28

8/29/15

Saturday

Thousand Lakes RV Park in Torrey, Utah near Capital Reef

Full hook ups

 

From Escalante Petrified Forest State Park we drove Utah Scenic Highway 12 to Torrey, Utah to visit Capital Reef National Park.

Highway 12 was sooooo scary! Up to 14% grades with sheer drop offs on each side and there was one spot where you were literally driving on the ridge top with sheer drop offs on both sides….did I mention no shoulders on either side!

After about 45 miles of that, we went through another part of Dixie National Forest which was beautiful.  Lots of climbing but not nearly as scary as the first part.

Met our RV park neighbors Steve and Nan who live near Salt Lake City and have been coming to this RV Park for one month each year for as long as they remember. Our neighbors on the other side have been “full timers” for 9 years!!! Don’t think that appeals to us at all but of course their RV looked like it was 4 times the size of our little Travel Trailer (bear resistant tent on wheels). It was surprising how many people we met who live in their RVs either full time or at least 50% of the time.

After our exhausting day and being in a huge town of about 200, we decided to go out to lunch.  We ate a wonderful salad and homemade pizza at the Red Cliff in town, then drove out to the visitor’s center and to Fruita.  Fruita is a community in the canyon by the Capital Reef visitor’s center.  The town was settled by a group of Mormons who irrigated the valley and planted an extensive orchard, apples,peaches, pears.  We remember the orchard from our previous visit about 25 years ago.  It is striking because it is so green in such a dry environment.

We drove to look at the Petroglyphs on the rock face, then back to the campsite.

 

29

8/30/15

Sunday

Thousand Lakes RV Park in Torrey, Utah near Capital Reef

 

Really nice little town, Torrey, and nice people except the girl at the coffee shop, she was not pleasant. But I did find a really nice hiking stick with a compass on the top end that I bought, even though I did not like the girl. She was definitely not a southern girl.

We stopped and picked apples from the “U Pick” orchard and a couple of pears and then went to the Gilford center to buy a locally made cinnamon roll and to look around. Much too sweet for us as we haven’t really been eating anything sweet. But we did appreciate the situation.

We took the scenic drive into the park and then hiked part of the Grand Reef Canyon.  That is usually a gravel road but is washed out to the extent that the Ranger said they had no idea when it would be repaired. 

Hiked to Hickman Bridge (1 mi with 400 ft elevation gain) and it was a beautiful natural bridge.  Sounds like it would not be a difficult hike, but a 400 feet ascent that was almost entirely in the beginning was rather intense; I’d do it again!

 

30

8/31/15

Monday

Archview RV Resort about 9 miles north of Moab, UT

Full hook ups

 

We headed toward Moab, Utah which is located between Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. We traveled east on Utah 24 up to Interstate 70 then south at Crescent Junction on Utah 191 toward Moab.

This was about a 3 hour drive and much of the way we were being chased by a pretty big storm cloud, but we never got caught.

After we set-up, we went over to Arches National Park and took the drive through the park  . Our first hike was a short 0.5mi hike to Skyline Arch. Then we continued on the drive to the Devils Garden area where we hiked to Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches (approx 0.5 mile) then continued on to Landscape Arch (1.6 mi).

It was getting late, but we tried to make it back to the Windows Overlook for the sunset which is legendary….but didn’t quite make it in time but we did have some magnificent views on the way.

 

31

9/1/15

Tuesday

Archview RV Resort about 9 miles north of Moab, UT

 

In the early morning we took the opportunity to do some laundry. Then we headed out on UT 313 to Dead Horse Point State Park .

We drove the Scenic drive the length of the park.

The story is that the cowboys used the point to chase feral horses into because there was a narrow neck on the point that could be blocked off and then they had the horses corralled.  Legend says that once a group of cowboys captured some horses, took the best and left the others captive on the point where they died of thirst. The horses could see  the Colorado River but not get to it. From the point we could see a huge area where they were producing potash.

Next we went to Canyonlands National Park which was only 15 miles away.

We hiked to Mesa Arch (0.5 miles) where you could look through to the distance and see a formation called Washer Woman where there was another arch.

We hiked to Upheaval Dome (0.8 mile mostly straight up) which was actually a crater (Impact Crater or Salt Dome).  The hike wasn’t too long but it was very steep and hot.

We drove through Moab and had bbq at the Blue Pig Restaurant where they were playing the blues and serving BBQ.

Moab is definitely a tourist town but very pleasant and in the 1950s it was a booming mining town for uranium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

32

9/2/15

Wednesday

Island Acres campground in the James M Robb State Park area of the Colorado River, in Palisade, CO. 

Only electricity hook-ups

 

Took UT 191 north to Interstate 70 then east into Colorado to James Robb Island Acres State Park (loop A site #1)

Spent the afternoon catching up on logging and mapping. our trip. Basically took the day off from hiking.

 

33

9/3/15

Thursday

Island Acres campground in the James M Robb area of the Colorado River. 

Palisade, CO.

Only electricity hook-ups

 

Drove into Palisade   and found a place on “Maps” that serves a nice breakfast “Berna’s B” on HWY 6.

The area is full of vineyards and orchards.  The story is that Fruita,CO (about 30mi West of here) was known for its orchards much like Fruita, Utah (Capitol Reef NP) and then about 40 years ago all the trees were killed in a late spring freeze so the orchards were moved into Palisade which is protected by the canyons and replanted.

Drove the 23 miles across the rim of the Colorado National Monument  and it was amazing.  The folks from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did the work developing the rim road. They began in 1931 and worked on it until the start of WW II.

We met a couple from Denver during our drive through Colorado National Monument and they suggested O’Henry peaches from Ball’s Produce   and wine from Garfield Estates .

Peaches were great and the wine was a great find for approx. $15/20 per bottle.

Story on one of the wines. Fume Blanc….the wine was produced and didn’t sell so the wine maker put it in a spare oak barrel and left it for a while…..the flavor changed and it became a hit.

 

34

9/4/15

Friday

The Prospect RV Park in Wheat Ridge, CO.

Wtr & Elec hook-ups

 

Followed Interstate 70 east to Denver.

Beautiful drive but lots of construction with single lanes, steep climbs, tunnels and rain the vast majority of the day.  At East Vail the summit was 10,603' then went back down and then back up to 11,158' at the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel with a temp of 46 degrees.

This RV park is definitely not the type place we would normally want to stay but it is fine for our visit to Denver.  Looks like most of the people live here in their Travel Trailers and RVs. Tough to find a campground because of Labor Day weekend.

 

35

9/5/15

Saturday

The Prospect RV Park in Wheat Ridge, CO.

 

Actually, the RV park has turned out to be very quiet with friendly people and clean restrooms…that is always good.

It is called Prospect because there is a park and lake adjoining the RV park named of course Prospect Lake and Prospect Park.

Went to breakfast at Apple Ridge Café on Kipling and 39th.  Really good country breakfast minus the grits of course.

Went to visit our friends in Denver.

We spent the day hanging out and catching up and then we went downtown to “A Taste of Colorado” festival  .  The festival was ok but not really special except for the handwoven hammock we bought from a young man from Manitou Springs, CO. 

We went to a Greek Restaurant “Yanni’s” for an outstanding dinner.

 

36

9/6/16

Sunday

The Prospect RV Park in Wheat Ridge, CO.

 

Drove toward Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods….with about ½ of Denver!

We drove into Manitou Springs where the train for Pikes Peak is located. Tons of people. They were having an art festival; we decided we were not wanting to deal with that many people. The town reminded us of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. 

The train for Pikes Peak was sold out so we went to Garden of the Gods.  Very, very crowded.  We spent a few hours Jeep touring, then headed back to Wheat Ridge.

 

37

9/7/15

Monday

Labor Day

KOA

Salina, KS

Wtr & Elec hook-ups

 

Left Denver area on Labor Day and it was much easier driving as there were no mountains, and not as much traffic.

In Colorado there was a lot of construction.

It was raining and very windy the last hour of our trip to Salina, Kansas.

We did not unhook the camper as we were planning to head out asap the next day to get home to Oklahoma City.  Instead we used our time, ordering a pizza from the  office, opening a beer and a couple of camping chairs. Almost immediately it began lightning and thundering and then huge wind gusts came through and the sky opened!!!!

The girl from the office actually delivered our pizza in the downpour. We tipped her well.

The storm lasted about 45 minutes and then occasional rain after that.  It was hard to stop only 4 to 5 hours from home after being away for 37 days but we definitely were happy to not be driving in that storm!

 

38

9/8/15

Tuesday

OKC

38 days on the road

5,446 miles