In The State of Erosion - V

This has been our sixth week in Utah. Our latest thinking is that after we finish SLC, we drive back to south end of the state and spend some time at Cap Reef. Perhaps the last week of June we will get to Great Basin NP and after that head west on US50.

Sunday, May 6 - Time to move on although we will miss looking at Split Rock Mountain. We’ve really enjoyed our stay at Dinosaur. We moved east to Strawberry Reservoir which is very nice. You can get long term camping spaces there. Also there is a marina. There are a lot of large homes built on the hills overlooking the water. They are nice, but there are not any trees at all, so the houses looked naked. Ed & Carol are here and we chatted with them for a while. Who knows where we will see our next LD people.

Monday – May 7 – The low last night was 27. I think that is the lowest we have experienced for the trip. We are at 7,500 feet and there is still snow above 10,000 on the north faces.

We hoped to paddle the yaks today. The wind was calm until 9 and then it started blowing. And so it goes.

Looks like we will just be lazy today and figure out where our next hop will take us.

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Two things about Utah streets. 1) Downtown, they are wide enough to make a U-turn in a four-horse drawn wagon. Brigham Young declared this requirement. 2) The addresses are logical, but maddening. 1847 East 5010 South.

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Tuesday, May 8 - Our goal was to get to Payson, UT. We entered the basin at Provo. It is the home of Brigham Young University. The part that we saw indicates that it is a lovely campus. The off-campus housing seems to be exceptional. The town is clean and upscale. Our goal here was to visit Utah Trikes. It is a good size store selling only recumbent trikes. I  test drove two and had a great time. Wish I could have brought one on the spot, but we don’t have room for it. I selected a Catrike Villager. We will have it shipped home.

We landed at the Payson Wal*Mart for the night. There are some fine FS CG’s in the nearby canyon, but there is no cell or TV coverage there and tonight is Dorothy’s TV night.

The CBS station started pixilating during the 5:30 news. When we cut it on at 7 for NCIS, it was not watchable. It was perfect again at 8. And so it goes.

Wednesday – May 9 – We moved north 15 miles to a state park on Utah Lake to make spaghetti sauce. It takes five hours to cook and that is a little longer than we care to run the genset. It spoiled our record of being off-the-grid for 49 consecutive days.

We are in the Lakeshore Campground, but none of the camp sites have a view of the very large lake. There is a marina and quite a few sailboats.

We have not been near a Costco since El Paso and that was mid-March. So we made a run this morning. We had a good time and bought things I did not plan to buy, of course. But, we did not get the haddock and salmon fish that we wanted. They did not have either one, but the fish they did have were extremely expensive.

Thursday – May 10 – We drove two hours north on I15 to Ogden. Lots of traffic due to road construction and lots of grit in the air due to windy cold front moving in. After we cleared the road construction, the traffic cleared out. My first view of Salt Lake City is nothing like I remember it from 1965 - imagine that.

We are in a really nice FS CG called Anderson Cove on Pineview Reservoir. We have green grass, trees and a lake - what more could you ask for? We excellent cell and TV signals. Ogden, 15 minutes down the hill, is rather upscale. We plan to do a lot in SLC, which is an hour away.

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Having not been here before, I only had a fair idea of the terrain. The glacier sculpted Wasatch Mountains bound the basin on the east. Homes are built on the lower slopes, just like in LA. Everything is located between the mountains and the desert to the west. This is prime ski country.

We have seen several new 10,000 square foot homes and very few for sale signs. Unemployment is 5% in Utah. Every town, large or small has nice parks. The infrastructure, physical and social, seems sound here. Plus, all over Utah, are cute blond 5 yo girls.

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Friday, May 11 - This morning we went to Salt Lake’s Hogel Zoo.  It’s not as big at the San Diego or St. Louis Zoo, but still nice and we saw some interesting animals.

We walked around for two hours so then we need to find lunch.  We were looking for a Middle Eastern grocery store and what better way to do that than go to a Middle Eastern restaurant and inquire. We went to Mazza’s.  We had potatoes harra for appetizer and I tell you I had the best baked eggplant over rice ever!  I will try to copy that recipe. Don’s dish was good, but nothing like mine.  I am going to Google Potatoes Harra now.

Saturday, May 12 -  Our goal today was to get me a pair of comfortable shoes to wear while we are walking on trails.  We went to New Balance shoe and found a pair.  After walking for a while, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t been aware of my feet.  It has been years since that has happened.

After our shopping excursion, it was lunch time so we went to the Red Iguana, a highly recommended Mexican restaurant. Their specialty is moles.  They have seven of them, they gave us a sample of each and they are very good!

Next we went to Temple Square.  While at the Visitors Center we were lucky enough to chat with two LDS members who were also touring. They gave us a lot of information about the Temple which non-LDS members cannot enter.  I think the most important information was the basis of their religion.  They feel that they are Christians and the basis of their religion is Jesus Christ.  No, they did not proselytize. Hopefully, Mitt Romney will be our next president and I think that it is interesting to know about his religion. We then toured the Tabernacle where they have their annual Christmas music that many of us have seen on TV. The organ is huge - the largest of any I have ever seen.  There was a gentlemen playing the organ.  Next we went to the Assembly Hall. This is a very old building and it also has a very large organ.  The last place we went was the museum which detailed the Mormon’s travels from when they were run out of Illinois until they arrived in Salt Lake City.
 

Assembly Hall and it’s organ

The Organ in the Tabernacle

Today, we are going to take it easy. We have a lot of places to visit next week.

In The State Of Erosion - IV

We are in dinosaur country. Lots of 150 million year old bones in this part of Utah [also in CO and WY] Most things are named Dinosaur or Split Mountain. The local football team is named The Dino’s.

We got bumper stickers I Love Drilling. This should make us popular in the liberal states. Wells are all over the place. Vernal has a mile long stretch of drilling related firms.

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Sunday, April 29 - The Green Valley campground at Dinosaur NM has 83 sites.  Half of them are closed because there aren’t many people yet.  Of the loops that are open, at least half of the sites are closed due to “Dangerous Trees”.  We can’t see anything wrong with the Cottonwoods - no dead branches or dead trees.  And most of the best sites are the ones that are closed.  But we can’t complain because we moved to a larger site and it has a good view of Split Mountain. We have cell phone, internet and television here.  It’s been a month since we had TV.

In Our Back Yard – Split Mountain

Monday, April 30 -  We can’t seem to get over how beautiful this place is and how much we like being here.  Thanks to Terry and Betty for getting us to come here two years ago.   It’s 1:00 and we are the only ones in the campground.  There were six last night.  We went to the Quarry.  It is an ancient sandbar where a lot of dinosaur bones washed down and weren’t discovered until the 1920’s.  These are the best that we have ever seen.  The Quarry had been closed for about five years because the building was deemed unsafe. [Built on Bentonite]

Bones In The Quarry

Only Real Dinosaur We Have Seen

How about this one Patrick?

We went to the Visitor’s Center and had a nice chat with one of the Rangers.  We mentioned that we had really noticed a difference in the National Parks from our previous visits - there are a lot less rangers.  What that means is the parks that are supposed to be preserved for future generations to enjoy is probably not going to happen.  There is more vandalism, such as Indian art being destroyed or having graffiti added, Indian ruins being destroyed and not obeying the rules.  It’s very sad.  So off I go on a political rant.  Congress is planning to cut the park’s budget another 10% next year.  These are the people that vote for worthless selfish shit for themselves all the time.  I would be willing to bet that no more than 5% of Congress (and certainly not Obama & family!) ever spend time in our National Treasures.  This is very sad!  Theodore Roosevelt must be rolling in his grave.

Tuesday, May 1 - Wow, can’t believe it’s May!  Today wasn’t too exciting.  It was cloudy with very light rain.  We did laundry and grocery shopping.  Back at cg, we are still amazed at the beauty of this area. 

Wednesday, May 2 - We drove to Island and Rainbow Parks yesterday. [Parks are another name for holes] From the overlook at Island Park you can see the islands in the Green River.   When we got there we discovered that we have been there before.  Old age is wonderful - you get to see everything once again for the first time.

Thursday, May 3 – It was overcast early, but cleared by 10, so we took a drive on Blue Mountain Road. We were not expecting much, but when the road climbed to 7,600 feet we had a drop dead gorgeous view of the entire Uinta Basin. I thought it looked somewhat like Cathedral Valley, only much larger.

We think the colors here are quite diverse and the rock formations are more varied than anywhere we have been.

After arriving back at the campground, two LD’s drive in.  That’s a surprise!  Even more surprising is that it’s Ed and Carol Daniels from Florida, Southeast LDer’s, that we met before we even got our LD.  With them was John and Linda Leach from Colorado.  We had a nice visit and then we cooked dinner together.  It’s so much fun to spend a joint meal with friends.  It’s great seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

Friday, May 4 - We took a really long drive today to Brown’s Hole. This is one of the places where the Wild Bunch hid out. [You know Butch, Sundance, etc.] To access the Hole, which is a basin of farm land, you have to enter through Crouse Canyon. The canyon is just wide enough for a one-lane road and the creek which runs through it. The 1st Armored could not get through the canyon unless they were invited.

A Swinging Bridge We Crossed Over The Green River

After dinner we chatted with Ed & Carol.  The weather is wonderful and it was very pleasant sitting outside.

Saturday, May 5 - We took a drive to the middle section of the monument. We just love this place.  We will be moving tomorrow after eight days here. Dorothy’s foot has been in pain the last three days.

Sunday, May 6 – We lounged around until 10:30, drove into Vernal did the weekly marketing and headed three hours west to Strawberry Reservoir. Ed had alerted us that this might be a good place. He was right. We are higher, 7,000 feet, so it’s cooler and we don’t have TV. We do have the fastest Internet we have had anywhere ever and a great view of the water below. We streamed 60 Minutes and a missed episode of Blue Bloods.

The State of Erosion - III

We were at the beginning of a 4WD road the other day, when a truck came up behind us. Not wanting him behind us, I pulled over and he continued on at a brisk pace kicking up dust. A few miles later he was headed back toward us. He flagged us down to tell us that he could not get up a sand hill so his logic followed that neither could we, so he would see us back at the bottom.

I looked at his fat tires and noted that they seemed to be fully inflated. We had aired ours down before starting out. We continued on and came to the sand hill. It was steep, but only about 40 yards long. I put Pelli in 4WD Low and launched her briskly forward. I keep the power on all the way up. I smiled.

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Sunday, April 22 - On the Poison Spider, one of the top rated 4WD trails, this waterfall stopped us. Yep, real Jeeps can go over those rock shelves.

I hiked to the top and got these pictures.

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Riding a bike does not make you a better person or entitle you to anything extra. In fact, I will probably think you are a wimpy green liberal until you prove otherwise.

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Monday, April 22 – Today we did two roads, Sandy Flats road all the way to the Loop Road and then part way on Behind the Rocks.

Sandy Flats was unremarkable until we neared the La Sal mountains, then we got a view of Castle Valley.

Woohoo! It was one of those stay on the cliff or fall 2,000 feet straight down deals.

Since we were fairly close to Behind The Rocks, I wanted to get an idea about it. It too started out just OK, then we got some great views and this arch on the Holy Caterpillar [Rock]. I did not photograph the Holy Caterpillar as the attending priest said it might anger his spirit. You will have no trouble finding the Holy Caterpillar if you are inclined to worship him.

The sandstone above is referred to as slick rock. And it can be a little slick when wet. However, I read an explanation of where the term originated. When water flows over it, algae forms and when an iron ringed wheel rolls over it, the entire rig might slide off the road. That is a little different than a mountain bike or Jeep losing traction.

Behind The Rocks was devoid of signage and the Delorme map was of no help. So rather than guess which was the main road at each of the many Y’s, I decided we had driven far enough for one day. Besides, at some point it was supposed to become more trail than our stock Liberty can handle.

We invited our CG host, Bill, over for dinner and we had a very nice chat.

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Being in Utah, I thought I would read a little about the LDS faith. Nothing unremarkable to me. Typical Protestant theme.  One thing stood out to me, they believe the Constitution is divinely inspired.

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We have been to three National Parks so far this year. It's a different experience with so few rangers. We were told at two parks, that due to budget cuts, no interpretive rangers are being replaced.

Volunteers (SCA) are used for ranger talks and walks, the front desk, and even at fee entry stations. We spent two weeks at the Grand Canyon and never saw a ranger, except on ranger walks.

The park are running on auto-pilot, vandalism is up, rules are being ignored.

While the parks are an American treasure, they may be on a downhill slide due to budget cuts to finance other departments of the government.

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Tuesday, April 24 – I really didn’t feel like going on a hike. My feet have been giving me problems. We spent time getting ready for our next hop. I cleaned out the refrigerator and pantry because we are grocery shopping on our way out of town. Don vacuumed and got everything nice and clean. And suddenly, the wind started blowing. I didn’t get the windows closed fast enough so everything got dirty again. After going to the beauty shop and back to the library, we came home and I swept and mopped the floors and Don worked on the outside. After dinner, we visited with Dan & Barb Adamson, an LD couple from Ohio that we met at the Mothership.

Wednesday, April 25 - Very reluctantly we left Moab and drove two hours north to Price. We have enjoyed our stay in Moab, but the weather is warming up so we decided to move north. We went to the local BLM and Forest Service offices and discovered that almost all CG’s are closed until mid-May or June! We had dinner at Los 2 Amigos which was pretty good. We “camped” for the night at Wal*Mart along with another RV.

Our reason for being here is to see the rock art in Nine Mile Canyon. Obstacles: They are paving the road and rain is forecast.

Thursday, April 26 – 70% chance of rain today and 50% tonight. We observed less than five minutes of light rain. Spent the day and night in the Heritage city park, waiting for the all clear.

Friday, April 27 – We drove to Nine Mile Canyon, which is really 40 miles long and parked at the only CG on road – a working cattle ranch. After lunch, we drove to the rock art section in Daddy Canyon, stopping at several places to wonder at the art.

The panel below has appeared in National Geographic. The paved road will bring more people and that may not be good for the petroglyph sites as people like to deface them.

The Great Hunt Scene

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We have decided that one guy roamed the west offering art in exchange for meals. You want a sheep? I can do many sheep for you. Of course, after awhile he had imitators. That folks is why there is so much of it.

We have also determined that the pictures showing anthropomorphic figures with antenna are nothing more than common aliens who beamed up the Anasazi who are now living in comfort in Gemini II. A place known to be free of liberals.

Common Aliens

The later Indians were also into advertising. This is the first cut of the Sinclair gasoline ad of the early 60’s. It’s labeled for your edification.

Now you know.

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Saturday, April 28 – We figured that since we were over half through the 40 miles of road under construction the quickest way out was to continue. Besides, all the dirt hauling trucks were heading east so that must be where the road is being improved. Wrong. It took us 2:25 crawling along at 13mph to get to the fine smooth new blacktop. Our GPS had no clue where we were which became critical to getting to US40. Fortunately a local flagged us down and set us on the right road. Love these Utah folks.

We made it to Dinosaur NP near Vernal, UT after lunch. The last time we were here it was roasting hot. This time, it’s cool. For the first time this month we have TV, all networks. Plus OK cell phone coverage. We remember Dinosaur as being good, but it is absolutely gorgeous. We have a wonderful view of one of my favorite mountains! We’re happy campers and are glad we are here.

Here’s picture of the locale we took in 2009.

Sunday, April 29 – We vegged. Watched CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes and The Good Wife.
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The State Of Erosion - I

Of all the states, Utah shows the most erosion. Which is what attracts us and millions of others. I can not relate to the millions of years it has taken for the rock to be worn down by wind and water. The effects of the latter can been seen after a rain. For instance, boulders moved in the streams. Wind is harder to for me understand that it can carve rock.

There have been three successive lows move through north of us and each has brought things like four feet of hail to Amarillo, late snow to northern Utah, etc. The fallout we have seen from the fronts is wind. 40 plus gusts. That picks up the dirt and moves it into KoKo and into the next county.

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A ruin perched high on a rock wall, so far unmolested

We love these formations

Us by David

David and Mary by Us

Monday, April 9 - We arrived in Moab, UT.  We haven’t been here since 2006.  This is Jeeping country and home to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.  Lots of red rocks.  We are camped at Goose Island Campground and our site overlooks the Colorado River and the canyon walls across the river.  We have cell phone and internet at the campsite - yea!  The main thing to do was the laundry.  And we had lots of laundry.  I used ten washers, which is a record.

Tuesday, April 10 - Today was settle in day.  That means we had several errands to do.  We got our mail at the post office.  Drove around town seeing where things are and then we went to the City Market.  I still have my Value card from 2006.  It’s a good store and they had lots of fresh breads and wonderful meats.  With all the groceries we bought, we saved $0.10 per gallon at the gas pump.

You might notice a theme in our travels.  We enjoy going to the grocery stores on our travels.  We really like the local stores.   It’s like being at home (Birmingham) and going to Western Supermarket - it’s local and special.  We haven’t found one in Montgomery.  Hint:  Ken & Patricia - a business opportunity?!?!

Wednesday, April 11 - We drove to Gemini Bridges - twin bridges!  It was a dirt road, of course.  After walking across and around the bridges we then left for Hwy 191.  The dirt road became a Jeep trail.  And the wind started blowing.  We stopped a couple of times waiting for the red dirt to pass.  After nap we went back to town looking around.  Moab is definitely a tourist town - bike shop, Jeep rentals (a lot of them), guided tours, at least two dozen hotels and lots of RV parks, also BLM land and the National Parks.  The many restaurants are geared to the tourist trade and the prices reflect that - $10 for a hamburger and nothing with it! A fish taco for $5.

 

Thursday, April 12 - To say it was windy last night is a gross understatement.  It blew so hard, “How Hard” - well the wind had Koko rocking and rolling a lot until a little after midnight.  We believe it was the worst wind we have been in.  There is a layer of red dirt inside, so today will be spent cleaning and washing and dusting, etc.  Chatting with park host this morning, a camper’s tent blew into the river and floated away.  He wanted to know where he filed a claim for the loss!

Friday, April 13 - Today we drove to Chicken Corners.  It starts off easy and wasn’t a very bad drive.  Our first stop was some pictographs and then we continued along the dirt road.  Don had been needing some off-road experience and he got it.  It was a fine drive and only one part (Chicken Corners) did I turn “chicken” - I walked and he drove.  When it was time to head back, I got back in the car since it had seemed easy.  But he was on the cliff side returning and he said he only had a few inches between him and the river which was down 400’.  But we made it in 5 hours and all was well.  We met the Gardner's at Blu Pig for dinner.

Newly built for unknown purpose

The Colorado, tranquil here

On the way back from Chicken Corners.               See the chicken.

On the way back, we stopped to watch some Jeeps come up the Amaza Back, a steep rock stair step. Dorothy thought she was having either heart burn or a heart attack. She did not turn blue or white, so I guessed the former. Besides, we were 30 minutes from a hospital. It lasted awhile, but it went away as fast as it came on.

Saturday, April 14 -  It was cloudy, cool and windy, but didn’t want to stay inside so we went looking for the place to take a special picture.  Don had seen it at the Senior Center when we were there a couple of days ago.  We drove around looking for a special road, but Glenda the GPS didn’t find it and neither did we. We turned around and headed back to Koko.  Suddenly there was the scene, so Don did a few practice shots so we can go back when the sun comes out.  We were at the Senior Center because they have library, so I got some books and left them some books - nothing to do with age ha ha!

After our nap, we had a knock on our door and there was a couple, Dan & Barbara Adamson, whom we met when we each took delivery of our new LD’s.  They came in and we had a nice chat.  They are staying at Dead Horse Point SP.  

Continued in Part II

The State Of Erosion - II

Sunday, April 15 – It was supposed to be another overcast day, but the sun came out about 11 and lasted until 2 when a wind storm came up. By 4, the sun was out again. We vegged and cleaned the rig.

Monday, April 16 – We drove Potash Road and found a 4WD road that looks interesting so we might try it later. We went to the store and to buy a new radio for Pelli since the one in it died.

Tuesday, April 17 - We drove to the Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands. Spent most of the day there, but it was overcast, so no pictures.

Wednesday, April 18 - We got a new radio installed in Pelli, so we had a lazy morning. We went into town to the used book store so that I could get rid of some of my books and maybe Don & I could get a couple more. Then we went to a Thai restaurant that had wonderful reviews, it was mediocre at best. That will be the last time we eat in Moab.

Dale Evans, a prospective LD owner, came from Grand Junction to look at Koko. While he and Don talked, I sat outside and chatted with Mary.

Thursday, April 19 - A housekeeping and social day. It started off with us moving into the Gardner’s site. While waiting for them to leave, a RV pulled up and asked if our site was available. We told them it was their’s as soon as we left. Three more were lined up behind them “looking for a home.” So we have met Brian and Cindy good folks from Jasper, Alberta.

David & Mary came over to say goodbye, so we all chatted for a little while. Later we did laundry, took on water, dumped and got propane and of course, we went to the grocery store. Brian & Cindy came over for “happy hour” which lasted about 2 1/2 hours. Nice couple and we enjoyed our time with them.

Campground Stories – We chatted with the camp host this morning. That’s always good to hear about local things and sometimes some good stories about other campers. He related about a German camper who did not want to leave any evidence that the site was occupied, such as chairs – too expensive. Of course, when he returned there was a tent in the site, but the tenter was in town eating. He got livid and demanded the host do something. Since it was dark, he did not want to go pack up the tenter and asked the German to ask the tenter to see him when he returned. A few minutes later, someone told the host that there was a tent in road. The host picked up the tent and put it in his site.

The next day, the host again suggested he leave something in his site to show it was occupied. No way. Again it had new occupants when the German returned. The next day, the host noted the German had put in two metal posts and had locked a chain between them. The host called the BLM.

Friday, April 20 – We have been here for two weeks and not made it to Arches NP which is across the river behind us or only a few miles by road. So being a blue sky day we drove to the end of the paved road and hiked Devil’s Garden. We had done it before, but each time is special. This is one of my favorite parks. The landscape is amazing. It was a good morning and I really enjoyed it.

Arches

Saturday, April 21 – It was another glorious blue sky day, so we got away early on Potash Road and took the original road to Dead Horse Point. It looks like this.

At the top, is one of the world’s best places to tent camp. A huge point on rock. No RV’s can enter, but there were tents galore. There is a 180 degree view from Arches in the north to the Abajo Mountains in the south. There was more horizon than our camera can capture, so we looked until it was imprinted.

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In the early afternoon, we drove north on U128 to a point we had found last week where you can capture the nexus of the area – river, mountains and rock.

That’s the famous Fisher Towers on the left, the La Sal’s in the background and the Colorado in the foreground.

Utah

Two writers for no extra cost. We were both recording this week, so it’s merged together. Dorothy’s comments are in the serif font.

Sunday – April 1 – High Winds! Gusts to over 40. Our plan to spend the night in Monument Valley was aborted by blowing dust.

If you have ever watched a Western movie, a part of them was probably made at Monument Valley.  We had planned the to stay at the Navajo campground, take the tour Monday and then leave Tuesday morning.  But the dirt was blowing so much and is predicted to continue that we just drove past.  I am really really disappointed!

I thought about Muley Point, but decided on Goosenecks. There were a half-dozen other rigs there. No dust, but at times the wind seemed to lift KoKo off the ground. Surprise, we had 22 HD channels coming from we have no idea.

This is just a mesa with sagebrush and rock but the dust isn’t bad since there is ground cover. The price if Free! We like that.

Now consider that we are out in the middle of nowhere. There isn’t a large town anywhere. On a whim, Don put up the antenna to see if we could get a television station. We got 22 including Al Jazeera in English. We must admit that it was very interesting and we got news that we would never get anywhere else. I could not pick up bias of any kind. There were comments on the Trayvon Martin case on how the media was making a bit of a circus out of it.

Monday – April 2 – We drove 20 minutes to our new home at Sand Island near Mexican Hat. We wanted to put the boats in the San Juan River, but found the closest put-in and take-out points to be 27 miles apart. More distance than we wanted to do, even with the river flowing 4-5 knots.

It’s still very cool  here and the bushes are just beginning to flower and leaf.  There are petroglyphs on the rocks just across the way from us.  Nothing to do when we got here so we drove into the town.  This is a very small town, but there are old historic homes being renovated and some new construction also.  So something must be going on here. There are three campgrounds plus the BLM park where we are staying.  We saw Fort Bluff and a lot of cabins, so we decided to take a tour.  It is free.  This is the place where several Mormon settlers decided to settle.  The fort is being rebuild by Mormon families.  There is one old cabin standing, the rest are reproductions.  They are furnished with old furniture, chairs, feather beds, dishes and each bed is made with a beautiful homemade quilt.  It is very impressive the work that is being done.  There is no government money coming in, just donations and the time, labor and money of the families involved.  There are probably a dozen cabins and each has the family’s name and history.  We watched a movie at the Visitors Center about the settlers building the “Hole in the Wall” road. 

By this time, we were hungry (we’ve had another time change - MDT now).  We went to the Twin Rocks Cafe and Gift Shop.  All of the food looked very good, but our Navajo Pizza was absolutely yummy.  It was the Classic - Italian sausage, pepperoni and red onion on Ash Bread.  You had your choice of Indian fry bread or Ash Bread.  We told the waitress (who was Navajo) that we didn’t know and for her to pick.  It also did not have the traditional tomato sauce on it.  Don’t know what it was, but it was good.

Tuesday – April 3 – We decided to head north, towards Canyonlands. I thought we would stop at our secret lake location in the Abajo Mountains for the night. From there you have a view north across Canyonlands to Dead Horse Point, some 40 miles distant.

I had forgotten how high the lake was. At 8,600 foot it was 44 at 2PM and the campsites were still mushy from the snow storm three weeks back. So we came down the mountain into Canyonlands, 3,800 feet lower.

We left the campground the campground late and made the 20 mile drive to Blanding where we stopped at the Clarks Grocery Market.  It’s a small store but they had fresh baked bread and pita bread.  I have been looking for pita bread since we ran out in Texas.  They had good prices so I bought a rib eye steak and a pot roast.  We have been beef deprived. 

We headed up the mountain, but the higher we went the more snow we saw and the temperature was dropping.  We got to the lake which is the high point – 8,600’ and it was cold.  The snow was melting so it was muddy.  We continued our journey to Canyonlands National Park.  We thought that since it is so early in the season there wouldn’t be any problem getting a site.  We did pass a BLM campground that looked okay.  When we got to Canyonlands it was full and they recommended that we go to the BLM area.  As we were driving in, a passing car waved at Don to stop.  They have a Lazy Daze and said we would have to get together when they returned.  We found an absolutely fantastic campsite close to David and Mary Gardner from San Francisco.  They came over after dinner and we had wine and a great visit.

I wanted to park at Squaw Flats, but it was full. So we went back five miles to just outside of the park and found a delightful site on BLM land. We have the best back window view in a long time. And it’s free! No phone, No TV, but great views.

Our parking place near Indian Creek

Out our back door

On  the way to finding a campsite an on-coming car flagged us down. It was Lazy Daze owners David and Mary from San Francisco. They came over after dinner and we talked for several hours. We have some friends in common.

Wednesday – April 4 – The bright sun coming through the rear window woke us up at 7. After piddling around, we drove into the park and then on the access road to Elephant Hill Road. According to the signage, this is the most challenging 4WD road in Utah. I hoped to see some Jeep carnage. We hiked up the road, and I use that term very loosely. In places, clearance is measured in feet, not inches.

The reward at the top is a section of The Needles and views of the La Sal, Abajo and Henry Mountains.

Panorama of The Needles

We only saw one vehicle on Elephant Hill Road, sort of a dune buggy, strictly custom. Based on the throbbing sound, in excess of 400hp. It crawled along effortlessly.

David and Mary opted to move to the formal campground at Squaw Flats to be close to the hiking trails. We elected to stay put with our view. We drove over to have cocktails with them.

Thursday – April 5 – We slept until 9! We had planned to be out early. It’s just as well as there was near full cloud cover in the morning, so no photography.

Dorothy fixed the last of the foule [Fava Beans] we brought with us for brunch. Since we did not eat until 11, we are having a steak lunch at 4 – a two meal day.

We drove north on the road we are camping on, Lockhart Basin, which winds up in Moab. There are RV’s galore parked along the road. This is the largest rig we have seen anywhere.

Built by Halmark on a Freightliner chassis

Note tag axle on the coach and triple axels on the trailer

We crossed Indian Creek and the road went rather steeply uphill. I put it in 4WD and started up. The gears were not fully engaged, so I pulled over to let a Rubicon show me how to do it. He made two feeble attempts in his brand new rig and gave up. Since he had twice the tread width I had, I decided Pelli was out of her league in the loose dirt.

The ranger talk was on the numerous outlaws that were in the area in the late 1880’s. Butch and Sundance and some really bad guys like Harvey Logan - the big guy in the movie that challenges Butch for leadership. Also Blue John and Silver Tip. The local stronghold was Robbers Roost just west of here near The Maze district of Canyonlands. Most were horse thieves and rustlers. Butch was the only one to hold up trains.

This is a place where having solar pays off. We can bring a few gallons of water from the campground. But, after a week we will need to dump the tanks and so we will head to Moab and a phone signal.

Friday – April 6 – Yesterday’s wind continued through the night and until early afternoon today.  When the dust cleared, we took what we thought would be a short hike near Salt Creek. It was a loop trail. At the trailhead an arrow on the sign pointed left and read uneven terrain and ladders. I read that to mean we could go right and avoid the ladders and return the way we went in. Wrong. The ladders were near the end of the loop. Poor Dorothy could not handle getting on the ladder to go down so we had to retrace our route over the not so slick rock.

The forecast low tonight is 29 and then warming.

Saturday – April 7 – It’s was a good day.  I operated on the hiking boots so that I am now able to get them on.  We got up and went on two short hikes. One had a view of the Needles.  Then we went on another hike which was only .6 of a mile, but the view of the Needles was much better.  I had an easy day, so was it because it was the morning or was it because my boots fit so much better or a combination of both.  In the afternoon, the Gardner’s joined us for Happy Hour and we enjoyed the visit.  We plan to see them in Moab.

Sunday – April 8 – A busy day. We hiked a little over an hour toward The Needles but did not get there. There was always one more bend to round before arriving. We will have to be content with the more distant view we saw.

It was a difficult hike for Dorothy, especially the return downhill over high rocks steps.

Our closest panorama of The Needles

After lunch we took a Sunday Afternoon ride in search of Indian ruins. This was a two hour dirt road odyssey first west, then south along the base of the Abajo Mountains to 8,000 feet and where there is still snow along the road side and finally north and down into Beef Basin where there are several ruins. That sentence is as long as the road. We did see one perfectly preserved ruin on a cliff. We will take it on faith that there are more ruins in the basin. We could not see them and hiking up a steep cliff to see, was not enticing as sunset was approaching.

However the views of the canyon beyond Salt Creek were spectacular – one of the most expansive views to be found. Bernie you need to paint this one. Much too wide for our camera. The red rock buttes were aflame in the late afternoon sun.

Monday – April 9 – We drove north to Moab. We are parked at Goose Island just north of town. We have cell coverage, but no TV. We did stream Blue Bloods last night.

Enough!