Lakeside

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First Time on The Toadstool Hike

Saturday night we experienced our first big storm in Utah and it was a doozy. High winds, lightning, and rain combined to make a serious little squall and I had to say I was a little nervous.  We had positioned ourselves up on the cliff rather than down on the beach itself and we saw lots of people moving away from the sandier shore when the storm was coming.  Relatively easy to move quickly in a Class A or Class C but since it was evening and it takes us longer to hitch we decided to ride it out.  And it turned out to be OK for us, although I had this fear the wind would push us over into the deep ravine next to us.  Lee and I talked about it a little bit, but he felt pretty confident we would be OK, because, well, physics.

I have to say I really wish I would have taken physics in high school and college, because unlike calculus, physics related questions do come up rather frequently in life.  I am sure there is a formula for how much wind it would take to push us over, and I would love to be able to do the math ourselves. I found a formula online, but have no idea if it is accurate, but it sounds good. We should probably have Bill do the math and see what he thinks!

V = SQRT(W*b/{0.00666*l*(h-h2/2)*(h/2+h2/4)})

where
V = wind speed, mph
W = trailer weight, lbs
b = trailer width (tire center-center), ft
l = trailer length, ft
h = trailer height (from ground), ft
h2 = tire height, ft

I also found a study done by Thomas W. Schmidlin and Barbara O. Hammer of Kent State University called “Wind Speeds Required to Upset Vehicles” where they concluded that a stationary high profile vehicle could be flipped with 95 mph wind.  This study was primarily about tornado winds and is an older study, but sounded about right to me.  The thing is though that I know lots of people who pull their slides in during heavy winds, but we have only done that once and I am not sure what effect (if any) having the slides out would have.  Most people pull in their slides because they have slide toppers to worry about in high winds, but we intentionally didn’t buy those and I have to say I am really glad we didn’t.  We rarely stay in places where we are under heavy tree cover, and except for one brief stint in the Redwoods have never felt their lack.

Anyway, I am going down a rabbit hole here.  The main point is it was a somewhat brief but turbulent storm and we rode it out just fine thankfully.  One thing that was was really unusual though is the smell the rain produced.  The hills and sand here are red because of heavy iron content and that smell was really strong right before and right after the storm.  I’ve never smelled anything quite like it, and since it was dark by the time the storm passed we couldn’t see the impact on the sand until the next morning.  That also turned out to be just fine.  The sand was definitely softer in places, and we probably wouldn’t have driven far on dirt roads, but it wasn’t the muddy mess I was worried about.  And since it turned out to be a brilliant blue sky day we decided to go ahead and do the Toadstool Hike.

The Toadstool Hike trailhead is right off of 89 and is roughly in the middle between Kanab and Page.  It is a 1.5 mile round trip hike, up to a plateau with Toadstool shaped rocks.  Since our friend Cori had recommended the hike I was eager to go, but once again I underestimated how rough the terrain would be, and left my hiking poles at home.  The trip started out OK, with a relatively big parking lot and a nice flat walk to the toadstools which we could see in the distance.  The problem was the initial trail was a little washed out and although walking on the dirt was just fine we weren’t 100% which way to go and ended up veering right when we should have stayed to the left.  That little walk was actually really pretty (the colors really popped after the storm washed the dust off of things the previous night), but we kept moving away from where I knew the rocks were, and after about a half mile I told Lee I wasn’t going any further in that direction and we had to turn around.

The view from the trailhead

 

Rocks we saw on the wrong path

 

This formation was up on a cliff and absolutely stunning

Once we got back to the left we found what we thought was the path and started watching for trail markers.  There are more of them the closer you get to the Toadstools, but in the beginning it was still a bit confusing.  Plus the path is quite a bit steeper than I expected, staying out of the wash (which was good because it was a little muddy), but also going up and down several little hills.  Finally we turned a corner and could clearly see the major toadstool formation and we saw the steepish climb that was required at the end. At this point I was more tired than I expected to be and was dreading that climb a little bit, but since we saw many people older than us walking the trail, I took a few deep breaths and we kept going.

 

We found this trail marker and started really paying attention to the arrows

 

The cliffs on our left were beautiful

 

That reddish rock in the top middle was where we were headed

 

Once we reached the top though it was totally worth it.  The toadstools were indeed really cool, but we actually enjoyed the cliff walls even more.  There were huge shallow areas that had been carved by the wind, and they reminded me of pictures I had seen of Egypt with similar spaces that had giant statues in them. We ended up spending a long time up on the plateau and loved every minute of it.  Coming back down was much easier than going up had been and we both agreed it was totally worth it.

Main toadstool formation

 

The cap

 

I climbed up on the rocks and Lee took a picture

 

There was another smaller set of toadstools behind the first one which I loved and we weren’t fighting crowds to take a picture

 

The plateau with a beautiful rock formation in the distance

 

Lee of course had to walk over there

 

And then right up the path to the top.  It was beautiful, but I decided to pass on the last little bit because it looked a little narrow for me.

 

Really amazing cliff walls

 

Our favorite was this heart shaped one which we walked inside

 

Looked up to see the ledges

 

And found this little rock couch inside the cave

 

I really loved the entire time we spent up there, because you really couldn’t take a bad picture.  I do wish I would have brought my hat though because it was full sun and was warm in those areas where the wind was blocked.  I have rarely seen Lee that happy.  He was climbing on rocks, getting way too close to the edge (in my opinion), and we took over 400 pictures.  It was just the type of interactive nature that we both love, and was a great hike for that reason if not for the trail itself.

Lee walking down to these circular rocks

 

Me sitting in the front middle to give you scale. Although there were other people there the place was so big we often felt alone as you can see by the distance of the group of four walking in the background

 

I was in full on photographer mode and Lee was having such a good time he didn’t mind me constantly taking his picture.

 

One of Lee’s favorite formations were these “elephant toes”.  If you scroll in on the picture the look on his face is blissful.  That’s not a common expression for him.

 

And look at his smile when he found this huge rock chair.  So cute.

The way back was much easier, because we knew where we were going and we paid more attention to the trail signs.  I really recommend this hike (just stay to the left) especially if you want to spend a little time in Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument but don’t have a ton of time.

The view on the way back was really nice and the color of the hills really popped after the rain.

 

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.

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First Time On Cottonwood Canyon Road

We are huge fans of scenic drives, and we are very big fans of the National Monuments/Parks that aren’t visited as much, so when we heard from Cori about Cottonwood Road we absolutely knew that was something we wanted to do.  We talked to a couple of BLM offices about whether we could do the road without four-wheel drive and when they both said yes (as long as it was dry), we headed off down the road, with a packed lunch and a list of things to see that was provided by the BLM.  Some of the things I will mention are on that sheet, but others we stumbled across on our own.

We had a wonderful day, so I am going to provide a visual tour of what we saw and did, and if you reset your tripodometer when you enter the road from Highway 89 these mile markers should be pretty close.  As an FYI, we started the road at 10:11am, made the roundtrip drive with multiple stops and one 3 mile hike, and still were finished by 4:30pm.  That being said this is an isolated road and before heading out check your tires and bring water and some snacks just in case.

Grand Staircase is really huge. I highlighted out route in green so you can see how deep we were able to go into the park

It’s 40 miles to Kodachrome Basin State Park, where the road is again paved and we turned around and started back. You can start this route from the north and come the other way, which I would actually recommend if you only want to see the arch, but there’s a lot to see on this gorgeous drive no matter how you do it.

MM 3.5 – Our first stop along the route was some prehistoric oyster beds that were over 93 million years old.  Look for low cliffs of sandstone and get out and walk across, and then you can see (and touch) the fossilized oysters.  For many people this wouldn’t be a big deal, but I loved touching something that was verified to be so old.

These are pretty low profile and easy to miss so keep an eye on your odometer

The oyster beds are pretty near the road

 

 

I definitely should say that the road, although challenging, wasn’t even close to the worst we have been on.  It was  smooth in several places with patches of washboard, but only a few deep ruts. I actually found the steep climbs and dips the most scary, but Lee loved them, and our truck handled them like a champ.

The scenery kept changing as we drove, which I loved.

MM 7.4 –  We took a short road to the see big boulders and a huge rock with a table on the backside.   Lee noticed that it looked a little bit like a fifth wheel so he moved the truck and we took a picture.

Love me a big rock!

This is what you see from the road and check out our new Flintstones fifth wheel 🙂

MM 7.6 – You start to see the Pariah river off to the left.  It was a muddy little creek when we were there, but there was enough water for a small group of cows to hang out.  Plus lots of vegetation.

MM 14.2- There are two trailheads here, Hackberry canyon on the left and Big Yellow Rock on the right.  Big Yellow Rock is a “strenuous climb” according to our paper, and looked like it might be right up our friend Deb’s alley! I should also mention that electric power lines were along the road we were driving for the first 25 miles or so.  In places I got out to walk a bit and take a pic and the ground had lots of snake holes in it.  We didn’t see a snake all day, but were constantly on the lookout, so I ultimately took the pictures and photoshopped out the lines, when I wanted to.  I did leave them in though in a few pictures so you could see.

Big Yellow Rcok on the left you can see the power lines that ran along the road

Beautiful rock and I photoshopped the power lines out of this pic

Loved the thick strip in this rock too and I walked out into the field to get this pic without the power lines.  I think this was at MM 15.6

MM 19–  On the left there was this huge purple and white rock.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it before.  Then we came up over a hill and we saw an incredibly neat cloud formation that looked like a UFO hanging over the valley.  I’ve done my best to capture that moment, but it looked much better in person.

If anyone knows what this rock is please let me know

Definitely felt like I was in a sci-fi movie for a moment

The cool landscape helped with that feeling

MM 24.4- This is the Cottonwood Narrows south entrance which we went into and MM 25.4 is the north entrance.  I would actually recommend going in at the north entrance and I’ll tell you why later in the post.  The hike is 1.5 miles long (each way) through the canyon, or 1 mile if you walk back on the road. It is a narrow canyon so you may want to time the hike when you will get good light, but we chose to do it at the end and it was still very pretty.  Near the north entrance you go up a hill and see some of the most amazing scenery I ever ever seen on one of these scenic drives.  The landscape makes a change and it truly looked like a fairyland or ogre land as Lee thought of it.  Fantastical!

This is what the outside of the canyon looked like. There was a long stretch on the left with this landscape

This is the hill right before the scenery changed

And this is what we saw

Stunning

It was a short little section of road but what a delightful surprise

MM 28.9-  This is the turnoff for Grosvenors arch, and we arrived at 12:06, just in time for lunch.  Thankfully the road quality was the same as the other road we were on, but it would be worth the 1 mile hike there if it wasn’t.  There are a couple of picnic tables and a pit toilet at the location, but I would definitely recommend bringing your own toilet paper because it was out when we got there.  It is a short walk up a paved path to a great viewing area or you can go farther and walk right up to the arch itself. At 152 feet I really didn’t understand exactly how big it was, and the views changed the closer you got.  This was our first experience with a large stone arch like this and what a wonderful one to start with.

This is the picnic table we ate at

This is a double arch

Looking up at the arch

Looking up at the arch

Lee’s pic

Lee’s pic

The arch had layers with different colors which surprised me

Every view was different and it was hard to select just a few to post here. This was one of my favorites because of the dead tree in the foreground. I was going to make it black and white but didn’t want to lose that bright blue sky.   Really special place to take pictures.

 


MM 40ish – After leaving the arch, we drove another 12 miles to Kodachrome Basin State Park (if you are using your tripometer don’t forget you just put a couple extra miles on going to the arch)  The traffic did get a little heavier in this section since many people were coming south from the park to see the arch.  Originally we were planning on paying the $8 and driving into the park, but the attendant said it was a really small park and in order to see it you really needed to do a hike.  Since we were planning on doing the canyon on the way back we decided to just head back, but I did put the park on my list of places to stay and we will try and go there and do a hike while we are in the Bryce area.

Nice views from here of the Kodachrome Basin

On the way back we stopped at the Cottonwood canyon and although the hike was one of the best we have ever been on it was much harder physically than we expected.  Part of the problem was walking in sand in many sections and another problem was piles of rock we had to clamber over at both ends. You decide for yourself if it was worth it though, and if nothing else I recommend starting at the north entrance and walking at least to the arch if you don’t feel you can do the whole thing.  The best part was on a Sunday we only saw three other single hikers, and it really felt like we had the place all to ourselves.

South Entrance

Pretty major rock pile near the entrance. We chose to go around on the right, but it was still tough

The path was a mixture of sand in rock in the toughest places, but some section were just sand, which in a way was harder to walk in.

Lots of places with these little holes that Lee really liked

We saw a tiny arch high up pretty close to the south entrance

There was a turnoff to the left about a half mile in that led to an amazing slot that was a dead end. Lee took my picture pointing to the way back to the entrance which I thought was really smart

This was one of the coolest things we saw. Beautiful in there, and very private.

Not too long after that (sorry we aren’t good at judging distances on hikes) we saw a huge arch

After the arch the canyon got narrower

And the path was a little more challenging in sections although it was very neat to walk on.  Just had to be careful.

There was another pile of rocks close to the north entrance, we managed to get around

This isn’t as steep as it looks, actually the path was mostly flat which is why we walked both ways in the canyon instead of taking the shorter (but steeper) path on the road. I think this would make for a cool picture when the light was coming in.

Check me out Deb…I’m hiking!!

When we reached the end we turned around and headed back and although it was a long walk back, there were some different views.

I would absolutely recommend the road and if you are able take the hike.  It’s rough in places, but completely worth it.  We loved the day and are definitely adding this to our list of favorite, remote scenic roads.  I would like to go again and explore some of the other slot canyons and maybe take the half day hike to a 120 foot waterfall.  Definitely stop at the Big Water BLM office and get information before you go, and don’t forget to take plenty of water and snacks just in case.  Oh, and one last thing.  This whole day only cost us a quarter tank of gas and an inexpensive packed lunch.  I really don’t think it can get better than this 🙂

 

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.

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First Time on Highway 89A

When we get to a new area we like to get the lay of the land, and scenic drives, along with visits to local BLM offices, are a perfect way for us to do that.  In order to accomplish both of these things I put together a route along 89 to Kanab, and then down to 89A, and back to Page that I knew would take a while, but seemed a nice way to scout out the area.  Since both of these roads are scenic drives on the atlas I figured we couldn’t go wrong, plus I knew there were at least two BLM offices along the route.

Loved the big caves at the top of this one. You can see how tall it was from the fence posts at the bottom.

The first BLM office was near Big Water and actually had a very cool little dinosaur museum.  The woman on duty was extremely helpful, talking us through various roads on our map and recommending other places.  Because we don’t have four-wheel drive we wanted to double check with the BLM before using any of the side roads that we had read about in our friends blog.  They all have four-wheel drive so it’s less of an issue for them, but we wanted to double check before trying them out.  I’m really glad that we did that because she absolutely did not recommend two of the four roads we were thinking about driving, and gave us good advice on another.  She was very matter-of-fact about the whole thing and absolutely credible which we really appreciated.  We like to explore off the beaten track, but also understand how important it is to be careful, especially in desert terrain.  Plus I really enjoyed the dinosaur museum because it  turns out that a unique specimen of dinosaur was found in the Grand-Escalante Staircase.  I had no idea!

BLM office near Big Water

Really great skulls

The Diabloceratops (great name) was discovered in Grand Staircase -Escalante Monument

This whole area was full of Ceratopsians

We continued the drive to Kanab and also visited the BLM office there.  This is the office where the lottery for the Wave hike takes place, and I really wanted to ask some questions about the process.  I apologized in advance for asking her the same question she must answer 100 times a day, but she was more than happy to talk to us about it.  The way it works is each day there are 10 permits issued in person for the wave, and 10 online permits (which people register for 4 months in advance).  That is only 20 people a day who are permitted to go to the wave and since people go in groups sometimes only a few group permits are issued.  You show up at 8:30am (Utah time), fill out a form with yourself and your party and by 9am they draw numbers.  If the first application has 10 people on it, they are done.  If it has less then they draw again until the 10 spots are full.  Sounds easy enough, but 236 people had showed up that morning for the 10 spots, and that’s in early April. Those are not good odds.  Add to that if you stay in Page it’s a solid hour drive to Kanab every day and it gets complicated.  Our friend Howard though was determined, and he managed to get a permit, so if you would like to read about his experience (and why people are willing to go to such lengths to do it) click here.

The drive to Kanab on 89 was pretty and we passed through a tiny section of Vermilion Cliffs Monument.

The other big attraction in this area is Antelope Canyon.  There are some pretty iconic pictures that come from that beautiful canyon, but because it is on Navajo land you need to experience it via a tour.  There are several options ranging from a $41 quick tour to a $250 photographers only 4 hour tour, and we looked at several when we arrived.  The money was a factor, of course, but more than that was the variability of the experience.  Sunlight comes through the canyon between 10:30 and 2:00 so those are peak times, but that’s also when it is the most crowded (generally 70 people per basic tour).  I was attracted to the idea of a 6:30am tour that was billed as a more spiritual experience, but still wasn’t sure which way I wanted to go.  And of course the photographers tour would be amazing, but that’s $500 for the two of us, and basically you spend that time getting 8 really good pictures.  Finally I decided that since I couldn’t decide, we wouldn’t do it this trip.  I wanted to spend the month in Utah and see what else it had to offer, before deciding which tour I want to do (if any).

To that end I researched other slot canyons in the area and saw a place called Red Canyon or Peek-A-Boo.  At first it was a little confusing because there are actually two peek-a-boo canyons.  The one near Kanab is pretty small, and 4-1/2 miles down an ATV/Jeep trail.  At first I thought we could walk it, but the sand is very deep so then we looked into renting a Jeep.  It was $148 a day for a 2001 and although I thought that was a decent price, neither one of us has any experience driving a Jeep in deep sand, so weren’t sure about that. Then I looked into getting a mini-tour and ended up talking to a very nice guy at Windows of the West Hummer Tours.  For $99 per person you got a three hour tour and he was willing to go with as little as two people.  He was super nice and has great reviews, but once again I was thinking of cost and how much of Utah we have left.  We definitely want to take a jeep tour in Monument Valley and the other Peek-a-boo canyon may also need a jeep, so at the end of the day I filed that away for our next visit to Page.  Lee was OK with doing that because we are absolutely coming back, and along with those other experiences we also want to take the 6-1/2 hour boat ride up Lake Powell to see the Rainbow Bridge.  ($122 a person).  Lots to do here, and much of it costs money, so we need to come back with a plan and a budget rather than just spend money willy nilly and regret it later. Besides, there’s PLENTY to do without spending a fortune. (Look at us, adulting all over the place. – Lee)

We stopped in this visitor center in Kanab and got information about local tours. The folks there were very helpful

After getting information we headed onto 89A to see what we could do for free in the area.  I’ll be honest, the first part of the drive wasn’t very scenic and I was definitely wondering what all the fuss was about.  It got a little better when we hit the Kaibab National Forest and stopped at Le Fevre overlook for a scenic view.  This landscape though was much like others we had seen before around Flagstaff and we were looking for something more unique.  The temperature did drop 15 degrees when we hit 7,000 feet and we saw the sign for the Grand Canyon North Rim but it was still closed for the winter.  Not sure why, since there were only tiny patches of snow left, but we kept on driving and eventually headed back to lower elevation.  Lee did like the road very much, and coming down he said it looked like a car commercial, and then as soon as we left Kaibab we entered another section of The Vermillion Cliffs Monument.

Le Fevre Stop

Beautiful lookout

The view was hazy but vast

Kaibab National Forest

Lee driving down into the Vermillion Cliffs Monument. He was having a good time

The Vermillion Cliffs were really red and we kept seeing signs for Cliff Dwelling.  I thought this was ancient ruins, but it was actually a really cute little town and we ended up buying diesel there for only $3.19, which was cheaper than many other places we had seen.  I should also mention that although it was 85 degrees it was perfectly comfortable in a T-Shirt and jeans and the nice breeze really made for the perfect day.

The views were stunning

Great place to stop and get gas

Smells from the restaurant were yummy, but we had eaten lunch so kept driving

There was a little area in cliff dwellings that had rocks and some Navajo had set up a little stand

In general I am very disappointed in the jewelry I have seen because it looks very similar to what you can buy anywhere else

This little rock house was very neat

Loved the inside

 

A second rock house

 

The inside

Loved the pink sidewalks

We kept driving and saw a sign for the Navajo Bridge and without having any idea Lee turned in.  This is why you should always stop, because I had no idea that some pictures I had seen came from here.  It was such a great surprise because you can’t really see it until you walk through a little gate and we took some amazing pictures.

Navajo Bridge Visitors Venter

The view from the parking lot.  I really liked the one way sign.  It seemed to speak for the moment.

The area is named after John Doyle Lee who kept the ferry open and helped settlers reach Arizona

The bridges.  The one the left is the old one which they have turned into a walking bridge and the one on the right is the new one for cars

Ahhh the view

 

The other side

Amazing

We stopped at this Navajo craft area and they were very nice, taking the time to explain the symbolism behind designs. I purchased a christmas tree ornament for DeDe, but no pics because I want the design to be a surprise

While I shopped Lee looked at this toggle screw

And on the way back we looked at this sign. I mean seriously, who would do that?  It’s crazy high

After seeing the bridge,  we backtracked a little and went down to Lee’s  Ferry.  Again, just wow.  This is where the commercial rafting companies put in for their floats down to the Grand Canyon and we were lucky enough to see some rafts.  There is also a pretty campground in Lee’s Ferry and although most sites would be too small for us we could have fit in a few and they weren’t completely full.

The raft launch in Lee’s Ferry

View from the dock

Does not even come close to capturing how pretty it was

We drove down to the little beach area and walked a short distance to the Colorado River.

And crossed into the Grand Canyon National Park as we did so, which I thought was great.  And yes I stepped in and out saying “I am in the Grand Canyon, I am out of the Grand Canyon” because I am just that goofy!

The ripple (not big enough to be a rapid) in front of this rock is the first that the rafters going to the Grand Canyon will face

The rocks along the water were very special

And we did take a moment to drive through the campground. What a view.

It was a beautiful drive and another nice day, but this one went a little longer than I liked.  We had to stop at Walmart in Page, which was a huge supercenter and had tons of RV’s in the parking lot, but by the time we got home we were eating dinner at 8pm.  My friends are probably gasping, because they all know I would eat at 5pm every day if Lee would let me have dinner that early.  It was a good day though, and really worth it, although if I did it again, I would go on 89A through Page and stop once I reached the Kaibab Forest.

The drive back to Page was breathtaking as well

I’ve never seen a road quite like this one before

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.

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First Time at Lone Rock Primitive Beach Campground

By Thursday we were ready to move on to our next region, and we ran into a bit of a snag.  Originally I wanted to head straight to Bryce Canyon from Zion, but the weather forecast was for below 50 degrees every day, down in the 20’s and 30’s at night, and even worse, very windy.  So we changed our plan and were going to head to Page AZ, but I really wanted to find a place to stay closer to Kanab.  Lee was concerned there wouldn’t be enough in Kanab proper to warrant staying there and then moving on to Page, so I called Cori and confirmed there was plenty to do from there.  We’ve been “cheating off her paper” since we started this trip, but I also wanted to have the flexibility to explore options on my own as well.   The trouble was when I strike out on my own, I have to figure out where to stay, and once again I was getting conflicting reviews from Campendium.  There were lots of spots along Hancock Road near the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, but one of the reviews said they were too sandy for big rigs and another said it was fine as long as you stopped on the road and walked the site before pulling in.  We decided to check it out for ourselves, especially since it was only a couple of hours from Zion, and headed to Kanab.

First we had to dump our black and grey tanks, and fill our fresh water, so we stopped at a Chevron on 59 East that we had seen when we went to Gooseberry Mesa.  This was the first time I have ever had to find a place to dump and take on fresh water, and despite having several apps to help me it still was more difficult than I thought it would be.  The Chevron charged $7 to dump, which was fine, but then told us the water was not potable.  I am not 100% sure that was true after seeing their brand spanking new setup, but it wasn’t worth the risk for us. They also had bulk propane, which we needed, but not surprisingly there was no one there who could fill it.  This happens to us all the time. Even at truck stops that have RV lanes there is often bulk propane for sale, but nobody there trained to dispense it. By this time it was 12:30pm so we ate a quick lunch in their very large parking lot, and then got back on the road.

Along the way, near Pipe Springs Monument, we stopped at another Chevron, this one owned and operated by the local reservation.  Even though it didn’t show on any of my apps, they were fine with us filling up with water and had a nice big area on the north side of the building that we could use.  It took about a half an hour to fill the tank, because the flow rate was low, but we both felt better having water in the tank.  Now we could stop anywhere and stay, so we headed to Hancock road.

The road itself was paved, and very big-rig friendly, and the views along the way of the coral colored sand dunes were really pretty.  I wasn’t nervous going down the road, because I saw it ended at the State campground and knew if nothing else we would be able to turn around there if we needed to.  Almost from the beginning there were lots of places to boondock.  Some of the sand roads went back pretty far, and we saw several RV’s tucked back in the trees.  The views were pretty as well and I was getting pretty excited about the spot, but every time we stopped and got out and looked we could see relatively deep ruts in the sand roads.

Impossible (for me) to get the color in a picture but it was a coral pink. Lee, by the way, only saw the sand as tan colored so depending on how you perceive color it might not be this pretty.

If you own an ATV I would absolutely recommend this place. Looks like a ton of fun

 

Lee was getting concerned that I would try to push this issue, but I reassured him that I wouldn’t ask him to pull into anywhere he wasn’t comfortable with.  Unfortunately that ended up being in none of the spots, and we spent a frustrating hour stopping, getting out and looking, and then continuing to drive.  Soft sand, unlike hard packed dirt, can be a real problem with RV’s, and since we didn’t have four-wheel drive and there was no cell signal on the road, it just wasn’t worth the risk.  There was one big spot that would probably have worked near the intersection of Hancock and County Road 43, but it was full of RV’s with ATV’s and wasn’t really what we were looking for. The only cool thing about the drive is we got hit by a pink whirling dervish of sand that was at least 30 feet across.  That surprised both of us, and was really cool. The rest of the time was just frustrating though, especially because the location was perfect for what we wanted to do.

Ultimately we ended up driving all the way to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Campground and because of a cancellation they did have a spot available.  Unfortunately it was just a big parking lot, more designed for people looking to use ATVs in the park, and since we didn’t have an ATV, at $28 a night wasn’t a good bargain for us.  They were doing construction at the park, and it looked like they were putting in several rows of “proper” RV sites, with pedetals and spigots, so that’s a good sign for the future. It was pretty and I loved the coral colored sand, and I would highly recommend it if you have an ATV, but since we didn’t have one and it was around 3pm we decided to keep moving and headed towards Page.

Once we got on 89 the road was absolutely beautiful.  We crossed through the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument, The Vermillion Cliffs Monument, and the south end of Glen Canyon along the way.  It was rough driving right by that stuff without stopping to take pictures and explore, but it was getting later and I was trying to find out more about the Stateline Campground.  This is a small (and free) BLM campground right in the middle between Kanab and Page.  Unfortunately it is down a 10 mile road and once I saw how steep it was (plus dirt) I decided to not even chance it.  If we got there and the sites were too small for us, it would be a long drive back to the main road and then towards Page.

Finally we made it to Lone Rock Primitive Beach campground, and we were pretty stressed from the day.  What should have been a really mellow 3 hour drive, turned into an all day trip and neither one of us was very happy about it.  When we got into the campground we took a moment to get our bearings, and both realized we weren’t exactly sure how to proceed. It was after 5pm, so the entrance shack was unmanned, but there was a pay station that took credit cards.  The campground has fresh water, trash dumpsters, and an RV dump station near the entrance, but not clearly designated camping spots.  We paid for one night, and then drove in and after looking at the sign that read “Deep Sand-Proceed At Your Own Risk” we headed down to the beach.  There were lots of big rigs there, and a place to park higher up if you weren’t comfortable going down, but since there were several roads leading down to the beach area, we weren’t sure which way to go.  Ultimately we picked a path that looked a little rockier and more solid than soft sand, and was to the north and made it down successfully.  I am glad we went that way, because later Lee took the truck alone up a different path on the south end and almost got stuck in the softer sand.

Driving into Lone Rock

The booth which is manned mainly between 9am and 6pm as far as we could tell. Since it’s still off season it wasn’t every day

There is an automatic pay station for after hours. $14 a night, which is steep for boondocking but they do have trash, water, and a dump onsite

We went down, and most of the spots right along the water were taken, but we found a spot just a little higher up that was right across from the lone rock.  It took us a while to place ourselves just right, and to get our RV level, but when it was done we both took a breath because the spot was absolutely beautiful.

If you are not comfortable parking on the beach you can stay up here on the plateau. Our friends Linda and Steve did, and really liked the view from there

The north end of the beach is much safer for bigger rigs

We were told to stay away from the south end so we did

I will say, to be completely transparent, that someone had left a pair of shorts and some toilet paper directly in front of our site, but I put on some gloves and put it in a trashbag and then it was perfect. Despite the amount of people it was very quiet, so quiet I could even hear the beating of a crows wings in the morning.  And at night the sky was a “bowl full of stars” that completely came down to the horizon.  Breathtaking.

I circled our RV in the spot we finally chose. It looks crowded, but there was at least 4 RV lengths between us and our neighbors.

View from our rig

The cliff in the front had an inlet at the base of it and gave us some extra protection from the wind. Plus it was more rocky on the cliff than down on the beach proper.

 

So we are here and not sure how long we will stay because this area requires some research.  Unlike a National Park where the information center has everything you need, this area will require a little more time to make sure we see everything. As of this writing Lee has gone into town and is getting propane and trying to get some information about the area.  I am using this time to get caught up on the blogging so I can clear my mind of Zion and start fresh in this area.

Not surprisingly I am finding it hard to keep up, because of the amount of pictures we are taking.  I am taking Lee’s advice and going to write the narrative first, while it’s fresh in my mind, and then fill in the pictures later.  It’s not so much that I feel pressure to blog in a timely manner as I find that the more time that passes the less I can remember about the experience.  I can only hold so much in that aging brain of mine and want to capture the moment as completely as I can.  I don’t want to spend the daylight hours on that so I am taking time in the mornings and evening as I can to chip away at it.  Thankfully our solar system is working wonderfully,  and I have more than enough power to use the computer anytime I want.

Speaking of that, I want to take a moment and thank Greg of RV Solar Solutions for designing the perfect system for us.  We could never stay in places like this without our solar and I am beyond happy with the system that we have.  They are a great company and provide a great product, and yes, they are friends of ours, but I am a tough customer.  I would do it again without a second of hesitation, and highly recommend them if you want to stay in places with a view like this, for free, or nearly free.

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.

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First Time on Kolob Terrace Road

Since we had so much of the day left, Lee said he wanted to drive on Kolob Terrace Road.  We stopped at the RV and ate some lunch, and then headed back out for the road that was pretty close to our boondocking spot.  Kolob Terrace Road is paved, and ends at the Kolob Reservoir.  It also winds in and out of the west side of Zion, and from a crowd perspective was the antithesis of what we had experienced in the morning.  There are several trail heads along the road that require a wilderness permit, but there are also several places to stop just to take in the views, and the views were really beautiful.  It was a steep road in places, and we wouldn’t want to take our RV on it, but we did see one Class C coming down, probably from the small campground that is near the top.

There was a beautiful horse ranch near the start of the road

We also saw this “glamping” compound along the drive. This is where people spend a ton of money to stay in fancy tents. They had a full service restaurant under tents there as well

The road was fun but no joke. I don’t think I have ever seen a 5 mph curve sign before

The landscape kept changing as the elevation changed

 

 

I loved this huge dome rock

 

At one point there was a house incongruously on a hill by the road that was overlooking a canyon in the west side of Zion.  We stopped and walked along a dirt path to get near the edge.  Great view of the canyon, and we heard later it was one of the best places in Zion to watch the sunset.

Look for this house on a hill. It really stands out. Park across the road and look for dirt path

Walking down the dirt path

The pictures really don’t come close to doing it justice

We stopped several times and got out and walked a bit, and one of the best spots was a turnout right before the Wildcat trail head where we were able to walk through some trees and come out on a rock cropping and get a view of the whole valley.  At this point we were at 7500 feet elevation, and were starting to see small patches of snow.

 

Path to edge so we could see more of the valley

 

 

 

 

Near the top there was a dirt road to a lookout that read “No vehicles over 20 feet”. We stopped and measured the truck, and we’re 20’6″, so Lee said we could risk it.  We were about 1/4 mile down the road when the it suddenly got very muddy from melting snow.  We had to back up and turn around and once again our lack of four wheel drive was holding us back.  We could have walked it from there, but it was at the end of a long day and I just didn’t have it in me, plus we still had to get all the way back to our rig.

Lots more snow up here

We continued on up to the Kolob Reservoir, where I was happy to see they had unlocked pit toilet! The reservoir was nice, and open to fishing May-September, but most of the houses seemed to be summer cottages, probably because at a certain point the road was not plowed for snow.  It was a nice drive, and we were glad we got to see the canyon from that perspective, and it only took a couple of hours to make it.

Kolob Reservoir. We could see snowmobile tracks on the frozen portions of the lake

On our way back we stopped near the main road and looked at a series of wooden structures and flowers.  The road was chained, so we crossed the road and stood on the hill, when the gentleman below said we were welcome to come down.  His name was Brent Fitzpatrick, originally from Kent Ohio, and he owned this small parcel of land along the road.  He spent quite a bit of time talking to us about what he was doing, and the story was pretty interesting.  Nine years ago he bought this little orphan piece of land and was convinced that eventually it would become prime real estate.  He is probably right about that, because crowd pressure in the park is making the Terrace road and west sections more attractive to people and he had a great spot at the entrance.

This view gives a rough idea of how the outside pavilion would look with the mountains in the background

I loved this little statue

His vision is to have a Frank Lloyd Wright type set of buildings in the Asian style which blend into the surrounding area.  He shared some pictures of architectural drawings he had done and the concept is stunning.  You can check out the drawings at his website if you are interested.  He is looking for a “major investor” to handle the business end of things while he focuses on the creative. He does have vision, and is definitely passionate and we both wished him well with his endeavor.  He appeared to be close to our age and if nothing else sooner or later the land will definitely be prime real estate.  In the meantime, I appreciate anyone who is working so hard on their dream and I am glad we stumbled across him.

 

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.

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First Time on Zion Shuttle Bus

Zion is the fifth most visited National Park in the United States, but is relatively small, and the pressure of the crowds has forced the park to a shuttle system during the peak months. In general we are not a fan of shuttle buses, but we do understand the need, and if you want to see certain things in certain parks you need to use their system.  After seeing the long lines (two hour waits by noon), we were even less enthused, but neither one of us wanted to leave Zion without experiencing that end of the park.  So when we woke up early on Wednesday, we decided to bite the bullet, get dressed, and head towards the park.

Part of the reason we weren’t excited is it is cold in the desert before the sun comes up.  It was 42 degrees on Wednesday and we knew we needed to layer up, but also didn’t want to be carrying heavy coats throughout the day as it warmed up.  Lee and I both decided on wearing a fleece and I added gloves and earmuffs, which I was exceedingly grateful for once we got out of the truck. We were taking the advice of a ranger at the visitors center and starting at the end of the the route and working our way back, and it was very windy on the canyon floor.  I also was excited about trying out my new hiking pack and was thrilled when that worked beautifully.  Over the last three years I have tried numerous packs, but found that the weight of the pack and the camera on my shoulder always gave me a back ache.  This  Outdoor Products H2O Mojave Waist Pack  rests solely on the hips and lower back and is big enough for two water bottles, my long camera lens, and snack bars.  I was extremely happy with it and compared to others I have purchase it was relatively inexpensive.

 

Geared up, we left the rig at 6:30am and were surprised when we were stopped by construction traffic for 14 minutes.  They seem to be doing the work at night, and we caught the last of it as we tried to enter the park.  The good news was the parking lot at the visitors center was only a third full when we arrived at 7:31 am, but there was already a decent line waiting for the bus.  Surprisingly, a ton of people fit on each shuttle, and although we didn’t make the first one, we did catch the second and were in the warmth by 7:32am.  I will say that if you decided to skip the line and drive up to one of the parking spaces by the first three stops I wouldn’t recommend it.  The buses are full coming from the visitors center and unless someone gets off you are not getting on, so I don’t think that saved those folks any time.

In line waiting for bus.  As you can see it’s chilly.

 

The shuttle bus has nine stops, and we were riding it all the way to the Temple of Sinawava at the end with the intention of doing the Riverside Walk trail. There is some audio information at every stop, narrated by a variety of people, and the heating system on the bus worked great.  We enjoyed the ride and looking out the large windows, and I would recommend it even if you didn’t want to do any of the hikes. About half of the people (most of the younger kids) got off at Angels Landing, which is a very difficult trail with a 1,488 foot elevation change and steep, narrow drop-offs.  Elevation change is something we pay particular attention to, because neither one of us likes steep hiking.  The Riverwalk was perfect for us, because it was 2.2 miles round trip and only had a 57 foot elevation changed.  It was also a paved trail and wheelchair accessible which is always a good sign for us.    As a general rule we know we can handle any trail that is wheelchair accessible and I like paved trails, because I can focus on the scenery as I walk  rather than looking down at my feet.

Shuttle buses are double trams and allow people to stand so lots of folks can fit on.

 

All kinds of serious hikers on the bus that early in the morning, including one very large chipmunk.

 

By the time we got to the Temple, it was 8:17am and the shuttle was only about a third full and we saw several small groups with rubber hiking shoes and wading gear.  The Riverside walk is the entrance to the Narrows, which is a walk through the Virgin River along the canyon floor.  That is a hike I would love to do in the future, because it looked really beautiful, but you definitely need special gear before you attempt it because the water is very cold.  One of the nice things about the River walk is it has a little bit of everything.  There are some small hanging gardens, being in a canyon, and a walk along a beautiful river which had some small waterfalls.  We both loved it, and walked out on the paved path and chose to walk along the sandy shore during our return.  It was chilly, and I was incredibly grateful for my gloves and earmuffs, but once we got back to the bus, I was able to take them off and leave them off for the rest of the day.

The red cliff walls were gorgeous.

 

A pair of hikers in their narrows gear.

 

As we started down the path the sun was starting to hit the tops of the cliffs.

 

Gorgeous and so high!

 

Lots of small hanging gardens with water running down them.

 

 

The people in the picture give you an idea of how high the walls were.

 

And how close the path was to the cliffs.

 

As the sun came up over the walls they lightened in color.

 

We turned a corner and there were a series of small waterfalls and this gorgeous cave.

 

 

 

At the end the path walk down on the rocks (you can stay out of the water) and peek around the corner to get this view of the start of the narrows.  That view was so cool, I definitely wanted to keep going.

 

On the way back we left the path and walked along the shore. Lee was climbing the big rocks in order to get some video.

Speaking of video……

It was a great hike and I highly recommend it, but we weren’t done yet. Our plan was to stop at most of the stops on the way down and take some pictures, and as advertised it was VERY easy to get a seat on the returning bus.  Most of the traffic was going the other way, so we were able to both get window seats and enjoy the view.  Our next major stop was the Zion Lodge and on a whim we decided to get breakfast.  The Red River Grill was almost empty at 10am and the breakfast at $10.75 (eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and hashbrowns) was very reasonably priced considering where we were, and the view.  The service was pretty poor but the food was good and we loved the view from our table.  The wait staff told us the line was out the door for lunch and dinner, so we were happy to experience it without fighting any crowd.  Plus the lodge itself is really pretty, nestled in the rocks, and is the trail head for the Lower Emerald Pool Hike.

Zion Lodge

 

This huge lawn was great because it gave people a place to eat packed lunches. Really beautiful and nice gift shop!

 

The view from our table!

By the time we got on that trail, it was pretty crowded, and despite the 69 ft elevation change it was much steeper than I expected because the trail went up and down several times. Even though it was only 1 mile we were huffing and puffing and between the crowds, steep drop offs, and climbs I wasn’t loving it.  Then we turned a corner  and everything changed.  There wasn’t a ton of water flowing down, but it was still very special and had the added benefit of being able to walk under the waterfalls.  It was a short distance from the lower pool to the middle pool, and that’s where we stopped, and we spent a ton of time taking pictures and enjoying the water spraying on our face. I really really liked it, and it was totally worth the climb.

You cross a bridge to get to the trail and if nothing else go to the bridge. This is the view looking upstream.

 

And this is the view looking downstream.

 

This trail was a little steeper and had some sharp drop offs which I wasn’t crazy about.

 

The views along the path were great though.

 

Much better colors now that the sun was fully out.

 

I wasn’t sure what to expect and initially was disappointed when the pictures showed this.

 

But this is what we saw.

 

We kept walking though and I am so glad we did, because initial appearances were deceiving.

 

When you walked under and to the other side you realized how much water was actually coming down. Very refreshing on a cool day.

 

 

And then it was just a short walk to the middle pool which was equally cool.

 

We stopped on the steps and looked back and it was absolutely gorgeous. So glad we made the climb and again I absolutely recommend this.

Coming down from the pools was much easier and again we had no issue getting on a shuttle bus. Since the bus was mostly empty we could both take pictures out of the window and many of them turned out really good. Our next stop was the Court of the Patriarchs and walked up a very steep path to a small viewing area where you can see all three of them.  They were named for old testament patriarchs and were really beautiful and I would imagine a great place to watch the sun rise.

View from the bus.

 

Another view from the bus.

 

The Court of Patriarchs who were named for leaders in the Old Testament. From left to right they are Abraham Peak, Isaac Peak, and Jacob Peak.

Our last stop was the museum, and although the museum itself was very disappointing, the movie was pretty great.  It desperately needed a refresh and update to HD but the narration and information provided was terrific.  It was 22 minutes long and we were both transfixed as we watched it, Lee and I both agreeing it was nice seeing it at the end of our visit rather than at the normal beginning of a national park visit.  After watching the movie we made it back to the visitor center, saw the extremely long line of people just getting started, but it was 1:02 pm and we were done for the day.  As tough as it was getting up and going that early and fighting the cold I wouldn’t do it any other way, and despite the crowds and the structure I was very glad we got to experience it!

 

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.

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First Time on Zion Scenic Drive

Originally we were going to wake up really early and take the shuttle bus, but the travel and excitement of the last several days finally caught up with me. Lee, seeing how tired I was suggested we flip the schedule and instead take the scenic drive today and then get up early to do the shuttle bus and hikes tomorrow.  This meant I could sleep in (which I did until 9am) and then we could take our time in the morning with the intention of leaving after lunch.  The plan worked beautifully and we ended up arriving at Zion around 12:30pm.  Although the parking lots were full, that was OK with us since we were planning on taking the drive.  And since we didn’t need the shuttle (I heard the lines were 2 hours long at that point), all that really mattered was the line at the tunnel.  That ended up being about a 10 minute wait, which in the grand scheme of things really wasn’t that bad.  I did think it was interesting that the line seemed to never allow cars on both sides, and I definitely felt the $15 was on the steep side if they were going to do one way traffic anyway.  That being said the $15 (for a dually, RV, or bus) was totally worth it as I think you will see from this post. (I’m including short video clips of the drive as we go along. Sometimes movement and a sense of scale and perspective help where pictures can’t do things justice. As always, the videos look better full screen, in HD. – Lee) 

Before reaching the tunnel we stopped and took a picture of Zion Arch which we totally missed yesterday because it was largely in shadow. Really neat.

 

There are holes cut in the tunnel walls, but you cant stop to look at.

(Here’s a clip of the drive through the tunnel, with the dark parts sped up to 600%, but the gallery holes left intact. – Lee)

But I got lucky with this shot on sports setting and this is what you see

There are a lot of parked cars right when you come out of the tunnel because it is a popular hike trailhead. But the further we got to the other end the lighter the traffic was

 

 

Ending with this sign and there was only one other couple there versus a line at the main entrance

When I talk about scenic drives that is a bit of a misnomer, because we stop and walk frequently on those drives.  It took us 4 hours to go 6 miles on this particular road, and that wasn’t because of traffic.  We like “interactive” drives very much and enjoy choosing where to explore.  That way we can both cover a lot of ground for the big scenic views and get up close and personal when something is interesting. I would say on this drive we definitely walked 3-5 miles and we could make our own path, which I liked very much.   The first place we stopped on this drive was at the second tunnel, and it was then I realized I still had my Skechers shoes on, I just spaced and forgot to put on my hiking shoes.  They had zero tread, and are obviously not the best choice, but we made it work and Lee helped me on any slippery places.

The second tunnel. No idea how tall it was

 

As you can see the traffic had significantly dropped off

Where we pulled over

Life finds a way!

I loved all the green with the red rocks. Really great to see all that color

This twisty rock formation was so cool, but both of us tried to capture it and this was the best we could do. Waaay better than this in person and huge

Loved the striations in the rocks

Since we were at full sun the contrast between red and whites was pretty clear. We learned there are 7 layers of different rock in this canyon hence the different colors.  The red comes from iron by the way.

Our next stop was at the pit toilets at a large pullout, sorry that’s the best way to describe it, and we were looking at the rocks and decided to walk down a bit.  Lee saw a dry creek bed and helped me down with my slippery shoes and it was a really neat dry riverbed canyon.  My friends have been worried that I might get claustrophobic in the canyons, but I did just fine.  The fact that there was no “ceiling” helped me quite a bit.  It’s a good thing too because Lee loved walking in the canyon and I can see tons of these in my future.  One important note here is it is VERY important you never walk in these if there is any possibility of rain.  Flash floods kill people every year, so be very careful before entering.

Very neat rock formations near the front

When we reached the river bed

The opening makes me not feel claustrophobic. I know its not logical but being claustrophobic isn’t logical either 🙂

The folds in one part of the canyon were amazing

And I loved these rounded sides

This little curly que rock was at the base and was amazing. Water is such a powerful element and what beauty it creates.

At the end I had Lee climb up so I could take a picture

One of the most famous rocks is the checkerboard mesa, which Lee was fascinated with, and it was huge, but the pattern didn’t do much for me.  I like the curly rocks better.

Our best stop was coming back when Lee saw several HooDoos in the distance.  The walk was steep, but really worth it, because this group of natural rock formations was amazing.  Great place to have lunch, if the timing is right and there are several places you can walk to it from.  We saw people stopped and walking in lots of places, but once we got away from the entrance it never felt crowded, unlike the hikes we took in Zion the next day.

This is what caught Lee’s attention from the road

When we got closer

Very cool Hoodoo (column of weathered rock)

I climbed right up these rocks to sit near the tree. It was a steep drop down, but cool picture

Arch in surrounding cliffs

If you walk behind the rocks and trees it goes on for a long time and people have written little messages in stone

 

We stopped one more time on the way back and this was to look at an even deeper canyon.  I was really worried about getting down this one in the slippery shoes, but Lee helped me every step of the way and thankfully we made it.  Ironically at the other end, we found a much easier way up. Can’t complain about the pictures though.  It’s easy to be photogenic in a canyon 🙂

Lee saw this from the top and decided he wanted to go down…because sure, that’s what people do

This is what I looked like once we got down the rocks you can see behind me. Still not sure how we did it

Lee loves canyons!

Walking carefully in my slippery shoes. The creek bed was actually the hardest part because the rocks are so smooth.

These walls were much higher

One more thing as we were leaving we saw one flowering tree in a crack between the road and a wall.  It was really beautiful and no clue how it got there, since it was the only one we saw like it in the park.  All in all it was one of our favorite scenic drives and if you have been following along you know that is saying something.  I think you can do a couple of hikes and the scenic drive all in one day (more on that in the hikes post in a few days), but if you have to choose I would absolutely do the drive and get out and explore.

This one tree amazing

The line as we were waiting to exit the tunnel. I didn’t mind waiting with that view.

(For those who can’t stand to not see the whole thing, here’s the entire scenic drive, compressed from two hours to a mere seven minutes. – Lee)

(And for anyone interested, here’s a quick video of the end of the day, showing the drive from 89 to our boondocking spot, with the boring bouncy bits sped up to 1000%, just to make them go by a little faster. It will at least give you an idea of how far off the road we were, and how sparsely populated this dispersed camping area was. – Lee)

 

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.

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First Time in Grafton Ghost Town and Gooseberry Mesa

We had some time after the Kolob Canyon scenic drive and Lee wanted to go see the Grafton Ghost town and Gooseberry Mesa.  The days are long here in April and I was totally fine with seeing them as long as he was OK getting back to our camper in the dark.  He felt very comfortable with that, so off we went!  I am not a huge fan of ghost towns in general and this one was just OK in my estimation, but the graveyard was really neat, and the views were spectacular.  It’s worth going for the views alone and it is an interesting little piece of history out in the desert.

Driving into Grafton

The town is in the process of being restored. It was a small Mormon settlement started by followers of Brigham Young, which was largely destroyed out in a flood

Lots of trees and grassland along a river. They raised cotton here

The church and main house survived the flood

Inside the main house was pretty interesting. These stairs went upstairs.

The brickwork was interesting

And you could see the brick and roofing

I peeked into the root cellar

But no way I was going in there

Ghost Towns deserve a little black and white photography

This small house was across from the main one

Original fireplace

Hand cut planks for the walls

The cemetery was absolutely the best part. Very scenic

The local Paiute tribes were friendly with the settlers and many were buried in the graveyard

They fought with the Navajo and several tombstones in the graveyard stated the person was killed by Indians

 

I am assuming because they were followers of Brigham Young that the settlers may have been polygamists, but it really wasn’t clear.  There was one grave site that had a wife on either side of him, but it’s possible he remarried after the first one died.  I would have loved more information about that, because it is history, but I didn’t see any mention at all one way or the other.  Even if you don’t really care for ghost towns I can absolutely recommend the view.  And you get to see the Chair Way to Heaven on the way and who doesn’t love a good pun?

Local artist had this in his front yard. I loved it

(Here’s a quick video to give you an idea of what the road to Grafton looks like. This is pretty much what the unpaved roads that are in good shape are like. This kind of road isn’t a problem for a two wheel drive, but they are definitely bumpy and full of washboard. The Go Pro has such a wide angle that it usually smooths out shaky video, so you can see just how bumpy it is because even the Go Pro video is pretty bouncy. The extreme wide angle also makes the road look much wider than it actually is. – Lee) 

After we left Grafton we drove to Gooseberry Mesa.  There is a 5 mile drive that is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous, but you need a 4-wheel drive vehicle and high clearance, neither of which we have.  I should probably take a moment and say that at this point we both are really regretting not having bought a four wheel drive truck.  You are going to see several references over the next few posts to places we could not go and it definitely has been a bummer.  I’ll tell you about them though because hopefully you can go there, and then tell you what we did instead, like the fact we had to drive 45 minutes the long way around to get to Gooseberry Mesa instead of the quick 5 mile road from Grafton.

I wanted to see it because I had read conflicting reports on Campendium about whether a bigger RV could boondock there, and Lee just wanted to stand on the edge of a mesa.  The views were again beautiful driving there, and it was a much more lush than at lower elevations.

Drive to get there was very pretty

 

The higher we got the more grassland there was and lots of free range cows grazing

It was chillier up there so they were still shaggy

The roads got narrower and narrower and although there may have been some spots farther away from the pretty views we wouldn’t take our rig there

This was the biggest we saw but most were very tiny

Eventually we went too far for even our truck and had to back up and turn around.  (From the main dirt road there are lots of little narrower BLM roads that branch off and then even narrower roads that go to each “site”. As we progressed through, looking for the edge of the mesa, the ground got to be more dirt than gravel, and had lots of big rocks. We bottomed out on a couple of big ones going up a little rise, and that loud “thump” can be somewhat stomach turning for a worrier like me. Visions of damaging the truck an hour before sunset that far away from civilization. I kept driving long past any point where I would have been willing to pull the rig, but eventually the dirt became soft sand, the brush was scraping along the side of the truck, and turns were so tight that I was really concerned I would be going so slowly on a turn that my front wheels would just get stuck and I wouldn’t be able to get out. Here’s a short video to give you an idea of how bad the ruts can be, very problematic for a low clearance vehicle, although when there’s plenty of room on the sides and the ground is dry you can put one side in the center and the other side can ride on the shoulder, which is what I was doing. The beginning of the video shows us going into the camping area, where it’s wide open, and then towards the edge of the side of the mesa. We found some folks camped on the very edge of the side, but I was looking for something closer to the edge of the tip, where it turned out there was a LOT more vegetation.

Again, you can see how quickly the road goes from “OK” to “NOT OK”, and would be a nightmare for 2WD if it were even a little bit wet. At about the 1:00 mark you can us turning onto one of the secondary roads and how much narrower it is, and how close the vegetation is. Another problem with those is that you can drive down one and find that there’s only one site and it’s occupied. At about 1:36 you can see very well as I go up a short rise how rocky the road can be. Just after that is where we turned down a road that eventually got so bad that I did a 17 point turn to get out before we ended up living out our lives on that mesa. I was too concerned to notice that the Go Pro had filled so none of that got recorded unfortunately. Anyway, in case it isn’t obvious, the takeaway here is if you’re planning on doing this kind of boondocking, it’s a good idea to scout first without your rig, if you can, and if nothing else, get out of the vehicle and walk the road before you commit to a turn or a road. Backing a 40′ rig out of this place would have been incredibly difficult, and probably impossible once it got dark. Google Earth is also a great way to get an idea of what you’re getting into before you even get there. – Lee) 

If you had four wheel drive and lots of nerve this might be an option for you, but I would absolutely scout it out ahead of time. It was beautiful though and we envied a tiny Rpod we saw who had this view. Stunning.

 

After Gooseberry Mesa we were both tired, and since it was getting dark we headed down to Hurricane and ate at a Chinese buffet.  It was a very full day and we were both pretty tired so called it a night and went to bed early.

 

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.

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First Time in Zion – Kolob Canyon

Before I start this post I wanted to talk a little about the pictures.  The red rocks are the claim to fame for this area and amazing to look at, but for me provide a bit of a challenge.  The deep rich color of the rocks is amazing, but does look different in person if you are wearing sunglasses or take them off.  With sunglasses the reds are much deeper and I tend to like to look at scenes both with them on and taking them off.  Thanks to a conversation I had with Steven Dempsey,  who is an amazing professional photographer, I no longer have philosophical issue with color corrections, because as he explained it, it’s all about capturing the moment and translating it to the person viewing the picture.  That makes total sense to me, but my problem  with these particular landscapes is that I am not sure which moment to capture, because the reds, in particular, look very different with or without sunglasses on. I am simply not a good enough photographer to capture these colors in the moment, so some Photoshop corrections are called for.

So what you will see here are some pictures color corrected to varying degrees and some not, and that decision will be made very subjectively.  Also keep in mind that time of day and sun position plays a huge part in how these rocks look to the naked eye and that will factor in as well.  Most of you probably know all of that, but I wanted to mention it because I don’t like getting to an area and feeling let down because the actual view doesn’t match the photos I have seen.  That is extremely unlikely in Zion, but if you want the richer red then I definitely recommend putting on your sunglasses, but take them off once in a while because I love those colors as well. Lee thinks I am crazy, by the way, to even think about it, but since I am more right brain than left brain it makes perfect sense to me 🙂

OK, enough of all that.  I started the morning off VERY early and it’s worth noting that I saw cars on the road headed towards Zion as early as 4am.  We ended up leaving around 7:30am and when we arrived at 8:15am there was already a line of cars.  Our plan for the day was to scout out the area, stop at the visitors center to get maps and information, and take the scenic drive.  Unfortunately we learned upon arrival that because we were in a dually it would cost us $15 (two ways) to go through the tunnel and on the scenic road.  We weren’t prepared in that moment to pay the money, because we could take the two hour drive around the long way and see it for free, and we weren’t sure how many times we would want to go that way.  It is worth nothing though that Zion costs $30 per vehicle (free with our America the Beautiful pass) and an additional $15 (not covered by the pass) would make it a $45 dollar day for many people.

Since it was still early I decided I wanted to drive up the road to the tunnel and turn around, so we headed up that way.  Unfortunately I can’t recommend this in a dually because the only way we got away with it was the road was lightly populated and we were able to make a 5 point turn once we got to the tunnel. If the line would have been backed up we would have been stuck and we were told you couldn’t pay at the top.  It worked out OK though and we got to see a little bit of the scenic drive, although we were told later that the best part is on the other side of the tunnel.

Entrance

The car in front of us as we waited to get in. I loved the license plate

We were catching the early morning sun which made it difficult to see in some places, but gave us some cool shadows at the few turnoffs there were

 

You can see the size of the cliff walls with Lee for scale and the tunnel is right behind that man made hole

It’s easier to see why trailers above 12 feet can’t get through and at certain widths they have to close the tunnel to one way traffic which is why they charge the $15 for larger vehicles

There were some pretty rock formations, but I definitely didn’t see the views I was expecting on this short section

Next we stopped at the visitors center, which opened at 8am, and got some information.  From Spring to Fall a major section of the road is closed to all but shuttle traffic and that is how you get to the various trailheads.  The shuttles start running at 7am and we immediately made a plan for the next day to get there before that, because by 9am the lines for the shuttle bus were already very long. I’ll cover the trailheads more in my next post, but I will say the shuttles are free and we were told they run every 7-10 minutes.

You can see the bus in the right corner and the line was about double the length you can see in the picture at 9am. It was moving to be fair, but was mostly families with young kids so be forewarned.

The visitors center didn’t have many displays but the information desk people were extremely helpful. It was full by 9am as well

Since we weren’t prepared to hike that day and the scenic drive was out, I decided we should head up to Kolob Canyon.  My fellow Dreamer, Ruth, had sent me an email the day before and said it was a great place to escape the crowds. Kolob Canyon is part of Zion but in the northwest corner, so we had to leave the park, drive west, go 15 North until we reached another small visitors center off exit 40.  The drive really didn’t take that long, the freeway speed limit of 80mph helped, and wow, was it ever worth it.  This canyon had a 6 mile scenic drive, but this one had lots of turn outs and a view at the top that was absolutely stunning.  We loved the canyon, and I would say please don’t skip it if you visit, because it was everything our initial visit to Zion was not. Let me show you.

Kolob Visitor center

 

There is a waterfall on occasion in this crevice and an oasis of trees in the middle

Some very interesting rock formations

The end of the range led to a beautiful vista. It was hazy when we reached to the top due to blowing sand but still beautiful

I loved this castle-like formation on the end

Driving down the road was actually better than coming up as there were more pull offs and we met some nice young men who I took a picture for and they returned the favor.  They had the idea to take a panoramic with people in it which I don’t think I have ever done.  And Lee of course took several panoramics himself and they were all great. I had a hard time choosing my favorite so here are all of them.

 

 

My favorite kind of place because it was beautiful both in scale and closeup.  There were several beautiful small areas and we both enjoyed taking pictures of those views as well.

I loved these tree “ledges”. Keep in mind each of these in on the side of a huge mountain. Plus they still had snow!

And don’t forget on the way out to stop and look back because there is a terrific rock formation right when you come in that there is no pullout for.

Really terrific day and I will say once again that we often enjoy the “Tier B” sites much more than the “Tier A” locations.  Yes, you “need” to see them both, but we enjoy less crowds and more freedom to explore that you really only get in the lesser used National Parks.  Tomorrow we are returning to Zion proper and will be riding the bus to the end and stopping for a few hikes and pictures at every stop. We will see how they compare!

 

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.

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First Time Boondocking in Utah

Since we only had a four hour drive to our destination in Utah, we took our time in the morning, saying goodbye to everyone and making sure our rig was ready to roll.  The jack problem is totally fixed!!  Amazing difference, and the new stairs are wonderful.  It’s amazing what you can get used to over time, and I was super happy when we buttoned everything up.  As I mentioned before, this was our first time traveling without a set schedule, but we did get a list of places we wanted to see from Cori’s Blog, Deb’s Blog, a spreadsheet Kat and Bert sent us, and most importantly a two hour conversation with Jo and Ben.  They used to live in Colorado, and have spent a ton of time boondocking in Utah.  The hard part for them was that they were always in a truck camper, so really had to think through all the spots from the perspective of us pulling a 40 foot fifth-wheel.  Jo also turned me onto an app called Campendium, which I had heard of but never used, and it turned out to be a wonderful resource.

Based on their recommendation we had a potential spot very very near Zion and we headed to Smithsonian Butte.  The drive on Interstate 15 itself was amazing as we crossed from Nevada, to Arizona, and then Utah.  In particular I liked Virgin Gorge in Arizona and then when we entered Utah the gorgeous red rock views started almost immediately.

Virgin Gorge

Entering Utah

 

Our first stop was Smithsonian Butte, but despite the fact that we saw big rigs parked there on Google maps we learned this area was no longer open for camping.  That was such a shame because the views were stunning, but after Lee talked to a couple of locals he verified that the road ahead where we would be able to camp was definitely not big rig friendly.

Where Ben had seen big rigs parked

This would have been the perfect spot!

Gorgeous views

Next we went to North View BLM campground, which was free and along a creek but the available spots were far too small for us.  It was also packed with tent campers and I wasn’t really crazy about the vibe so we headed to the next area. Since we don’t have a second vehicle we parked off the main road and walked in, which worked out pretty well.

Decent views but the road was rough and the sites very small.

I was getting a little worried at this point, especially because the reviews on the next place, Sheep Bridge Road, stated that it was great but often very full.  It is a 2 mile long graded dirt road to reach the first spot.  We ended up turning down the first side road we saw and not that long after found a prime spot with 4 bars of AT&T coverage!  (There are tons of spots here, but for the record our coordinates were 37.1893, -113.2235).   I was so happy, and we quickly set up, watched the sunset, ate some dinner, and made a fire.  Then the moon came up and the light breeze and moonlight were very romantic.  Absolutely amazing, and what a wonderful way to start our Utah adventure 🙂

View from our kitchen window.

 

Nice firepit already in place

 

Behind us and to the right

 

Behind us and to the left

 

Rig porn 🙂

Hard t0 capture the colors at sunset.  This picture doesn’t come close to doing it justice

(I completely forgot to put this in the original post about the reunion rally, so here’s a little video I made for the attendees with photos supplied by RV Dreamers of their travels that was shown at the potluck dinner. For those that attended the rally and want to save a copy of the video to your computer, you can start the video and then ONCE IT IS PLAYING, right click on it and select “Save Video As” to download it so you can have the file permanently on your computer. If you don’t want to download it you can just watch it. As always, video looks best full screen and in HD, and those controls can be found in the lower right corner of the video player window. Plus it looks better in this format rather than all washed out with a projector and a screen. – Lee)

 

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links.  There is no additional cost to you and helps support our blog.  Search Amazon.com here

Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.