Southwest Zig-Zagging

September 12–15, 2016     Thursday      Bruneau  Dunes 
State Park, Idaho

We're off on our fall camping adventure, down through the Southwest to explore Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. Before leaving, we had already made several changes to our adventure and I'm sure this will happen every day.

We made the usual camping stops to get out of Washington and through Oregon. In Idaho we made a stop at  Bruneau Dunes State Park on our third night of camping. This is a park where I last camped in, back in the 80s with my son.  I remember so much, the mosquitoes, who sucked us dry, but then that was during the Spring. This time we're here in the Fall and it's the flies who are bugging us now.  One nice thing about this park, there are no ATVs on these dunes, only hiking is allowed here. That night we were able to witness a full moon over these dunes. The usual suspense with full moon photography is always that of timing and trying to guess where the Moon will rise out along the horizon. I choose to shoot a time lapse on this night, and I picked 105° as a starting point and I was just a few degrees off to the left.

Full Moon over Bruneau Dunes State Park.

Early morning on the sand dunes.

September 16, 2016 - Friday      
City of Rocks National Reserve, Idaho

We had planned to camp at the City of Rocks National Reserve in Idaho, but found the National Reserve and State Park campgrounds were all full.  I tried driving on a road into some BLM land to find some dry camping nearby, but found the road to be too rocky and just about non-existent in some places, so we drove out and headed down to Willard Bay State Park near Brigham City. Utah.  Before leaving the City of Rocks National Reserve, we drove back into this unusual area of rock formations, someday I will need to return here on a weekday and not a weekend.

 

September 17, 2016 - Saturday 
Willard Bay State Park - Brigham City. Utah

Our campsite in Willard Bay State Park

Since this was a weekend and we were able to secure a campsite at Willard Bay State Park, we chose to stay put for two nights. Today we would go out and visit the Golden Spike National Historic Site, a location about 20 miles north and then 35 miles west on Route 83 from where we are camping. Many times while driving along Interstate 15, I have seen the signs pointing to this historic site, so this would be a great time for a visit.  The site is out in the middle of some empty, slightly rolling grass lands.  The tracks were laid down starting in the west by the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad from the east. This is the site of where America’s first transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, linking the east and west coasts together. 

Salt Lake along Willard Bay

Mountain Cliffs behind Brigham City

             I walked through Willard Bay Campground
           to view the sunset over Salt Lake.

Golden Spike National Historic Site, where the tracks were laid from East and West, joining here to form America’s First Transcontinental Railroad .

A grasshopper hops on my front windshield for a ride along the grass beds where the original tracks were laid.

September 18, 2016 - Sunday 

Dinosaur National Monument,  Green River Campground, Utah

This morning we navigated our camper around the backside of Salt Lake City along Interstate 84 to connect with Route 40, where we drove across these high plateaus to the town of Vernal. After some wrong turns or maybe correct turns, as we surprisingly found ourselves in the junction town of Jensen, where we were originally trying to find, so we could get do Dinosaur National Monument.  We stayed at the Green River Campground, which is located about 6 miles into the park along the Green River.   Here we found a site right down along her banks. The surrounding mountains within the park exposed the rock formations, similar to the cross-section patterns of a tree, here shows the tilted layers of rock, that interprets what 80 million years of earth's uplifting and erosions can do.

Here are some of the different mountain formations found within the Dinosaur National Monument.

 

 September 19, 2016 - Monday     
Dinosaur National Monument   
Green River Campground, Utah

Today we visited the Quarry Exhibit Hall above the Visitor Center where we could see some dinosaur bones and fossils. This exhibit hall is in a covered mountainside where the excavation originally took place.  Here some of these bones are still embedded in the solid rock cliff only partially dug out.  As you drive through the park, your imagination just has to flow and visualize dinosaurs roaming the enormous expanse of grasslands below the towering sheer  Mountain Cliffs.

Above photos from the Quarry Exhibit Hall and Visitor Center.

Below photo is of a Lizard petroglyph from the Fremont people some 1000 years ago on a rock ledge above the Cub Creek Road.  The  6 foot enormous petroglyph must of taken months to complete.

September 20, 2016 - Tuesday    
Colorado National Monument, 
Fruita, Colorado

On this early cloudy morning we continued east crossing over into some bland dry Colorado countryside. From the town of Dinosaur at the state border, we headed south on route 64 and then shortly on to route 139. The terrain was slowly changing to deep canyons, as we traveled through the Cathedral and East Tavaputs Plateaus to the town of Fruita, which is the entrance to the Colorado National Monument. Here we secured a camp site up overlooking the plateau where Fruita was scattered out, way below us.  Arriving early in the day, We still had plenty of time to drive 16 miles of the parks Rim Rock Road.  There was mostly no sun today, so photos appeared to be bland with no shadows or tonal separation of those vast canyon cliffs.  This is when photographically I concentrated on medium and close up images working on textures and shapes.  

Colorado National Monument

Towards evening as we were returning to the campground, when we passed a family of big horn sheep grazing the rocky cliffs and along the side of the road, making for some exciting photography.

At dinner time the winds started to blow and we had to retreat into the interior of our camper, to finish eating as the rain began pelting us with the roar of thunder moving by at a short distance away. Not often do I retire at 7:30 PM, but the days are getting short and dark by 6:30 PM, so I had no problem falling off asleep under the sound of rain and thunder, actually somewhat refreshing and restful.

September 21, 2016 - Wednesday       
Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park

Cimarron, Colorado

Woke up early too continuing wind and rain, on this cool rainy morning. Heading south on Route 50, we took a short detour at Cimarron, to Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park.  We were going to camp here at the entrance of the park, which looked like a real nice park with lots of vacancies, but it was still before noon when we arrive and the rain and wind was still active.  After learning that the park was at 10,000 plus feet in elevation, we decided to explore the park first, then we would decide if we wanted to stay.  At this high elevation the cold winds where cutting right through me freezing my camera shooting finger.  When we arrive at the Visitors Center overlooking the canyon, it was disappointing with all of the low clouds obscuring our view, but like someone suddenly opened a door, in came many rays of soft light pushing through the clouds.  With some patients, periodically beautiful images, began to appear out of the deep canyon below, painting the jagged, rocky cliffs with light.  Most of the day was spent stopping at the many overlooks and waiting for those special images.  The fall foliage was changing to its golden fall colors, adding some color to these mainly gray canyons and when the sun did escape through the clouds the canyons just came alive. 

At this elevation my muscles began to ache and my body seemed to fatigue much faster.  It was still early in the day and I did not want to put up with the cold weather and health issues, so we moved on to Ridgeway State Park, which is only at 6000 feet and 30 miles south on route 550.  Here we found a quiet campground with lots of privacy on the foothills of the San Juan Mountain Range. 

The sheer jagged cliffs in the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park gets lighted, on and off with nature's light switch.

A rainbow touches down on the San Juan Mountains as viewed from Ridgeway State Parks.

September 22, 2016 - Thursday    
Mesa Verde National Park  Mancos, Colorado

Weather forecasts this morning:  “cold front with thunder and lightning,” another low, fast, moving cloudy day, with off and on burst of sunshine to saturate the fall colors of the aspen trees.  Another day of waiting for clouds to pass by, to help lighten up the hillsides, which begin to burst now into different shades of reds and oranges.

San Juan Mountain from Ridgeway on Route 550.

Fall beauty, along route 145 near the
Telluride Winter recreation areas,
 in the San Juan Mountains.

 A few miles outside of Cortez is the town of Mancos, the entrance to the Mesa Verde National Park, where we set up camp in the Morefield Campground located at 7000 feet.  After arriving at noon we spent the rest of the day exploring several viewpoints, where we viewed many of the cliff dwellings found here.  These historic homes of the Ancestral Pueblo people were built into the cliff alcoves under these natural overhangs of the Mesa Verde.  The sun did come out in the late afternoon, illuminating some of these cliffs, for better viewing and photos.   

These mesas  are up there in elevation, some areas of the road are  at 12,000 feet.  The thin air dose not only affect our breathing, by slowing us down on the hiking trails, but also the power of our truck.  On one short descend, after lumbering to make it to the summit, my steering got sluggish and my braking power diminished.  Fortunately there were no cars in front or behind me and I was almost at the bottom nearing a stop sign.  I had lost power to the engine, which cut power to my steering and brakes. The braking was hard and stiff, but there was just enough to bring the truck to a stop before the stop sign.  Not being a mechanic, I'm not sure what happened, but my hands were sweating and my heart was pumping at a high rate.

Arrived back at the campground way after dark, and enjoyed a dinner under darkness.  Slept soundly, as later in the evening, the rain began to pour and the thunder with its lighting put us to sleep.

Mesa Verde National Park
Square Tower House (above photo)
Cliff Palace (bottom photo)
 on the Chapin Mesa.

September 23, 2016 - Friday    
Blue Lake State Park, New Mexico

With the campground located at 7000 feet, it was really cold in the morning and with the rain still pouring down and wind blowing, we couldn't wait to get the truck packed, engine started and us into that warm truck cab by 7 AM.

All day the rain seemed to follow us as we continued south into New Mexico. We had planned to camp near Aztec, but the weather was still pouring rain, so we pushed onto Farmington and route 371, in search for Blue Water Lakes State Park.  To get there we first had to cover a hundred miles of prairie driving to Thorean, which is off Interstate-40.  The stretches of road were, on average of 18 miles long in a straight line. At one stretch I drove 25 miles with not having to move my steering wheel left or right.

After some driving we found the campground which was empty when we arrived, so we enjoyed the solitude until about 7 PM, when several noisy campers arrived with their big trailers, which at first was okay, but why did they have to camp beside us in this loop when all the other empty loops where available. Then nothing worse than inconsiderate campers who leave their engines idling with their lights on, staring at our campsite for an extended time, as they yelled at each other.

Sunrise at Blue Lake State Park overlooking the lake.

September 24, 2016 - Saturday        

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Our stay in New Mexico, on this trip was short lived, as we headed west along Interstate-40 for Arizona.  The morning was a bit brisk and clear, what a welcome sight after the last three cloudy and wet days, we were enjoying the sunshine this morning, as we drove to the Petrified Forest National Park. 

Crossing over the New Mexico - Arizona state boarders at Lupton on Interstate 40.  Unfortunate scaring of our natural surroundings, by commercialization. 

Arriving around noon, the lighting was pretty flat and even for photography. I just had to find the correct side of the Painted Desert before the land formations would start to standout.  As I moved along the rim or walked the trails, the landscape formations took on a different appearance, as the angle of the sunlight falling on these formations changed.

Painted Desert within the Petrified Forest National Park.

Petrified Forest National Park

Blue Mesa

Newspaper Rock

Petrified  Logs

With no camping in the national park and with the two private campgrounds at the outside entrance being closed, we drove on to the town of Holbrook, which is located along Highway 180, to camp at the OK RV Camp Park.  This was a very commercial Park, pack them in campground behind a highway lined with restaurants and gas stations near the I-40 exit.  The camp site layouts at the campground were a bit unique, as the sites where long and narrow.  They had each RV unit using alternating or opposite ends of the site, so no one unit was camped side-by-side.

Big Red Bus at  OK  RV Camp, Holbrook 

During the day, at many of the overlooks and trails, we either followed or a big red bus followed us, in the Petrified Forest National Park.  Well, guess who we were parked besides, on this night, yes the big red bus.  It was one site over, because the woman who checked us in, kept the site next to us empty, so we would not be overshadowed by this big red bus, bless her with thanks.  The red bus which belongs to a German travel company was carrying 25 visitors from Germany.  They were on a three week loop trip through the Southwest, which started in Los Angeles. They all slept on the bus in these little tube like compartments, in the back of the bus. One side of the bus opens up to expose each compartment. These compartments are stacked 3 high and 9 across, reminding me of postal boxes on a wall in the post office. This side of the bus is lifted up and converted to an awning with canvas sides, to give them privacy. The driver told me that the costs for each person on this trip, was $3000, which seemed pretty reasonable to me, since that includes lodging or camping, meals and the transportation.  The driver said, that he really loved his job despite the long hours.  He mentioned, that he drives by day and also cooks breakfast and dinner.   All travelers do have to pitch in with minimum chores, by helping with cleaning dishes and setting up and taking down the awning which covers the sleeping area.  He also had one other helper to keep the group organize. With the sleeping compartments located in the rear, there were luxury seats in the front, quite a unique way of traveling.

 September 25, 2016 - Sunday   
Fool Hollow Lakes State Park,  
Show Low, Arizona

I was at first concern that with 25 people in a campsite, that normally serves 3 people, that the restrooms would be crowded with lots of waiting in line.  But to my surprise there were no problems or ever any waiting.  I was even able to have, a welcomed hot shower.  The German travelers were all friendly and in the morning they were up before most other campers.  In fact they were packed and back on the road by 7:30 in the morning.

We kind of took our time on this morning, not leaving until 10 AM.   After gassing up, getting ice and some McMuffins, we were on our way heading south to a town named Show Low, some 50 miles away along route 77.  Here we stopped at Fool Hollow Lake State Park, a well-maintained, clean and friendly park.  Our site was up on the banks overlooking the lake.  We spent a real restful and relaxing afternoon at the campsite, with no one camping close by us or within sight. 

In Holbrook, a family of dinosaurs  wish us farewell as we depart.

Fool Hollow Lake State Park outside the town of Slow Low.

September 26, 2016 - Monday      
Catalina State Park, Arizona

It always amazes me how high these deserts and prairies are in the Southwest, as compared to where we live in the Northwest. With all the mountains around us up there, we think were located at a high elevation.  Our mountains, peak out at around 6000 feet, but down here in the Southwest, the average prairie or desert sits at 6000 feet and then the mountains climb up a few more thousands of feet.   Here at Fool Hollow State Park, which is basically flat, starts already at 6000 feet making for some cold nights and shivering mornings, but as soon as the sun appears, the air quickly warms up.

We left early with a short drive to the town of Globe, where we started to witness some beautiful cactus covered canyons along the way.   The cactus came in all sizes, some towering high above me.  While in Globe we made a side trip to the San Carlos Indian Reservation.  This is where our adopted granddaughter Jazzy’s roots go back to. She has no family here, that we know of living here, but we wanted to see where her roots  are planet.  Most of the homes are in despair, surrounded by a desert of sand and clutter.  There is also such a visual contrast to the buildings within the small town, only several blocks long, ending at a turn around. The town is made up of mostly government buildings,  where these buildings are beautifully and elaborately designed compared to the local residential and business buildings around town. I do not know the unseen details, because I did not talk to anyone, I'm only going by what I saw, so I do not know if what I saw was because of lost personal or community pride, it just looks like an area of poverty.   It seems to me the governments, whether they are local, state or national, should be building less elaborate buildings and spending more funds on helping the people.

We had planned to camp close by the town of Globe, but found not much camping available, just some road construction along route 60, so we continued on towards Catalina State Park, located north of Tucson by following Route 79 and then onto Route 77.  The route was located at the base of the massive Catalina Mountain Range. The temperatures had warmed up a bit, also increasing the humidity and bugs. But in the evening, after the bugs went to bed, it became very comfortable to sit outside and enjoy a warm breeze, at sunset.

Highway 60 through Salt River Canyon

September 27, 2016 - Tuesday     
Kartchner Caverns State Park, Arizona

By morning we had put on some extra covers as the temperatures dropped.  At daybreak the skies were partially cloudy combined with spots of blue, where the sunlight was trying to slide between the fast-moving clouds.  We passed through downtown Tucson on route 77, to Interstate 10 located south of the city. Here we headed east along the interstate for some 42 miles to exit 302, onto route 90. From there we headed further south for 5 miles to Kartchner Caverns State Park.  That evening we had a great display of heat thunder combined with a few bolts of lightning, off at a safe distance.

Cactus within the Catalina Mountains.

September 28, 2016 - Wednesday 
Kartchner Caverns State Park, Arizona

 Today we headed back towards Tucson for a stop in Vail, about 22 miles away from this campground where we're camping, to visit Larry and Susan Clare, who were our neighbors 40 years ago when we lived in Tigard, Oregon. We managed to find their beautiful new home in a gated neighborhood. It was just a few miles off the interstate. They took us out to lunch and we spent the visit, trading stories about our families and what has happened in the last 40 years. 

Larry and
Susan Clare,
past neighbors from
Tigard, Oregon.

When we left at mid-afternoon the skies were beginning to vibrate with booming thunder and bolts of lightning, as we said our goodbyes.  We headed up to Saguaro National Park, East Side, which is located practically in the Clare’s back yard, about 11 miles away.  As we drove along Cactus Forest Drive, which winds through the foothills of the Rincon Mountains, we were in a downpour of rain, with the thunder rumbling above us.  Along the 8 mile drive we got to see some of the Sonoran Desert life.  At one time during this drive, the sun broke out like a spotlight, lighting the foothills with some soft quality light creating some dramatic photographic opportunities.

The rain begins pouring off in the distance
 working it's way toward us in the
Saguaro National Park

   Saguaro National Park





 That night we were entertained by a skunk, who kept roaming throughout our campsite looking for handouts.  At first we retreated to our camper, but then I just sat outside with my camera hoping to get a photo of this little guy, as he kept returning.  Eventually the little guy was scared away, when a couple arrived trying to back their huge trailer into the campsite next to us. It took them an hour and a half, just to back up, making me appreciate my little camper, as it only takes me 15 minutes to set up and be relaxing.

 

Our evening guest.

September 29, 2016 - Tuesday   
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

Another great day as we headed west for the, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  Looking west, the skies looked blue and hopeful, as we traveled west on Interstate 10 towards Tucson, we exited onto Route 86 to begin driving over some pretty flat barren countryside through the Tohono O’ Dham Indian Reservation.  This was a 115 miles drive to the one business little town called, Why.  The only business there, was a gas station.  Now we were on route 85 heading further south towards the Mexican - American border. This was a dry, hot and humid 95° drive.

We arrived at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument early in the afternoon and after claiming our campsite, we continued to explore this park.  The International border is 5 miles from the campground at Lukeville, where we first gassed up before tackling the rough dusty, gravel road along the border, on the American side.  I saw that there was really a tall fence  along the border, of these two countries out in the middle of these rolling deserts.  A border patrol car was parked on the hill along the fence.   We passed several marked cars patrolling along the park’s gravel roads. The patrolman were all friendly with a smile and wave.  I guess we passed the profile test, or they are following us around checking us out.   

Fence along Mexican and American Boarder in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

 We drove two other driving loops of the park, the North side of Puerto Blanco Drive, for a short distance.  Here we witnessed a helicopter circling the area in a search pattern. Not sure what they were looking for, as I didn't see any border patrol vehicles.   There were only National Park Ranger trucks parked along the road, so I suspect someone may have been lost in this hot desert.  Later in the day we took the 21 mile  Ajo Mountain Drive, a one way loop drive on some pretty rough, washboard, gravel roads.  The road winds through and around the Diablo Mountains, where I found some pretty Sonran Desert photos.

Organ pipe cactus

Dancing Saguaro Cactus

Ajo Mountains

Sunrise in 
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

September 30, 2016 - Friday   

Joshua Tree National Park, California

Exterior banks of Ajo open pit copper mine,
where mining tailings are piled along highway 85.

Today became a long busy day, since we wanted to make it to Joshua Tree National Park. This was the start of the weekend and we did not want to be too late in arriving at the park, so by 7:30 AM we were back on route 85 traveling through the flat hot Sonya Desert going north for 80 miles to  Interstate-8 and the town of Gila Bend.  From here, we had to continue another 40 miles north on route 85 with more desert driving to Interstate 10, west of Phoenix.  Once on Interstate 10, we finally turned west with 193 more miles of hot humid desert driving to the California border.  We crossed over the California border and now had another 60 miles to drive across the Colorado Desert to the South entrance of the Joshua Tree National Park.

Portion of the Smoke Tree Wash, 
within the Pinto Basin of the Colorado Desert.

Smoketree

 Joshua Tree 
National Park

Eagle Mountains

Sunset behind the Monument Mountains.

 Well, all our hard-driving paid off, as we arrive at 2:30 PM, giving us a pick of campsites at the Cottonwood Campground located within the park.  But by 7:00 PM that campground was pretty full.  This has to be the worst experience we have ever witnessed, for noise in a campground. There was no rangers or camp host, that I knew of trying to quiet down what sounded like several different groups.  One of the worst groups was next to us, which sounded like a marine female officer speaking in her high shriek voice about her company.  As a military veteran, I say she should be decommissioned, as you just don't speak in a loud voice,especially in public about your personnel. This has to be the rudest bunch of people, I've ever encountered in a campground, as this all happened past midnight.  I talked to the camp host the next morning and they apologized, but they mentioned, they had just arrived on that day and had not yet been issued radios or uniforms. They officially were not ready to start as host until the next day. They did also mention, that a ranger had come by after 10 p.m. and told them to shut off their music. I probably would have rather continued to hear the music, then the shrieking, complaining voice of that woman.

October 1, 2016 - Saturday       
Joshua Tree National Park, California

With little sleep last night and wanting to get out of the campground, we were up at 5:30 AM, to pack up and get out. There was part of me, that wanted to make noise while packing, to bother those noisy campers from last night, but I couldn't bring myself to stoop that low and bother the other good campers.
  

Joshua Tree National Park,
Smoke Tree wash area with Hexie Mountains.

Cholla Cactus Garden

Joshua Tree

Taking our time as we continued exploring into the park, we took advantage of the early morning light bringing the desert to life. There were some beautiful images being created for me to capture, of the Joshua trees.  The first campground we entered was full, but then it was still early in the morning.  But at about 11 AM we came to a campground named Belle, where we found a campsite some ways into the campground, right beside the road against a huge rock formation.  We pulled in and there right next to us on the other side of these massive rocks was another Four-Wheel-Camper just like ours.  For now our site was on the shady side of these huge boulders, keeping us cool until later in the afternoon when the sun moved further west.  We would continue to explore the park today, so we were not worried about sitting in the heat during the afternoon.

Our campsite in Belle Campground among huge boulders.

We first headed out of the park to the town of Twentynine Palms, to get some ice and gas up the truck. The rest of the afternoon was spent entering back into the national park at the West Side Entrance with several stops along the park’s road, at different points of interest.  Since this popular national park is only 75 miles from Los Angeles, it is well visited and crowded, especially on Sundays. We had several minutes of waiting at the entrance along with a long line of cars also waiting to pass through the gate. Once back in the park, we got to see a lot of the park with its many groves of Joshua trees, and huge boulders, some the size of buildings as if they were personally arranged by humans and not natural powers.

Joshua Tree Grove in Mojave Desert

That night I attempted to photograph the stars and do some painting with light of our camper, parked against these huge boulders. I used my flashlight as my brush, to paint with light. Of course it took several exposures and tries to get the timing corrected, for the correct intensity.

Joshua Tree National Park night skies.

October 2, 2016 - Sunday      
Joshua Tree National Park, California

At sunrise I walked out across the desert from our campsite and discovered many different images of cactus and boulders being bathed in the morning light against the colorful amber sky.  Must have walked out about 2 miles into the desert, for several hours capturing some 175 photos. 

Desert scenery out around our campsite.

We liked this campground, so we decided to spend another day here and moved over to the next campsite, when it became vacant. The campsite was bigger and also surrounded by these huge boulders giving us plenty of privacy, plus we got away from the main dusty road, we were camped beside. Only downside, there was no place to hide from the warm sun except on the shady side of the camper or under a couple of skimpy branched trees.  Fortunately there was a slight breeze during the afternoon, to keep the heat bearable. Today became a relaxing day where we just sat around and I got caught up on the writing of my log.

 

October 3, 2016 - Monday  
Joshua Tree National Park, California

One thing for sure the hot desert cools down at night and so we had to again break out the warm sleeping bag last night. In the morning when the sun wakes up, the desert air warms up quickly. This morning as we were leaving at about 8 AM, we spotted a coyote strolling through the campground.  At one point while I was capturing some images, the coyote stopped, lifted its' head and began to howl as to be saying goodbye.  A few seconds later we could hear off in the distance another pack of coyotes howling, as to be answering the coyote not far from us.

Sunrise over our campsite in Joshua Tree National Park.

Coyote strolls through our campground and lets out a howl.

This morning we headed back to the North Park Entrance and then we turned east onto route 62 crossing the Mojave Desert through some pretty intimidating hostile looking countryside.  I'd surely would rather get lost, in the wilderness of the mountains, rather then this wilderness desert.  Once across the state line in Arizona, we turned north onto route 95 and after driving 38 miles, found ourselves in Lake Havasu City.   This is strictly a resort city, full of hotels and motels with all kinds of tourists type shops and activities.   At first I was not sure if I wanted to stay here, even at the state park, but they had electricity and I was able to get four days of photography images downloaded to my hard drive .

Straight line driving, on highway 62 in the Mojave Desert.

Driving through a sand storm blowing across the Mojave Desert.

October 4, 2016 - Tuesday         

Lake Havasu City, Arizona

This morning we went to downtown Lake Havasu City, to view the London bridge, which was actually brought over from London, England.  The whole waterfront area reminds me of a circus with all its souvenir related tourist shops, at the base of the bridge. This atmosphere kind of took the beauty and charm away from the bridge, actually cheapening its’ appearance.  

Lake Havasu City London Bridge brought over from London, England.

Cell phone booth.

We did not stay long at Lake Havasu City and headed further north, for a short drive up route 95, along the Colorado River to Bullhead.  We return to the  Davis County Campground, where we were assigned the same campsite we stayed at two years ago.  Bullhead is about 8 miles long with three separate shopping areas full of retail stores, separated by empty barren areas. It's almost like three different cities also full of RV Parks, so this must be where the snowbirds come down from the North with their RV campers to roost in the winter.  Across the Colorado River to the West is Nevada, where the riverbanks are flooded with large colorful hotels and casinos, which also must contribute to this area's prosperity.  As we were relaxing in the afternoon at the campground, we were greeted with a wild burro strolling pass our campsite. The surrounding hills are full of these burros.

Wild burro comes visiting our campsite.

October 5, 2016 - Wednesday    
Davis Camp County Park,  Bullhead, Arizona

This morning we headed out to visit Oatman, a so-called ghost town on route 66. There are some 60 residences who live here. There are several dozen wild burros, who also roam the streets posing for photos and begging for food handouts.  The town is only a few blocks long, but it is lined with restaurants, taverns and souvenir shops to explore.  We were able to enjoy watching the reenactment of a robbery and shoot-out in the middle of the street.

Walking the streets of Oatman along route 66.

Re-enactment  of street shoot out after robbery.

October 6, 2016 - Thursday   
Callville Bay Campground, 
Lake Mead Recreation Area,  Nevada

From Bullhead, Arizona we first crossed the Colorado River into Nevada, going west on route 68 for a few miles, then turning north on route 95 to Boulder City, where we then entered the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.  Following the northern side of the lake, now looking more like a puddle of water, since the water levels are now so low.  None of the boat ramps I saw reached the water's edge, not sure how they get their boats into the water.  Some ramps ended and then there was at least a half mile more distance to the water's edge.  Today we stopped at the Callville Bay Campground, which is another hardly used campground, but pleasant and quiet area on the lake these days, with the absence of boating activities and accesses.

Callville Bay on Lake Mead,

where the boat ramps are used for parking, 

because the ramp edges, are now

 so far from the lake's edge.

Our view from our campground at Callville Bay
 on Lake Mead now some distance from the lake
 with low water levels.

October 7, 2016 - Friday     
Virgin River Canyon BLM Campground, Arizona

With the weekend coming on again, we decided to stop early at the Virgin River Canyon BLM Campground off, of Interstate 15 in Arizona.  We found a campsite along the top of the canyon, overlooking a deep canyon below, with the Virgin Mountains across the way from us. Not wanting to compete with campers looking for campsites at another campground during the weekend, we decided to stay here for two days since this was Friday.

Virgin River Canyon  

October 8, 2016 - Saturday    
Virgin River Canyon BLM Campground, Arizona

Today we took a drive into St. George, which is 23 miles north from our campground located on Interstate 15.  While there we got some supplies and spent sometime at the local library, where I could catch-up on my internet messages, pay bills and charge my computer batteries. In the afternoon we returned to the campground, for some relaxation and continuing to do some photo editing the rest of the day. 

Virgin River Canyon 

October 9, 2016 - Sunday       

Zion National Park, Utah

We started in Arizona this morning, a state that doesn't recognize daylight savings, so we lost an hour when we crossed into Utah. We headed over to Zion National Park from I-15 over onto route 9.  We not only lost an hour, but we didn't realize this was a three day weekend. Here in the Southwest they celebrate Columbus Day with a three day weekend. Up in the Northwest, we do not observe this holiday, I don't even think this day is recognized as a federal holiday, I have never gotten this day off.  

At the town of Springdale outside of the South entrance of Zion National Park, there were signs suggesting visitors park their cars in town and catch the shuttle bus to the park.  The signs further explained that the parking areas and campgrounds were full. We drove through the entrance, with the idea that if we did not find anything, we would just pass on through the park to the East side.  We did find  the campground full, but there were only a few parking spaces available, but there were so many people walking the streets and waiting at the bus stops, we just continued on to the East side.  Cars were parked all along the road and park rangers were walking along the road writing out citations, for any car parked in a non-parking area or even for having any part of a car hanging over onto the road.  We drove along the Zion Mount Carmel Highway, a 12 mile road winding up and down steep switchbacks and through a narrow tunnel.  At the tunnel we had to wait some 20 minutes with a line of cars, because traffic was only allowed to go through the tunnel in one direction at a time. The 1.1 mile Zion Mount Carmel Tunnel took 10 years to build, back between 1920 through 1930.  In those days vehicles we're not as big as they are today, so the tunnel was built a lot smaller. Today large size vehicles are not allowed in the tunnel, except during controlled times when the tunnel is converted to one-way traffic, so that the larger vehicles can travel in the center of the tunnel. We were there during those converted time. The drive passes through some beautiful mountains with unusual cliff formations, of various textures.  With the lines of busy Sunday traffic, it was somewhat a relief, to get out of the park and away from its city like, traffic gridlock.    

 Zion Mount Carmel Highway, in the Zion National Park 

We are now back in the open countryside with less cars. I don't know what happened to the line of cars, but when the high mountain cliffs changed to these rolling foothills, the cars seemed to disappear.  Route 9 ended and we continued on to route 89 at the Mount Camel Junction.  A few miles down the road we turned off and drove another 8 miles to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. The campground was full, since as we had discovered, this was a three day weekend, but the Park Ranger set us up in the overflow camping area, which was basically the OHV day use parking lot.  The park was full of OHV machines riding the roads and sand dunes.  We hiked down to the viewing area to watch the activities on the dunes in the late afternoon.  Speeding up-and-down the dunes, were these vehicles, fan tailing sand into the air and people dangerously hiking the dunes.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. 

With the late afternoon sun dropping further to the horizon the dunes slowly changed to a golden amber pink and streaks of lights as the vehicles return to their parking lots and campsites. Suddenly the surrounding environment became silent as the vehicles were put to rest for the night.

October 10, 2016 - Monday    

Grand Canyon - North Rim, Arizona,   

DeMotte Campground

We departed from the sand dunes, which are surrounded by these high mesa cliffs.  The blowing sand is held within these cliffs, like a bowl holds its contents.  We were soon back on route 89 climbing back up to the high deserts.  At the town of Knab we continued on to route 11, where we crossed back into Arizona at Fredonia.  Here we took a side trip on route 389 through the Kaibab Tribal Lands to Pipe Spring National Monument.  This was a Mormon Community where they came into help the Indians, but instead hurt them. Before the Mormons arrives there were 6400 natives living on these Knab Plateaus, then comes the Mormons with their steer, that ate the grass on these lush lands, the Indians used for farming. The grass preserves the land from erosion and when eaten up by the steers, the farmlands disappeared by erosion.  Slowly the tribe literally starved to death dwindling down to 640 members, left in this tribe. This was explained to me by an Indian elder, while we were touring this Mormon Fort. 

Pipe Spring
National Monument

Kaibab Natives
desert  shelters

Windsor Castle at the Pipe Spring ranch.

Returning to route 89A, we continued along the Kanab Plateau to Jacob Lake, where we were now connected with route 67, leading us to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  This was a long drive of changing terrains. We were now back to the high country plains where we stopped at a Forest service campground named DeMoote Camp.  We were about 10 miles from the north rim and I was glad we claimed our campsite here and we did not wait to find a campsite in the national park, as their campground was full.

Unfortunately the Canyon atmosphere was full of haze, apparently smoke from the forest service performing some forest control burning.  I did hike out to Bright Angel Point, in search for some dramatic canyon views.  The trail is steep on the return trip, which falls off on both sides, deep into the canyons and hovers at 8161 feet in elevation. The views are not only breathtaking to the eyes, but also your lungs.   I found myself taking many rest stops, which I camouflage as photo stops.

Bright Angel Point in the Grand Canyon, North Rim, looking west.

We  then took the 23 mile drive to Cape Royal Point, which travels on the Kaibab Plateau up along the Grand Canyon edges, rewarding us with many spectacular vista overlooks. After stopping at a few of these overlooks along the rim. we arrived at the end of the road near Cape Royal Point.  It was getting late, so I quickly hiked out to the point and found several other photographers waiting for a sunset. Only problem, there was no sun just a heavy overcast sky.  Over the years of photography, I have found no matter what the present conditions are, they can always change.  A big part of getting good images is waiting. I could see a clear layer short of the horizon, which had me hoping, that the sun would break through for a short time and illuminate the canyon, before dropping off below the horizon for the day.  We all continued to wait, but as that clear layer began to fill in with clouds, I began to see my chances of a photo diminishing.  You win some, you lose some, I would of loved, to normally wait but because we still had a 40 mile drive back to the campground, I was getting cold, so I headed back to the parking lot before it got too dark.

Vistas from Roosevelt Point on
North Rim of Grand Canyon way to Cape Royal.
(above and below photos)

Roosevelt Point Trail

Angels Window, North Rim out on trail to Cape Royal

Cape Royal looking towards the South Rim of Grand Canyon. (above photo)
Sunset with rain clouds above the North Rim
of the Grand Canyon filled clouds.
(below photo)

October 11, 2016 -Tuesday         

Lees Ferry Campground, 

Grand Canyon North Rim, Arizona

Today we headed for Lees Ferry, a short 80 miles from our present position, to where we plan to camp tonight.  I did not realize Lees Ferry was still part of the Grand Canyon National Park, until I took a look at the map. Here is where rafters start their float trips when floating the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  To get there we had to backtrack on up route 67 to Jacobs Lake to connect with route 89 A,  which follows the colorful Vermilion Cliffs over some pretty expansive plateaus. 

 

Route 89A leads into the tiny town of House Rock
under the shadows of the Vermillion Cliffs.

                                                                                                                                           

Vermillion Cliffs

We found our campsite, around noon, which provided us a wide angle view overlooking, the Colorado River Plateau.  The rest of the afternoon was spent along the Colorado River banks watching the National Park River Rescue Swimmers training and reviewing their  river rescue skills.

Lees Ferry at the north tip of the Grand Canyon National Park

Remains of Lees Ferry Fort.

Vista from our campsite overlooking the Colorado River Plateau.

National Park River Rescue Swimmers 
train on the Colorado  River .

October 12, 2016 - Wednesday    

Grand Canyon National Park South Rim, Desert View Campground, Arizona

This morning before continuing any further south we first stopped at the Navajo bridge, which crosses over the Colorado River at Marble Canyon.  I walked out on the pedestrian bridge,  to watch a couple of condors roosting on the parallel vehicle bridge. One of the condors took a leaping glide into the narrow canyon disappearing down deep below us into the canyon walls.

Vermilion Cliffs from Lees Ferry in Grand Canyon National Park.

Condors rest on the
  Navajo Bridge
as one takes
a flight down
Marble Canyon

We followed route 89 down along the Echo Cliffs out on the Moenkopi Plateau, to a small junction location called Cameron.  Here is where we turned onto route 64, back to the Grand Canyon South Rim and the Desert View Campground.  We arrived early enough around 11 AM, to be able to claim one of the few vacant campsites.  It was not very much time after we arrive, that all the sites were claimed.  

We had forgotten to buy ice at the junction this morning, so we decided to drive over to the south rim entrance and go into Tusayan, located just outside the park, for ice and order a pizza to go.  On our way to Tusayan, I scouted several lookout areas for possible sunset locations, so that on our way back we could stop and get some photos.  I found one place at Pipe Creek Vista near Yaki Point, where we stopped to eat our pizza and enjoy the sunset.  The time was well worth the wait.  There were some high clouds, but once the sun dropped below the cloud layer near the horizon, some pretty light appeared illuminating the canyon walls.

Grand Canyon South Rim

Grandview Point at sunset

October 13,  2016 - Thursday   
Grand Canyon -  South Rim, Arizona

This morning I got up early way before the light appeared to capture the sunset in the canyon. In the dark I biked from the campsite to the Desert Lookout and waited for the sun to appear. My waiting was rewarded with a pretty display of early morning light slowly moving across the canyon walls. There were all kinds of textures, silhouettes and formations for my camera to capture.

Desert View Vista in Grand Canyon

Watch Tower at Desert View Lookout

On the way out of the Grand Canyon we headed east on route 64 were we stopped at the Little Colorado River Gorge, a rest stop overlook, which is in the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation. The area is taken care of, by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department, who ask for an entry fee donation. The view is a smaller version of the Grand Canyon, perhaps this gorge is more like what the Grand Canyon looked like in its infancy, millions of years ago. What you see here today is the Little Colorado River cutting through a narrow deep gorge, that will someday become a canyon.

Little Colorado River Gorge

We were going to camp outside of the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, at a Forest Service campground, but it was closed.  We discovered that several forest service campgrounds were closing this week for the winter months. Really do not know why they are closing, because I was told this is the busy time of the year, with the area schools are closing down for fall breaks and the snowbirds are on the move from the North.  They are relocating to the South for the winter. The traffic down along route 89A was heavy and then going through Flagstaff and Sedona was tough going, so slow in Sedona that it took us an hour to get through the city streets.  Sedona appeared to be another resort, tourist trap town, full of people and cars.  That 90° temperatures probably contributed to the scores of rude drivers with their hands stuck to their horn buttons.

We eventually arrived within the city limits of Cottonwood where we went out to Dead Horse Ranch State Park. Here is where I found out about the fall school breaks in Arizona, which resulted in this weeks reasons for full campgrounds.  Again, the Northwest Schools do not have a fall break.  We save those non-school days for when it snows.  There were only two campsites available for tonight and we would have to move to the overflow area for Friday and Saturday nights. But for tonight, we could get a camping site with electricity and shade trees for an extra $5 or melt out in a primitive site. I chose the shade and electricity, where I could charge my batteries and set up my outdoor office. I had bought a collapsible table in Bullhead, Arizona last week, which I should've done years ago. With this new table I was able to work on my computer outdoors and download 10 days worth of images from my cameras.  The campground was a nice family campground, but pretty crowded with not much room between sites.

My outdoor camping office.

October 14, 2016 - Friday      
Dead Horse Ranch State Park,  
Cottonwood, Arizona

This morning we had to move to the overflow area, which was really the group camping area. We were in the parking lot side, because the other side under some trees had been reserved by the Boy Scouts.  Our side of the campground was out in the open with no shade, but fortunately our campsite did have one bush, to escape the 90° temperatures, if needed.  We went out and toured the park, which contains several lagoons , but this park was mainly available for camping and some fishing.  During the early afternoon, we visited Montezuma Castle National Monument off, of Interstate 17.  We took a walk around the monument grounds, to view the cliff dwellings from several different locations.  The five-story, 20 room was built into the cliffs overlooking  the Verde Valley, by the Southern Sinagua farmers.

Lagoon in Dead Horse Ranch State Park

Montezuma Castle National Monument

When we return to our campsite in the late afternoon, we found our site in some unexpected shade, from the low position of the fall sun this time of the year and some high trees that looked closer than they appeared around the camping area, so we were able to relax in some cooler conditions, the rest of the day.

October 15, 2016 - Saturday     
Dead Horse Ranch State Park,  
Cottonwood, Arizona

Our first chore today was to visit a laundrymat and get our clothes washed, before heading up  to the artistic, 70s looking era town of Jerome.  The town is built along the side of a mountain accessible by driving up along a steep narrow road, that just drops off down into the valley below. The narrow road snaking through the town was lined bumper-to-bumper with cars. There was no parking available, because of the crowds of people visiting today. There was a parking lot a half mile out of town, but I did not want to put up with the crowds and we had visited this town a few years ago, so we turned around and headed back down into the valley over to Clarksdale, where we visited the Tuzigoot National Monument.  This is where the remnants of a Southern Sinagus Village is located.   Some 100 to 200 people lived on this summit along a ridge above the Verde Valley.  The original Pablo was two stories high in some places, but mainly one story containing 87 ground floor rooms, basically assessable only by ladders through roof openings.

Busy Jerome artistic communite.

Tuzigoot National Monument near Clarksdale, Arizona.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at Safeway to pick up some teriyaki chicken, which we enjoyed for dinner in the warm evening, as we watched the Super Red Full Moon rise up above the trees. I was able to set up my camera and get some time lapse photos. The sun is beginning to set earlier this time of the year, so by the time the moon appeared the overall intensity of the light, was not as ideal as I would of like it.

Super Full October Moon

Later in the evening another Four Wheel Camper pulled in next to us, so we briefly exchange camper stories. The woman who owned the camper was with a group of photographers who had gathered together to do some moon photograph in the park.  She was not allowed to camp with them, in the tent camping area, so the park ranger had her come to our overflow area for the night.

October 16, 2016 - Sunday   
Lake Pleasant County Park, Arizona

Today we left a bit later than we usually do, as we continued south for Phoenix.  We got back on Interstate 17 and drove down to where Route 74 exits, north of the city.  Here we stopped at Lake Pleasant County Park, to set up camp for the next few days. It was another warm day with no breeze, well we did have a covered shelter at our campsite. With the heat and being lazy, I just laid around relaxing all afternoon.

Lake Pleasant County Park
Primitive camping is allowed along the beach, but we chose to camp up along the banks overlooking the lake.

The park hillsides are
covered with cactus.

Sunset at Lake Pleasant County Park.

October 17, 2016 - Monday     
Lake Pleasant County Park, Arizona

Today we drove into North Phoenix where my cousin Trish lives. I was surprised how close the park is located to where Trish and her family live, since I had no idea what part of Phoenix she was living. We spent most of the day visiting and getting caught up on our mutual families. Both of us are gathering information about our family history, so we traded what information we have learned. She is younger then me, so it is nice to know many of these family stories will continue to be told to our younger cousins. That evening we were able to meet and spend time together, with her husband, three children and granddaughter, while out enjoying some pizza.

Lake Pleasant County Park, setting moon early in the morning

Trish Dunn Workley with husband and children, all cousins.
John, Trish, Maisy, Layne, Grayce, Belle, Logan and Mike 

October 18, 2016 - Tuesday      
Lost Dutchman State Park, 
Apache Junction,  Arizona

Today after another short visit with Trish, we drove a short distance to the east side of Phoenix, to camp at the Lost Dutchman State Park near Apache Junction, over in the Superstitious Mountains. This was a big park, but pretty much empty because there was no one around us.    

Lost Dutchman State Park, our campsite with Superstitious Mountain, as our backdrop. 

October 19, 2016 - Wednesday    
Canyon Point Campground, Arizona

Lost Dutchman State Park, with the sunrise rays peeking over Superstitious Mountain.

Bird nest in cactus. 

Spent the morning photographing the many cactus trees around our campsite, as the sun rays reached out, over the top of Superstitious Mountain.  We proceeded over route 88 through the Goldfield Mountains on over to Roosevelt Lake. Along the way, this paved road suddenly changed to a long stretch of washboard, vibrating gravel road.  The drive was really pretty through these rough towering mountains, but it was slow going on this dusty dirt road. All of a sudden we came to a stop, where we had to wait for 45 minutes as two semi-trucks each hauling wide loads of mobile homes, were trying to navigate these narrow roads and sharp curves. At one curve, the first truck must of ran off the road, because it spent a bit of time slowly backing up and giving it another try. 

Gravel portion of route 88 along Canyon Lake.

Oversize load tries to navigate curves on route 88.

 The drive today ended up taking us a lot of time, where we averaged 8 miles an hour through the mountains, which totally took us three hours to cover 24 miles.  Coming out at Roosevelt Lake, we then headed north onto route 188, then to route 260. Our slow drive on route 88 through the mountains was a bit stressful and tiring, putting us a bit behind, as to how far we wanted to get today. Being tired and hungry in the afternoon and now getting late, we changed our daily travel plan of getting to Holbrook for the night and stop short, when I saw the Canyon Point Campground along route 260.  

At 4:00 PM the temperatures had already dropping into the 40s, shocking our bodies after sweating yesterday in the 90s, but then we were now at 7800 feet this evening. Fortunately we had electricity at our campsite, so I can use that heater tonight. They were forecasting it to be 33° by morning.

October 20, 2016 - Thursday  

Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Chinle, Arizona

Today we thought it would be a short drive to Windsor, which is only 100 miles away, but plans changed again. Instead we decided to head onto Canyon de Chelly National Monument near the town of Chinle, an extra 150 miles away.  This ended up to be a long day traveling out of the mountains on over the desert, along roads as straight as an arrow, through canyons and across areas where volcanic hills reaching out of the flat landscape.  

Route 15 travels over the Hopi Buttes.

In the Painted Desert along route 60

We stayed at the Cottonwood campground within the National Park. The park is within the Navajo Nation, which actively manages the monument with the National Park. All the land in the monument is under the Navajo Tribal Trust and natives families still live and farm within the canyons on the valley floor.  Like the birds and squirrels coming by our campsite asking for handouts, so did some natives asking for spare change.

October 21, 2016 - Friday    

Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Canyon de Chelly National Monument White House Overlook

Got up early for photos of the canyons and learned,that the canyons are so deep that  the light does not get down on to the canyon floor till about 10 AM. There were several cliff dwellings, that I wanted to photograph. One at the White Horse Overlook, so I waited a while. While up there waiting, I noticed some goats climbing up along the cliffs and some horses grazing along the valley floor.  

Junction Overlook

Antelope House Overlook
(left, above and below photo)

We continued north on Route 191 again crossing over some pretty flat, brush covered countryside, with an occasional uplifting of land formations, which added beauty and breaks to the continuous repeating visions, of the same straight line terrain before us.  After some 100 miles of these repeating scenes on route 160, we arrive in the town of Kayenta, where we stop to do some shopping before heading North, on route 163 through Monument Valley.

Monument Valley., Utah

We were on our way to Valley Of The Gods, which is north of Mexican Hat in Utah.  This is where we were going to join a group of campers, who have never met each other, but left messages on the website, “Wandering West”. This is a website, which is made up mainly of Four-Wheel-Camper owners, who ask questions about their campers or make reports on their latest trip. 

Being that the day was getting late and I didn't want to be looking for a group in the dark, we stopped at the BLM Sand Island Campground along the San Juan River, just south of the town of Bluff.  Luck was on our side, as we got the last campsite available in the park, which basically was just a parking spot with a table right on the main dusty campground road.  At dawn we saw another four wheel camper, a couple with 2 children, drove into the campground.  They saw our camper and stopped to say hello.  I find most, Four-Wheel-Camper owners all seem to acknowledge each other, as if they were family or belonged to this unofficial camper club.  Being we knew there was no other campsites available, we offer them to park behind us and share the campsite.  They took the offer and we traded stories that night before the cold chased us into our campers.

October 22, 2016 - Saturday      

BLM Sand Island Campground 
Bluff, Utah

Our campsite at Sand Island BLM
 campground, near Bluff, Utah.

We slowly woke up this morning waiting for the sun rays to warm-up this nippy early air. In order to get my body warmed up, I took a hike up to see the petroglyphs displayed on the cliffs along the north side campground border.

Cliffs along northern boarder of our campground, Sand Island.

Family we shared campsite with.

After saying good bye to our new friends, we drove into to Bluff to get some gas before heading out to Valley of the Gods.  Once we turned off the main road onto the rough dusty road, we were searching for a cluster of campers.  The valley floor is pretty flat and open, with a number of mesa monoliths formed by years of erosion and winds, scattered throughout the valley.  Lots of open space, so a group of campers gathered on the valley floor should be easy to find.  We drove along the dirt road, that meandered around these magnificent land formations for about 6 miles, before we spotted a group of campers, who came out to greet us as we pulled into the area, just a few feet off the valley road.  It was nice to put faces to website participants. Most of us had never met each other before. Was nice to meet “hoyden” (website ID name) who posted the original get-together message and did the scouting, in the heat during the hot summer, looking for this camp location.

Valley of the Gods

The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting around meeting our new friends and swapping stories. That evening we had a potluck dinner, as we watched a sunset and then continued sitting around a campfire, sharing more stories of our camping experiences. Fortunately with the evening temperatures being bearable at 58°,we were able to enjoy each other's company and also admire the infinite amount of stars shining above us.

The sun starting to set below the valley.

The sunset exposes Monument Valley
from Valley of the Gods. (above photo)
Trading stories around a fire. (below photo)

October 23, 2016 - Sunday     

Valley of the Gods, Utah

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise, which was slowly painting the surrounding land formations with a golden red tone.  A couple of the campers had to leave today and the remaining campers went on a hike, while  Belle and I chose to stay back at the campsite, relax and play security force.  It's stills a bit warm during the day at 81°, but with some clouds moving in during the afternoon, it made for a comfortable and quiet day.  Again in the evening we combined our meals and enjoyed dinner together, which ended around the glow of a campfire that evening.

October 24, 2016 - Monday     
Valley of the Gods, Utah

Valley of the Gods, Utah

We slowly said our goodbyes, as if we didn't want to leave, but individually we departed throughout the morning continuing in different directions.  We got back on the road at about 10:30 AM, now heading north in the direction for Washington our destination.  We first followed up route 261, which I did not know at the time, was part of the Moki Dugway, that I kept reading and hearing about.  I always thought, this Moki Dugway was a separate road going out to a valley overlook.  Not sure where I got that idea, but I quickly learned, I was now on the Moki Dugway section of route 261, when the road quickly shifted to 10% grade up the side of a Mesa cliff.  There were no guard rails, just a steep drop off from the roads edge to the valley floor below.  The panoramic view was spectacular as you could see the Valley of God, where we camp last night all the way south to Monument Valley. The winding road climbed sharply for 3 miles, up 1100 feet. There were super sharp hairpin turns with several narrow sections, but there were also several wide spots where you could pull over and enjoy the view safely.  This section of the road is carved directly out of the sheer steep rock cliff.  

Moki Dugway begins, start scanning up these cliffs,
there are four levels of this road,
that switchbacks 3 miles up 1100 foot of this mesa.

Photos here and below illustrate,
one of the 10 most dangerous
roads in the United States.

At the top of the Mesa, the steep dirt road returns to a flat paved road, that crosses the Mesa onto route 95 outside of the Natural Bridges National Monument turn off.  Turning west on route 95, the highway passes over the Red Rock Plateau, on through the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and then passes the Henry Mountains over to Hanksville.  We ended up at Capitol Reef National Park off, of route 24 around 3:30 PM, still early enough to find a spot for camping. Again we were fortunate because before long after our arrival, all sites were gone and the rain and thunder began. But as I have mentioned before, I always enjoy the sound of rain, as long as I'm in the camper and it's at night.

Route 95 travels through the
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

Farley Canyon

Capitol Reef National Park, route 24, eastside of park.

October 25, 2016 - Thursday   

Capitol Reef National Park, Fruita, Utah

Capitol Reef National Park

Rained all night, but was not cold, just real comfortable. In the morning there were clouds with occasional sun breaks waking us up.  Our path today changed from red dirt mountain cliffs to rolling bushy covered hills, to grass and trees, as we declined over the high plateaus to the community of Sigurd.  We then followed route 50 over to Interstate 15, where we traveled south to the Holden exit and continue again, on route 52 to Delta.  From Delta it was back to the straight line desert driving, over the Sevier Desert on route 6/ 50 into Nevada.

Sacramento Pass, Nevada

The Elk Flat Campground in Cave Lakes State Park

Once in Nevada we continued our straight line driving, but now we had more breaks in the scenery, with more ups and over mountain passes to Cave Lakes State Park.  The Elk Flat campground, was up in the foothills of the Shell Creek Range, where we spent the night overlooking these mountain valley foothills.

October 26, 2016 - Wednesday      
Wild Horse State Park, Nevada

I thought driving those straight highways in Nevada would be a bit boring, but it turned out to be more eye appealing and enjoyable, then I predicted. There were many mountain ranges and hills separating those 20 to 30 miles of high desert and plateau driving.  One precaution, here you can go 100 miles with no services, so you need to keep your eyes on the gas gauge and do some pre-planning every time you pass a gas station.  

Took awhile to get from Ely to Ecko, where we gassed up before heading out on route 225 for another 80 miles north to Wild Horse State Reservoir, where we stopped to camp on her shores.

Ruby Mountain, Nevada

Wild Horse State Reservoir sunset

Wild Horse State Reservoir sunrises

October 27, 2016 - Thursday      
Farewell Bend State Park, Oregon

Started as a sunrise with the golden lines clouds, but it was short-lived, when heavier clouds moved in fast and by the time we left the campground, it was welcome back to the northwest. By the time we crossed over into Idaho it was raining.  We passed the Bruneau  Dunes State Park entrance, where we started this trip seven weeks ago, we had now completed, zig zagging a circle through the Southwest touching Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah and Nevada.  We were now heading home back through Idaho, Oregon and Washington all now following the interstate. Somewhat nice to be heading home, but a lot of me always wants to keep going.

In Caldwell, Idaho on Interstate 84, we came to a sudden one hour delay, inching along for 7 miles, because of a semi-truck accident.  We were still able to make it to our favorite Oregon campground, Farewell Bend State Park off, of Interstate 84.  Always a great place to camp when we are leaving and returning on these trips.  We did notice the Snake River and how little the water was flowing pass our campground. The river at one time, some quarter of a mile wide, is now almost all a grass island, with a creek flowing along both banks in Oregon and Idaho.

One hour delay on I-84 in Caldwell, Idaho
 because of a semi-truck turn over.

October 28, 2016 - Friday     
Plymouth Camp, Washington

We stopped in Baker along interstate 84 for gas and could not believe the temperature was 37° at 10 AM.  Stopped again in LaGrande for supplies before driving on to Plymouth, Washington, across the Columbia River from Umatilla. The wind was gusting hard, stripping the trees of their remaining leaves at the Corps of Engineers Plymouth Campground, where we stopped for the night.

Corps of Engineers Plymouth Campground

Fall is here
as the leafs fall to the ground
and blow away.

October 29-30, 2016  -  Saturday, Sunday 
Yakima River Canyon, 

Lone Pine Campground, Washington 

The weather was cold and windy as we worked along our final leg for this year's Fall camping adventure through the southwest.  We would spend our final night in the Yakima River Canyon, at the Lone Pine campground, another leaving and returning campground, we always use on these trips.  
On this trip we traveled, 7,634 Miles, for 49 days or seven weeks.