Visiting Friends, Family, Zombieland and London Bridge

London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Even when doing your best to live free and easy, life is seldom without problems.  We have done well this summer and had no issues at all with our car or RV.  But a couple of times during the last few months, the LP Gas detector alarm in our RV went off (usually between midnight and 3 am in the morning!).  The last couple of weeks this has happened more frequently. After being loudly jarred out of bed three times one night in Torrey, it was time to make sure we did not have a gas leak. 

We decided to head for St. George, Utah as we have good friends that live there and we were referred to a place in St. George to diagnose our RV.  Reluctantly we left the Torrey area, hoping to come right back and spend more time visiting Bryce Canyon and other parks in the area.

We spent three nice days visiting our friends, Carla and Jerry, who had met us earlier in the summer when we were in Florence, Oregon.  But alas our RV did not get fixed.  We took it to three different places and got a different answer each time as to the problem.  (Our RV is new and made in Canada and not every repair center is familiar with its particularities.)  David got on the computer and found a dealer/service center for our RV in Mesa, Arizona, part of the huge Phoenix metroplex.  So temporarily, we gave up our plans of spending more time in Utah’s parks and headed for the Phoenix area.

As I have mentioned before, both of us have gotten pretty spoiled to cool weather and it was still 95 degrees in the Phoenix area.  But on the good side, I have a cousin that lives in Scottsdale, so off we went to get our RV fixed and to visit family. 

Since we wanted to stay near the RV repair place in Mesa, we found a commercial campground nearby. The place was strangely vacant when we arrived. Except for the staff at the check in desk, there was no one to be seen. No one in the pool or at the golf course and though there were many RVs about, no one seemed to be at home. But after all, it was 95 degrees, so we didn't think too much about it.

We were meeting my cousin, Penny and some friends for dinner so we left fairly quickly to drive to Scottsdale. When we returned later that night the true nature of our situation became clear.  Maybe we were just hot and disoriented or maybe we really did step into the ‘Twighlight Zone.'   It was dark and the moon was rising.  Very slowly the residents emerged from their RVs and Park Homes.  They were pale and some were dressed in pajamas or house robes.   They sat in lawn chairs under their awnings staring at books.  They didn’t look up or say hi.  It was very, very scary.  Our fears were confirmed -- we were camping in Zombieland!

David and I got up early the next morning and took our RV to the shop. We didn't have a gas leak, which was a relief.  With everything checked out and ready to go, we left 'Zombieland' and drove three hours to Lake Havasu City, Arizona to visit my aunt Vicki.  London Bridge fell down and moved to Lake Havasu City about 35 years ago.  We had fun with my aunt acting as tour guide and we spent the night at a very non zombie-like campground on the shores of Lake Havasu.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

"Adventure is not in the guidebook,

beauty is not on the map. 

Seek and ye shall find."  

On the Loose by Terry and Renny Russell

 

 Calf Creek Lower Falls Trail, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Some of the places we have travelled this summer and fall have been planned but many more have just been found.  And that was the case with Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM).  As we were enjoying the Dixie National Forest we noticed that the GSENM was just a little farther south and we wanted to explore it.  What a treat!  An amazingly unspoiled and remote 1.9 million acres of America's public lands, the GSENM was the last place in the continental United States to be mapped.  I did not know that...  At the visitor center we learned that and many other interesting things about the geology, biology and history of the area.

The National Monument was established in 1996 and is one of the nation's newest conservation initiatives managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The Grand Staircase is a series of massive geological steps that descend toward the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The five cliff formations -- Pink, Gray, White, Vermilion and Chocolate -- are classic examples of biological diversity, spanning five different life zones. GSENM is a fantastic outdoor laboratory and much scientific research is being conducted here. David and I had fun indulging our 'inner scientist' at the exhibits in the visitor center.



Red rocks and pink, white and chocolate cliffs 

Streaked cliffs on the Calf Creek Lower Falls Trail

 

We drove through much of the monument on Scenic Byway 12 and stopped to hike one of the monument's more scenic trails, the Calf Creek Lower Falls Trail. The hike wound through a labyrinth canyon with multi-hued cliffs on both sides.  After 3 miles of stark beauty, the trail ended at one of the prettiest waterfalls I have seen. 

We had wanted a little warmer weather and for this hike we got it. David likes his weather 'just right' and this was a little too warm for him.  But once the trail left the desert for the cool moisture of the canyon we perked up, Maya included. When we arrived at the waterfall, it was body and soul refreshing!

 

Lower Calf Creek Falls

 

Aspens & The Dixie National Forest

Maya admiring David in his fashionable orange vest.

Elk hunting season started the previous weekend while we were in Vernal and we avoided hiking that first weekend.  But we knew we couldn't stay off the trails for the whole hunting season and it was so beautiful in Torrey that we had to see the fall color. We put on our new orange vests and headed out to hike part of the Great Western Trail from the Fish Creek Trailhead in the Dixie National Forest. 

Much of the Great Western Trail in Utah is accessible to horses, mountain bikes and ATVs as well as hikers.  We were a little concerned that being multi-accessible would attract more hunters. So we started our hike late in the morning to be safer and kept Maya close on her leash. We saw a few hunter's camps but didn't see or hear any hunting activity.  The day was excellent and the aspens were shining!

View from the Great Western Trail in the Dixie National Forest

Butter yellow aspen on Great Western Trail

Aspens turning gold and red

 

 

 

 

Torrey, Utah -- Red Rocks, More Aspens & Cafe Diablo

Sunrise on red rocks at our campground in Torrey, Utah

Several years ago David, his brother, Jim, and I spent a few days seeing the parks in southern Utah.  In Torrey we discovered this great little restaurant, Café Diablo, and we always promised ourselves to go back if we ever got the chance.  Well, Torrey was a mere four hours south and a little west of Vernal and we were headed south anyway, so how could we resist?

We found a great campsite at an RV park just outside of Torrey with beautiful red rock views out our RV window.  Torrey is a scenic little town with cottonwood lined streets and a population of about 500.  Capitol Reef National Park is just a few miles to the east, the Fishlake National Forest is to the northwest and the Dixie National Forest and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument are south of town.  So Torrey is in the middle of a huge recreation area.  We thought we had seen some nice fall color since Yellowstone but in and around Torrey, we hit the jackpot!  The aspens were at their peak while we were visiting.

Orange and gold aspens in the Dixie National Forest

Of course we were anxious to see if the food at Café Diablo was as good as we remembered, so we dined there our first day in town.  I ordered the citrus salad and David ordered the crown ribs for us to share.  The food was as well presented, as wonderful and as ample as we remembered. So we were really glad that we shared the main course. Now we had a little room left for desert. We shared the “bomb,” a very dense chocolate mouse with the house-made vanilla bean ice cream.  As our RV park was only a half mile away, we made a note to ourselves to walk next time we dined.

Crown Ribs with smoked chipotle rub

We stayed a total of four days in Torrey and I am not too ashamed to say we ate one meal at Café Diablo each of those days – two dinners and two lunches.  Torta al Carbon (a flank steak sandwich), Smoked Chicken Sopas, and Tenderloin with a cashew sauce were among the dishes we tried.  Everything was amazing.  But we never did walk to and from the restaurant...  

The "Stacker"

A dense chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and vanilla bean ice cream

Wall decor at Cafe Diablo

Rock Art

The Twins, Petroglyph

 

The area around Vernal is rich with Indian Rock Art.  One of the best places to see rock art is on the nearby McConkie Ranch. The owner of the ranch allows public access to this incredible historical resource. These Native American Petroglyphs (pictures chiseled into the rock) and Pictographs (pictures painted on to the rock) are world renowned.

The art is found all along a section of  200-foot-high “Navajo Formation” sandstone cliffs.  The figures in the art represent the Fremont culture, which flourished in this area from about 1,000 - 1200 A.D.  Little is known about the Fremont and what the figures mean. It is a mystery... 

The trail around the cliffs to view the petroglyphs was steep and rough in places. Several of the rock art figures were high on the cliffs and up to 9 feet tall.  It certainly would have been challenging for the Indian artists to make the art.  As we scrambled along the cliffs, there were many places we could have easily touched the rock art.  Thank goodness most visitors do respect the site.

 

Big Foot, Petroglyph with colored paint 

Besides checking out rock art, hiking and enjoying the turning aspens we also visited Dinosaur National Monument just 20 miles east of Vernal.  This is the only national park area set up to protect a historic dinosaur quarry.  Fossilized bones of crocodiles, turtles and 10 species of dinosaurs have been discovered in river sediment in the 150 million year old Morrison Formation. Many can be seen in the 'bone wall' in the Quarry Exhibit Hall.

But the park preserves more than dinosaur bones.  The Green and Yampa Rivers have carved deep and mysterious canyons revealing 23 different rock formations!  John Wesley Powell’s historic expedition navigated the Green River through much of what is now part of Dinosaur National Monument.  And there are many rock art sights throughout the monument.  We should have allowed more than a day to tour this very cool park.

Vernal, Utah -- Aspens, Dinosaurs and Rock Art



Welcome to Vernal, Utah -- I never knew they were pink...

The first cold front of the season was headed to the Grand Teton/Yellowstone area with temperatures heading down to the teens.  We had proven in Canada that our RV could handle 26 degrees for a few hours but we decided it would be better to leave the Tetons a little earlier than we had wanted rather than risk frozen water lines.  We checked the forecast and the map.  Temperatures were to remain at or above freezing in northeast Utah so Vernal, Utah became our destination.



Beautiful orange aspen leaves
 

The drive from Jackson through the Bridger-Teton National Forest on US highway 191 into northeastern Utah was very beautiful with many aspens still in color.  At Rocksprings, Wyoming, US 191 turned south into the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.  Here the Green River was damned to make this very large blue lake in a gorge of red rocks, stark and beautiful.  We descended from this high desert into the Ashley National Forest – an amazing area that covers 6 life zones: desert, grassland-sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, aspen-ponderosa-lodgepole, sup-alpine and alpine.

 

Ashley National Forest - aspen-ponderosa-lodgepole life zone
 

Creek crossing on the Flume Trail in the Ashley N. F.

 

In Vernal we stayed at the Dinosaurland KOA.  There was not a lot of choice of campgrounds as most of the National Forest Campgrounds around Vernal were already closed for the season.  Two state parks, Red Fleet and Steinaker were nearby and still open but we decided to stay in town as the first day of elk season was only a few days away and the campgrounds were filled with hunters.

We had never been to this area of Utah and were surprised at all that there was to see and do – the variety of exposed geologic formations, Dinosaur National Monument just a few miles away plus beautiful hiking trails and Indian Rock Art.

 

 

Grand Tetons National Park

Our last night in Yellowstone dropped to 27 degrees. The weather was getting colder and the aspen leaves had mostly turned and dropped in Yellowstone, so we headed a little further south to the Grand Tetons to see if there would be more color. Cold weather comes more quickly to the north and the higher elevations.

View of Tetons and Cottonwoods from Oxbow Bend

We camped at Signal Mountain Campground on Jackson Lake for 3 days and nights. The Tetons have always been one of our special places - the spectacular mountains and diverse wildlife never disappoint.  And just being there refreshes and restores the spirit.

Aspens

 

We had not been to the Tetons since the new Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center was finished. The new center had huge windows with an amazing view of the Tetons in the lobby.  It almost felt like you weren't in a building. There were video panels on the floor complete with sound - a video river.  So as you walked and looked down it looked like a birds eye view of the park. Very cool!

Those little dots in the foreground are elk...

Our campsite neighbor, John, from California invited us to share dinner our first night in the campground.  John had some special cheese from Switzerland. He cooked  potatoes in the fire and we put the melted cheese on the potatoes and ate them with pineapples, tomatoes and pickles.  Interesting combination, but John says that is how the Swiss do it.  And it was really good.

Jenny Lake

 

We spent some time at Jenny Lake, one of our favorite places and saw elk and pronghorn antelope along the road.  We walked along the shore of Jenny Lake enjoying the aspens.  But the wind was taking the leaves quickly.

One morning we had breakfast at Signal Mountain Lodge and afterward drove to Oxbow bend and saw a male elk with five cows.  Then we drove further south to the Snake River to a launching point.  There were several people down at the boat launch and we saw that they were observing 3 moose - a cow and two older calves.  We got to watch the moose for about an hour as they slowly grazed and crossed the river.  Two bald eagles soared over head for a few minutes, so it was a real treat.

Moose in the river

Another place we looked for wildlife was along the Moose-Wilson road that runs from Moose to Teton Village.  We were so excited to see a young solitary black wolf running next to and then across the road.  I didn’t get a photograph as it ducked into cover fairly quickly.  But we saw it running for a few seconds and it was fantastic! 

One night we drove slowly along Jenny Lake Road looking and listening for elk. Our efforts were rewarded and we stopped about 20 minutes and watched a big bull, 3 cows and a younger male as they grazed just yards from us off the road.  The big male ‘bugled’ ever so often and we both wondered why he was tolerating the young male among his cows.  We returned to camp around 8:30 and compared our animal sighting stories with our neighbor, John, who had seen two bears that day. 

The Middle and Grand Teton

 

I think I'll ask Santa for a bigger lens this Christmas.  Mine isn't very long and alas I didn't get any close ups the animals we saw.  But just seeing them and being in the Tetons was pretty darn nice...

 

Yellowstone National Park

 

Bozeman and smokey skies in our review mirror, we headed out to Yellowstone National Park. We have both been to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons many times but being so close and with the potential of fall color, how could we resist?  The drive was very pretty through the Gallatin National Forest and skies were definitely getting clearer. 

We decided to stay in the town of West Yellowstone just outside the park boundary and use the electricity in the campground to get some cooking done. Once we were in park campgrounds there would be no electricity or water, so warming up our meals rather than having to cook would make things a lot easier. With tomato sauce, green chili stew and homemade brownies cooked we went to bed. (I had been craving some chocolate!)  A nice rain came down most of the night helping to clear the smoke from the air...
 

Isn't Yellowstone the most 'other worldly' place?

One of the many hot springs at Mammoth

 

The next morning dawned clear and fresh for the first time in many days.  As we drove through the entry station to Yellowstone, it was free admission - National Public Lands Day.  We hadn't planned it but we were about to spend National Public Lands Day in Yellowstone. 

Lamar Valley in fall color

 

Taking a leisurely drive to the Lamar Valley, our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs. We took two walks around several sets of hot springs and then continued on our way to Yellowstone River Picnic Area where we had a nice picnic with brownies for dessert.  As we left the area we started seeing buffalo and antelope on both sides of the road and even in the road!  We looked for wolves in the Lamar Valley but didn't see any, then made our way back to camp. All in all it was a great way to observe National Public Lands Day.

 

Yellowstone traffic jam

 

 

 

Missoula, Bozeman and Strange Sightings...

Even though it meant getting back into fires and smoke we left the Kootenai National Forest and drove to a commercial campground in Missoula, MT. We started our adventure in June with new hiking boots but not new hiking shoes.  All that hiking had worn off our tread and we both needed new hiking shoes desperately. So REI in Missoula was our destination.  

We arrived in Missoula about noon and had a burger at Fuddruckers and that  made us think of San Antonio. We bought new hiking shoes & socks for both of us and dog food for Maya.  We were all geared up to hit the trails again. It was very smokey from the fires, so we spent the night and headed for Bozeman early the next morning.

Bozeman was a place neither of us had ever been and just 91 miles from Yellowstone National Park, so we wanted to check out the city.  Bozeman reminded us a little of Missoula as it is also a college town (Montana State University) located in a valley between mountain ranges with beautiful views in every direction. It wasn't quite as smokey as Missoula, but the air quality was not good.  Hopefully, fall and cooler weather will give Montana some much needed relief from these fires! 

 

Very scary...

 

The cooler weather has also brought reports of an unusual sighting.  Campground visitors throughout Canada and Montana have occasionally had early morning sightings of a strange creature in very colorful fall plumage usually frequenting restroom areas.  A black, white and brown dog is sometimes seen with the creature.  Rangers are advising people not to approach and give this creature space - she has not had her coffee yet.

When we were in Jasper, it was so cold that I put on everything I had over my pajamas for an early morning run to the restroom.  One of the park staff was laughing and photographed me on his cell phone. No doubt you can find it on YouTube somewhere...  It actually would make an interesting photographic project "Campground Fashion."  I have seen some outfits that I would consider scarier than mine.

 

Ross Creek Trails, Bad Medicine Campground, MT



 'Twin' cedars on Ross Creek Cedar Grove Trail

Camping at Bad Medicine and Bull Lake was so serene that we decided to stay an additional day and night.  Another good reason to stay was the nearby Ross Creek Cedar Grove Nature Trail, known for its 500 - 1,000 year-old cedars. The Forest Service manages this 100-acre Scenic Area that was established in 1959 to protect the cedars for scientific and recreational value. 

Beautiful red fungi in the Cedar Grove
 

We started on the trail early as we planned to combine the Nature Trail with the South Fork Ross Creek Trail for about a 9 mile round trip hike with a 1500’ elevation gain. The first mile was through the Cedar Grove and wound through a canopy of hanging moss and huge western red cedars.  There were many large specimen trees and lush ferns on the shady forest floor.
 

South Fork Ross Creek Falls



Ross Creek near the Falls

 

Once through the cedars, the trail was not well maintained. After spending some time searching for a way to cross Ross Creek, we were finally able to crawl across a log (Maya did it in much better style). With a little searching we found the trail on the other side of the creek and followed the trail several miles up a steep canyon to a waterfall.  It was beautiful but very small and we thought for all the effort we went to, the waterfall should have been at least a few hundred feet high!

Lunch near the falls

 

 

Bad Medicine and the Kootenai National Forest, Montana

Kootenai River in the Kootenai N. F.

The next day dawned with more smoke in the air so we moved farther west to Bad Medicine Campground in the Kootenai National Forest. Along the way we stopped and hiked the Kootenai Falls and the Swinging Bridge Trail. Maya will try just about anything but she is not that crazy about swinging bridges. I don't blame her!

My leash is being held or I would be 'outa here'

Kootenai Falls

Our campground was on the shore of Bull Lake nestled in a forest of mostly old growth cedars. Bad Medicine Campground had two small loops and we shared our loop with one other couple and their dog. It was very private and beautiful, much less smoke and free camping too.  This was some 'bad medicine' that we could take...

Morning fog on Bull Lake - not smoke!
 

Bull Lake at Bad Medicine Campground