Goldilocks (6/20/24)

 Sitting in the camper with the air conditioner running literally all day is not our idea of fun (its very noisy) so for our next move we looked for some place cooler. And boy, did we find it. Moving north towards Salt Lake City is our game plan and since we loved Cedar Breaks National Monument when we were there, we headed that way again.

There is dispersed camping just outside the national monument, and we picked out a really nice spot. Being at 10,000 feet, the weather is totally different than Vegas.. It was sunny, but a little too windy and cool to sit outside. There were even pockets of snow near our campsite. Our intent the following day was to do a hike, but the wind was still whipping, and it was Cold! 

We elected to drive some back roads in the Bronco instead. That night the furnace ran a lot, and we realized the temperature had dipped into the 20s.

I felt like Goldilocks at this point. First it was waaaaaay too hot, then it was waaaaaay too cold. Time to move on, again.

Our next stop was Provo Utah, where we met up with our friends Liz and Randy, who were staying at the Elks lodge. Since they were busy entertaining their granddaughter, we took off for the nearby mountains to explore.

We had two goals- one was to hike and another was to drive the scenic road, looking for potential places to camp in the camper. But first we stopped at the visitor center for Timpanogos Cave National Monument.  Before we even got inside we were approached by someone who asked if we were doing a cave tour. Of course, we had no idea that there even IS a cave tour. He explained what it was and offered us free tickets because he had overbought for his family reunion. That changed our plans, but that’s ok too.

The cave tour begins with a 1.5 mile hike up a paved trail. There is 1100 feet of gain, so they give you an hour and a half to do it. 

It was pretty warm that day so by the time we got to the top, we were ready for the 45 degree cave. 

It is actually three caves, which have been connected with tunnels. We have been in many caves so this one was just ok for us, but the price was right.

One of the people we met in the RV park told us about a nearby museum (Richard W Erickson Foundation Antique and Classic Power Museum) that they thought was pretty awesome, so we decided to check it out. When we arrived, the place looked closed, but we parked the Bronco and walked around. It was acres of open air, and lots of buildings.

A few minutes later we ran into the owner, who had seen our car and was looking for us. Turns out the museum is really only open a few times a year for special events, or by appointment, which we didn’t have. She was gracious enough to show us around for an hour or so.  Her dad had owned the property and started collecting vehicles of all sorts, many years ago. 

He left a trust hefty enough to take care of the property. There were probably a dozen buildings, each holding a particular kind of nostalgia…one building is bicycles, one is race cars, etc. After a couple of hours we said goodbye to Pam, with the promise of sending her a few things we think she needed from our collection of stuff in the garage.

Before leaving the area we reached out to one of Paul’s (second? first cousin once removed?) cousins on his mom’s side.  We had an awesome dinner with Lori and her husband Rick, but of course, I took no pictures.  Paul wanted to pass along to Lori all the memorabilia he had about the cabin in West Yellowstone that has been in the family for generations.  Lori and her family still spend time at the cabin every summer.

The main reason for our visit to Salt Lake City, was to fulfill Paul’s parents last wishes.

Once they both passed, they wanted their ashes to be buried together in their plot in Salt Lake City.

Paul’s grandparents and great grandparents are also buried here.

They wanted no service of any sort, so it was just Paul and I, doing what they asked.

Our last afternoon was spent at a house on Murphy’s Lane in Salt Lake City. We have visited this house before, with Paul’s mom, but that time, there was no one home. This time there was.

The house used to belong to Paul’s great aunt and uncle, Alla and Tom Mulhall. At that time there was a house and a cottage. The cottage is now gone but the house has been restored very meticulously.   During World War II Paul’s mother and grandmother lived in the cottage while Paul’s grandfather, James Vegene Laird, was away fighting for his country.

Built in 1848, the original owner of the home was Robert Gardner. He and his brother also started the first saw mill in Salt Lake City. In 1928 the house was sold to Paul’s great uncle and aunt, but in 2012 the Gardner family regained possession of it, and decided to restore the house. It is now the oldest house in Utah that sits on its original foundation.

We met Sherril, a member of the Gardner family, because she happened to be staying at the house. Paul had brought whatever documentation he had regarding the house and his family’s part in its ownership, and he gave all of it to Sherril. She, in turn, happily showed us around the property, showing us the restoration that was done.

Our visit to Salt Lake concluded, we continued on our Goldilocks journey, seeking higher (and cooler) ground, in a national forest.

Bryce Canyon Area (08-17-22)

 After a week near Cedar Breaks, we moved about an hour or so down the road, still in Dixie National Forest, but just 12 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park. Our intent is to boondock in this area for a few days but we needed to dump our tanks and water up.

We stopped at Red Canyon campground, a USFS campground that had plenty of room. They charge $10 to use the dump station, or $10.50 with our senior pass, for a site for the night. We took the site, which had beautiful views, and went off to explore, looking for a place for boondocking starting tomorrow. Once we found several good spots, we went into Bryce Canyon City and found some ice cream.

Before moving to our new spot, we hiked the Buckhorn Trail, which starts and ends in the campground....it connects to longer trails, but we didn't have enough time to do any more than that.

The trail leads to a ridge, and has great views along the way. Good thing, because although I made past one area with steep drop offs on both sides, I couldn’t make it past the second one. I sent Paul to take some pictures and waited for him. While I was waiting, another couple came along and I had to find a spot to squish in, so they could pass me on the narrow trail. They ended up turning back as well.

Once that hike was done we moved the rig to our new boondocking spot and left to explore some more. We checked in at the nearby visitor center, and hiked the 1 mile interpretive trail. It was getting a bit warm to do the extra 1.5 mile we had planned on doing. Instead we drove a scenic route through the national forest, past a (boring looking) reservoir.

Our "big" hike was a 6 mile hike using a combination
of trails- Cassidy and Rich trails, with a stop over on the Ledges trail. The scenery was interesting, and we only saw a couple of other hikers on the trail.

We reached our first overlook about a mile and a half in.

I was glad I had downloaded the local hiking map since there were several combinations of trails , and I had to check to make sure we were taking the one we wanted.

About 4 miles in we came to the ledges... they are literally ledges, where you can look over and see for miles. From there it was just walking, to finish the trail.

After hiking in the heat for 6 miles, the next day we were looking for something shorter so we headed first to the Tunnel Trail.

I am not sure why they call these tunnels, they are the shortest tunnels I have ever seen, but it is neat to drive through them.

The trail was under a mile, but it seems to go straight up, so its a good, if brief, work out.

Our next hike that day had the name of Mossy Cave. It isn't really a cave, its more of a grotto, but the trail also includes a waterfall and a stream, and they were pretty cool.

If we had brought water shoes it would have been fun to walk the trail in the water.

After the hike we went to the Escalante Visitor Center and had our picnic lunch.

By then the storm clouds in the distance looked pretty serious, so we decided to "chase" them and explore at the same time. We never did catch up to the rain, but we saw a sign for Kodachrome Basin State Park, so we made plans to visit it the next day.

Kodachrome Basin State Park isn't huge, but its very well laid out and taken care of. The Rocks are what you would expect to find in this area although not as colorful as some. We started by hiking the Angel's Castle trail, which was almost entirely a rock trail, my favorite.

Whenever the trail got too narrow for me, I sent  Paul out so I could take his picture.

Once that hike was done, about a mile and a half or so, we headed back to the visitor center where the rangers were busy cooking hot dogs and hamburgers for all the guests.  We had brought lunch but we decided we could save it for another day.  I asked how often they cook for visitors and he said “once a year”.  Guess we were just lucky. It’s Military Appreciation Day in the park, and everyone gets a free lunch.

Letting our lunch settle, we drove the scenic drive before hiking our second hike of the day.  The dirt road led to Chimney Rock.

The park was named Chimney Rock State Park at one time, but when National Geographic was filming here in the 1940s, they noted that the colors were as vibrant as Kodachrome film- and with permission from Eastman Kodak, the name was changed to Kodachrome Basin State Park.

Our second hike, the Panorama Trail was longer, at about 3.5 miles.  It is a loop that passes by several “named” rock formations, such as “the Ballerina”.

On the way home the distant mountains were lit up by the sun!

When I read my blog post about our first and only visit to Bryce Canyon National park 12 years ago, my last sentence said I was glad we saw the park but I won’t hurry back any time soon.  Well, I guess I meant that, because although we debated going into the park for a hike, we left the area without doing it.

Cedar Breaks National Monument (08-11-22)

 After a week in El Paso with Paul's mom we deemed her sufficiently recovered from Covid and an infection, for us to move on. Instead of going straight back up to Colorado, where we were before, we headed home. Our Router, and therefore our cameras etc stopped working and we didn't want to wait another 2 months to get home and get it fixed. We stopped on the way there and bought a new router and modem, just in case that was the issue.

Part of what made our decision to go there easier is that the weather forecast called for temps in the high 90s instead of 115-120. In fact- it rained every day we were there  (3).

It worked out well that we went- our hitch for the Jeep is faulty, and the company is shipping us a new one, under warranty- but they were supposed to ship it to our friends in Colorado so we could get it sooner. Unbeknownst to us, they had erroneously shipped it to our house....and it was on the porch when we got there. It could have been annoying if we hadn't decided to come home at the last minute, but it actually worked out well- Paul was able to use his tools to weld some parts on to the new hitch.

I took advantage and used my elliptical and swam in the pool, and we also dropped off some stuff we don't need and picked up some stuff we could use.

From Havasu we headed north to St George, UT where we spent a couple of nights reconnoitering and deciding what to do.

With highs sitting at about 100*, we weren't interested in hanging out there too long. Instead, we drove "up the hill" highway 14, near Cedar Breaks National Monument. We found an awesome boondocking spot at 10,000 ft- which means the highs are in the 70s, lows in the 40s-much more comfortable. In fact, we like this area so much we quickly decided to stay as long as the tanks held out (a week).

Our first day out and about, we drove through Cedar Breaks National Monument just to orient ourselves. The weather wasn't perfect, but the scenery was spectacular!

This national monument is kind of a cross between Bryce and Zion National Parks and isn't too far from them, really. It sits, however, 2000 feet higher in elevation than Bryce, and about 5,000 feet higher than Zion-which makes it much cooler, but also means its pretty much closed in the winter.

Our first hike was a short one to Cascade Falls.  This is a popular trail for families.  The trail is cut into the side of a hill, and of course, ends at Cascade Falls.

One thing we discovered about this area- its home to a LOT of sheep. 

Why did the sheep cross the road?

Sheep don’t know what a road is, people!

The following day we started with a little bit longer hike- 2.3 miles around Alpine Pond. 

We were entertaining ourselves by using an app to identify plants- and this one is a Silver Spruce!  That’s the color of our truck (we waited almost a year for it because we wanted that color).

We hiked this trail partly because it was on the way to our destination-the town of Brian Head. This town is known for its family friendly skiing and outdoor sports.  Even the benches and swings are ski themed.

The tip that is called Brian Head sits at almost 11,000 ft- and you sure do feel like you are on top of the world up here. 

The views go on for miles and miles.

There aren’t very many hikes actually IN Cedar Breaks National Monument, but the most popular one takes you past several spectacular viewpoints, and ends at a double arch.

 

Many people just hike part way, to one of the views, but we elected to go the full 5 miles.

Cedar Breaks is actually a natural amphitheater- I thought it was cool how visible it is on my hiking app. 

The blue is the hike we took along the rim.

On the days we didn’t hike, we took some scenic drives.  One took us up the top of a big hill where we could see far off into the distance and also got a good view of a lava flow.  There is a lot of lava rock around here.  In some places it is right next to the road.

Another outing almost got a little too exciting.  As we were driving around the back roads looking for a lava flow, the rain got very heavy, making the driving difficult in some spots.  This puddle was so deep, the dirty water came very high up on the Jeep.

Of course, there are always housekeeping type things to do, in between exploring.  We actually had ordered new glasses at Costco in El Paso, and had them shipped to the Costco in St. George, so one afternoon we traveled down the road to get them. We also discovered that since we are boondocking so much, it is a little challenging to keep our electronics charging (the 12v ports are all in the bed area), so Paul bought some parts at the store and installed a 12v inverter near the dinette.  We are much happier now.

Our final day in this area we hiked 8 miles around Navajo Lake.  The lake is pretty, but the weather was warm, so we were happy to be done.

Well, I know this has been a super long post, and I didn’t even mention everything we did, but I do have to add that August 10th was Paul’s mom’s 92 birthday.  We understand she had a great day, and we are very happy to see her back to her usual self.