Road Trip to Kodachrome State Park

Decided today to drive to Kodachrome State Park...about 2 hours from camp just to check it out. Thunderstorms were called for so we decided a drive would be much safer than a hiking or biking. Route 12 takes you through Escalante National Monument on the way to both Kodachrome State Park & Bryce National Park. 

It was a scouting mission for a future trip. We wandered around Kodachrome and had our lunch overlooking sage bushes and sego lilies in bloom. 

Sego lily

 

Basin Campground shower...wow!

The Basin Campground's bathrooms were amazing...fancy slate shower in its own little room. The best part was no slot for coins, aka free & honest to goodness all the hot water you could stand! If you've camped, you know how awesome it is to have unlimited time in a clean hot shower. 

The Tin Can's shower is pretty good as far as showers go...just can't take a long one. Our freshwater tank holds 35 gallons and the hot water heater has a 6-gallon capacity...so a Navy shower is necessary. 

Navy shower... get the water hot, get wet, turn water off, soap up & then turn the water back on for a quick rinse. We use a clean bucket to catch the water while waiting for the hot water to reach the faucet. It can then be used for cooking or cleaning dishes rather than wasting it down the drain. 

Since we were in Capital Reef for 8 days we really needed to conserve a bit. Hitching up and taking the trailer to dump the wastewater is something you'd rather not have to do.

Cowboy roundup

As we left Kodachrome we were stopped by a cattle roundup with cowboys...I do love a cowboy on horseback! A few were pretty young, but man they could ride their horses. 

These little cowboys had on their cowboy hats & boots with spurs. It was fun watching them gather up the strays as they headed down the road.

Young cowpoke herding the cattle

A bit of weather

Ground at 9400 foot elevation

The weather got a bit nasty on the drive back to Capital Reef. As we went up in elevation the temperatures fell quickly to 37 degrees. The rain turned to snow. It may have been heavy hail...couldn't tell when we stopped the truck. Whatever fell from the sky was white & on the roadway & forest floor... pretty decent amount. A few miles down the mountain it was back to rain. When we arrived back at camp no snow & whatever rain may have fallen had already dried out & the sky was blue.

Cohab Canyon

Bill on Cohab Canyon trail

After talking to our neighbors from California in camp we decided to hike out Cohab Canyon. It is the closest trail to our campsite. It certainly looked intimidating from the trail head. Rose rather steeply and wound its way upwards until you lost sight of the trail's location.

We were told it leveled out and they would not classify it as moderate to strenuous. I hate climbs of steep rocky trails, but figured I would trust the review. We headed out after breakfast while the temperature was still fairly cool.

View from midway up the Cohab Canyon Trail

The climb uphill actually wasn't as steep as it looked from the roadway. Maybe all the biking has helped the climbing too. One can hope! Once at the 'top' of the trail it leveled out and you passed through a sort of slot canyon...high walls on both sides with mostly sandy bottom. We wandered along until we reached the spur trails uphill towards the Fruita Overlooks. 

The trail wandered about good bit. We even made a comment that we hoped we could find it on our return from the overlooks. We did not...passed the correct way down the trail on the 1st attempt. Noticed a couple of new flowers that 'weren't there when we went uphill' so we knew we had followed the wrong path. We turned back to pick up the correct trail downhill and promptly broke a rule by creating a rock pyre so others could find the proper downhill trail. No need to get lost in the canyons.

A nice hike without a crowd of people.

*click photos to enlarge

Pitted rock walls from water

Trail heading back downhill

The trail through Cohab Canyon

Bill in the slot

 

A dead end slot canyon

Freemont River & Fruita below from Cohab Canyon 

Desert sage lizard

Cathedral Valley

Panoramic of Upper South Desert Overlook

After doing a fairly long bike ride yesterday we decided to rest our legs & drive out to see Cathedral Valley. On our last visit to the area we never explored that part of the park. The Park's description said it was a desolate area with little traffic. One thing really stood out in the description was 'prepare for self-rescue' since help may not arrive for hours to days...certainly sounds like our kind of drive. 

Hartnet Road

We headed off for the 6-8 hour drive of 57.6 miles along a remote dirt road. It was highly recommended to drive the loop clockwise due to fording the Freemont River. Oh boy no bridge! 

The river wasn't too high for the truck, but we could see how that would be a bummer to drive the loop from the opposite direction only to find it impassable and have to turn back.

Bentonite Hills

Bentonite Hills

Bentonite Hills

We rounded a turn and saw the banded hills of browns, reds, purple & gray...the bentonite clay is what makes the road slick & gummy when wet. Thankfully we had a beautiful bluebird day to travel without the worry of getting stuck. 

The drive was beautiful & very remote. By the end of the day we counted only 5 cars heading towards us and 3 cars going our direction. We started the drive along the southern half of the Cathedral Valley driving 27 miles along Hartnet Road and then made the turn onto Cathedral Drive for another 27+ miles of very fine dirt which covered the truck’s interior and bed. 

So much for having a clean truck, but dirty equals fun!

Bill at Glass Mountain

Close up of the selenite...aka 'glass'

Selenite crystals stacked

We made several stops along the way and managed couple of short hikes to various overlooks for better views of the valley. One of the weirdest sites along the way was called Glass Mountain...from a distance it looked like someone had piled up their trash. It glistened in the sun which made it impossible to get a good shot. We found out later that it was made entirely of selenite crystals...a variety of gypsum. 

Sink hole

Not too far away from the mountain we found a sinkhole over 200 feet deep. It formed when groundwater dissolved a gypsum plug. The cavity left behind collapsed from the weight of the rock on top. Really strange & totally different looking spots.

Monoliths on Cathedral Valley floor

View of Cathedral Valley from overlook

 

*click to enlarge pictures

First Ride in Capital Reef

We planned on doing a bike ride in Capital Reef
during the early morning hours. A few reasons for a fairly early ride...beat the heat, finish before the wind increased, & car traffic. At 8:00 AM we mounted the bikes & left camp well before most people were driving into the park. We headed down the Scenic Drive for 7 miles towards the end of the pavement. 

Since we were so early we decided to add a side trip down the Grand Wash dirt road to the trail heads for Cassidy Arch & Grand Wash... only a mile & a half. Riding the bike allowed us to see more of the canyon walls. An added bonus was still no car traffic so we could stop and take a few pictures of the wildflowers. 

Howard's Evening-Primrose

Largeflower skeletonweed

Pale Evening Primrose

Scarlet gilia

Uranium mines and 'glowing' people

Bill riding his Sunny Daze EMB

We turned and rode back to the pavement to continue the ride to Pleasant Creek Road. Just before we hit the pavement Bill asked a couple if ‘they were glowing’ after we spotted them looking in the old uranium mines at Grand Wash Junction. The conversation between the men went on for a good amount of time...discussing electric mountain bikes vs regular bikes. Forty-five minutes later we finally turned the bikes back on and continued on our ride...with the temperature a wee bit warmer.

View of Golden Throne in the distance

It was a beautiful ride with red rock cliffs to the north and lots of color along the road. Only 1 car drove past as we rode along the Pleasant Creek's dirt road for 3 miles. The ride ended when Pleasant Creek actually crossed the road. Since we couldn’t see the bottom of the creek bed we decided to turn around and head back to our campsite.

 

  

View from our campsite

Our total ride for the day was 22 miles in about 2 ½ hours...absolutely love my EMB.

Golden Throne from Pleasant Creek Road

*click pictures to enlarge

Heading to Fruita, UT

Up and ready to pull out of Willard Bay State Park at 6:00 AM we headed toward Salt Lake City. We hoped that the early hour and holiday would keep the nasty traffic at bay. Thankfully traffic was light & accident free. We decided to stop for some breakfast & gas in Provo, UT on our way to Fruita Campground in Capital Reef National Park. A drive of only 284 miles but, we made a number of stops along the way...made easier by towing a rolling rest stop. Too many big drinks!

There is only one developed campground in Capital Reed National Park. It's located in an area settled in the 1880's by Mormon pioneers along the Freemont River. Huge cottonwoods & large orchards of approximately 1900 trees including apple, pear, cherry, apricot, peach, nectarine, plum, mulberry, quince, almond, pecan, & walnut are still kicking after all these years. If you visit when the fruit is ripe you can eat as much as you want in the orchard & buy fruit to take home.

Campsite view

Old Cottonwood

The Gifford House still stands & depicts a rural Utah farm home from 1900. It has been restored and sells fruit pies...strawberry/rhubarb, mixed berry, cherry, apple & peach. Yummy! Yes, we did indulge in a couple while we were camping...actually it may have been a total of 5 pies. We bought 3 more to take on the road with us. Yes, we were so bad!

Since it was a bit too late to start a hike we drove the Scenic Road to Grand Wash... only 7 miles of pavement and a couple of miles of dirt road. The red & cream rock cliffs are stunning. Too bad the photos cannot quite capture the beauty & size of the cliffs. Lots of wildflowers were blooming along the road.

Rose heath

Stansbury cliffrose...smells amazing!

Sunset ride

Red cliffs 

After dinner we took off for a quick bike ride of 4 miles down the Scenic Road. The ride back was all downhill so that was a blast. 

When we turned west the sunset lit up the rocks. Spectacular scenery to ride in & very few cars were out driving after supper. A perfect ending to our day.

View at Fruita Campground Entrance

*click picture to enlarge

 

Off We Go

Overnight setup

Off we head on our 1st camping trip without Bridger. He gets a 14 day stay at his favorite doggie spa, Bark City. We're heading to Utah & figured he'd be happier staying in a much cooler environment in Montana. We could actually do some hiking & biking in the National Parks if he's not with us. 

Left Bozeman, MT heading to Willard Bay State Park 372 miles away midmorning. Our plan was to overnight in Cottonwood Campground in Willard Bay State Park in Willard, UT on our way to Capital Reef National Park. We hit the campground a bit after noon & never left the campsite. A quick site setup & we ate our lunch listening to the I-15 traffic heading in & out of Salt Lake City, UT. 

The only reason to stop at this particular campground is its proximity to I-15 and only 40 miles west of Salt Lake. Unfortunately, the noise from the Interstate only 50 yards away made sleep difficult until well past midnight. Lucky for us Monday was a holiday so traffic through the city was significantly less than it should have been for rush hour. No backups, accidents or wrong way drivers on this trip through Salt Lake City.

Smoke!?

Smoky sunset

We're back in our other happy place. Unfortunately, our mountains are obscured by heavy smoke from the Alberta wildfires. On our trip north we hit hazy skies in Percival, Iowa...the halfway point. It is much too early to tolerate the smoke from wildfires. We had figured this year would be somewhat better with the heavy snows over the winter in California. Canada was not on our radar for fire...especially mid-May. 

Hopefully the winds will shift and blow it back to Canada. Fingers crossed! 

Now time to break out Tin Can Allie from her winter slumber. Let's hope we find everything in good working order. Our plan is to head out for some early camping adventures in Utah & Wyoming.