Torrey, Moab and Salt Lake City

Another week has just flown by.

Saturday, May 17, we are still in Torrey (Capitol Reef NP) thanks to a screw up at LaMesa RV in Tucson. Since we were in Salem in March we have been trying to get our Oregon registration for the coach.  Just when we think everything is in order something else rears it's ugly head.  It boiled down to LaMesa not sending the proper paperwork.  In the meantime our temporary registration was expiring very soon.  The first part of the week they had assured us that the fax was sent to ODMV, then they were going to overnight the 30 day extension to us.  Hmm, did not arrive.  After another call we found out the person who was supposed to send the fax was called away from work due to an emergency.  Long story short it was finally sent Friday to arrive at the RV park on Monday by 4:30.  We had to change our itinerary, cutting our time in Moab to 2 days, with the Memorial holiday coming up the RV park in Moab couldn't extend our visit.  Enough whining.  We spent the day geo cacheing around Torrey, we picked up 28.  The area around the town is pretty on it's own with many red rock formations.

Monday, May 19,  We'd run out of "touristy" things to do so we spent the day cleaning the coach, there was a fine layer of dust everywhere plus the endless job of laundry.  The "overnight" letter arrived by 4:00.  We treated ourselves to dinner out since we'd worked so hard.  There are several restaurants in the area, we decided on a Mexican restaurant at the edge of the park.  We walked in, no one was in there (it was almost 6) the waitress poked her head out and told us to sit anywhere.  When she finally arrived at our table Gary asked for a beer, he had to go to the gas station adjacent to the restaurant to buy it.  We're starting to feel like we'd made a poor choice, maybe we should finish the beer and leave, but we didn't want to be rude.  We had some questions about the menu, she didn't know and had to go back to the kitchen and ask.  We finally ordered, at that point more people were coming in we weren't feeling so much like Maytag repairmen.  The food arrived, it was hot and delish, glad we'd stayed. 

Tuesday, May 20, We left for Moab about 9:30, a relatively short drive only 31/2 hours.  Moab, about 4,000 feet elevation, is quite a tourist town.  It is quite the outdoor recreation area, lots of hiking, canyoneering, rafting, mountain biking and of course the two national parks, Arches and Canyonlands.  Spanish Trail RV park was a sight for sore eyes, they even had green grass at each site with a lovely "tiled" patio running the length of the space.  After all the dirt and dust in the last several areas it seemed like the Garden of Eden.  We went to the visitor center first thing for advice on what to see during our short visit.  I bought a cool t-shirt and some post cards.  We checked out a doggie day care for Luci (who else?) so we wouldn't have to worry about her while we spent the day in the canyon.  We looked around town while we were doing some geo cacheing, then headed back to the RV park for the night. 

Wednesday, May 21, We left the park about 8:00, dropped Luci at day care then headed out to Canyonlands.  We skipped Arches since we'd been there 6 years ago, I don't imagine it has changed much since then.  Our first stop was outside the park to see the 600 ft tall Entrada sandstone rock formations they call the Merrimac and Monitor, Civil War ships that had somewhat the same shapes. (so Gary told me)  Canyonlands NP has three sections, Island in the Sky, The Maze and the Needles.  Since  time was short we chose the Island section.    Once we entered the park our first stop was at the Shafer Trail Overlook where the sides drop off 1400 feet to the canyon floor.  Originally a native trail, then in the 1900's ranchers used it then in the 1950's uranium miners used the road, closing in the 60's when it became a national park.  The miners changed the face of the canyon as you'll see from the pictures.  The first hike we took was a half mile loop to see the Mesa Arch.  I think Canyonlands miles are similar to a "hairdressers" inch.  It seemed much farther, a lovely walk to the arch where you could see as far as the La Salle Mtns and all the canyon land .  It was only 100 ft in elevation change but what they don't tell you, it is just the average, there are a lot of ups and downs along the way. Unfortunately it was pretty hazy that day so our pictures don't do it justice.  There were several overlooks along the way to the end, Grandview Point, elevation 6080 ft.  The hike was 2 mile RT (sure) with an elevation change of only 50 ft.  (Ha) It was a lovely walk, lovely in the sense of mother nature's beauty, you could almost see forever.  There were several sets of stone steps along the route, we were wondering who was the poor guy that had to drag these rocks up there.  We couldn't find an unoccupied picnic table so we ate lunch in the car, just as well, the wind was howling.  We headed back to the other section of  Island to the Green River Overlook (you could see how the river carved through the canyon) and Upheaval Dome.  We could see why it is called Island in the Sky, you feel like you're on top of the world with the rock formations  jutting up from the canyon floor like islands.  I skipped the hike to Upheaval Dome, (learned my lesson in Bryce) I sat in the car while Gary took the mile hike.  It was rated moderate which for me means very strenuous.  It was about an hour drive back to Moab, we had to pick up Luci by 4:45 so we had to scurry back.  Canyonlands is beautiful in it's own way but we wish we'd seen it first because the other canyons were much prettier, atleast in our opinion.  For dinner we went to Moab Brewing, of course, their special that night was meatloaf, we chose it so we could have leftovers.  The inside of the brew pub was decorated with an "outdoor" recreation theme.  Over our head was a river rafting boat complete with oars and life jackets.  The wind was really howling by the time we got back to the park, a real dust bowl.  There goes the clean coach!

Thursday, May 22, We headed off to Salt Lake City, a 250 plus drive on secondary roads through Price and into Spanish Fork at I-15, a pretty drive but no more red rock.  The trip through Salt Lake City to Hill AFB  was pretty stressful with all the traffic, Gary said it reminded him of driving through Phoenix.  Our GPS "Miss Sally" and the Military RV campground book had different ideas how to get there, we followed the directions in the book except I didn't read the complete instructions, turn R at the exit.  Well we turned left.  Bad idea, we ran into road construction and it took us a while to find a place to go around the block.  We went over a "dip" in the road that wasn't visible and tore off the clamp that keeps the generator from falling out.  Oh Crud!  My fault, I'm a lousy "nagavator" (as my sister Judy calls herself).  We made it to the base without the generator falling out, got our spot for one night, and settled in.  Our neighbor gave Gary wire to hold  the door shut, he didn't need duct tape for this job. Several years ago in the old coach on our way to the coast, the front wheel well skirt broke loose and was making a terrible racket.  So while  Gary was out there duct taping it together, a big, fancy, expensive coach  drove by.  I told him I bet it wasn't held together with duct tape. Our neighbor  Steve, from Kentucky, is a Gulf War veteran, at the age of 45 is medically retired from the Navy with a strange disease that causes tumors all through his body. The doctors have determined they are caused by the vaccines he had to take to go to the Gulf.  He and his wife Michelle have been full-timing for a couple of years.  She was a teacher and now goes all across the country giving seminars on developing curriculum for teachers.  We ate our left-overs and called it a night. 

Friday, May 23, our plans for the day were changed, Gary had some issues with the left-overs we weren't straying too far from the coach. (If you catch my drift)  I went off to the Commissary to stock up with groceries.  We needed to change spaces so we could get 50 amp electricity.  About noon he was feeling better so we "scrunched" everything together and moved.  We told Steve and Michelle it was nothing personal.  After we got settled they came by to visit, they'd purchased a 2014 Thor last September so we were comparing experiences.  Steve said he wanted to buy a Discovery just like ours but made the mistake of going to an RV show where Michelle fell in love with the Thor, it is also over 40 feet.  You know if Mama ain't happy nobody is happy so they purchased that coach.  It has a lot of windows which make it seem so much bigger.  After their first night out the slide wouldn't go back, things have gone downhill since then.  How do you spell lemon?  They have had so many problems they have to take it back to the factory in Indiana for numerous repairs.  Our "issues" pale in comparison to theirs.  Later we went to Costco just as the forecast thunder and lightning storm started, good thing I had an umbrella, we weren't dressed for rain.  As we crossed over a railroad yard I saw a bolt streak down and hit the ground.  I hate lightening!  We came back and had nice warm homemade turkey chili for dinner.

Enjoy the pictures, TTFN

Gary and Pam

                                          The Merrimac and Monitor in distance

                                         Shafer Trail Overlook

                                         Tree at Shafer Overlook

                                         Not sure what kind of flowers but pretty

                                         Mesa Arch

                                         A view of how miners changed landscape

                                          Gnarly tree

                                         Even rocks like the Ducks

                                          Formations similar to Bryce

                                         More unknown flowers growing out of rock

                                         Another view from the Grand View trail

                                         And another

                                         and another

                                          Old folks sure dress funny

                                         Green River from overlook

                                         This was all I saw of the Upheaval Dome

                                           What Gary saw

Amazing Canyons

Saturday, May 10, We had 5 more overlooks to see at Bryce, Fairyland Point being the last.  Gary walked part way down the trail, there were no railings and had drop offs on both sides. Luci and I watched.  Dogs are allowed on paved trails only so we couldn't go.  Ya, like I would have!  That night we had a nasty thunderstorm, it rained some but not real heavy. I didn't see the lightning all the blinds were pulled.

Sunday, May 11, Happy Mother's Day, we woke up to about 3 inches of snow, 27 degrees and the wind was blowing.  Brrrrr.  I'd been "talking" to Chris about the snow, she suggested we take some pictures of the hoodoo's, it hadn't occurred to us, so we threw on our clothes and raced up to Fairyland Point for some pictures.  The rest of the day we (I) stayed in, we went to dinner at the Cowboy Buffet at Ruby's Lodge, we both ordered off the menu, then we were really "bad" and brought home carrot cake and coconut cream pie.  Yumm!  Oh yea, then we walked Luci in snow flurries.

Monday, May 12, we went into Panguitch to buy groceries, of course we did some geo cacheing (we picked up 8) while we were in town.  Two of them were on a hill overlooking the valley, geo cacheing will take you to places you normally wouldn't go.  Gary hiked down a steep hill for one along a creek, I decided to stay in the car, I watched a snow storm cloud go across the valley on the other side against the mountains.  I worked on our itinerary, we don't have any reservations past Capitol Reef.  I don't want to be without reservations Memorial Week-end.

Tuesday, May 13, we left the cold Bryce Canyon for Capitol Reef, we took the long way because of the sketchy weather and very curvy road.  It was an interesting drive, a backroad, saw very few cars.  We stopped for lunch at Otter Creek Reservoir State Park, the guy wanted to charge us $10.00 for a picnic, we whined, so if we stayed only 45 minutes we wouldn't have to pay.  36 minutes later we were going down the road.  They must have a summer tourist season, they had boat rentals and a funky looking restaurant. We arrived at Sandcreek RV park about 2:30 the owner Donna, is real nice.  There is a horse corral alongside the park and beautiful red rock formations behind the park.  It is BLM land with a couple of trailheads.  Donna's horse (who Luci growls at) is real lonely, it's mate of 19 years died a few weeks ago.
When we pulled in we noticed a Mexican restaurant across the street that was filled with Harley's and more were pulling in.  We got nosy so we had to check them out (plus there was a geo cache nearby), it was a Harley tour of Europeans and Brazilians.  Off we went to check out the visitor center, the fellow was quite helpful, we'd asked him about Scenic Hwy 12, (the road we didn't take) he told us it was a "must see", a great day trip. Later we drove up to the BLM land to check it out, the road is too rocky to drive unless you don't care about your car.  We'll do the hike later.  We let Luci run, after spending the day in the coach she had a lot of spent up energy to burn off.  And of course we found a geo cache.

Wednesday, May 14,  I'm finally feeling like my old self,  thank goodness.  We took the 20 mile scenic drive through Capitol Reef National Park, stopping at the overlooks to snap a kajillion pictures.  At one of the first signs there was an explanation of the colors in the rocks.  The Chinle formation, the lighter, the Shinarium which is the gray and the Moenkopi, the red.  We took of the main road to the Grand Wash Road, a rough and rocky road to see the Cassidy Arch, it turns out to see it easily you need to take a 3 mile walk up steep terrain, so we just saw it from afar.  We drove on further to the end of the paved road to Capitol Gorge Rd. We had a nice picnic then left Luci in the car (it was cool enough) to hike up to The Tanks about a half mile.  We ran across some petroglyphs then the Mormon Registry, with some of the names dating back to the 1860's.  You'd think they would have know better than to deface the rock.  I walked back before reaching the Tanks, I was worried about Luci.  She was fine, as we waited for Gary she made some friends. 

Thursday May 15, we decided this would be a good day to take the scenic drive down to Escalante, 112 miles rt.  We climbed steadily after leaving Torrey to Dixie National Forest.  The Ponderosa Pine were starting then into the Quaking Aspen.  As we neared the summit of 9600 feet the hillsides were all Aspen, sort of a gray green color, the whitish color of the trunk and the green of the leaves just starting to bud out.  There was still some snow at the top.  We stopped at a meadow (just short of the overlook) to let Luci run.   At the summit overlook you could see the Henry Mountains to the NE covered with snow, the  Ponderosa Pine forest, a reservoir, and the rock formations of Capitol Reef at a distance.  In the town of Boulder we stopped at Anasazi State Park Museum to see the Pueblos built in the 1100's.  Archeologists uncovered 97 rooms 10 pit structures and thousands of artifacts.  The Navajo's only stayed there for about 50 years, they aren't sure why, possibly draught.  On our way to Escalante, the road started climbing in elevation again and got very curvy, we met a young couple from Montreal biking their way from Key West to Alaska.   About halfway up the hill at an overlook we met him, his wife was still peddling up.  Very interesting couple, they said the worst part of the trip was through West Texas, very flat road and relentless winds.  As we entered Escalante (named for an early Spanish Explorer) we stopped at The Hole in the Rock Museum.  A group of Mormons, on their way east from Cedar City to Bluff  to start a mission, decided to take a short cut.  All went well until they came across a very narrow cut, they ended up having to carve out a road.  Once that was done getting through it was no picnic, it was so steep when they came down the other side people and horses had to hold the wagon back to keep it from racing forward.  A little over 200 people, 84 wagons and a 1000 head of cattle went through the tiny cut in rock.  At the museum we watched a film about their trek, I cannot imagine being a pioneer woman, I am such a princess.   The museum gift shop included a number of homemade goods including a basket of crocheted balls on the floor, to our horror Luci snatched one up, I thought we were going to have to buy it but the ladies (who are dog people) let her have it.  Later that night she chewed it up.  One of the ladies said to be sure to take the Burr trail on the way back for some amazing scenery.  After a delicious, thick chocolate shake we headed back to Torrey. We left Hwy 12 at Boulder to check out the Burr Trail, at first it was nothing spectacular then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!we started through more red rock, down a winding road to the bottom of the canyon to the end of the pavement where you could see across the valley to the Water Pocket Fold, warping rock created 65 million years ago, uplifting the Colorado Plateau.  The 34 mile rt was worth the drive.  We'd left the RV park about 10 and got back about 8.  146 miles.

Friday, May 16, we went looking for a barber for Gary.  There aren't any in Torrey  banks either), we ended up two towns down.  I wasn't ready to get back in the car.  Gary asked where the best pizza in the area was, Rim Rock just north of Torrey.  We sat outside, enjoyed an adult beverage and the pie was wonderful.  We kind of vegged after that until about 8 Gary suggested we go to the Cowboy bar that just opened up for the season that night.  We couldn't believe how huge it is, there was live music, dancing, pool tables, a "sports bar" section and restaurant seating  including outside.  We first sat in the saddle "stools" at the bar, we did get a picture but you'll have to go on facebook to see it, then switched to regular stools.  They were regular saddles it must have cost a fortune there were about 15 or so.  Gary visited with a ranch manager, a real cowboy, he looked like he came directly out of the westerns on TV.  I visited with a local fellow who was raised in the area, moved away to earn a living then came back to retire.  He bought a 100 year old Victorian house and renovated it.  The old hairdresser in me brought out his life story.  He came in to dance, there was an old high school girlfriend there he danced with.  He said she's has a rough life and didn't age well.  Snoopy old me I asked how old he is, just about 72, I was surprised, I thought he was older.  (I didn't say that though)  We did a little dancing, the altitude makes it difficult and had a little snack.

Enjoy the pictures, as usual it's hard to choose out of the 100's Gary takes.

TTFN

Gary and Pam
                                          Entering Bryce Canyob

                                         Obviously stay behind fences did not include him

                                          Luci gathering a crowd  It was a chilly day

                                         Hoodoo's

                                         Sunset Point 8,000 ft

                                          Amazing colors

                                         Part of the Rim Trail

                                         Sunrise Point

                                         Fairyland Point

                                          More Hoodoo's

                                         Mother's Day at Fairyland

                                          Can you imagine tenting?

                                          

                                          Back from Fairyland

                                         Arriving in Torrey,  Harley Tour

                                         Different layers of color at Capitol Reef

                                               More colors

          

                                         I call these curly fries rocks

                                                    Gary and Luci in front of striped rocks

                                          Too many rocks

                                          Wildflower Indian Paintbrush, natives used for adding color

                                          Mormon registry

                                         quaking aspens on scenic hwy 12 about 9,000 ft

                                         Navajo's pueblos

                                          Artists rendering of descending hole in the rock

                                        Perspective of how big rocks are

                                         View from end of Burr Trail, Henry Mts in background

 

                                          Huge valley

                                         View from top of Boulder Mtn. Overlook

Page, Zion and Bryce

I have some catching up to do!

Thursday, May 1, our last day in Page.  We took an early (for us) tour of Antelope Slot Canyon located on Navajo land, led of course by a native.  The tour "bus" was a pick-up truck with seats in the back that seated about 20 or so people.  Once we left the paved area we drove a couple of miles through loose sand, a bit nerve wracking it seemed like we'd get stuck any minute.  The canyon itself was so beautiful, a spectacular sculptured sand dune created by water and wind, it was really awe-inspiring piece of Mother Natures work.  It took about 1 hour 45 minutes for the trip.  After lunch we took the Glen Canyon dam tour (or as granddaughter Alyssa said many years ago, "the dam tour".  I guess you'd have to have been there.  Built in the 1950's and early '60's it took 5 million yards of concrete to complete.

Friday, May 2, we left Page headed towards Zion, neither Gary or I have been to the canyons of Utah except for a 'quickie" trip through Arches on our way to Colorado Springs.  We drove on Hwy 89 through Kanab (another area we'd like to revisit) to the Mt. Carmel/Zion junction.  We'd read earlier that rigs over 50 feet are not allowed through the 12 mile scenic highway because of of the 6 switchbacks down the hill.  The highway was built in 1930 by the CCC. Also there are two tunnels, one of which is too low, we had to disconnect, when Gary got to the opening of the tunnel they stopped oncoming traffic so he got to drive down the middle of the tunnel all by himself.  The tunnel itself is a mile and a half long, there are 6 "windows" along the way which helped with my claustrophobia.  Driving myself down the mountain through all those switchbacks was stressful in my little Jeep I can't imagine driving a 40 ft motorhome.  We drove through Zion National Park to our "home" in Hurricane arriving about 2:30. 

Saturday, May 3, we drove up to the North entrance of Zion, the Kolob Canyon.  It was a 5 mile drive through some majestic rock formations.  At the top there was a mile and a half hike up to a look-out that Gary took, dogs aren't allowed on any trails in national parks, so Luci and I stayed in the parking lot.  He did take some pictures so I could see the view.  We checked on a doggie day care for Luci just outside of the park, we'd decided to do some hiking and didn't want to leave her in the coach for an extended amount of time.  Afterward we stopped at Oscar's, a dog friendly restaurant for a late lunch.

Sunday, May 4, We decided to drive back to the Mt.Carmel/Zion hwy to see what we'd missed on the way down during our "white knuckle" drive in.  The tunnels didn't seem quite so long this time and the 5% downgrade wasn't quite so hair raising.  We had a picnic along the way and let Luci run on the rocks.  The rock formations changed from red sandstone to a checkerboard mesa formed with horizontal and vertical lines that did resemble a checkerboard.  Everywhere you looked was another amazing sight.

Monday, May 5, we dropped Luci off at Doggie Dude day care so we could to some hiking.  You have to take a shuttle bus up the canyon, which is great, you don't have to hunt for a parking spot.  It was a beautiful day for hiking, warm with a nice breeze.  We took the bus to the end for the Riverside hike, an easy 2.2 round trip on a paved trail along the Virgin River.  At the end there is another walk you can take called the Narrows, it is rated strenuous.  We skipped that.  The next hike was another "easy" hike up to the Weeping Rock, only a half mile but in places very steep.  It felt like Oregon when we were under the overhanging rock with the water dripping down like rain.  Our next hike was to the Lower Emerald Pools and onto Zion Lodge on a connecting trail, about 2 miles long, I wouldn't have rated this as easy.  We stopped along the way for a picnic, met some interesting people from San Diego that we shared benches with.  They were an "older" couple, she was a realtor that had recently sold a place in SD for a guy who was moving to Salem.  By the time we reached the lodge my beat up old ticker had reached it's max.  Good thing we didn't have any more hikes planned.  We picked up Luci at doggie day care and went home to the coach.  Our neighbors in the park Ben and Susan from Boise invited us for dinner, they were leaving the next day to go home.  They have a cute little pop-up A-frame trailer for camping. 

Tuesday, May 6, we hung around the park and did chores, including washing the motorhome and car.
The forecast was lousy for Wednesday, rain and snow in the higher elevations, since Bryce is 7000 ft we decided to hold off until Thursday to leave. 

Wednesday, May 7, we decided to head into St. George population of almost 75,000 for a look around, I've never seen such a clean well kept town.  It is also called "Dixie" because summers are warm and winters mild.  The area was settled during the Civil War to grow cotton.  On our way into town we saw a sign for a dinosaur exhibit, thought it sounded interesting so we exited the freeway.  In the '60's a farmer excavating his farm for a subdivision dug up a large chunk of rock, when it fell off the backhoe he discovered the dinosaur tracks.  That stopped all work on the project.  The tracks are 200 million years, since the initial discovery they have found many more fossils in the area.  We walked around the historic downtown with metal sculptures scattered throughout.  Also a very nice park, especially for children with water features all over for them to play in.  A bus load of kids were there playing in the water even though it was cool and rainy.  Yes, rainy, there went my clean car!  We had lunch in a historic café then headed back to the ranch.

Thursday, May 8, we loaded up and headed off to Bryce, the weather was dry and the snow was gone.  I'd been feeling kind of lousy since the hikes but I mushed on.  We stopped in Panguitch for lunch.  We left the restaurant, got back to the coach and I told Gary I'd better see a doctor before we headed up to the canyon, my tired beat up ticker was acting up.  Gary walked back to the restaurant and said "this might be an odd question to ask since we just ate here but is there a dr in town?"  The population was only about 1,500 so we were surprised to learn there was a hospital just 4 blocks down the street.  I was the only one in the ER and did we ever get great service.  The doc was quick to come in an order tests, etc.  He knew where Salem was, during his LDS mission he was in Keizer for about 6 months.  Anyway I got to spend the night for observation and all was well, I had overexerted and was dehydrated.  Gary and Luci went on up to Bryce to settle in.

Friday, May 9, I was discharged first thing in the morning and off to Bryce I went, but first of course, we picked up a couple of geo caches.  After lunch we drove to the end of the road in Bryce Canyon to Rainbow Point and Yovimpa Point, elevation 9,195 feet.  The view was breathless and so was I.  On the way down we stopped at 6 overlooks.  We'll finish the rest later.  We went to Ebeneezeer's Barn and Grill for a western dinner and show.  We were seated with a couple who knew the group leader, which made it especially fun, he and other members of the group stopped by the table.  The show stared out with rope tricks, gun slinging and whips. (No chains) Western music generally isn't my genre of choice but these guys were great!

Thanks to all of you who responded to Gary's facebook post about my trip to the hospital.

Well, enjoy the pictures, it was hard to choose out of the hundreds Gary shot.

TTFN

Gary and Pam

                                          Our tour bus to Antelope Canyon

                                                    You won't believe these amazing sights

                                         Our view from half way up hill behind RV park

                                          Glen Canyon Dam

                                          and bridge

                                         Lake Powell

                                         Dam visitor center

                                         View from look-out hike Gary took

                                         Self explanatory

                                         Shots driving through canyon

                                         The dreaded tunnel

                                                    Gary and Luci after picnic lunch

 

                                         Rock strations

                                          Riverside walk up Virgin River

                                          The deer weren't skitterish

                                         Sheer rock wall

                                                   Looks like a postcard/hikers heading up to the Narrows

                                         Hanging out at Weeping Rock

                                         Lower Emerald Pool just after waterfall

                                          Our first view at Bryce

                                          Gary with Bryce in background

                                         More of Bryce

                                          What do you think this hoodoo looks like?

                                         Ebeneezer's

                                         The Bar G Wranglers-the leader's 70th bd

 

The Natural Bridge