FRIDAY 31ST COLORADO RIVER

 

When we headed off from Fruita this morning, we didn't appreciate that today was going to be all about the Colorado River We passed through lots of routinely scenic country before getting to Scenic Byway 128, a slightly longer way of getting to Moab but deliberately chosen because it is one of a number of recommended scenic byways in the area.

 

It joins and runs along the bank of the Colorado River for about 30 miles. What we didn't appreciate until I was chatting to the RV Park manager is that Scenic Byway128 is the only part of the Colorado River where the road goes along beside the river at the bottom of the gorge carved out by the river.

 

To quote the manager, the Grand Canyon is pretty good but not as good as here where you can follow the river at the bottom of the gorge. Perhaps he is a touch biased but it was pretty spectacular. There's that word again.

We are now comfortably settled in the Pack Creek Campground in Moab with power and wifi so communication is restored. Tomorrow we explore the nearby national parks for which the area is famous before heading for the Grand Canyon on Sunday.

THURSDAY 30TH - CAPITOL REEF

Another virtuous day today in that we started by doing the “moderate” walk to Hickman Bridge. It is a giant natural arch You can get idea of the scale by the woman in the lower part of the picture.

 

From there we went to the Goosenecks for a much shorter walk. The Goosenecks are a series of bends in Sulphur Creek, visible in the distance at the bottom of the gorge, which has carved out the gorge with a series of corresponding bends in it.

The dominant mountain here is the Capital Dome, a majestic white sandstone formation so named because it resembles the U.S. Capitol Building, presumably the source of the name of the national park.

Some more animals made their appearance today. The deer obviously share their home with the campers.

The marmot emerged from the rocks while we were looking at some Petroglyphs carved on the cliff face. The carving was done by early indian residents of the area.

Tomorrow we head for Moab on the Colorado River. It is the base for the Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, the Dead Horse Point State Park and some associated scenic drives. The spectacular scenery continues.

 

WEDNESDAY 29TH - SCENIC BY-WAY TO CAPITOL REEF

We are now comfortably settled in the Fruita Campground at Capitol Reef National Park although without electricity to run the air conditioning and no wi fi, so I don't know when I will get to post this.

The word “spectacular” is much over used but there is no other way to describe the scenery we travelled through on Scenic By Way 12 being the road between Bryce Canyon and here.

 

The highlight was undoubtedly the Grande Staircase Escalante National Monument, the last unchartered territory in the continental United States through which the road we travelled today was eventually built – an extraordinary area of high mountains and deep gorges.

Before we left Bryce Canyon this morning, we did some exploring in the wagon and found the type of car park we like best – we were the only vehicle in it.

Apart from spectacular rocky landscapes we also travelled through some forested country, in part of which we stopped for lunch.

This afternoon we walked the Grand Wash Trail not far from our camp ground, a very narrow gorge cutting into the 100 mile long Waterpocket Fold “a protuberance in the earth's crust that has eroded into a maze of winding canyons, towering monoliths, and massive domes”. I couldn't have put it better myself.

A walking day here tomorrow. We head to Moab on Friday.

TUESDAY 28TH - BRYCE CANYON

 

Today we have swapped the extreme experience of Zion National Park for a completely different extreme experience, Bryce Canyon. At Zion, you are on the valley floor looking up. At Bryce you are on top of a plateau looking down into an enormous natural amphitheatre.

 

To get here, we travelled on the Zion Mt. Carmel Scenic Byway, one of a number we will be travelling in the next few days. Like everything around here, it was incredibly scenic but perhaps the highlight was the tunnel. Because our vehicle is as tall as it is, we have to travel in the middle of the road while in the tunnel which means all traffic coming the other way has to be stopped to allow vehicles like ours through. The photo below shows some cutaways used during the construction of the tunnel to dispose of the earth being removed.

Apart from the major tunnel, we also had to navigate a number of minor tunnels built through the natural rock landscape.

Apart from the scenery, the local animals put in a number of appearances including a family of Desert Big Horn sheep, some Mule Deer, Prairie Dogs and some chipmunks.

We had another very virtuous day today in that, after we arrived here, we walked the Rim Trail from Bryce Point, the highest point on the rim at about 8000 feet to Sunset Point, a somewhat lower viewing point on the edge of the Bryce Amphitheatre, enjoying the spectacular views all along the way. The numerous vertical rock formations are known as Hoodoos. Once again we had the use of a shuttle bus which moved everybody around the Park very efficiently.

Our site tonight is in the Ruby's Inn Campground, a commercial camp ground which has a laundry so the washing is up to date – very important.

We are organising a change of itinerary in that we were planning to spend our last night at Long Beach but, knowing what we now know about LA traffic and the road system, that was a really poor idea. We will be doing a quick trip to the Grand Canyon instead and staying away from LA until we really have to go there.

Tomorrow Capitol Reef National Park.

MONDAY 27TH - MORE ZION

Today was a very virtuous day in that we spent about four hours walking. The photos don't really do the spectacular escarpments justice but they are spectacular.

 

We did the Weeping Rock Trail, the Court of the Patriarchs and the Lower Emerald Pools. The Weeping Rock Trail also gives access to the East Rim Trail which, as you would expect, takes you to the top of the rim. Needless to say, we didn't attempt it. If you magnify the photo below, you can see people working their way up to the saddle on the left to get access to the higher area.

We will see the Park from the higher areas tomorrow when we drive the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway en route to Bryce Canyon.

We also spent some time in the museum learning something of the history of the development of the Park. Its air conditioning was a very welcome break after the heat of the day The weather is typical summer weather, nice in the shade but a bit warm in the sun, but a lot more comfortable than the desert country to the west.

Fortunately the Visitor Centre has quite good wifi so, apart from the fact that I have to walk several hundred metres from our campsite to the Centre to upload the posts, communication is easy.

SUNDAY 26TH - ZION NATIONAL PARK

The true holiday begins. We feel as if we have been working very hard navigating freeways and traffic in very hot conditions since we collected the motorhome on Friday but we are now in a much more familiar environment – a national park, a shaded environment with a cool breeze. We are at the Watchman Campground in the Zion National Park within an easy walk from the Park Centre from where a shuttle bus gives access to everything there is to see.

 

The fact that there is a shuttle bus system tells you that there are lots of people which there are but it is Sunday afternoon and it isn't uncomfortably crowded. Perhaps there will be fewer tomorrow.

The National Park encompasses the Virgin River Gorge which, over thousands of years has carved a gorge approximately 4000 feet deep into the sandstone plateau above, making for spectacular cliffs on both sides of the gorge.

 

We took the shuttle bus to the end of the line this afternoon where we did the Riverside Walk as far as the constructed walk goes. You can keep walking up the gorge as it narrows by wading in the river but why would you?

 

Tomorrow we will have a full day of exploring before heading for Bryce Canyon on Tuesday.

 

Have you met our resident puppy. Every time we return to the van, he is faithfully waiting at the door for us I have given him a name – Frent.

SATURDAY 25TH - LAS VEGAS

 

We got back on the road this morning after a leisurely start and were settled into the Duck Creek RV Park in Las Vegas by lunch time. I am not sure why it's called Duck Creek. There is no sign of any water around other than the pool which I might need to go and jump into shortly.

 

In contrast to last night, the park is very well presented with some vegetation but mainly concrete and bitumen.

As you would expect, we went exploring this afternoon and were very impressed by the casino precinct. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, we couldn't find anywhere to park our 10 foot high and 10 foot wide wagon so had to be content to cruise the streets. There were an awful lot of people walking the streets and the very well laid out walkways. We would have liked to have joined them. The heat is extreme so I expect that there would have been many more people indoors than we saw on the street.

Unfortunately the only photos I could get of the casino precinct were from the van when stopped at traffic lights but you get the picture.

Tomorrow we head for the hills and some national park camping I wonder how busy it will be. There is no shortage of people in this country.

FRIDAY 24TH - WHERE THE HELL IS BARSTOW?

For those who don't know, Barstow is about half way between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It is about the spot where the city freeway becomes a country highway and one can start to relax.

 

We were told that we could pick up our motorhome by arranged appointment from 1:00pm onwards so I had been ringing from home to try and get the earliest possible appointment but, as it turned out, there is a Burning Man festival on, whatever that may be, and motorhomes were in great demand for this weekend so, they started collections at 8:00am and we got almost the first appointment so we are at Barstow somewhat earlier than expected. The shopping is done, the cellar is stocked and so the adventure begins.

The drive out of LA could only be described as frenetic as we trundled along at truck like speed but our trusty little GPS did its job and kept us on track.

We are now at the Shady Lane R V Park in Barstow, shady by name and shady by nature, but not quite as bad as the Mudgeeraba Caravan Park. The manager was pleasant enough. We can't hear the freeway traffic and everything works including the wi fi and, most importantly, the air conditioning given that we are connected to power. It's claim to fame is that it has trees and a little shade, a very rare commodity around here.

And yes, that is a drive in movie theatre in the distance. We can't tell whether it still operates but the sign on the gate says that it shows movies seven nights a week so presumably it does.

Tomorrow we head for Las Vegas, three hours up the road and after that, the interesting stuff, the national parks.

THE ODYSSEY BEGINS

After an almost seamless experience, we are comfortably settled in the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel described as being five blocks (¼ mile) from LAX. I say described as because, while the shuttle bus was easy to find and conveniently brought us here, it was a much longer ride than 400 metres, an easy walk. Perhaps the ¼ mile is as the crow flies and the very busy roads follow a circuitous route.

Having said that, it suits our purpose perfectly for a bit of rest and recuperation and we have arranged a taxi to take us to the motorhome tomorrow morning.

All flight arrangements worked perfectly apart from a bit of excitement as we checked in at Brisbane. The first leg was with Cathay Pacific, a JAL codeshare. When we checked in the attendant appeared to be very helpful and competent until she told us that there was no airline agreement between Cathay Pacific and JAL and that we would therefore need to collect our bags at Hong Kong, go through immigration and then check back in. There was no chance of doing that in the time between flights. Fortunately a more experienced attendant came to our rescue after we expressed incredulity at that and our bags were waiting for us on the carousel after we cleared immigration at LAX.