Getting ready to head home

It's been a great couple of months, but now it's time to fly home for the holidays.

Sponge washed our motorhome at Snow Canyon (used little precious water), and now we parked at the KOA at Circus Circus in Las Vegas.  Rented our storage spot this morning, and we're now cleaning and winterizing.  We want everything to be in top condition when we return in a few months to continue our journey.
We depart Las Vegas on Tuesday.

 

 

We say goodby to Blowin-in-the-Wind until late January.  It's been a great two months!

I'll take a rootbeer float and a foot long.....

Pulled into Snow Canyon State Park.  We were warned that the sites are so close together that you may not be able to extend the slideouts.  True statement.  The RV full hookup area was built in the 50s by some thoughtful architect -- Inspired by the A&W rootbeer drive-ins.  Keep it tight, so as not to detract from the incredible scenery of this park.  And keep it inexpensive by not having to run utility hookups great distances.  So, yes, it was tight (but we did get the slideouts extended).  But, NO, tried to order a meal, but no car hop showed up.

Other than this interesting camping setup, this park is another incredible place to bike and hike.
From Lava tubes formed 27,000 years ago, to petrified sand dunes; what a great place!  We biked both the paved 6 mile Whiptale trail, and the unpaved but very bikeable West Canyon trail behind rock formations and through canyons.  And then we hiked many of the trails being careful not to trip or get cut on the volcanic rock strewn over the paths. 

Snow Canyon is another keeper and a go-back destination!

6 Awesome days at Zion National Park

How do you write about this awesome place?! 

Pulled into Watchman campground with views of the surrounding canyon walls, the sound of the Virgin River, and clear blue skies.  We got out our bikes and started biking up the canyon on the Pa'rus bike trail; totally paved for 3 miles and then hooking up to the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.  We marveled at the rock formations including the Court of the Patriarchs, and scoped out all of the hikes we planned to do, during our time here.

On the weekend, we took the park shuttle, with our bikes loaded up front.  What a great bike ride down canyon after one of our many hikes.  And no traffic except the shuttle buses.

During our visit we hiked back to Narrows, but too cold to repeat our walk up the Virgin River.  We hiked to the Emerald pools, Weeping Rock, Hidden Canyon, and for our grand finale, Angel's Landing.  Although, we didn't quite get to the end of the Angel's Landing trail -- a promise to Becky.

All of the hikes were awesome....



Ruthie holding on while hiking Hidden Canyon

Climbing to Angel's Landing

Morey on a "level" trail

Angel's Landing Trail

Angel's Landing hike, hold that chain!
 

 

Taking a break at Scouts Landing

 



The sun sets on another hiking day at Zion

What a discovery...

 

Have you ever hiked to an incredible destination, without knowing what was at the end of the trail?  Our day hike at Red Cliffs Recreation Area was just that.








 



First stop on the Red Reef Trail
 

We started a fairly short Red Reef trail through the red rocked canyon.  Almost ready to stop, take the views all in, and then turn back --- we thought....if we scramble over the small rock pile and continue deeper into the canyon, what would be ahead.   As we followed deeper, around a bend, we came upon a peaceful, and beautiful waterfall emptying into a slick rock pool.

Second stop on the Red Reef Trail

Yesterday's goat head experience didn't stop us from this discovery! And we're glad it didn't.



The attack of the Goat Heads....

You're probably wondering, what is a Goat Head.  Read on.....

After leaving St. George, a nice 2 day stop (excluding the horrible Temple View RV resort where we parked in their out-lot with no security and temporary hookups), we headed back to nature.
Camped 3 days at Quail Creek State Park on a beautiful site overlooking the very blue reservoir.

Now for the Goat Head attack...  Biked the short 3 miles to Red Cliffs Recreation Area, noted for some great trails through the red cliffs and even some dinosaur tracks!  Biked under the I-15 overpass, too low for our RV, and checked out some of the old Mormon settlers sites and even a 50 year old movie set that included Gary Cooper & Rita Hayworth (remember them?!).

 

We did some off roading on our hybrid bikes on some fairly packed dirt paths.  Jumped back on the pavement and then the "fun" began.  Ruthie announced, "I've got a flat", then, "I've got another flat", then, Morey noted a flat tire, then another flat tire!!!  No worries, Morey got out the two replacement tubes plus lots of patch
kits.  After changing all 4 tires, using the new tubes and patches; we were set to continue our biking.  OOPS...another flat, and another, and another. 

Resigned to walking back the 3 miles to the RV, but Tom a local hiker offered us a ride..THANKS!
What caused all of these flat tires....GOAT HEADS.  Watch out if you're in this area.  They are insidious, growing off road and on the edges.

The end of the story.  Put the bikes back on the RV bike rack and drove into St. George where we added tire liners and all new tubes.  This was after we removed at least 30 goat head spikes from our tires.

Glutton for punishment?  We're headed back to Red Cliffs today so we can enjoy the area.

Kodachrome Basin State Park

This park is so classic Utah with all of the colors and rock formations, Kodak actually felt honored and allowed the use of their camera film name. {Just you older guys even know what "film" is!}.  We spent  3 days camped surrounded by rock cliffs and formations.  Biked over to Shakespeare Arch; a short but very rocky trip; and then hiked to the Arch. The next day we hiked over 8 miles through a varied landscape on the Panorama trail.....The Hat Shop, The Ballerina Shoe, Cool Cave, and Secret Passage.  A great park to visit...........oh, almost forgot to mention the incredible views of Bryce Canyon off to the west, snow capped and wonderful.


 

Cool Cave


 

Bryce Canyon







It SNOWED !!!!!!

What could be more magnificent, awesome, beautiful..............than snow at Bryce Canyon.It Happened!  As forecasted, we woke up to 4 inches of snow.  Take a look........ WOW ~~

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce is even more awesome than we remembered.  After setting up camp, we headed to the rim.....What a view!  We hiked the Queens Garden and the Navaho Loop, five miles of beautiful views.

Today we hiked 10 miles with the Fairy Land Trail being the absolute highlight.  We came across Dannys tooth deposited 29 years ago, now a huge spire (How things grow!)  Also saw all of the other hoodoos created by the tooth fairy.....AWESOME.

Pictures just don't do this place justice, but here are a few attempts.....

The Best Bike Ride ever................

 

Here in Capitol Reef National Park, with our bikes, we set out on the Scenic Byway.  The first 8 miles were paved but steep.  What views of the vertical rock faces and sandstone formations against the totally blue skies, wow!  After cresting the hill at the slick rock divide, we swooped down to the end of the pavement.  Then it was 2 miles on sand and gravel on the only road through the San Rafael Swell until 1965.  As we pedaled along, wer were thinking of the Model Ts...we had more horsepower?

On our return trip, it happened.  After pausing to catch our breaths at the Divide, we remounted our bikes and GO...What a ride.  Over 2 miles we glided down the road with magnificent scenery and not one pedal rotation.

PS  We're camped in a old orchard planted by Mormon settlers over 150 years ago.  Arrived in time to still pick some apples which we are enjoying in our pancakes, pies, and just good eating!

It's Spooky !!

We returned to Goblin Valley after 8 years.  The campground was still a wonderfully situated campground protected by some Utahish formations.  The "goblins" were all still there....except for the one that was knocked over by some alleged Boy Scout leaders a day earlier -- made national press.  As promised to our friends traveling with us, Ray and Ann, this stop would be the strangest, weirdest, and most unique walk.  And it was.

Also hiked through Little Wild Horse Canyon, world renowned as one of the primo Slots.  Seven miles we hiked in the San Rafael Swell, through the shoulder width seam, where "powerful erosive forces have buffed, fluted, fanned, and pocked the red Navaho sandstone walls."  This claims to be for families; we saw a family with a 2 year old -- but don't believe it, it's arduous when you hit the water pools that forced us up and out of the slot, and began cairn tracking along the narrow canyon ledges.. All worth it, beautiful!

 

The Moon over Canyonlands and the Lasalles

Adventure into the MAZE, Canyonlands National Park

The good news, we didn't get lost in the Maze.  We did have some thoughts.......

We took a 4 day Navtec adventure trip - off roading in a Toyota Landcruiser (and we mean off road), and hiking 3 of the days.  The Maze is the wildest part of Canyonlands; just to access the area, you need to drive hours off road through canyons and washes.  All worth the travels for the awe-inspiring landscapes!

Day 1: Off road drive to Horseshoe Canyon (Glen Canyon Recreation Area) where we hiked down to the dry river bed and followed the wash to incredible petroglyphs. After the first 3.5 miles, it was then time to get out and back to the Landcruiser. Rich, our guide, met us at the petroglyphs and lead us out and up the canyon on Deadmans trail (definitely the correct name). We then off roaded to our first night's campout at High Spur. A great dinner, great sunset, and then tucked into our sleeping bags for a cold night.

 

Into the Slot

The Slot, yes we hiked thru

Day 2:  Started the day with our hike in Blue John Slot Canyon, made famous in the book and movie, "127 hours",.  Remember the story of the hiker who got trapped in this slot canyon when a rock trapped his left hand, and he eventually saved himself by cutting off his hand to escape?  Yep, this is the canyon... We walked, crawled, and squeezed for over 2 miles through this slot canyon; all incredible!  Then around 1pm, it was time to continue our journey, so Rich had us climb out "Rich's Out", a 1500 foot climb on his unmarked and never done before trail. 

Then we drove until dusk over a trail that we would have been concerned to hike.  Narrow, rocky with boulders and slick rock, rough, and some shear canyon dropoffs -- and then the loss of our power steering 10 miles before our destination, all added to this adventure.  Set up camp for the next two nights at Standing Rock Campground in the Maze section of Canyonlands.  Enjoyed another great dinner and to bed with the cold wind ruffling our tent.

 

 

 

Day 3:  We got out the map and chose a 7.5 mile hike down into the nearby canyon.  Set out on the road, then the trail following the cairns as we descended almost 2,000 feet to the canyon floor.  After some narrow ledges and rock scrabbling, we reached the dry wash and started walking.  Got to the end of the canyon and needed to make a decision as to which way to proceed.  We headed left on a totally unmarked trail, and counted the canyon entrances and watched for rock formations to find our way out.  Luckily, we came across two sets of footsteps coming toward us; we followed and they lead us to the climb out trail which fortunately was marked with cairns. PHEW!  We got back to camp at 5pm, 7 hours of hiking.

 

Camped at Standing Rock

 

 

Into the canyon

Do we go right or left?!

Climb out....

And by the way....Jason the mechanic, arrived to repair the Landcruiser.  He spent the night, shared dinner with us, and started the repair of the steering .  He replaced the gearbox and joined us the next morning on the way home.  Now, that's called service!  He drove the 7 hours to get to our very remote location.





Day 4:  Now it was our turn to reverse our tire tracks, drive back across Devils Wishbone, and then back to Moab, 7 hours later. 

What an adventure!!