09-22-2021 The Best Laid Plans

This will be a rather short post, with few photos.  Our plans for the day included breakfast at the wonderful Capitol Reef Inn and Cafe, but when we arrived at 8am there was a closed sign on the door saying they were closed for the day due to lack of staff.  Glitch number one.

Instead we found a restaurant connected with a hotel east of Torrey, the Pioneer Kitchen, and in spite of the busload of tourists that were finishing up breakfast, we had a table in a short time.  The breakfast and service were decent too, but it didn’t have the ambience of Capitol Reef Inn.

The next plan for the day was for Dan to install the right front brake pad on the MoHo. Long story short, two weeks before we left Grants Pass we knew the brakes on the MoHo were making funny noises and managed to get an appointment at Les Schwab to have them checked.  They rotated the tires and checked the brakes.  They said they were fine. We chose Les Schwab because most other shops in Grants Pass had either no lifts strong enough for a motorhome, or a wait of weeks to months for an appointment.  Les Schwab said the brakes all checked out fine.

On the trip, the brake sounds were getting noisier than ever, and we thought maybe it was blowing sand that was in the brake lining. When we returned from our Capitol Reef outing on Tuesday afternoon we had Dan drive the MoHo and listen. Yeah…worn out pads grinding the right side front rotor.  Sigh.  Of course there was no one within 200 miles that could work on the brakes in less than two weeks.  Lucky us, Dan agreed to put in the pads and said that if we didn’t replace the rotor we would just have to do the job again when we get home because the pads will wear out quickly.  So we finally found pads in Loa and made the round trip to pick them up.  The rotor was unavailable locally and had to be ordered. We ordered it, but had to change our mind when Dan said he didn't have the right equipment to install the rotor.

After breakfast, Dan started working on installing the pads.  Our plan was to get that done, and then pile into his Suzuki for the gorgeous drive over Thousand Lakes Mountain to visit the remote Cathedral Valley portion of Capitol Reef National Park. Instead, Dan worked for hours on the brakes, with problems entailed by not having the right tools.  He and Mo made two trips back to Bicknell for clamps and sockets that would fit.  Not fun.  It was mid afternoon when Dan finished the difficult job.  We also had to try to camouflage the work site because in most parks it is a rule that you not work on vehicles in the park. 

By the time everything was finished, Dan was exhausted, and we nixed the trip to Cathedral Valley.  Hence no photos of Cathedral Valley from this trip. I forgot to get a picture of Dan and Mo working on the brakes. 

In case you have never been to the Cathedral Valley section of Capitol Reef NP I added a few photos at the end of this post from the time Mo and I traveled there on our trip to Capitol Reef in 2007.

Cathedral Valley is a must see part of the national park that many people never bother to see.  It requires scheduling and effort.  Just recently on the park website there was a notification that the Hartnet Road crossing of the Fremont River was closed.  The only access to Cathedral Valley at this time is over Thousand Lakes Mountain.  The roads are high clearance and remote. There is no estimate of when that portion of the road will again be passable.

Here are our photos from 2007.

09-21-2021 A Gorgeous Day in Capitol Reef

This photo of the Gifford House is from our visit camping in the Fruita campground in 2019

I knew from past experience that it was important to arrive at the Gifford House in Fruita very early if we wanted to score some of the famous pies.  We made sure we were on the road traveling the 11 miles into the central portion of Capitol Reef NP by 7:45.  When we arrived at the parking lot it was nearly full, with folks entering the little shop that had signs saying no more than 12 people could be inside at once.  Sure enough, pies were still plentiful, with 5 varieties available. I didn’t manage to take photos of the big buck deer with a nice rack wandering around to greet us. 

After Chere and I bought our pies, we jumped in the car to quickly get on the Scenic Drive that begins adjacent to the Gifford House barns just east of the main Fruita campground.  We first took a quick drive around the campground so that Dan and Chere could check it out. It was full and had been completely booked for months.  No matter, Mo and I have enjoyed the campground in the past and this time our camp with an open view and hookups at Thousand Lakes RV Park is perfect.

The Scenic Drive is 20 miles round trip, and ends at the trail leading into Capitol Gorge.  There are no words or photos that can actually capture the intensity of the vermillion, burgundy, carmine, and coral variations of color on the various rock formations of Capitol Reef.  There are 19 different geologic stratigraphic formations identified in Capitol Reef.  What I learned on this trip, with the purchase of one more geology book about the area, is that my adored Moenkopi formation actually has four different members!  Always something new to learn.

It was still early as we traveled along the narrow road, and the cliffs get bigger and closer and more impressive as the road continues south.  The first important side road is the short spur that leads to the Grand Wash trailhead.  Silly me, I suggested that we continue south to Capitol Gorge first and catch Grand Wash on our way back.  Things have changed a lot since our last visit in 2019.  But more about that later.

We stopped at the marker for the Golden Throne and laughed a lot at our attempts to figure out which large monolith was actually the throne.  Capitol Reef is actually named for the plethora of monoliths along the Waterpocket Fold that is the main geologic feature of the park.  These monoliths are called by many names, including domes, thrones, cathedrals, temples, and chimneys.  After reviewing my geology book, I finally figured out which of our photos was actually the Golden Throne. 

At the end of the paved road is a large parking area with signs that prohibit vehicles longer than 27 feet traveling the dirt road toward the Capitol Gorge trailhead.  Dan enjoyed driving his nifty Suzuki tow car on the narrow road, grumbling at times at the stupid tourists in big fancy cars driving fast and taking their half out of the middle on the narrow dirt road.  By the time we reached the trailhead, the parking lot was filling quickly, and as we checked license plates they were from all over the county, with many plates from the eastern part of the US.  People have definitely discovered the national parks, even remote, previously unknown and quiet Capitol Reef.

The flowers in the protected canyon were wonderful, with several rare species that I didn’t have time to identify.

We decided to hike into Capitol Gorge for a bit, going as far as the Petroglyph Narrows.  The trail continues on a steeper uphill portion to the Tanks, which I hiked to many years ago, but it was too far to enjoy on this day.  We had other places to go and other things to see.  It was a lovely walk, with just enough slickrock along the edge of the wash that I could show Dan and Chere the delights of walking on slickrock, which is not slick at all.

We returned along the Scenic Drive with plans to hike into Grand Wash.  Entering the side road, with cars in front of us and behind, us we saw that the parking lot was packed and cars were parking along the entrance road.  We probably could have found a space along that road, but hiking with all those people wasn’t the least bit appealing, even in a place as wonderful as Grand Wash.  I am sure that there were at least 50 people emerging from their cars as we drove away from the trailhead and probably hundreds in the wash.  So sad.  Hiking Grand Wash might require a commitment to arrive at sunrise, and maybe even then it might be more crowded than I would like.

Leaving the Scenic Drive, we drove back past the Gifford House with roads and parking lots completely filled and overloaded.  The visitor center is only partially open, but Dan dropped off Chere and I while he tried to find a parking place.  Happily, he was successful.  The bookstore was open, but the tee shirt selection was sad.  But as I mentioned previously, I was thrilled to find a great book on the geology of the park that I didn’t already own.  This one is just technical enough to be interesting, but has lots of photos and illustrations and maps.  Mo couldn’t believe I bought another Capitol Reef book, but I loved it.

We decided to take the short drive east on Highway 24 toward the Petroglyph site along the highway.  There were hordes of folks lined up at the first viewpoint and more walking along the boardwalk that parallels the glyphs and hopefully protects them from vandalism.  We parked behind a huge tour bus, and when we returned it was gone and replaced by another huge tour bus. 

The petroglyphs are considered to be from the Fremont culture which inhabited the valleys along the Fremont River from about 300 CE.  Of course, as with most estimates of prehistoric cultures there are various theories which are often disputed, especially by native people who consider their tribes as direct descendants of the prehistoric people that lived in the area.

We returned to the campground earlier than expected, but enjoyed the leisure time before supper to rest, walk the dogs, and catch up on blogs and photos.  Supper was a delicious meal created by Chere and shared at our picnic table with a view of the cliffs to the north and beautiful sunshine.

After supper, we drove 9 miles back east on Highway 24 to the Observation Point road.  There is a viewpoint that is at the end of the pavement that was full of cars and people.  We chose to skip that point, and drove the half mile or so on the narrow dirt road back to the trailheads for the Goosenecks Overlook and Sunset Point.  Both trails are under a mile round trip with a different view of similar landscapes at each point.  The parking lot was again packed full but Dan found a spot to squeeze into with the Suzuki. 

We chose the Sunset Point trail because it looked as though there were fewer people taking that one up to the viewpoints.  The trail isn’t difficult, with only a few steps toward the beginning, and wide slickrock steps in some places. The drop over the cliffs is breathtaking, with the Fremont River close to 1,000 feet below. It is a great place to see the geologic strata in the park with the oldest rocks visible at the bottom of the gorge.

Mo and I walked back toward the east and Sunset Point where we joined many groups of people settling in among the rocks to await the sunset.  I love the view from this spot, with Mt Ellen visible in the distance and the red cliffs of Wingate sandstone lit up by the setting sun.  It was lovely in spite of all the people that were around us.  It takes a certain kind of mental gymnastics to enter my own mind in the silence of the place, feel the expanse as if I were alone.  I am grateful that I have been visiting this park regularly since 1996 when it was an unknown place and people were few and far between.  I am afraid those days are gone forever.

We walked back to the spot where Dan and Chere were waiting for us to return to watch the rest of the sunset.  Dan decided to hike up to the top on his own and surprised us when he popped out of a nearby drainage after his explorations.  He got some good photos of the deepest part of the gorge which is very hard to photograph in the contrasting light.

It was the end of a nearly perfect day.  We settled in for the evening with plans to travel over Thousand Lakes Mountain the next day and explore Cathedral Valley. Little did we know that those plans would be thwarted by “stuff that happens”.  But that is for the next post.

09-20-2021 Baker Nevada to Torrey Utah

I enjoyed driving on this gorgeous clear day

Traveling east through Utah on Highway 50 is pleasant enough, but not nearly as lonely and dramatic as the Nevada portions of the historic highway.  Still, there are some lovely views.  The highway crosses a large flat basin, with many large farms and ranches dotting the landscape.  Highway 50 merges with I-15 for a few miles before continuing east at Scipio.  The mountains were beautiful and crystal clear.

Once we were on Highway 24 the signs for Capitol Reef National Park were posted every few miles.  This is the main route to Capitol Reef from the west. 

We saw what appeared to be a nice rest area on the north side of the highway and were delighted to find plenty of parking for both our rigs, a beautiful view, and a nice picnic table in the shade.  However, the wind made the weather a bit nippy we didn’t linger long.

When approaching Torrey from the west on Highway 24 it is always thrilling to see the first views of Thousand Lakes Mountain.  The mountain looms from 7,000 feet, where the terrain is craggy and rugged, to alpine meadows and forests at its peak elevation of 11,306 feet.  Thousand Lakes Mountain is notably flat at the summit, which offers up expansive views of the Henry and Tushar mountain ranges, Capitol Reef National Park and the Aquarius Plateau.  When the Fremont River crossing that accesses the back roads to Cathedral Valley in Capitol Reef NP, there is another way to get there.  We hope to travel across this mountain sometime during our week in Torrey to see Cathedral Valley.

The first views of red rock cliffs appear a few miles west of Torrey, and while they are beautiful, they are just a tiny taste of what we will see in the next few days as we explore the park.

Dan had made reservations for two sites at Thousand Lakes RV Park many months in advance, and even then there were no sites with full hookups with 50 amp power available.  We were assigned two great sites on the north edge of the park with a gorgeous view and 30 amp power.  We don’t have sewer at our sites, but there are two dumps in the campground. 

The park is quite nice, well maintained and clean, although the sites along this north edge are quite close together.  No matter, since our entry door is very close to our neighbor’s slide, and our neighbors happen to be Dan and Chere

The sites may be close together, but the view from the back of the sites where there are picnic tables and camp fire rings is gorgeous.

Taking Mattie for a short walk around the perimeter of the park I found this lovely desert globe mallow, Sphaeralcea ambigua. Sadly, most of the open land just north of the park is privately owned and walking freely requires driving north to get to BLM land.

We settled in to our sites with plenty of time for me to prepare dinner to share at our table.  I made green chile chicken enchiladas back at home so supper was quick and easy.  Chere and I have discussed sharing responsibility for evening meals on this trip, taking turns and sometimes simply eating on our own.  The plan seems to be working well, and it is nice to have a break from dinner cooking sometimes.

It is great to have a chance to share this place with family and we are all looking forward to the next few days here in Torrey as we explore Capitol Reef National Park.

09-19-2021 Fallon to Baker Nevada Highway 50

The sun is shining brilliantly into  the east windows as I write this on Monday morning.  Such a delight.  To the west, the magnificent island of mountains of Great Basin National Park rise from the desert reflecting the morning sun. 

Last night when we settled in here at the Border Inn RV Park we had no idea whether the skies would clear for us.  The smoke from the fires near Sequoia National Park in California was thick and the air quality was over 150 throughout half of Nevada and almost all of Utah.  It was a sobering moment when we topped a pass west of Ely to see the thick brown cloud filling the valleys and obscuring the mountains.

The day started in Fallon on a positive note. The smoke had cleared and the sky was mostly clear except for a few high clouds.  The high winds of the previous day had dissipated by the time we got on the road at 9.  Highway 50 officially begins in California going through Carson City and intercepts Interstate 80  at Fallon.  Traveling east from Fallon we were officially on the Loneliest Road in America.

I love Highway 50.  We have traveled this route several times over the years and it has never been disappointing.  On this day the skies were dramatic as always, with big puffy clouds racing across the brilliant blue sky.  The morning sun made the mountain shadows dark against the horizon.  The rabbitbrush was in bloom most noticeably along the roadsides, lighting up the landscape with brilliant yellows.

As we continued east toward Austin and Eureka I texted Dan and Chere to see how they were doing.  All was well, and they had departed Winnemucca at 9 as well.  We had 181 miles to go to Eureka and they had 191 miles.  Funny thing, they arrived at the intersection of highway 278 and Highway 50 just ten minutes after we did.

The stretch of the highway between Fallon and Eureka is especially gorgeous. The pavement stretches for long distances, with sometimes miles of straight road without another vehicle visible.  Traffic was minimal all day, with a few RV’s on the road and more than a few souped up, stripped down, very tough looking back road vehicles heading for the wide open spaces and sand dunes perfect for ATVs.

Basin and Range is just that.  The ranges trend north and south and if one is traveling east or west the drive includes many long basins, and many steep, winding ranges.  Traveling Highway 50 is all about ups and downs.  Austin is such a charming little town, nestled into the side of the mountain on one of those “ups”.  We have traveled through Austin, but never stopped for more than a quick photo before continuing.  I made a note on our calendar that on the way home in a couple of weeks we need to plan to actually stop in Austin and explore some of the charm.  It is an historic mining town with a cemetery that even from the road looked like it would be a great visit.

We were communicating the Chere and Dan as they neared Eureka and decided that it would be a good place for a lunch spot.  The road through downtown is two lanes wide with a large parking lane as well.  The town was quiet, and an entire block of parking lane was open right in front of the town Senior Center.  We parked and Dan and Chere were parked behind us within minutes.  The skies were so blue and the sun so bright it was blinding.

We took the dogs for a short walk in an open area between buildings and discovered a group of picnic tables behind the closed Senior Center.  Perfect! It was the official beginning of our shared trip to Utah and we all feeling happy about the good weather.  Seems as though Dan and Chere had encountered some serious storms and narrow roads on highway 278 that connected Interstate 80 to the north with Highway 50.  They were happy to be in the sunshine.

We continued east with a plan to fuel at the Love’s station in Ely,  easy for us and for Dan with his big diesel rig. The uhoh moment came as we got closer to Ely when the thick smoke blanketing everything to the east appeared.  I checked the smoke map to discover that the thick stuff was emanating mainly from the huge fires in California and extended all the way east to Colorado, with an especially dark plume covering the area along the Colorado River.

I had been checking for smoke over and over before we left for this trip, encouraged that it hadn’t reached the far southeastern corner of Utah where we were headed.  It was a sad moment.  After we fueled up and continued south toward Baker, the gorgeous mountain ranges around us were completely invisible.  When we stopped for lunch, the four of us agreed that it might be nice to unhook after we settled in and take a side trip up the roads of Big Basin National Park.  When we got to our spot for the night, the smoke was so thick I had to get out my Big Basin NP book to show Dan and Chere what the view was to our west.  Not a good day for a side trip to high mountains completely shrouded in smoke.

Dan and Chere insisted that we join them in their rig for supper, even though we had each planned our own meal.  Chere contributed home made sweet n sour for our pre dinner cocktails, and we enjoyed visiting and catching up with them, talking about our plans for the next ten days.  Dan agreed, that smoke or not, he wasn’t missing out on his long awaited trip to Southern Utah.

We went to bed in high winds, but during the night the winds dissipated and a couple of times when I woke I could see the nearly full moon shining into the rig.

Morning came with another wonderful surprise.  The smoke was gone.  Not just a little bit, but completely gone!  The mountain range of Big Basin NP to the west was gorgeous.  I checked the smoke map again, and while there is still a long plume heading into southeastern Utah, we have mostly clear skies ahead of us as we travel the last leg of our trip toward Torrey.  Amazing how clear skies can shift my mood.  I am really looking forward to this day and to once again arriving in one of my favorite little towns in the west.  I do love Torrey, ever since my first trip through there in 1991, it has been a special place for me.