Saturday morning we headed north on I-25 to visit some of or super cool friends Benjamin and Karrie. On the way there I found out that Buc-ee’s has a stop along the 25 just south of Loveland. Kathy has not been, so I had to stop. Buc-eee’s is an experience (thanks Carl).
Benjamin and Karrie had a quick change of plans as their daughter was getting a proposal and Trey invited us to the winery to help celebrate. Congrats to the newly engaged couple, Jayden and Kaylei. Ben and Karrie are two of my oldest friends. I met Benjamin in 4th or 5th grade and we’ve been friends ever since. I was even his best man at their wedding and I still think they are two of the greatest people I know. They raised three great kids and it’s really neat to see how the family is so close and hangs out together, laughs together, parties together. They opened their home and let us stay a couple of nights. Even on Sunday, Father’s Day, they included us with their kids for NASCAR and a burger grill. Love them tons.
We hung out at the Sun Outdoors RV park on the 12th, soaked in the pool, and went downtown and browsed through the Moab shops. Some cool stuff and after a couple of hours we were thirsty so we found a restaurant called the Spoke, and we enjoyed some beverages, a burger and a sandwich. The rest of the day we sat under the shade canopy, read some books and finished the evening with a little television.
The next day we packed up camp and drove across Utah and down the scenic drive through Montrose, Gunnison, Monarch Pass,, and then across the high valley into Woodland Park and down to Colorado Springs.
We stopped at a couple of National Parks along the way including the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Curecanti National Recreation Area (Blue Mesa Reservoir).
We met Peyton for dinner at The Edelweiss, a German restaurant, and had a great reunion. Peyton is making and selling handmade soap and us works wonderfully and smells great so we added a couple of bars to our shower kits.
we did our first parking lot camp night at the Bass Pro Shop in Colorado Springs. Somewhat quiet other than the dance club to the south. We slept well.
We dismounted the camper for the couple days while we’re here. There’s a power hook up so we can turn the air conditioner on and leave the pups here. Remember that the national parks are not pet friendly, so there’s really no allowing them off of pavement or concrete, and at 95 to 100° here that gets too hot for the dogs. The campground is nice and shaded, though, and they sleep most of the day anyway.
Kathy and I went to Canyonlands first thing in the morning. This is one of my favorite parks, if not my favorite park. It’s not necessarily from the Mesa where the tourists drive, but it’s because of the White Rim Trail that traverse is down to where the Colorado and the Green rivers nearly converge. That is one of the best camping/overlanding routes. I’ve done it three times, and although we’re not taking Howie down there, it still is a wonderful place to visit. This is actually the first time that I made it up onto the Mesa and drove all the roads and looked at all the vistas.
The way national parks are now you have to have a reservation order to drive in, and Arches National Park is no different. I got on the website when we arrived here and the only times that were available were afternoon times on any of the three days that were here. So I paid the two dollars reserved at 3 PM slot for today. You can enter the park before 7 AM, or after 6 PM without an You can enter the park before 7 AM, or after 6 PM without a reservation, beginning, moving out early in the morning is its own feat. After coming back from Canyonlands, we had a nice nap, some lunch, and then headed up to Arches.
Arches National Park is one of those kind of surreal places with a very dynamic landscape. It’s a great place for hiking, especially if you’re here in the spring or fall or if you’re out early in the morning. It’s also a great place for stargazing and night hikes. While we were there at 3:30 in the afternoon, and it was about 95°, we did a little hiking, but mainly spent the time driving. There are a couple of roads in Arches National Park that require four-wheel-drive and display some additional places in the park. We took one of those roads, turned at the “beware four-wheel-drive road”, and proceeded up a fairly technical, 4/10 type of trail. Now I’m not in my FJ cruiser, but rather this 3500 Ram 1-ton truck, so I’m still getting used to four wheeling this thing. It did exceptionally well. They’re only a couple of spots that I had to get out and look for a line, and I only scraped the tail pipe once. I did have to remove the camper tie-downs because they stuck out just a little too far.
Overall the drive took us to Whales eye arch as well as near tower arch, where we saw the marching men. It was about a 2 1/2 hour side trip, but we did get a little hiking and had some fun.
We got off around 9 am from a little Forest Service corner plot off of Highway 24 where we spent the night. We were a few miles from the Capitol reef park HQ so we got in as it started to get busy. It turned out the visitors center parking lot was being paved as was the scenic drive past the Grand Wash. So we stopped at the picnic area where the temporary Ranger station was set up, got a few maps got a few stamp, and then proceeded over to the historic cabin, where they sell, pies, jams, etc.
We continue up the road to the ground wash and took the side road to the Hiking trail for the narrows. It was a little warm for the pups so Sean took the trail up to the narrows to get some photos. The hike turned out to be around 3 1/2 miles. There are some beautiful canyon scenes and tons of hikers.
We headed back towards the park entrance, stopped to see some petroglyphs, and continued on to Moab. We have made reservations in a campground in Moab so we could drop the camper and do a few of the roads around the area. The drive along Highway 24 was beautiful. There is a desolate desert, split up by the Fremont River Valley that is green with fields and Cottonwood trees, and then as you cross this area called goblin Valley is a bunch of random hoodoos just sticking up out of the sand. And the geology in the area is absolutely fascinating. We stopped in Green River for some fairly expensive fuel, and then headed to the campground in Moab.
The campground has some great facilities and we’ve met some nice people. We even jumped into the pool for a short time. Just around the corner is a grocery store and we stopped in for some supplies.
One one of the difficult things for me with national parks, is there just too many people. It’s beautiful seeing these areas but summertime is always a challenge. I checked the arches national Park website, because usually they have a queue to get in. It turns out now you have to have reservations. Even to drive in. So I look for tomorrow the next day and Friday morning, so if we went up there, we could do it in the cool air. But there was nothing except afternoon slots. And it cost two dollars to reserve a slot. I reserve the first one for Wednesday, and we’re just gonna go to canyonlands during the day.
We left the campground this morning and headed to Bryce Canyon national Park. We got there pretty early, so we just drove all the way to rainbow point to avoid the rush of people. The drive is pretty, and probably 9000 feet or so, but it wasn’t quite as lush as the north rim we thought. At Rainbow Point we got out and took in the beautiful views, walked the dogs and then Sean took a hike for about and hour and was about 2 1/2 miles. The trails, Bristlecone and Below the Rim provided some great views and photos.
We continued back, stopped at the numerous vistas, and then hit the Visitors Center. And that’s where the people were. LOL. We bought a few trinkets, Kathy got her book stamped, and we headed back on the road after several hours visit.
The next part of the drive in Utah’s Highway 12 is breathtaking. It began the day at Red Canyon, continued across Pine forests, and then dropped down into cedar and juniper sections. Then the road narrowed and the sandstone valleys opened up. There were beautiful canyons, formations, and twisty slow roads across sone sketchy ridges. The road continued up into the Dixie Forest up to 9500 feet in the first and aspens.
We took a little side road and stopped for lunch. There was a spring listed on the map, so we investigated and saw a buried cistern that collects the water. There was a cool stream running behind the lunch site and Maggie was all in for a splash. She continued by rolling in the sand and ended up a filthy mess. Such a dirty girl.
We stopped right outside the NP for the night in the National Forest for some boon docking. Today was 8 hours of driving and 168 total miles.
We started the day off with a beautiful hike up the Buckhorn trail that leaves the campsite. About a mile up it meets the Golden Wall trail and then meanders up and down and around the ridges. We took Zuzu on the hike since her longer legs are better for the hike.
The trail all the way around was almost 5 miles and meandered through the tan and red sandstone formations, cedar trees, and scattered forest shrubs. The morning was about 50 degrees when we started and ended at almost 70.
We decided to stay another night here and enjoy this peaceful and non-busy campground. We pulled out the pantry contents and made a list of items and then a menu. We have to eat all of this frozen meat and get a handle on our supplies. In the quick pack we put most of our pantry and freezer in the camper and are not sure what’s all there. We have a plan now for the next two-three weeks.
