Whale watching at Ojo de Liebre National Park

On the next leg of our trip we headed back to the Pacific coast, crossing the 28th parallel – the border that separates Baja California north and south. Because we wanted to do some whale watching, we decided to stay south of Guerrero Negro along Scammon’s Lagoon at Ojo de Liebre National Park. To get here we had to drive about 15 miles through a salt flats working area. Camping costs 100 pesos a night or about $5. There are no hookups but there are hot showers. No cell service either. However, we could see the puffs of the whales’ breaths in the distance from our campsite. The park is only open during the season the gray whales migrate to the lagoon, from December to March, where they give birth and nurture their calves in the protected waters.

They do not allow kayaks in the lagoon so if you want to get a close look at the whales you have to pay to go out in a panga. The cost was 810 pesos or about $42 bucks a person. It is well worth the cost since we got to get so close to the whales. Some whales are shy and will dive when the boat gets close but others are curious and will come up to the boat and even allow you to pet them. Initially it was a little intimidating when the giant mother swam under our small boat. They are large but docile, and even playful, especially the calf. I think the mother purposely snorted water at us a couple times. It was a great time.

When we went into the town of Guerrero Negro to do some business we had the pleasure of trying some of the local food stands. We had some fish tacos of course and we also tried a new taco we haven’t had yet. It is called a Birria Dorado. Birria is a moist, shredded beef stewed in a savory beef stock. The birria is then stuffed into a taco and grilled to a crispy perfection (which means dorado, I think). Man it was delicious. I wish I took a picture but it was so good I completely forgot.

Our next stop is San Ignacio, an oasis in the desert, before bouncing back over to the Sea of Cortez.

Our first time to the Sea of Cortez near Bahia de los Angeles

Between San Quintin and Bahia de los Angeles we stopped halfway in Catavina for the night so we didn’t have to drive six hours in one day. This section of the drive has been the most scenic. It starts off along the Pacific ocean lined with large sand dunes. Then it progresses into the mountains and desert. We saw so many different cacti, some of which I’m sure inspired some of Dr. Seuss’s illustrations. Catavina is just a truck stop basically but there is a campground called Santa Ynez that is tucked away from the highway. It costs $120 pesos a night or about $6 dollars. Remember you should always pay in pesos because another couple that was there said they paid in dollars and it was $10.

After Catavina, highway 1 starts to smooth out. Up to this point it has been very hectic trying to avoid potholes. Most sections of the highway have been narrow with no shoulder, so if another car is coming and there is a pot hole you just have to hit it and pray you didn’t burst your tire.

Bahia de los Angeles, a little bay of the Sea of Cortez is very picturesque. The land coming into it is desert, then there’s the beach, the bay and the mountainous barrier islands in the background. We chose to stay at Daggetts campground which is right on the beach. No hookups at all but there are hot showers, the hottest shower I’ve had in a long time in fact. It costs 100 pesos per person per night which for us is about $10 a night.

While we were here the north winds were very strong all day everyday, it wasn’t until the day we left did the winds die down. I recommend checking the weather before coming to try and ensure it isn’t windy. Due to the winds we were unable to go in the kayaking or fishing which was a bummer. But one day while we were walking down the beach, we met a local man named Glenn who told us where to collect clams here. Glenn then gave us some of his homemade smoked fish and told us he would meet us the following day for clammin’. We continued our walk down the beach to a lighthouse which Tim climbed and then into town for some tacos. We loved the tacos from
Taquería de la Carretera. When she decides to open, the tacos and her homemade salsas are so delicious we ate there twice. No only are they fresh, but they are cheap at only a dollar a piece. There is a convenience store attached to the taqueria where if you buy something you can get the wifi code.

Bahia de los Angeles is a hidden gem and the locals are so friendly and willing to help you find fun stuff to do. In fact while we were clamming, another couple approached us and offered to take us fishing! Since we had already been there three nights, we declined. We are trying to make our way to La Paz in time for Carnaval. Next stop we are going back to the Pacific coast, south of Guerrero Negro along the lagoon for some whale watching!

South of San Quintin on the Pacific coast

Cielito Lindo is a nice little spot to stay. It’s about ten miles south of San Quintin and a five min walk to the beach. It costs 160 pesos/night or about 8 dollars. No electric hookups, but water and sewer. There’s a restaurant on site known for their margaritas and rock crab claws. Happy hour is from 4-5 and makes for a great time to meet and greet other guests. When we arrived at Cielito Lindo, we thought we were the only people here…but everyone comes out of the woodworks at happy hour. Among others, we met Skip, a man from Boston that lives here full time and pays only $65/month in rent.

Around a full moon the tide water at the beach near Cielito Lindo tide water can come up really high, making walking on the beach impossible. We rode our bikes down the beach to the other campground El Pabellon. This campground is 140 pesos a night (7/dollars) but there are no hookups at all. There are large sand dunes that block the view of the beach. The neighboring campground is Fidel’s El Pabellon which has no obstructed view of the beach. These campgrounds are located in a better area of the beach in my opinion, but we decided to stay at Cielito Lindo because we didn’t feel like moving. Maybe on the way back we will stay at one of the others.

There isn’t much to do here other than go to the beach or on the weekends go to the flea market. Skip rode with us and showed us around the flea market.  You can find all kind of great things for dirt cheap like bikes and wetsuits. I bought a slightly used shortie for ten bucks. I recommend staying at Cielito Lindo because of the restaurant and happy hour when you can meet some really cool people like Skip and Juanita, the former owner of Cielito Lindo. We saw her on Globe Trekker’s Baja California. That was almost 20 years ago and here she is still coming back every winter. That says a lot about this place I think. Here I am sipping a strong margarita, listening to the Mexican mariachi version of “Cuban Pete” and meeting others that equally share the passion to travel.

Before our next trek, we filled up on water at an aqua purificado dispenser in San Quintin. They usually only fill up five gallon jugs but since Tim has a “water thief” for connecting hoses to spickets, we pulled our rig up and were able to load up our whole tank! I hope we can continue to fill our tank like this because if we can’t then we will have to fill our tanks with unpurified water and treat it yourself with bleach. We would also have to buy separate water for drinking. Next stop is Bahia de los Angeles. We will stop halfway for one night in Catavina to break up the drive.

Our first stop in BC, Ensenada.

After a very stressful day of being implicated in an accident (see previous post), we finally arrived at our urban campground in Ensenada. We chose Campo Playa RV park because of the convience of walking to stores and resturants. When we pulled in, I thought the placed was abandoned. There were dead palm fronds all over the place, the road (in some parts) is in terrible condition, trash bins are full to the rim, the office building was locked with boxes piled to the ceiling. We thought, oh well it is too late to find another place we will stay and dry camp. After walking around, we found out that it is indeed operational. Since no one was at the “office” we pulled in and hooked up to the 20 amp site. Apparently there is some sort of manager there and we paid her the following day. There are hot showers, but it takes like 5 mins to heat up and the water pressure is terrible. I would not recommend staying here. For $25/night I expect better. Oh and by the way, there is no “Playa” as the name indicates.

The main drag, Ave. Lopez Mateos, is where all the tourist shops are and a lot of bars. From our campground, Campo Playa, it is about a five min drive. There are many Mariscos stands around, which is fresh seafood you can get right on the street. We chose a mariscos that was surrounded by locals called El. Guapo. We try to abide by the saying, “Eat with the herd.” A dozen Pacific coast oysters costs only $5 and tuna ceviche tostadas for less than a dollar. My God, I was in heaven. They shuck the oysters fresh right in front of you, with a freakin’ butter knife! When the bivalve opens you can see the saltwater juice brusting out. It doesn’t get any fresher. I can’t wait to try more of these places.

Ensenada is a busy, bustling port city. There’s a lot of people and a lot of noise. Don’t get me wrong the people are super friendly, but it seems like there is some sort of construction going on at every corner. I’m ready to move further south for some peace and quiet, I hope. Our next stop will be on the beach south of San Quintin.

 

Dealing with the Policia in Mexico and crossing the border.

Crossing the boarder at Tecate went more smoothly than I imagined. We arrived with our RV in tow on a Tuesday morning around 10:30 am. We needed to find a large place to park our RV because you can’t cross the border without a traveler’s visa, which is on the Mexican side. We parked in the large parking lot on a hill that is to the left as you are approaching the border. A sign indicated to pay $10 to park an RV. Since no one was at the office we placed the money in an envelope and proceeded to obtain our traveler’s visas on foot. I suggest exchanging some dollars at one of the convience stores on the US border side prior to doing this since it is cheaper to pay in pesos. By the time we were back at the truck around 11:30 semi trucks were starting to arrive and it was starting to get busy. We were happy to discover that the nice lady at the parking lot returned the money to us, stating that she didn’t charge for short term parking to obtain a visa. We filled up the truck with more diesel and headed for the boarder. The officer inspected the RV in just 1 min (looked in the refrigerator and one cabinet) and we were sent off. She never asked to see our passports, traveler’s visas, or any documentation about our dog Marilyn.

We turned right to get onto highway 2, as Google maps indicated was the fastest route, even though there were signs that said to go left for Ensenada. You can get to Ensenada by taking highway 3, which is more scenic and takes you through wine country, but from the topo maps it looks mountainous which we try to avoid to preserve fuel. It wasn’t very long before there was a military checkpoint and of course we were flagged down to pull over. The Mexican army men looked mean and intimidating holding their M16s. However as one of them approached my side I rolled down the window, smiled and said “Hola” to which he returned the gesture. Again he only searched the RV for about a min (looked in the bathroom and the bathroom closet) before they sent us on our way.

We were cruising happily along, listening to our favorite radio on Pandora, Road Trippin Radio, when something happened…To make a long story short, when Tim saw there was a semi truck pulled over on the right shoulder of the highway Tim signaled he was getting over from the right lane to the left lane, as you are supposed to do to give them room. There was plenty of room to get over even though there was a van far behind us.  It wasn’t too long when we were suddenly pulled over.  Apparently the woman in the van crashed and she was blaming us , saying we didn’t signal and cut her off…so the police made us return to the scene. The police were really upset initially because they only heard her side of the story.  When we returned to the scene and saw the van, it was obvious from the force of impact she was most definitely speeding and most likely texting on her phone or some other distraction. She probably looked up from her distraction, realized she was approaching us too fast, freaked out, turned the wheel and crashed. Tim explained to them in Spanish what happened and after about an hour of deliberation they let us go. It was surprising to me that they never asked for any insurance. Most people don’t carry insurance here, which is why the lady was trying to pull one on us because her van was obviously totaled. Thank goodness she wasn’t hurt or any of her kids either! I felt bad when I saw there were kids in the van but, hopefully she learned her lesson to pay more attention when driving!

So we weren’t in Mexico for two hours when this happened, what a great start to our trip! However, the main reason I wanted to share our story is to debunk the theory that ALL police and army are corrupt. Honestly, I think it went better than if it would of happened in the US since no one was ticketed. No paper work no problems mon. 🙂 After the gut wrenching sensation subsided, we hit play on Pandora’s Road Trippin Radio, and continued on to Ensenada.

Living and working in Tucson, AZ

Hello everyone! It’s that time again. Tim and I are going to go on another road trip adventure, this time to Baja California! Before all that, I would like to tell you about my last assignment in Tucson, Az.

I worked at Tucson Medical Center, but everyone around here calls it TMC for short. I worked night shift in the ICU. They call it the Neuro ICU, however I personally consider it to be more of a medical ICU. There is also a CVICU (Cardiovascular). The night shift staff has a great team work mentality and are very traveler friendly. I can go into more details if anyone has questions please post them in the comment section.

We parked our home at Far Horizons RV resort. As the name implies, it is an age restricted park (55+), but they allow travel nurses to stay. I can’t tell you how friendly and welcoming the people are at this park. Tim and I are obviously not 55 but we never felt out of place. We made friends with many of our neighbors and even learned how to play a new game, Pickleball! The park is spotless, with at least 5 staff constantly pruning or raking. There is a very nice clubhouse with a pool and hottub. As a traveling nurse, this is a prime spot to stay because of it’s location near different hospitals, including TMC.

Tucson is a great place to visit although it can get very hot in the summer, with daily tempatures exceeding 95 degrees F. Tim and I were here from October to December. This was a great time to be here because the park wasn’t very crowded and the tempatures were perfect 70 degrees F during the day 50 degrees F at night. The snowbirds start to flock here in December and fill up the RV parks till March. There are lots of hiking opportunities. Sabino Canyon National Forest is just around the corner but can get really crowded on the weekends. There are a variey of other forests/parks that are less than an hour drive including Saguaro National Park and Mount Lemon. Since the University of Arizona is here in Tucson, the downtown scene has a fun party vibe going on at night especially during the football season home games.

All in all, my experience in Tucson was pretty awesome. I will remember the friends I made here and the friendliness of the general public. I could see myself returning here for another assignment in the future.

https://www.tmcaz.com/ – Tucson Medical Center

http://www.tucsonvillage.com/ – Far Horizons RV park website

A Mobile RV Repair – Tucson, AZ – The Worst Service of a Lifetime

I’m usually a real easy going person and don’t bother with bad reviews. I like to try to look at the positive but this service was so bad I’d like to make as many people aware of it a possible so hopefully I can save someone else the hassle.

It started about two weeks ago. I had a number of items built up over our previous two month trip that I wanted to repair/upgrade. I saw A Mobile RV Repair in the park and in fact he advertises in the park newspaper here at Far Horizons Tucson so I figured I’d give them a try. I give em a call in the morning, don’t get anyone, and leave a message but never hear back. Not a great sign but I call the next day anyways and get him and set up an appointment. I give him a list of items over the phone that I plan to have repaired/replaced including the water pump, a whole new roof vent, and new sink and some other minor items. Certainly a few hours work.

So when he shows up he immediately tells me he has to leave at noon, his assistant couldn’t make it, and he’ll only be able to do an item or two and he’ll have to come back for the rest. This is a real hassle for us as we live full-time on our RV and my wife works night shift so she usually sleeps during the day. Anyways he takes care of an item or two and we schedule for him to come back out, this time to hopefully complete the work, the following Wednesday. He surprises me by showing up early Monday morning, riling the dog up and waking my wife up. When I tell him he was scheduled for Wednesday he just says “Oh” and the asks if he can work anyways! I tell him no because my wife literally just got home from work and needs to sleep and that he’ll have to come back on Wednesday.

So Wednesday rolls around and he shows up with his assistant and begins to work. All seems to go fine they get the roof vent in and the new water pump in seemingly without too much trouble. However this is where it all went to hell. The water pump was running and running. I had to leave for an appointment but he said he was going to stay behind and test the pump. Later he tells me that the pump is bad, it needs to be sent back to the manufacturer. Mind you this is a brand new pump so I thought it was a bit odd but things do happen and he said he tested and confirmed it was bad. So he removed the new pump and re-installed the old pump again so we could still use our water. Mind you the pump is not the in the most accessible location and he’s charging me $100/hr for this.

Before sending it back I figured I’d take a look at the manual. Low and behold it says if the pump runs continuously to turn a nut right on the face of the pump a quarter turn and that should take care of it. Since the pump is no longer in the RV it’s not real easy for me to actually test that so I give him a call to see if he tried that, no answer and no return call. So I go to Home Depot to get some hoses, a bucket, and some wires so I can test this thing out of the RV. Amazingly with a quarter turn the “defective pump” is miraculously “fixed”. I expect that someone that charges $100/hr could have figured that out easier than me, someone who has only been RVing for 6 months and was never terribly handy in the first place. I figure it’s not too big of a deal though, he said he guarantees his work so I’m sure he’ll come put it back in for free and even refund me the money for removing the new pump and putting the old one back in. I mean clearly the pump was not defective right?

So I call him the next two days to see about him coming out and get the same response, nothing. Finally on the third day he gives me a call back, I ask him if he got my messages, he says sure, he guarantees his work, and when can he come back out? So we set up for that Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning rolls around and there is no RV tech? So I call, no answer, no return call. At this point I’m thinking maybe he’s in the hospital or something but I keep calling. Finally four days later, instead of calling me like a decent human, he sends me a text message, he’s sticking with the story the pump is defective and he’s not coming out. Apparently a quarter turn on a nut is too much to ask of a tech with 30 years experience? I should have sent the pump back to the manufacturer to have them turn the nut and then paid him to reinstall it?

I tried to convince him still to just come out and fix his mistake but he just flat out refused. At this point I tell him I plan to make sure everyone here’s all about his “service” both online and in the park. He then proceeds to threaten me that he’s going to trash my business online if I bother to post the truth about the way I was treated! Mind you he literally isn’t even certain of what my business actually is, lol. Judging by the way he treated me so far, I’ll be expecting him to try anyways. I posted the texts below which I received four days after his NO CALL NO SHOW for entertainment value.

Anyways this was by far the worst service I’ve ever had in my entire life, and having rehabbed a lot of homes, I have worked with a LOT of contractors. The scheduling trouble, the no call no show(is this a business owner or a minimum wage MCDonald’s employee?), the misdiagnosis on the pump, the failure to correct it, and then the (idle?)threats, all add up to some horrendous service. Hopefully at least one person will read this and not even bother to call him.

[11/21/2015 9:31 AM] A Mobile RV Repair (5202352220): A Mobile RV Repair

I guarantee all parts that I sell. You bought a discounted water pump on line that was not adjusted properly or is defective. I have installed over 50 water pumps and have never had a pump I have had to adjust.

[11/21/2015 9:33 AM] Me: All it needed was a quarter turn on the screw. It clearly says in the manual to turn that if the pump is running. At $100 an hour I expect better than that. Then you agree to do, set an appointment, and no call no show? That’s not very professional…

[11/21/2015 9:37 AM] A Mobile RV Repair (5202352220): You cannot adjust pump with it installed, there is not enough room because of where the manufacturer put your pump. Pump was not adjusted properly from supplier.

[11/21/2015 9:38 AM] Me: Now you just making stuff up, you could easily get a small Allen wrench there. It took literally 5 seconds to correct. Just admit you screwed up and take care of it. It’s not that big of a deal.

[11/21/2015 9:43 AM] A Mobile RV Repair (5202352220): I did not screw up. You bought a discounted part on line that was not adjusted properly. You get what you pay for!!!!

[11/21/2015 9:49 AM] Me: It was not a discounted part, it is brand new is functioning just fine. You just didn’t bother with any real troubleshooting. If you want to play it like that, fine. But I’m going to make sure everyone, both here and online, hears about it. Not to mention your terrible customer service. You schedule to do the work and don’t have sufficient time or your assistant the first day, come back on the wrong day the next time, then you make an appointment and no call no show, and then send me text three days later. Again very professional, I’ve gotten better service from $20/hr off Craigslist…

[11/21/2015 10:26 AM] Me: Alright, I guess you made your decision. Unbelievable. You’d rather damage your reputation and your business than admit that you made a little mistake and correct it.

[11/21/2015 11:27 AM] A Mobile RV Repair (5202352220): I’ve been in business since 1984. I have more regular customers than I can handle,so if you want to waste your time bashing me go for it, you are not going to hurt me or my business. I am not going to guarantee any part not supplied by A Mobile RV Repair. Your the one who made mistake by buying inferior part on line, and now you are wanting me to correct your problem at my expense. I see you are in the reality business so you might want to think twice before you start bashing mine. I am pretty computer savey if that’s the way you want to go. 

[11/21/2015 12:31 PM] Me: That’s pretty sad, you’ve been in the business as long as I’ve been alive and I was able to identify the problem within in five minutes. That should tell you something, considering I’ve been RVing for six months. There is nothing wrong with the part. It just hurts your pride to admit you messed, you should have been able to figure that out at least as fast as I did. It be comical if I hadn’t already paid you.

[11/21/2015 12:36 PM] Me: Telling the truth isn’t bashing someone by the way and considering you literally have had nothing to do with my business you’d just be fabricating stories. Judging by the way you’ve handled this I wouldn’t expect any less though …

Zion National Park, Utah

So we conclude the last leg of this itinerary at Zion National Park. We went to the visitor center in Kanab to inquire about boondocking options and were pointed in the right direction. There is no name for the road, however if you are heading north from Kanab, it is right before Carmel Junction right after coming down the steep grade. GPS coordinates are 37.208999, -112.687259. AT&T works great here but not so much for Verizon. We are parked right next to a narrow section of the Virgin River, which is nice for being able to wash off after hiking in the red, Utah dirt. For groceries, I recommend going to Honey’s Marketplace. The prices were more reasonable than the other major store and they have fresh, smoked, finger lickin’ ribs. For those of you who know me know how much I love BBQ.

We attempted the lottery for a permit to go to the “Wave”, aka Coyote Butte north. This is a very famous 2 mile hike through a protected stretch of sandstone that looks like a wave. Only 20 permits are given a day. Ten of which you can get through the daily, walk in lottery in Kanab. We weren’t lucky enough to win the lottery, but we did get to do some pretty cool things during our visit here.

In Zion, we entered through the east entrance. As far as scenic drives go, it is up there with the best of them. However it takes about an hour to get to the park from our boondocking site due to the tunnels. The first tunnel is big enough to fit large vehicles but the second tunnel is only wide enough to fit one large vehicle at a time. This makes for a longer drive to get to the park since you may have to wait for traffic to clear through the tunnel. You don’t have to pay the $15 toll unless you have an RV or large bus.

Like all the other National Parks we’ve been to, Zion is crowded. Like the Grand Canyon, you have to take a shuttle to get to most of the hikes. Parking is a problem. Unless you get there super early or are lucky, you will most likely have to leave the park through the west entrance and find a place to park in Springfield. Then you will have to walk back, through the west entrance, to get to the visitor center to get to the shuttles.

We hiked the Emerald pools loop one day and the Narrows another. The Emerald pools loop was nice, my favorite part was the Upper pool. We saw a large tarantula perching itself in the shade atop a large boulder. We also saw some great panoramic views. The original name for Zion, Mukuntuweap National Monument, means “straight up land” in the local Indian dialect. Lets just say you may have a kink in your neck from constantly looking up at the towering mesas. The Narrows trail is a famous slot canyon in the park. Like other slot canyons, it can be dangerous is there is a chance for a flash flood. After all, this is how the slot canyons were formed, water slowly slicing its way through the sandstone rock. After a few thousand years, voila you have a slot canyon. We tromped through the virgin river for about 2.5 miles until we, well, basically got bored and kinda cold so we just turned around. It isn’t all that great. I personally prefer keeping my feet dry when hiking. One thing they do not mention is that you should have hiking poles. Sine you are walking through the river, in some areas you can’t see your foot placement. If you have a walking pole or stick it is easier and you will be less likely to fall.

The city of Kanab has some really great trails too. We hiked the K-Hill Trail and parts of the Cottonwood and Bunting trails. The K-Hill trail was the best. It is easy and only 3 miles in and out. The other two were not marked well so we couldn’t complete them. We also hiked Lick Wash, a slot canyon about 20-30 min outside of Glendale. We wanted to experience a slot canyon without being around hundreds of people like in the Narrows. It was totally worth the drive. Just a hint to get there through the town of Glendale you turn onto “300” road.

We had a great trip, it was the best road trip yet. This east coast girl got a taste of the west, and, well- it was awesome. I will never forget the stars at night in the western sky, the unique rock formations of the Painted Desert, or the ease of boondocking with the right set-up. I am going to have Tim create our itinerary for y’all to see where we went, step by step, on the map. Thanks for reading.

Bryce Canyon National Park + Kodachrome and Escalante State Parks

It was a pretty long  (and desolate, but beautiful) drive from Moab. I actually set a new record, there is a sign on I-70 that there are no services for 110 miles. My previous record was coming through eastern Wyoming ten years ago with my buddy Justin Mercer where there was a 70 mile stretch on I-80 without services. Luckily it was the usual divided highway that everyone knows as an interstate, there were places in Wyoming and Kansas on that previous trip where the interstate went to a two lane highway(I haven’t see that on this trip at all)! It was quite a mountainous drive on I-70 and I hope to come back and do some boondocking in that area. It seems like you might really be able to get away from other people 😉

Anyways since it was late we missed going to the BLM visitors center in Cannonville. Luckily we had picked out an area in the Days End Directory. You just continue south past the BLM visitors center on main street for ~2.5 miles and then turn onto a good gravel road called Yellow Creek. However when we got there you could see where a number of pullouts had been but they were not usable anymore. A little further down the road we were able to find a spot but I’m still not 100% sure that it wasn’t private land. We were in for a great sunset though(check out the pictures).

The next day we went to the BLM visitors center because you need a free permit to camp in that particular area. When we got there the ranger(BLM people are called rangers too, right?) informed us that it may rain and that the road can get real sloppy if it does and we could be stuck till it dries back out. That didn’t sound good so we went in search of another spot, this time scouting without the trailer since we’d already dropped it. We ended up choosing a spot off of FR117 a few miles outside of Bryce Canyon, there were a number of good spots for any size rig along here. If we were to do it again I would have went a bit further up and taken the second left, there was a sweet spot about 0.25 mile up that road, also suitable for any size rig. As a plus this area was not in that red clay and would be just fine to drive on if we got rain(We didn’t).

Once we got situated we decided to go ahead on to Bryce Canyon National Park. For whatever reason Victoria wasn’t expecting it to be as spectacular as the previous National Parks. However it ended up being her favorite. The views from the rim are simply spectacular and the hiking is very easy. The trails down into the canyon are moderately difficult but you feel like you’re on another planet hiking among the Hoodoos. Victoria said she felt like a goldfish in a fish tank, lol. An interesting fact about Bryce Canyon is that it’s not actually a canyon, it’s a series of giant natural amphitheaters along the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Either way, it sure is unique.

The next day we went to Kodachrome Basin State Park. They have 10 or 15 miles of fairly easy hiking with both spectacular views and geology (as usual for around here). Lucky for Marilyn since it was a state park she was allowed on the trails so she could get some exercise after sitting around all day after we were at the National Park. There are 67 large “Sand Pipes” plus a short slot canyon. The slot canyon made a fantastic place to eat lunch. It was roasting outside but in the canyon not only was it shaded but it was also damp and cool. An interesting fact about Kodachrome Basin State Park is that after it was named the state changed it to  Chimney Rock State Park because they were worried about Kodak suing them. However a few years later they were able to change it back after Kodak gave them permission to use the name of their famous film. The name was fitting because the colors here were just amazing, the red and white of the rock, the green of the plants, and the blue of the sky all combined into a shocking display of color.

The last park we visited was Escalante State Park. It was about an hour drive from where we were camped but Victoria had been dying to see a petrified forest since we set out from Jacksonville. The hike was fairly short and easy but there was plenty of petrified wood to see. Make sure you do the second loop, it’s steeper but it also has the majority of the petrified wood. The variety of colors contained in the petrified wood is amazing. It was quite hot out while we were hiking and it was great to be able to jump into the lake afterwards. They had an interesting display in the visitors center filled with letters and pieces of petrified rock that they had taken and then sent back because it brought them bad luck. It apparently did it’s job and kept Victoria, a rockhound, from trying to take any home, lol.

Utah is an amazing state with an amazing variety of scenic landscapes. No where else has such a concentration of National Parks, 5 all within an hour or two of each other. On top of that most of the land around the National Parks is also public land providing an amazing array of places to hike and camp. We’ll be back here for sure!

 

Arches and Canyonlands, Utah

On your way south to Moab on highway 191 you can find LOTS of boondocking spots on Willow Springs Road (left turn if heading south). At the beginning the sites are more rocky but if you go down only ¼ a mile the sites are more level. This road is popular for ATV’s and campers in general so don’t expect to be all desolate in the desert here. Also, the gentle hum of cars on the highway can be heard, but the scenery offsets that I believe. In some sites you can have a 360 degree view of the surrounding canyons and sandstone rock formations that change colors throughout the day. Among the usual warm colors of the rocks you can also see tints of green and blue in the layers. It is absoultely beautiful. We are able to get Verizon and AT&T voice/data service here. There is so much to do but on the first day we had to do our bimonthly laundry trip, pick up mail, and work on this lovely blog of course. The visitor center in Moab has decent free wifi.

We visited Arches National Park on our first day of exploring. After passing the visitor center, it feels as if you are entering the ruins of an ancient civilization. Vertical walls of red sandstone jut up like pieces of demolished buildings. Like all the other popular national parks (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon) there are lots of people, all sizes, ages and ethnicity. Even on the longer, more strenuous hikes we couldn’t escape the crowds. The first hike we did takes you to the base of the Delicate Arch, you have probably seen a picture of this arch as it is an iconic symbol of Utah, and National Parks in general. It was a hot and steep 3 mile hike. I was surprised to see so many people, young and old, that roughed the trail instead of settling on one of the easier and shorter viewpoint hikes. To get to the base of arch you have to walk around a caving sandstone hole. It is at a slant so I imagine it can be dangerous after a good rain. I will never forget the moment of standing under that arch. We also hiked to Devil’s Garden where there are a lot of other arches. Another famous one is the Landscape arch. It is a long, slender stretch of an arch at 306 feet. People are no longer allowed to stand under this arch as it is slowly starting to erode, go see it while you can!

It took about 45 min to drive from our camping spot to get to Canyonlands National Park. We hiked Murphy’s Trail. A portion of the trail was very strenuous as it descends 1400 feet within one mile. There is a drop off on one side of the trail as you descend the vertical cliff. The entire trail in and out is 10.8 miles. After descending the cliff, you walk through semi-desert terrain which eventually gives you a great view of white rimmed canyons.

On Saturday we took Marilyn on a short hike since she was cooped up in the RV the past two days. It’s called the Negro Bill Trail and it takes you along a stream to a large natural bridge. When we reached the natural bridge, we got to watch some rock climbers repelling down the wall. Tim and I took advantage of the water and went swimming in a deep part of the stream. I laid on one of the large boulders and let the cool water wash down my hair and body.

Our last day here we went kayaking in our inflatable kayak on a calm section of the Colorado River. We put in at mile marker ten on the way to Potash dock off road 278 and took out at Potash dock. This equaled a 11.5 mile trip. We attempted to arrange for a shuttle but it was damn near impossible. One company I talked to (Porcupine) wanted $100 for a 15 mile shuttle (sans gear by the way – he said they don’t shuttle gear…wtf??) So we said eff it, just going to ride the bikes back to the truck like usual. After kayaking we attempted to ride the bikes but then Tim’s pedal fell off. We didn’t have tools so I asked a group of people from South Dakota if they could give us a ride back to our truck and they kindly obliged. What a great world we live in.

Before we left, we showered and dump and loaded at Slickrock Campground ($5 per shower and $5 to dump and load). The showers ran out of hot water pretty quick…so I would go somewhere else next time. Also, the dump station is at a lean, those of you who understand this process will get that this is not a good thing.

Our week trip here was AWESOME! There is so much to do here – hiking, kayaking, white water rafting, mountain climbing, mountain biking, canyoneering, and ATV trails. I can’t wait to see more of this Painted Desert. Next stop, home of the hoo-de-hoooooossss, Bryce Canyon. 🙂