Day 44 - Change of Plans

From Snow canyon, we ended up in Beatty, NV, right next to an entrance to Death Valley.  We had decided to skip DV because of the high temps of 117.  But we were so close . . . So we got up at 6 this morning and left at 7 and headed into the hottest place in the US.

We stopped at the Visitor’s Center to get Carmen a J.R. book (Audra opted out this time) and picked up a map and then headed straight to Badwater Basin.  This is the lowest elevation point in the western hemisphere at 282 ft below sea level.  The whole area is covered with sodium chloride that emerges from the ground and there was a tiny amount of water (salt water – “bad water) that was filling the pool.  During the wet season it is a much larger pool.  We were there around 8:30 and it was already well into the 90s.

From there we started making our way back toward the visitor’s center stopping at all the places we had passed on the way down.  The girls and I dipped our bandanas in the ice water in our cooler and tied them around our necks before each hike.  It helped them survive the harsh conditions!  We saw Natural Bridge (1/2-mi round trip “hike”), Devil’s Golf Course (a graveyard of sodium chloride deposits), Artist’s Drive, Golden Canyon Tail (2 mile trail we might have gone in ¼ mile or less just to get the Star Wars shots).  Then we stopped in at the Visitor’s Center to get Carmen’s badge and watch the movie.  By 1:30 we were tired and hot so we headed back toward Beatty RV Park.

We did pull off at a Rhyolite ghost town.  I’ve never been to one before.  It was very odd and a little eerie.  Strange that those buildings were just abandoned to the elements.  There was some very off-beat art at the off-beat free museum.  And there was a prayer labyrinth. 

4 icees later, we were "home."

The girls watched several movies and played lots of pool in the game room that we had all to ourselves.  There were 2 or 3 other RVs there both nights, but they weren’t using the game room!  J

Death Valley

Day 43 - Fire

We have been aware of the wildfires.  They are burning in several of the places that we visited in CO:  Colorado Springs, Boulder, Estes Park.  We haven't had TV so we haven't seen any footage.  We have only heard reports on news radio.  Today we are finally at a campground (in Beatty, NV) with internet, so we have had some time to search on-line a bit.  We discovered that the Flying W Ranch burned to the ground.  Our evening there is one of the highlights of our trip!  That is where Brad made friends with the Flying W Wranglers.  That is where I went in high school with my choir.  That makes the fires real.  I know there are people who have lost their homes, which is even more devastating.  Our prayers are with all those struggling and suffering because of the fires . . . in NV, CO, CA, UT and anywhere else.


Feel free to keep us posted if you think we might be headed to an area that we shouldn't.  I read of a campground in CA that was evacuated.  It is so hot and dry everywhere.

“Gratitude” by Nicole Nordeman

Send some rain, would You send some rain

'Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again

And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade.

Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud

Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down

Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid

But maybe not, not today

Maybe You'll provide in other ways

And if that's the case . . .

We'll give thanks to You
 with gratitude


For lessons learned in how to thirst for You


How to bless the very sun that warms our face


If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread


Bless our bodies, keep our children fed


Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight


Wrap us up and warm us through


Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs


Let us slumber safe from danger's view this time


Or maybe not, not today


Maybe You'll provide in other ways


And if that's the case . . .

We'll give thanks to You
 with gratitude 


A lesson learned to hunger after You


That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead

And if we never taste that bread

Oh, the differences that often are between


What we want and what we really need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace


Move our hearts to hear a single beat


Between alibis and enemies tonight


Or maybe not, not today


Peace might be another world away


And if that's the case . . .

We'll give thanks to You
 with gratitude


For lessons learned in how to trust in You


That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream


In abundance or in need


And if You never grant us peace

But Jesus, would You please . . .

Day 42 - Where are we going?

This seems like the first day that we haven’t been totally sure where we are going next.  We want to get to Yosemite, but aren’t sure the best way to get there.  We ended up stopping in St. George, UT because it was a pretty big town and we needed some supplies and an oil change.  Brad found Snow Canyon St Pk just 8 miles from the city so here we are.  It also gave us another day to figure out exactly which route we are taking.  It’s still a little weird to me to not have a plan, but I’m getting used to it.

So that is where we are.  Not sure where we are going.

Day 41 - Grand Canyon - The Uninhabited Side

If you can describe the North Rim as less crowded, the drive to Point Imperial and Cape Royal is practically deserted!  It takes 50 minutes to get from our campground to the Visitor’s Center.  Instead of going back there today, we turned off to take a scenic drive out to some famous overlooks and a couple of hikes.  From the point where we turned off, it was probably another hour into the park on a curvy, windy road.  The views were spectacular.  No less amazing than yesterday’s.

Point Imperial is toward the northeast side and the highest point on either rim at 8,300 ft.  This was just a stop with an overlook and picnic area.

Then we went on back south toward a different section.  We stopped at Roosevelt Point (a viewpoint), and the Wallhala Glades (an ancient Puebloan historical area).  We went a little farther in and stopped to hike Cliff Springs Trail.  Audra declared this her favorite hike so far.  The rest of us put it way up there.  It went 1.5 miles through a dry forested area, a wet forest type area, and out onto the edge of the canyon to a natural spring seeping out of the cliff.  It was a unique hike.  Very cool.  We met two couples hiking out right as we started in, and never saw another person.

We finally made it to the end of the road at Cape Royal for a picnic and sunset hike out to Angel’s Window and Cape Royal.  Just beautiful.  I can’t think of a better word.

Carmen wanted to star-gaze, so we drove the hour back to the Lodge and got some coffee and hot chocolate and waited for dark.  We decided to drive on out toward the meadows of the Kaibab Forest to get away from the Lodge lights and get a little closer to camp.  We stopped and saw a few stars, then felt/saw a bat fly past our heads and we all jumped back into the truck pretty fast.  That was enough stars (and bats) for one night.

Late night, good day.

GC Day 2

Day 40 - The Big One

So I thought maybe we had made a mistake by doing all the Utah parks before the GC.  I thought we had seen so many amazing rock formations and canyons already that now the Grand Canyon would be underwhelming.  HAHAHAHAHA!  I giggled for the first half of our first hike out to Bright Angel Point (1/2-mile round trip).  It was absolutely stunning.  Awe-inspiring.  Like nothing I could have imagined.  Positively 100% Grand. 

Brad is afraid of heights.  (Acrophobic?)  We had a little talk with the girls on the way about not horsing around and definitely staying on the trail – the center of the trail if possible.  They were great.  There was one little viewpoint that we ventured out on while Brad stayed hugging the safe side of solid ground.  Other than that, he was basically fine.

After our first impactful impression, we visited the gift shop, post office and lodge and ate a bite of lunch.  Then we headed out on our first GC hike – Transept Trail.  It was 3 miles round trip along the rim from the lodge to the campground.  Great views and not too difficult.  We still needed some refreshment afterwards (hiking at 8,000 ft!) so we had a snack and rested on the porch of the lodge.  We waited around for a geology ranger talk so the girls could finish their jr. ranger books.  Then they went for their book check and pledge taking and received their 6^th badge.  We were done.  Back to camp.

The North Rim is a 40-mile drive from our camp, but is a beautiful drive.  Sadly, we drove though a large section of forest that had been burned.  Not sure how recently.  We saw beefalo just inside the entrance to the park.  They were brought in and bred here in the early 1900’s so they are not indigenous.  They are smaller than bison, but otherwise look very similar.  On the way back they were crossing the road so we gave them the right of way.  (obviously!)  Beautiful day.  To God be the Glory!


GC Day 1

Day 39 - Arizona

This morning we casually got ready to head to AZ.  It was a short drive (90 min) to our new campground – Kaibab CampeRVillage.  It is a private campground in the Kaibab National Forest 40 miles from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  It feels more like a state park than any other private campground we have visited.  There are tall pine trees that provide a cool, lacy shade.  The ground is covered with pine needles instead of red, dusty sand.  And the high temperatures are mid 70s.  It’s a pleasant change to say the least.  We were encouraged by several people to stay on the North Rim.  The Grand Canyon is so big that it takes 5 hours to drive from the North Rim around to the South Rim!  We were told the South Rim is crowded and very commercial and that some of the best views were actually along the North Rim.  We won’t be comparing them this trip, but I’m sure we will love what we see.

We decided to hang around this lovely campground today and just rest.  Carmen and I even gave ourselves pedicures complete with a hot, orange-infused water soak!  Who says camping has to be roughing it?

We ended the day with a nice walk to Jacob Lake, which is actually a pond, or a creek or something.  We don’t know because we never found it, but it was still a nice walk.  I made my famous “first night of camp meal” from our TX trip.  (Pasta Roni with broccoli and canned chicken added in, and salad)  Then Brad made shaved ice with our Blendtec blender that we brought along and use almost daily.  We have picked up some pina colada mix and some grape snow cone syrup along the way.  It’s not quite as good as the shaved ice places, but it’s close!

There is no cell service or wi-fi here.  Our moms may be wondering where we are, but I think it’s nice to be disconnected sometimes.  (NOT from our moms, just from technology.)

Audra is thinking about church camp most of the time right now.  It is in session and she is not there.  I am mindful (and prayerful) of them too.  So far though, I am fine with the summer activities I am missing (Florence VBS, Impact praise team, Otter Creek Camp).  I am missing my friends more than I thought I would, but I wish they were here with me – not me there with them.  This is too awesome!

Tomorrow . . . the GRAND Canyon!

Day 38 - Zion in a Day

Okay, so we technically did do a tiny bit of Zion yesterday, but today was our main park day.  It is so hot (104) that we are basically just popping in to say we saw it.  (Because our wise friends said we had to).  ;-)

We started off catching the shuttle (no private vehicles in the park May-Oct) at the Visitor’s Center and hopping off at the Emerald Pools Trail.  We hiked up the short walk to the pools to find a nice spray of water coming down off the cliff above.  The pool wasn’t much to see (called “Emerald” because of the green algae), but the mini-waterfalls were refreshing.  Carmen got the wettest of all of us.  It made us cooler for the walk back down.  There are a lot of people here!

Then we shuttled over to the Weeping Rock where we found a ranger giving a talk.  The girls were required to attend a ranger program for this junior ranger badge.  We checked that off and headed up the very short walkway to Weeping Rock.  The water that seeps out through the porous sandstone is 1200 years old.  This spot was much more crowded and not quite as nice as the first, though the view from there was pretty.

After this we headed straight for the end of the road.  There is a 1-mile walkway called Riverside Trail that winds along beside the Virgin River into the canyon.  At the end of that, the hike continues . . . into the river and through the canyon (the Narrows).  Next time we will rent water hiking shoes and socks (the socks look like they were made from wet suit material) and hiking sticks.  Although, I think we’d be fine without the sticks.  We would also wear bathing suits.  This time, we had all agreed ahead of time we wanted to see the Narrows, but didn’t have to hike it.  The girls just wanted to play in the water.  After about 20 min of that, they were asking to hike in.  I was up for it, so we left Brad resting on a rock (his back is slightly messed up), and we hiked in.  We only went maybe a half-mile till we got to a place where the water got waist high.  I was not excited about that.  I told the girls they could go through a little further and come back, but they decided it was too cold.  I didn’t have the camera at that point, but there is just the river closed in by two narrow cliff walls going straight up.  Really pretty.

By this time (2:30) our tummies were hungry.  We packed in morning snacks, but ate a late lunch at the Lodge café.

Then we stopped on the way back up (or “down canyon”) for a photo op at the Three Patriarchs.  (It is a Mormon discovered area!)

Next we got off the shuttle at the Human History Museum so the girls could look at a plaque for their Jr. Ranger book.  From here we walked/hiked (oh it was so hot) to the Nature Center.  This was a great stop, but they were closing in 45 min.  Carmen was a little disappointed b/c there was more she wanted to do.  Then we had to walk to the Visitor’s Center (more HOT!).  ~The shuttle doesn’t stop at the Nature Center.~  Here the girls finished their books and got their badges and we headed to Springdale for shopping and supper.  We ate at the Café Soleil.  Very cute and delicious.  I had a Portobello mushroom and mozzarella Panini (with arugula and sun-dried tomatoes!)  I am liking this eating out routine, albeit short-lived.

Back to camp for showers and bed.  Zion is a pretty place.  I’m glad our friends encouraged us stop here.  It’s kind of funny because most people we talked to out here have a definite favorite between Zion and Bryce.  It seemed to be about 50/50.  On the way back to camp, we finished off our day with a sighting of Big-Horn sheep!  We wouldn’t have seen them if we had been staying on the west side.  Happy travels (and stay on the wrong side sometimes!)


Zion in a Day

Day 37 - Zion

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

Today has been long, but good.  We left 1000 Lakes around 9:30.  We stopped and got gas and snacks in Loa, just west of Torrey where we stayed.  These are tiny, desert towns.  We traveled for a while and missed two turns.  These are winding desert roads.  We stopped in Rockdale, UT to fix lunch from the camper.  Then we finally arrived at our campground … in the middle of NOwhere.  No cell service.  They have wifi, but you have to go across the street to the gas station/check-in to pick it up.  The site is red dirt, dusty and trashy.  Yikes.  We will only be here two nights.  We set up the camper and unhitched and left.  No reason to stay!  Upside:  we are two minutes from the East park entrance of Zion.  Downside:  The east entrance is not the main entrance.  It is a 14-mile scenic drive (Zion-Mount Carmel Highway) to the main entrance where you have to park to ride the shuttle into the main section of Zion.  Whew.  Lots of hoops to jump through here.  Another upside:  The scenic drive is beautiful.  It starts off with a great view of “Checkerboard Mesa” and goes through two tunnels, one of which is 1.1 miles long with several cut-outs where you can see into the canyon.  Then there is a series of switchbacks (new vocabulary word) down to the main entrance.  We traveled through the park and were lucky enough to find a parking space at the Human History Museum, where we picked up the girls’ junior ranger books and watched an orientation film.  Then we headed out the west side into Springdale, a really cute town just outside the park.  We kept on going and found a Walmart in Hurricane (her-ih-ken) where we spent too much money, but got restocked.  I think I feel so isolated that I wanted to store up a little bit.  We stopped in Springdale at The Flying Monkey for dinner.  I had a yummy spinach and grilled chicken salad with feta, craisins and pecans.  Then we had some shaved ice and visited a rock shop.  We got back to the camper pretty late.  (At least it was dark and we couldn’t see how unwelcoming it is.  OK, it's not that bad.)  And we still had to put away groceries.  It was 10:30 by the time the girls got into bed and we are supposed to have an early morning tomorrow.  Uh Oh!
Zion 1

Day 36 - Final Fling at Capitol Reef

So this is the longest we have stayed anywhere.  I have really enjoyed Capitol Reef and this campground (1000 Lakes).  The weather has been nice – cool in the mornings and evenings, hot in the day.  It’s been a restful stop.  Good, because we are gearing up for Zion (hot!) and the Grand Canyon (daunting!).

We got out pretty early this morning to start our hike to Hickman Bridge.  It is a natural bridge carved in sandstone.  It’s a 2-mile round trip hike with a strenuous start and very little shade, but oh so pretty.  Carmen alternated between being hot and tired and playing on the little ledges and cubbies.  And she threw in some beat-boxing for good measure under the bridge.

When we got to “our” picnic spot in the Fruita area, it was already taken.  (That man didn’t know).  We found a new spot that may have been even nicer than the first!  We took our time eating and relaxing and I bought a peach scone.

Carmen was really wanting to go back to the nature center, so we stopped there for a bit and the girls carved their own petroglyphs.  Carmen could have played with the puppets for hours, but I drug her away after 45 min.  They still had to turn in their Jr. Ranger books and get their badges, and that is how we ended things at Capitol Reef.

We came back to camp and swam and did laundry and played at the playground.  The wind is mostly gone, though it wound back up in the night last night.  But the last two evenings have been calm enough for a campfire.  We roasted marshmallows and made s’mores tonight.  It’s been a while!

Tomorrow we are movin’ on.  Happy travels!

Capitol Reef Last Day

Day 35 - Slowing Down

I think we may be going at too fast a pace, so we slowed down a bit.  Today was our day to rest.  We slept till 8:30, then had pancakes, bacon and French toast (because I only had a little pancake mix left).  I turned the bed into the dinette – first time on this trip – and the girls did school and played inside almost all day.  That is rare, but it was still a little too windy for outside school and I wanted them to have a break from the sun.  No pool today.

Brad worked in the pavilion right across from us.  It is sheltered from the sun and wind and has electricity!

This evening, Brad popped popcorn and I made my tortilla/hummus/lettuce wrap and we headed to the park for a sunset hike.  On the way, we stopped and got sodas as a treat!  It was a great view as the sun went down.  We only saw a few other people.  It is a quiet park.

We got back and I got the girls settled in bed while Brad started a fire.  That was nice.  We haven’t had one in a while from being at our friends’ house, to Arches (too hot and there was a fire ban – we actually saw smoke from a neighborhood house/brush fire while we were there.)  It’s also the first time we’ve had a fire without the girls.  We felt sneaky!

It’s been a good, quiet day.  Just what we needed.

Sunset Point Trail

Day 34 - More Capitol Reef

We had a hard night last night with the wind roaring and rocking the camper.  We didn’t sleep great, so we didn’t start as early as we meant to, but it worked out ok.  We were hiking Chimney Rock Trail by 9:10.  It is a 3 ½ mi round trip strenuous hike with an 850 ft gain in elevation.  The views were amazing.  The rocks are stunning and huge.  Carmen was struggling a bit at the end.  The last mile was hot and hilly, but we made it!  Lots of good pictures from this hike.

Then we ate and rested at “our” picnic area.  Carmen and I walked to the Gifford Farmhouse again and picked up some ice cream for her and Audra.  The orchard is everywhere, but we are too late for cherries and too early for apricots.  Maybe we’ll hit the orchards right in the northeast.  The Gifford House was an actual home for three different families starting in the early 1900’s.  It is part museum, part store.

Then we visited the Ripple Rock Nature Center.  This was a big hit with the girls.  There were tons of activities and toys.  We ended up staying there for a couple of hours.  They made postcards and wool rag dolls and plaster casts of real animal footprints.  We had to drag them away and tonight, as I tucked her in, Carmen asked if we were going back tomorrow!

We visited the Fruita schoolhouse that was used from the late 1800’s to about 1940.  Fruita  was a Mormon settlement that was first called Junction and then changed to Fruita after one family planted an orchard.  There were never more than 10 families living here at one time, but it was an enduring community.

After this, we drove to an area that has petroglyphs right off the main road.  These are from the Fremont Indians who were the ancestors of some of the more modern Native Americans, the Hopi and ooh I forgot the other one.  These drawings are about 1000 years old.

Then we were done.  Back to the windy campground.  We ate on the porch of the gift shop because it is protected from the wind.  We don’t want to turn our bed into the dinette for a 15 minute meal.  The porch worked fine.  They are saying that the wind will die down tonight after midnight.  I’ll believe it when I see it.  (Have I said that before?)  We are sleeping in tomorrow and have extended our stay here yet another night (planning to leave Friday) so that we can rest up a bit tomorrow and then finish Capitol Reef on Thursday.  Happy travels!

More Capitol Reef

Day 33 - Capitol Reef NP

This is a hard park to describe.  It is very diverse in landscape and historical significance.  It gets its name from 1. The rock formations that have been pushed up into dome-like features (Capitol) and 2. The Waterpocket Fold that was formed along a major fault-line, and then discovered by explorers with sea-faring backgrounds who called it a “reef.”  There is desert and there is an orchard.  There are geological wonders and there is the historic settlement area.  There are Native American petroglyphs and there are pioneer names etched in the canyon walls.

We saw bits of all of that today.  We photographed Chimney Rock and started down the trail only to realize it was too late and too hot.  There is no shade there.  We will try that again early tomorrow morning.  We made our traditional stop at the Visitor’s Center for the girls to pick up their Jr. Ranger books and to watch the orientation film.  (This one was maybe the best so far).

We explored the Fruita Historic District: the Gifford Farmhouse and gift shop (yummy scones and berry pie).  We had a picnic in the shade.  This might be the first picnic with grass that we have had the whole trip.  It has been such a dry spring out west.  They have lots of sprinklers going here.  We hung out at the picnic area for quite a while.  (No, we didn't play in the sprinklers!)

Then we drove down the 8-mile Scenic Drive.  This is along the Waterpocket Fold, but it is hard to really see because you are right up against it.  The landscape is just so, odd.  It is red dirt and rock.  The features of the land are like nothing I’ve seen before.  At the end of the paved road is a 2-mile dirt road through Capitol Gorge.  This was the original road through the area.  You couldn’t and still can’t be on it during rainstorms because of flash flooding.  Though water is scarce here, it is the main force in the formation of the land.  It is quick and powerful.  No chance of rain today!  At the end of the dirt road is a hike to the petroglyphs and the Pioneer Register (an area where pioneers scratched their names and the date as they passed through the gorge).  OK, so this hike was really hot, but fairly short.

We are extending our stay here for a couple more nights.  This campground is really nice.  It is neat and clean and there is grass.  The temps are cooler than Moab, but the wind is brutal.  It’s hard to eat at our picnic table.  The wind blows our food off our plates, and our plates and cups off the table.  We are learning to weight it down or hold on.  (and to eat fast).  I think it is supposed to be gone tonight.  It wasn’t bad in the park today.  I think it’s the canyon verses this hill in a valley that we are camped on.

This is another nice surprise.  We weren’t planning to come here, but are glad that we did!   Happy travels!  (Don’t forget to watch for some unexpected stops along the way!)
Capitol Reef