as the eye does. The park ranges from about 8000 feet elevation to about 9100. It is quite a challenge to our older bodies to manage the ups and downs of the paths and trails. Breathing comes in gasps! Barney even went a short way down into the canyon and took some pictures there. Many of the trails are closed or only open part way because of snow. Different areas of the park are just beginning to open up. But there are plenty of visitors, and again, many languages.
We had a wonderful day. It was fairly warm except for the strong winds, but the sun was out in full force, and we are slightly burned, again thanks to the elevation. It was fairly clear, and we felt like we could see forever, but our main focus was on the hoodoos.  
After spending much of the day sightseeing, we headed for the showers. Believe me, we needed them! We are still off grid, after four nights on the road. It was nice to have a hot shower. The showers had all been redone recently and were clean and nice, had a dry dressing area, and even had a nice shelf in the shower stall for all your stuff. From all our travels, these are some of the nicest we have used. They were 2 dollars for 8 minutes, and we soaked them up! Lots cheaper than an RV park!

After cleaning up, we came back to camp to relax for a while, and then had our dinner in the campsite inn, after which we headed back out to Sunset Point to watch the shadows creep up over the spectacular scenery. Like I said, what a wonderful day.
We will be continuing our travels tomorrow. More from the Bedrock Bunch later.

A Couple of Route Changes

Friday, March 30, 2012
We again woke to wind whistling through the tree tops on a bright clear morning in Zion National Park.
Since we have been off grid since leaving home, Wilma got ready to take a shower in the camper. Turned on the hot water heater, hung the shower curtain, got all “need to stay dry” stuff out of the shower, checked the water temp in the kitchen sink. It was warm enough, so got in the shower. Turned on the water. COLD! Waited a while, checked again, COLD. After several more tries, gave up. Checked the temp in the kitchen sink again. Hot for an instant, then COLD. Heated water on the stove to wash hair. Before everything was back in shape, everyone else is waiting at the table for breakfast! Oh what a morning. But over breakfast we discussed the problem, and Barney came up with the solution, so now we have hot water and can try that again.
After breakfast cleanup, we took off for Pipe Spring National Monument in Arizona. There is a dirt road that is a shortcut between two highways, and we went to check it out. The first little bit is paved, and almost as soon as we hit the one lane dirt, we knew it wasn’t good. So we turned around (only two or three point) and took the long way around. The bridge picture is coming back to civilization from that little jaunt. It was probably only 30 miles extra to go on the paved road. That was the first change.
Less than one hundred miles later we stopped at Pipe Spring. It is a small area where there has always been a fresh water spring. The Indians used the spring from way back, but when the Mormons settled in Utah, they claimed it and built a small fort directly over the spring to keep others out. One of the pictures shows the trough that carried the water through the house. They brought cattle in and their grazing has killed off the native grasses and driven out the antelope and other game animals that the Indians depended on.  We had a very interesting tour of the “castle” as it was called, and enjoyed walking around the grounds. It was mostly women who lived at the “castle” and they made butter and cheese that was loaded on wagons and hauled to St. George to sell. St. George was about five days away by wagon.  We watched the movie and got our stamps before heading on out.

The Cheese Making Vat

The Spring Going Through The House

When we got to Fredonia we were going to top off the tanks and head around a loop drive through Marble Canyon, Page and on back to Kanab. We didn’t see a good station in Fredonia, Arizona, and since Kanab was only 7 miles, we decided to go there to fuel up. Then we really changed our plans and just cut off the whole loop trip, and headed for Kanab, Utah. We had decided to eat lunch at Wendy’s, but while stopped to fuel up, changed plans again and fixed soft tacos while parked in the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) VC parking lot. We had seen a BLM office building on our way into town and wanted to go back there to see if they had any stamps. But here was the Visitor Center! We got our stamps there, then went back to the office building. They had stamps, but no one could find them. We waited for a while, thinking someone would come up with them. Finally they called in a fourth person and just as the fifth person arrived, they were found. It was a little funny! They blamed it on Friday afternoon.
Then we headed out again to go to Bryce Canyon National Park. After finding camping spots, we headed for the VC. It had closed about 10 minutes before we got there, so we will have to do that one tomorrow. We went out to Sunset Point to see the view, and how awesome it is! We are staying through at least tomorrow night so will see most of the sights tomorrow. Barney wants to hike down in the canyon a little. At 8000 feet elevation, a little exertion goes a long way. Or at least you have to work to catch your breath! Also at 8000 feet elevation, it is a little cooler than earlier today when we were in flops and shirt sleeves. We think we will put on the extra blankets tonight!  Still snow in the depths of the canyon, and it looks like some of the trails are closed because of it. It is a little early in the year to come here, but there are still quite a few people around, and we hear almost as many foreign languages as English.
After a light supper at the picnic table, we are tucked into the warmth of the campers, ready for a day of beautiful sights tomorrow. Good night from the Bedrock Bunch.

Zion National Park

Wednesday, March 29, 2012

Where are we - Zion National Park, southeast Utah, South campground, sites 98 and 100.

Clear skies and breezes through the tree tops greeted us this morning after a good night of sleep (at least for some of us.) It was mid forties over night, with expected high of mid seventies today. After an earlier breakfast than usual for us, we took off to see the sites. The first stop was the VC where we got our books properly stamped, then on to the museum to see the park movie. It was very good, and highlighted the major sites in the park.

With the cavemobile all fired up, off we went. Remember we said the shuttle buses start running on April 1 which is Sunday. It would have been convenient to have them today. The parking lots at the major attractions were all full as we headed to the end of the road. Our plan was to drive to the end and then stop along the way back. After orbiting the lot at the end of the road, we backtracked and found a pull out spot to park. From there we walked back to the trailhead for the Riverside walk, and continued on to the end of the paved walkway, about a mile from the trailhead.

Lots of people like to go on up the canyon from there, but about 60 percent of the hike up The Narrows is wading, walking, and sometimes swimming in the river. The brochure says it it 16 miles long. I don't know if that includes the mile we had already hiked, but there were a few brave souls getting ready to set out today. Of course you can go up part way and turn around and come back. It is in a canyon up to 2000 feet deep and at times only 20 to 30 feet wide. And there are warning signs to be aware of flash flooding. You could get caught with no place to go in case of flooding.

We were tired and hungry after getting back to the cavemobile, so headed on back to camp for lunch and a nap. All of the parking areas were still full. We thought we could go back in the early evening to see more, but that didn't happen.

We had seen a large screen (like IMAX) place just down the road, so went to check that out. The movie about the park was just ending but we stayed to see the next one. None of us were totally thrilled with it, and at least one of us tried her best to tune it out, but it was sooooo loud! Three of us said it was better on TV, and the one that tried to tune it out wouldn't dream of watching it on TV either, so wouldn't know. Now you are wondering what it was we saw. Drum roll...Indiana Jones, Temple of Doom. Now you know why I squirmed through the whole thing, and tried to think of any thing else!

I remember probably the first IMAX film I saw, and the music was so fantastic. I remember it as one about Yellowstone, but have seen the current one about Yellowstone, and it definitely isn't the same one, so I really don't know what it was. I do know the music was by Yanni, and I would love to see/hear it again.

Well, we didn't see as much of Zion as we should have, but we did see as much as our legs and parking would allow. We are moving on tomorrow, and will be dropping a short way into Arizona before heading back up to Bryce Canyon National Park. Would love to hike down into the Canyon there, but know that isn't going to happen! I'd never make it back out!

That's it for our not too exciting day. The Bedrock Bunch will sign back in later.

Ely to Zion

Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Here we are in South campground of Zion National Park just outside Springdale, Utah. It was another long driving day with less than spectacular scenery.  We didn’t leave our boondocking (stopping overnight with no electrical connection, or in other words, no hookups, or off grid) site at the Nevada Northern Railroad Museum until just after 9 am which was just after 8 am their local time.
We took the “scenic” drive rather than just cut across the desert, but other than the mountains we were driving along, it really wasn’t much to boast about. We did go over a couple of passes low enough to be dry instead of snowy, and it was quite pretty through there.
A couple of hours out there was a picnic area ahead, so we pulled in. I wish I had thought to take a couple of pictures. One nice metal mesh table was so overgrown with weeds you couldn’t get near it. Another had one bench missing and the remaining pieces were leaning very precariously! We used our own “facility” since there were none provided, and then moved on. That might be the most “exciting” thing in our day!
About 1 pm we stopped at IHOP in Cedar City, Utah, for breakfast. That was a nice break in our drive. While in Cedar City we also fueled up and then headed south on the I15 interstate to the Kolob Canyon Visitor Center (VC). Kolob Canyon is part of Zion National Park, and was our first parks stamping location of this trip. You always have to check the dates on the stamps, and yep, it was the 28th, so stamp, stamp in the books. Then Betty noticed it said October instead of March! Oh well. Just another memory in the making.
We decided to save the scenic drive through that area for another trip, and drove on down to the main section of the park. The campgrounds fill early, but we got two nice sites next to each other thanks to a great camp host that had once worked for a local TV station in our home area. We are settled in for the night after another “eating out” event of supper at the picnic table. We will do the VC and then tour the park tomorrow, stay another night in this campground, then be off for the next part of the adventure. This is a very popular park, with many hiking opportunities. On Sunday, April 1, the shuttle buses start running, and you have to use them rather than driving your own vehicle in. We are getting in just under the wire.
I have changed the way I’m entering the blog, so haven’t figured out how to do picture captions. So the next few are scenery coming into Zion National Park. Also, if you click to enlarge them, just click the back arrow to get back to the blog.

We’ve had a good day, hope you did too.

Back to the Road for a Quickie

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Bedrock Bunch is happy to once again hit the road. It has been a few months, and we need to get started again!

The cavemobiles were jacked up and weaseled into place on Sunday, and then the loading began. The Flintstones have an EZ Load system that works great. Just take the porch rail off and back up to the porch so it is an easy step in and out. It saves lots of going up and down!. It is amazing how many trips in and out it takes to get us ready to go. Then because it has been a while, we aren’t sure what major thing we forgot, even though we have a checklist!

The Flintstones still had a couple of appointments, but we were able to hop aboard the cavemobiles and pull out at our planned time today.  A little later we stopped in Twin for lunch at Taco Bell, and still managed 400 miles today, stopping for overnight in Ely, Nevada.  Here are a few pictures of the amazing (not so much!) scenery, with mile after mile after mile of the same.  We didn’t do anything exciting, just drove and drove, seeing more of the same.  Plus, we were driving all day into a strong headwind, so the fuel mileage really dropped.

We did see several pieces of a windmill being trucked down the road. Those things are huge. We were stuck behind one for quite a ways down a two lane road, and when we finally got to go around it, I forgot to take a picture. The pictures are of the lower pieces, and the one I forgot was an upper piece, but still not the top!

We saw lots and lots of RVs of all kinds heading North. It must be the end of spring break, and the Canadians seemed to be flocking back home in droves.  Lots more RV traffic than we would have expected this time of year.

We are stopped at the Nevada Northern Railroad Museum for the evening. We discovered they are not open on Tuesday this time of year, and will have to wait until morning to find out if they are open at all in March. We had stopped here last October, and really enjoyed looking around. We have enjoyed a chicken and salad supper, and are ready to kick back for a while. Tomorrow will be another long driving day, but we are hoping to also stop and get some park stamps before the day is out.

We don’t know how this map will work for you, but we wanted to try to show you the general area of where we traveled today. I’m playing with a new way to put them in, and don’t know if you can move it around or not. Not all of the route shows on what I can see now.

 

That’s it for tonight. Have a good one.