Sept 09,2015

Rainbow Bridge

Boat tour to Rainbow Bridge. (With a 2 1/2 mile walk in the middle)  Amazing scenery the whole trip (which took seven hours ).  Pleasant, informative crew eager to share insights and answer questions.

 

Rainbow Bridge

 

Ditto

One of our boat captains, ranger, and Sue

Sept 08, 2015

Travel to Page

Left Bryce just before sunrise.  Hour and a half drive to Kanab, location of visitor center that administers access to ‘The Wave’.  We filled out form to enter the lottery for tomorrows Wave permits.  Didn’t win (along with about 45 other people from all over the world).  Had no reason to stay in Kanab so on to Page, AZ, home of Glen Canyon Dam and access to Lake Powell.  Hooked up at Elks Lodge, to marina to make reservations for tour tomorrow, wash clothes, and chill out (@91 degrees).

Sept. 07, 2015

Bryce Canyon National Park

Last day and a half at Bryce.

First a note on getting here.  If you have the opportunity, take State highway 12 from Torrey south to Bryce.  It has an Americas Scenic Byway designation and it is well deserved.

 

 

First time we have actually seen inhabitants of an open range

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got to Bryce a little after noon.  Again the concern about space because middle of Labor Day weekend.  Lucked out and found several spots open in best campground for RV use.  Park and then off to see Bryce Canyon.  (Not really a canyon but it’s just a name)  What to say?  Will just post some pictures.

 

 

You can not buy bottled water anywhere  in Bryce (and many- maybe all- other National Parks and monuments) or in nearby stores outside park.  They are happy to sell you a refillable bottle however and there are water stations in many places.

 

 

 

 

 

Sept 05, 2015

Capitol Reef NP

Drove from Grand Junction west a ways on Interstate 70 and then south on more scenic smaller road.  Road goes along the east side and then turns west and goes right through Capitol Reef.  Amazing and constantly changing scenery almost every 100 yards it seemed.  Past the visitor center (very crowded) and a few more miles to the ‘town’ of Torrey.  More like an intersection+.  There are three RV parks (and a Subway ) in Torrey.  It was the beginning of a holiday weekend.  First two parks were full.  Third park (a very nice one) had space (we were there just after noon).  Settled in and then back to Capitol Reef visitors center.  Got info and then drove the roads and saw the sights of Capitol Reef.  Entrance to park is located near/at old Mormon settlement and homestead.  There are still functioning orchards with trees that must be pushing 100 years old.  Pick what you can eat on the spot otherwise 50 cents a pound.  Again, great views of the reef – but always manages to be different.

 

 

 

 

 

Sept. 04, 2015

Side Trip

Over the last few days we took a short (500+ miles) side trip to the Denver area to visit relatives.  Found a very reasonably priced Elks lodge RV campground northwest of Denver with a very nice and very helpful host.  Good spot to branch out from.  RV and car gas at Costco – gas was 20 cents/gal cheaper than anywhere else.  Spent part of an afternoon wandering around Golden, CO.  Nice town.  Dinner with my cousin Suey at a restaurant overlooking the river that supplies the water that goes into Coors beers.

Morning of next day was interesting.  First we spent an hour or more clearing the clogged toilet in the RV.  Not a fun task.  And an apprehensive one.  Will it clear?  If not what then? Could be VERY messy.  And when it clears it is very anticlimactic. It is clogged and then whump it isn’t. Then spent nearly an hour replacing burned out headlight with no idea of how it was put together.  Spent much needless effort taking things apart before I figured out how it was designed for bulb replacement.  Then had to put things together again and finally replace bulb.  Finally another hour or so replacing the water pump for the house plumbing.  Check valve went out in the old one.  Fortunately we found a very well stocked RV parts store only five minutes from where we were parked. New pump works great.  Took a shower about noon.

After lunch we went back to Golden to take the Coors brewery tour.  Waited in line for nearly an hour to take bus to the brewery tour site.  Tour is self guided with audio wands.  Somewhat interesting  but very impersonal and very crowded.  End of tour is a pub where you can have a glass of three different beers.  Pub was so crowded and so noisy we stopped at one sample each.  The tour we had back east of Anhauser Bush brewery was far more enjoyable, interesting, and educational.  Beer was better too.  After the tour we headed north of Denver to Thornton.  First objective, a quilt shop .  Then a little farther north to see cousins Tim and Wendy and their family.  Very pleasant evening visiting with them then back toward Denver to the carbus.  Happened to be a Bronco preseason game that night.  Saw freeway signs saying parking was full but we were on road after kickoff so traffic was not bad.

Now we are back in Grand Junction.  Oil change, gas up, and to campground to get ready to continue our Four Corners adventure.

August 31, 2015

Grand Junction, CO

First – Happy Birthday Nicholas!  A big one!

Travel day.  Headed east to visit relatives in Denver area.  First stop Grand Junction.  We have been here several times and enjoy the area and the amenities.

Left Moab and took state route 128 northeast to Interstate 70.  If you ever have a chance to go north from Moab take this road.  Preferably in the early morning.  It is spectacular.  The road follows the Colorado River as it winds through deep red rock canyons. Decent two lane road with little traffic.  Carbus did just fine.

 

 

Other road north (US191) is a highway with lots of traffic and little to see.

Sam’s Club in Grand Junction had gas 20 cents cheaper per gallon than Moab.   Bought a few snacky things and an early birthday present for Sue.  On to RV park ten miles east of town.  Parked and then drove five more miles east to an area I always find surprising.  In the middle of what is essentially high desert are acres and acres of fruit orchards and grape vineyards.  Lots of peaches and apricots.  Corn fields also. Many wineries with free tasting .  One spot we have visited before is a meadery.  Wine made from honey instead of grapes.  We went there and by splitting tastings sampled ten meads.   Back to carbus to get ready for trip over Rockies tomorrow.

August 29, 2015

Canyonlands NP and Dead Horse Point SP

North of Moab about ten miles is turnoff to Canyonlands NP and Dead Horse Point SP.  Both are situated on mesas that overlook the Green and Colorado Rivers.  Views, hiking, and biking.  Think I would save hiking and biking for late fall, winter, and very early spring.  Everything is totally exposed. No shade anywhere (except picnic areas and campgrounds which have ramadas at every site – nice!) Views are pretty neat.  Mesas are 2000’ above the rivers and the rivers snake through the valleys below.

 

After the views we went north a few miles to visit two dinosaur sites.  The first is located a couple of miles off the main highway basically following washes up into a canyon.  Lots of sandy road (red rock sand is finer than beach sand – basically gritty powder).  Fun to do some four wheeling.  Site is a rough trail that has information stops that point out fossils in the ancient river bank you are following.  How someone finds this stuff and identifies it as to type of dinosaur is unfathomable to me.

Horizontal dark area in middle is part of scapula of some very old beast.  Who am I to argue.

 

 

Back on the sand road to the highway and on a few more miles.  Turn off onto gravel road this time.  Two miles into back country canyon to parking lot.  Short hike up a hill to see dinosaur tracks.  Again, finding and identifying as tracks let alone identifying particular dinosaur that made them, unreal.

Difficult to see. Areas that look like potholes in center are tracks.

Tracks in center of picture.

Tracks again.

If I were walking across this area I would just call this a depression in the ground.  What do I know.