I Love That We Still Find Beautiful Surprises

 April 30 - May 2, 2023

Torrey, Utah

One comes to Torrey to enjoy the red rock beauty. So Sunday's drive into nearby Fishlake National Forest is a lovely visual surprise!

What starts out as a quick trip to the little towns of Bicknell and Loa to the west takes us into the mountains of the national forest. Snow in the distance becomes snow along the road at about 8500 feet. The lake at 9600 feet is a big surprise. Completely frozen!  At the end of April. Several cabins are still snowed in and the trails all remain closed. The trees are naked. 

It's a very different world from the one of red rock we left this morning. 

But it's those naked trees that are the really big surprise. All Aspen groves grow from one tree, and I've heard of this largest single organism in the world, but didn't remember the Pando tree was in Utah! And here we are driving through the 106 acres of 40,000 trees that all sprouted from a single seed beginning at the end of the last ice age. It is surreal to see the size of this incredible clone forest - to understand what it is. Like Moki Dugway in Bluff, it's amazing that we've just come across this destination on a random day trip! 

No clue what these three circles in the snow are - but they're interesting!

Off the mountain we make a stop at the east end of the national forest, back in the red rocks. Sunglow Campground is a small area of maybe half a dozen dry camping spots. It's quiet and lovely. 

For a few months I've been eating healthy, finally being able to stick with it. Even while we're traveling. I'm down 30# and feeling really good. Before we started this route I "planned" three meals that I wasn't going to pass up - a Navajo Taco at Cameron Trading Post (which I had and enjoyed every bite), Chipotle Meat Loaf at Hell's Backbone Grill, and a Dutch pancake at Original Pancake House in Redmond, Oregon. The meat loaf is here in Buffalo, Utah, on beautiful Hwy 12. 

Monday is the day!! Not that Hwy 12 isn't enough to look forward to on its own :-))) Afterall, it is #2 on Fox's list of top ten most beautiful drives in the world!

It's colder and the wind blows hard all day. The long views are hazy from the dust, but still incredible. Bare Aspens cover the mountains and snow remains in patches. At the 9600' summit snow drifts over 6' high line the highway. 

Down the other side is a small valley, home to the little burg of Boulder, Utah. A climb up Navajo sandstone cliffs takes us into Grand Staircase Escalante National Park and more stunning red rock canyons. Utah really did get a LOT of natural beauty!

Circle Cliffs in Boulder

A turn-around in Escalante takes us back to the small state park in Boulder - Anasazi Village State Park. The museum, 25 minute video, and in situ ruins make up the smallest state park we've ever visited. Definitely worth a stop, and it gets us to our reservation time for dinner!

One exhibit shows how pottery is reconstructed from the potsherds found in the ruins.

The largest collection of points I've seen - beautiful!

Exposed ruins are covered by permanent structures - the workmanship is beautiful.

Pit House

Behind the museum is a replica of the pueblo structure.

Lots of information about the ruins and the area.

Hell's Backbone Grill is an exceptional eatery in a town of less than 240 people. I love that the sconces are all vintage colanders!

The chipotle meat loaf is even better than I anticipated!

With 8, 10 and 14% grades on two-lane, switchback highway, and a stretch along Hog Ridge with 100-foot drop-offs on both sides, means that short of escaping the Zombie Apocolypse I would never drive the motorhome on this route. Even in the Jeep, the Ridge is one of those triple-P roads for me (makes my private parts pucker!). Still, it's a drive that everyone should do at least once.

The colors in Capitol Reef below are more vivid on the early evening return home.

We get a late start out the door on Tuesday so we spend our time catching up on a few places we missed. In the week we've been here Spring has been busy. Trees are green, fruit orchards are in full bloom, and much of the snow on the distant mountains has melted. The weather remains perfect at 70 degrees and a light breeze. 

One of a handful of named formations along the highway, this is Fluted Wall.

The Fruita School held classes from 1896 to 1941 without electricity or indoor plumbing. 

The interior still holds original desks with ink wells, slates and readers. A beautiful pot belly stove kept the students warm in the brutal winters, and four large windows provided their light.

Just down Hwy 24 is a parking area and nice boardwalk for observing several Fremont petroglyphs.

Not as easy to see as others we've visited, but they are lovely.

We've not seen a necklace like this anywhere.

The new cottonwood leaves glow neon against the dark red cliffs across the highway.

In addition to the national park and small towns, the area is home to several large ranches. Three of them are along Notom Road which is also a scenic backway. It's too late to travel the whole road, but we enjoy the views for about 15 miles before turning back home. Hard to believe we're still saying Wow! after a week :-)

These bluffs look like muffin baking gone wrong.

The layers surrounding the Water Pocket Fold are all unique.

It's always great to be sorry we're leaving a place, and at the same time looking forward to the next stop down the road!

M&M enjoying Nintendo Land - lucky boys!

Reese and Penelope may be Virginia girls now, but they had lots of fun on their SoCal visit.

Henry the helper - he's getting so big!!

Terrific Torrey

 April 27 - 29, 2023

Torrey, Utah

For the most part, we've traveled all of this summer's route before. One exception is our Wednesday drive from Bluff to Torrey on Hwy 95. I'm hoping that it will be very scenic, and a note from Pam earlier in the week confirms we're in for a treat. 

I know from our drive to Natural Bridges a few days ago that there are some steep (8%) grades, so I'm happy that past that turn-off the road levels out with one exception. You can really feel the weight of 17 tons coming down a 10% decline, and I'm glad we're the only ones on the road so I can take it nice and slow without any pressure! 

The views in all directions are breath-taking for over 100 miles. Thanks to Pam I know we can take the rig to the end of the Hite Overlook with plenty of parking and turning room. It's rare for us to make a stop on travel day, and this one is amazing!

We really need to remember to clean that windshield!

And that's just the drive to get here!

Happy to be back at Wonderland RV Park where Hwy 24 meets the even more scenic Hwy 12. 50 amp FHUs with grass (Tessa is soooo happy) space on gravel sites. As requested we have open sky for satellite, and their WiFi works great. Also given our current lack of in-house laundry I'm glad to see they have a nice facility.

Thursday morning we're up and out to visit Capitol Reef National Park - my favorite! We start out with bright sunny skies and over the course of the day light clouds move in. It's a perfect 72 degrees all day. 

The Wow!s start early.

A common practice in the late 19th century, outgoing mail was hung from tree branches and collected by the postman. This huge beauty served as Fruita's mail tree for years. 

At the entrance to Grand Wash are two uranium adits, dug in 1907. Very little ore was ever pulled from this location, and changed ownership numerous times before being closed permanently in 1993. 

One quickly feels insignificant here.

A small window peeks at us along the trail.

At the end of Grand Wash is the trail to the top of Cassidy Arch, named after Butch. Note the hiker on the arch. It is not either of us. Ever. 

I love being wrapped in red rock.

Geological layers create drama in all directions.

Capitol Gorge brings the canyon walls up close.

 Golden Throne stands out above the reds and grays.

Rock turns to fire in the noon sun.

The art of erosion on display.

Piles of what used to be massive cliffs - we speculate how it must sound when these fall.

Pleasant Creek Road takes us to an abandoned ranch.

Pleasant Creek bubbles along - I choose not to cross it.

The small ranch house had incredible views.

The lighting has changed since our arrival - more gold than red now.

We end this awesome day with a nice dinner at Broken Spur. My first steak in nearly a year, the filets are prepared perfectly (rare of course) - and the veggies are fresh and tasty. 

Sooo good!

It's hard to tell where the most crowds will be for the weekend, but we figure fewer will be outside the park, on the rough roads. Cathedral Valley Loop is our goal, but getting a later-than-planned start we know the 60 mile route probably isn't practical. Instead we figure we'll head out that way and then turn around after a couple hours. We take the first entrance (the loop is not one-way) and only get about 1/2 mile before we come to the Fremont River crossing the dirt road. Moving fast and looking deep, I'm not prepared to try it when traveling without another vehicle. So we continue on Hwy 24 and take the second entrance at Cainville Wash.

My phone had a weather alert this morning for a "hydrologic outlook" that I'd never heard of. It's a warning that warming temps will cause rises in rivers and creeks. The surrounding mountains are expected to send record snow melt to this area. No idea if the Fremont is higher than normal for this time of year, but we'll keep our eyes open for the rest of the week!

This is a very different looking area, still full of fabulous geology and beautiful colors. Although information says four-wheel-drive is necessary, other than some rough and sandy spots it's a good road.

The road climbs in and out of slick rock formations.

Some areas look like Arizona's Painted Desert.

This gorgeous mound is visible for miles. We laugh at the single hold-out rock on the top.

Possibly salt, some patches in the dry creek are brilliant white.

A bearded gnome guards the entrance to the valley.

The colors here become more vivid as we near the cathedrals.

When we see the sign for two temples and Glass Mountain, we're not sure what to expect, although we figure the larger red monuments in the distance are the temples. 

We are not expecting this is Glass Mountain!

The selenite gypsum plug is very shiny - and incredibly unique.

Such a cool find in the middle of nowhere!

Some of the larger pieces have visible depth.

Temple of the Moon with Temple of the Sun in the back.

A Teenage Mutant Turtle hangs out at the moon temple.

About 20 miles in, we choose the temples as our turn-around point. The weather is perfect and we've seen four other people. We'll see a handful more on the way out, but it's a wonderful day of exploring on our own.

We see a lot of geologic layers in our travels, but this is the most defined example we've seen anywhere.

Although there are no visible cinder cones or volcanic flows, there are numerous single lava bombs like this. They must have flown miles!

The Henrys to the south.

Not colorful, but I find these formations along Hwy 24 fascinating!

Beautiful lavender pleated skirt.

Along the highway in Historic Fruita - wow!

Saturday we let the others have the park and surrounding sights - a good day to get caught up on laundry and housekeeping. 

Penelope and

big sister Reese loving Disneyland!

Elliott loving Spring.

Oliver loving the beach.