boondocking – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

02-06-2018 Heading for Tucson via Ogilby Road

Sometimes on our southern sojourns there isn’t enough time. On this trip, however, we made sure to get all the way south to Tucson. We missed our friends and neighbors, Wes and Gayle, who used to live in Rocky Point at least part of the year, and are now located full time in their beautiful desert home in Sauharita, south of Tucson. We have visited them a few times, but it has been a couple of years and we looked forward to sharing some hikes and good food with them.

Imperial Dunes from Highway 78

But first, we had to pick a travel route. That was easy. One of our favorite boondock sites in the southern desert is the wide open BLM area near Ogilby Road, just west of Yuma. Lots of fellow bloggers have landed in these open spaces at one time or another, but I think the first time I heard about Ogilby Road was from Nina, at Wheelin’ It, who wrote some very lovely poetic lines about the place and took intriguing photos that sucked me in.

Our first time here in 2014, we came in from the south, but after George and Patsy talked about a back route between El Centro and Ogilby Road, we decided to give it a try. With our 26 foot rig the road was a lovely ride, driving past the Imperial Sand Dunes. The dunes were quiet on this Tuesday, but the tracks on the sand showed just how busy they must be much of the time with 4 Wheeler’s running about.

Google Maps tried to insist that we take a short cut to Ogilby Road, and we said, no way, it was a bumpy dirt road and we could see that the real Ogilby Road wasn’t too far east from where we were. I told the google girl to stop talking and we found our own way in from the north.

We found a great wide open spot, not far from the hills toward the northern end of the main boondocking area and settled in quickly. We set the chairs out in the cool shade and read, took the dog for some walks, and simply enjoyed the incredible silence of the desert as sunset approached.

I could stay out here for a lot longer than a single night, but it really was just a pass-through for us this time, and a pleasant one. Only problem for me is that when we are boondocked in the desert like this, I have to get up repeatedly during the night to check out the stars, the darkness, and the silence. Incredible.

The next morning we took our time with a good breakfast, a nice walk, and an easy pack up, since we hadn’t unhooked the Tracker, and didn’t even need to drop our jacks on the level desert floor. We simply pulled in the slide and drove off.

The eastern route toward Tucson is fairly straightforward along Interstate 8 until it intercepts I-10, but that also seemed a bit boring. Instead, at Gila Bend, we turned south toward Ajo, a place we have heard about often but we haven’t been there in the MoHo. Many years ago, Mo traveled to the Copper Canyon train, and their tour came back through the US near Organ Pipe Monument, and Ajo.

We were heading for Organ Pipe, but were so enchanted with the little town of Ajo that we spent all our free time there and had to skip the side trip to see the monument. Next time, I hope. I still love seeing photos of this place.

We have friends who have a house in Ajo, but they are currently in Rocky Point. Judy once had a house in Ajo, and we always wondered why in the world anyone would live there. After visiting, we now understand. It is a quirky, artsy place, with cute little funky stucco houses that sell for $69,000 or so. There are some galleries, a few stores, a great museum, and some gorgeous churches and buildings.

We loved the artist alley with murals lining both sides of the street. We both said having a little house in Ajo would be a fun way to spend winter time in the desert. But no, we have the MoHo, and we don’t need another little house anywhere!

Continuing east toward Why, we passed Darby Wells Road, another well documented site for boondockers. Would love to explore that one someday as well, but our friends were waiting and we needed to get on to Tucson. We also passed the road leading south toward the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, where RV Sue and her crew were camped for a couple of weeks. Those mountains along the western edge of the refuge looked really inviting.

We passed Kitt Peak, where google was kind enough to answer my questions regarding the huge observatory at the summit. I guess the next time we go to Tucson it might be fun to take a trip up there to see the huge solar telescopes.

Family Camp at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Tucson

All our extra sightseeing delayed our arrival time at Davis-Monthan AFB to just after 4:30 PM, (we lost an hour to the time zone change). We were delighted to see that the office was still open, but not so delighted to discover that the Family Camp was completely full except for the overflow area. Overflow sites are $11.00 per night, and are the only way to eventually get into the full hookup portion of the camp, since there are no reservations. The office people told us it was a 6 to 10 day wait for a site. Hmmm. At first we thought about just paying for 1 night and looking for a park somewhere, but were discouraged by the information that almost all the parks in the Tucson area were full, thanks to the famous Tucson Gem Show that was in full swing.

What the heck, we decided that dry camping for the four days we expected to stay in Tucson would be a piece of cake. We had full access to all the amenities.

The laundry room with the cheapest and best machines on the road was just a hop from our rig, the bathrooms as well, with their nice big showers and hot water. There was an easy dump site with air for tires, and potable water where we could take care of the necessities with a simple drive around the block. There is free coffee and cappuccino in the camp office, HD TV and full computer hookups with direct access. Does anyone carry cords for direct card access any more?

We had terrible Verizon service, however, and that was a big surprise. Verizon was fine elsewhere in the area, but at the base and nearby it was 1 sketchy bar. We haven’t popped for any kind of boosters since we aren’t on the road all the time and have managed to do without, but it did get a bit frustrating while we were there.

We do love the family camp at Davis-Monthan. It is clean and well maintained, and the base is big and has a great commissary. Mui would love it, Erin. Smile There is a golf course, a movie theater, good gasoline prices at the on base station, a fitness facility and a pool. We never have any time to really partake of all the stuff, but we did enjoy the dog park for Mattie, right outside our door.

In fact, we decided that dry camping at DM AFB is pretty darn nice, with the sites being spacious and much more roomy than the somewhat close sites in the main park area. I think next time we come to Tucson, we will simply plan on dry camping and enjoy the openness and not bother paying the $22.00 per day for full hookups.

We knew the next few days were going to be filled with fun and friends, so enjoyed a bit of down time. The generator only ran for a couple of hours so that I could process photos. I did manage to keep photos processed on this trip, but didn’t even think about trying to upload them to SmugMug until we were safely back in Oregon with our full cable unlimited WiFi. It certainly helped when I got back home to only have to do the writing without having to do all that photo processing as well.

We spent the next few days with our friends, enjoying the dog park and walking with Mattie, and being treated to some of those fabulous Arizona sunsets.

We even had an evening visit from a wandering javalina, who seemed to know exactly where he was going.

Does this qualify as a “the end” photo?

08-10-2014 North toward British Columbia

Current Location: home in Rocky Point…but you already know that right?

As soon as it was decided to have the Oukrop reunion in Spokane, Mo and I were thinking, “Yes! A chance for another trip to Canada!” Especially nice was the idea that we could dip into Canada without having to purchase very much fuel while we were there.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (15 of 71) The Kootenay Lake loop north from Bonners Ferry and back through Nelson to Spokane can be done in a long day. I used to do it back in the days when I lived in the area. Some of my favorite photos (remember I have been scanning old photos for a month now) are from one of those trips back in the 70’s.

Sue and Maryruth Girl Time at Destiny Bay 1985

In the mid 80’s I took my grandmother on a road trip over the same route to Kaslo, staying in a little motel there for a night before returning. It was one of the last long trips I took with her. In the mid 80’s Maryruth and I celebrated my 40th birthday at the fabulous Destiny Bay Resort, no phone, no TV, just two days of girl talk and a trip to Ainsworth Hot Springs. Ahh, such great memories! 08-75 Kootenay Lake

Two of my girls on Kootenay Lake 1975

It was a place I was excited to share with Mo. We often try to get to places that neither of us have seen, but that is getting harder and harder to accomplish. This time the Kootenay Lake Loop was my idea and it turned out great. Mo loved Kaslo and the entire area.

When we left Spokane at the 1:00 PM check out time for Riverside State Park, it was hot. Surprisingly, the farther north we traveled the hotter the temperature! We took the familiar route north along Highway 2, one we have traveled several times, and in spite of the beauty of the Pend Oreille River and the little town of Sandpoint, we were not inclined to stop and linger. Not only was it hot, but the skies were so smoky from fires in the Okanagan and the Colville Reservation area I took no photos.

With no solid plans for where we wanted to stay, I pulled up CampWhere and AllStays, and we decided that a free night at the Kootenai River Inn was a good choice. We could offset some of our travel expenses with a free boondocking night, and be ready to cross the border early the next morning. What we hadn’t considered was that the temperatures would still be in the high 90’s as the sun set.

With permission from the front desk, we parked out in the far end of the lot, no jacks down, and we left the slide closed. Started up the generator to run the air conditioner and settled in to relax a bit. I had planned to cook up some quesadillas for supper, but instead, with the heat, we ate some of Wynn’s leftover lasagna she so kindly packed up for us the day before. We had a moment of trouble with the generator providing enough juice for the air conditioner, but discovered that if we took the fridge off automatic and put it on gas only we had no problem.

I walked around the parking lot trying to get some photos of the August 10 supermoon, but almost everywhere I walked there were telephone lines and houses. Even down along the river by the hotel I couldn’t find a place to set up a shot. Oh well, I still got to look at it, and with the smoke in the atmosphere it was bigger and redder than I expected.

Only a minor glitch to mar the evening was easily remedied. An older RV pulled in front of us, and actually backed up so that their rig was just feet from our front bumper. Then they turned on their generator. It was loud and it was old and the fumes were so bad we couldn’t breathe. By this time we had ours off and the windows open, so it was getting too hot to close them. I hemmed and hawed a bit, and then in my most sweet possible face I walked over to the rig where folks were playing cards and very nicely asked, “Are you planning to run your generator long? If so we will move”.

The guy was a bit taken aback at first, I guess he had no idea his fumes were so bad, but then he was kind and actually moved his rig far enough forward that we could breathe with the windows open. Nice interaction, although a bit scary for me at first to do that. In addition, the railroad route runs right along the parking lot, and those horns were loud! Maybe none came by during the night because I had no trouble sleeping after we turned off the generator and turned on the fantastic fan for some air. It was a hot night!

We had planned to enter Canada at the smaller Porthill crossing, but I somehow missed the turn (remember I mapped soils here and supposedly KNOW the roads), and ended up going in through the 24 hour Eastgate crossing. Highway 3 exits west toward Creston just north of the border, and the drive was lovely so it wasn’t a problem.

The crossing was incredibly simple. The guard looked at our passports, checked Abby’s rabies certificate and asked if we had any produce or firewood. “Half a head of lettuce” and he didn’t care a bit. I do think he asked our destination and if we had been in Canada before and where we crossed. The whole process took maybe 3 minutes.

Once over the border, we headed west toward Creston, stopping at an ATM to withdraw some Canadian cash. Creston is nothing like I remember. What was once a dingy little place now boasts cute shops, restaurants, a nice looking downtown, and even murals! We passed by a couple of RV parks that we had considered for the previous night and were perfectly happy with our casino docking choice.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (25 of 71) Kootenay Lake is incredibly gorgeous. Creston is at the southern end of the Canadian part of the Kootenay Valley (it is Kootenai in Northern Idaho) and the lake is long, narrow and deep lying between the Selkirks and the Purcell mountains, which extend northward in British Columbia and southward into the US. The waters of Kootenay Lake end up eventually in the Columbia River at Castlegar.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (18 of 71) The mountains range on both sides of the lake get higher and more rugged toward the north, but the road that parallels the lake is an easy route. There are lots of places to stop and check out the views, and in spite of the smoke I tried to get some photos.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (12 of 71) There is a small tourist attraction along the lake called the Glass Bottle House. I had been there many times, the photos of my kids above were taken there, but Mo wasn’t all that interested in doing the tourist thing, so I simply took a few photos from the outside. It is interesting if you feel like stopping and paying for the views and the story.

The main destination for us and for a lot of other folks was the ferry that crosses the lake to the little hamlet of Balfour.

This ferry is part of the BC highway system and doesn’t cost a penny. During the high season, the ferry runs about every 50 minutes between Kootenay Bay and Balfour, with a second smaller ferry put into service during peak times. We were lucky enough to snag a trip on the big ferry, sharing our ride with some very big logging trucks and a lot of RV’s.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (37 of 71) Check out the MoHo tucked in with those logging trucks

The wait at the ferry wasn’t long at all, and as the vehicles lined up to load I was sure we wouldn’t get on. I was totally amazed at the load that ferry could carry. Not only did we get on the first trip, another two lines of vehicles next to us got on after we did. I still can’t quite figure out how they fit all those rigs on that boat! Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (38 of 71)

The crossing is beautiful, taking just 35 minutes, with gorgeous views both north and south on the lake. Once the ferry landed in Balfour, we were unloaded quickly and in minutes were on our way north on Highway 31 toward Ainsworth Hot Springs and the little town of Kaslo where we had reservations for the next three nights.

Next: Four Days in Kaslo

3-28-2014 Boondock Sites and Camping in Mojave National Preserve

This post is specifically about what we found when wandering around the preserve this past few days. If you aren’t interested in boondocking, just skip it. I have included more detail than usual for some of the folks that I know who are definitely interested in boondocking.

Link to live google map

First, I have embedded a live Google Map I created with labels for sites and intersections. Hopefully if you click on the map, you will be redirected to Google and will have the ability to zoom in, mouse hover over the points to read the labels. Eventually I will figure out how to actually “embed” the map so that it shows rather than just the link, but this will have to do for now.

The rest of the maps are clipped images for each area.

When we first stopped off at the visitor center at the Depot in Kelso, the attendant was a bit vague about RV camping in the area. The words in the brochure say “Roadside camping is permitted in areas that have been traditionally used for this purpose: Sites with existing rock or metal fire rings should be considered suitable for roadside camping.”

He pointed vaguely to a couple of areas on the preserve map, including the area near the cross, and the area at the dunes, but didn’t tell us about the other two sites, or have any indication of road conditions getting into any of the sites. The only developed campground that is suitable for larger RV’s (even our size at 26 feet) is the Hole in the Wall Campground where we spent one night.

I do have to correct the last post. It is Hole in the Wall, not Hole in the Rock, and I will edit the previous post accordingly, but anyone reading has probably already read the post and will not see the correction.

The first site where we camped was actually a small developed campsite, with a picnic table provided by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and a fire ring, at the base of the white cross WW I memorial. We attempted to enter via the eastern side of the road and found it rutted and too rocky for the rig, had to unhook and back out, and continue to the west side of the small loop to enter the site.

Some folks with pickups had traveled from this spot to the other sites I have mentioned, but we wouldn’t take our rig back there from this direction.

Walking around checking roads the next day, we found the easternmost entrance to the camping area, and walked the road back to the pavement. Here we found two great sites.

Site number 2 on the list was the very best, with a dirt road access that we could easily handle in our rig. It was my favorite.

Site number 3 is just west of site 2 on the same side road, however there is a bit of a rough patch that might be trouble for clearance for motorhomes. We probably wouldn’t try it in the rig, but some might. I would highly suggest that before taking your motorhomes to these sites, that you check them out with your toad.

We were exploring on foot, and there may be other sites on the road toward the mine north to discover if you have the time and a toad to do so.

The Dunes road, as I mentioned, was incredibly rough, but after we turned around we discovered if we kept our speed to less than 5 mph, literally, we could have traveled the 3 miles to the campsite. A previous commenter mentioned this site, so I included it in the map if you are willing to drive the road.

The Granite Mountain sites are incredibly gorgeous, just incredible. With any kind of small rig with high clearance you could probably get back in there and it would be worth it.

At the Hole in the Wall campground, there is a dump station and potable water with a hose to fill your water tanks. We didn’t see anything requiring campground registration in order to use the dump or take on water. It may have been there. At half price for the senior pass, it would have been worth the $6. fee to dump and get water if we wanted to stay out longer in the area.

The Wildhorse Canyon road that travels west and then north from just south of the Hole in the Wall visitor center is also good dirt road. It isn’t nearly as rough as the Dunes road to sites 4 and 5 on the map.

These sites are big and flat and are close to the Ring Trail and some fascinating volcanic rock cliffs. They could accommodate 2 or 3 rigs if you were friends. There was only one fire pit at site 4, but plenty of space.

The road from this area north toward Mid Hills campground is also dirt, and rough and narrow. We were in 4 wheel drive, but probably didn’t need it. I wouldn’t take a motorhome that way. A truck and camper could manage it OK. Mid Hills wasn’t nearly as charming as the other areas of the park. Once a juniper woodland, there was a devastating fire in recent years that has left the place feeling desolate and rather depressing.

We did see the entrance to the Black Canyon Group Camp, near the main Hole in the Wall campground, and I would imagine this is where the rally that Carol spoke of will be held. There is no camping anywhere around the Kelso Visitor Center or on any of the major paved roads in the preserve.

The Mojave National Preserve is a treasure land of wild desert space. We visited in late March, which I would imagine would be the high season before summer heat. There were some flowers blooming, the winds were extremely high, but that was case all over the southwest on the days that we were there.

If you want a true desert boondocking experience, and like to be alone in the wild open space, this a a perfect place to be.

03-27-2014 Mojave Wild

Current Location: Mojave National Preserve 41 F

It isn’t yet 6AM and I am watching the waning crescent moon rise through long black clouds to the east. There is just enough light to see the outline of Mesa Mountain, east of the Hole in the Rock where we are camped. Venus is brilliant nearby, and I wish I had the will to dig out the telephoto, dig out the tripod, hook it all up and see if I could actually create an image that would remind me of this moment. Instead I’ll write of it, and know that it would take a better photographer than I am to catch the feeling.

We will be home on April 1st. This may be our last night in the wild darkness of the desert, and a wild rocking night it was! After spending such magical time near Virgin, and wanting more, we initially planned to travel north through Cedar City and then take another back road to the Great Basin National Park.

One of the blessings of boondocking in our sweet spot, was the perfect Verizon signal for our JetPack and the ability to check on the weather. For the first time in the entire three months of winter travel, we had to shift our plans completely to accommodate the weather gods and our common sense. Predictions for the next few days included high wind warnings, snow and temperatures in the 20’s at the lowest elevations near Great Basin near Baker, and unknown snow and wind over the entire western side of Nevada. No way home.

We studied maps and weather and more maps and checking our calendar, came up with a simple plan. Head south on I-15 toward Barstow on the gorgeous sunny non windy day we had left, and then hunker down at Edwards AFB Family Camp and wait the three days of harsh weather with hookups and a place to do laundry. Then, once the snow warnings lifted over the Tehachapi 58 route, we could get over the pass to the I-5 route north and home. Sigh. I-5 again? Not even 395?

With predictions for snow at home in Rocky Point around the time of our arrival, we may decide to go to Grants Pass instead. We will see. Weather predictions are often a lot worse than the actuality. Then again, sometimes they are spot on. Predictions for our westward direction included wind, and last night was possibly the windiest we have ever experienced on the road. I was glad we were in the west, where tornadoes are extremely rare, but there were a few times last night when I thought surely we were going to be blown over.

We pulled in the slides not long after camping, but during an especially dramatic gust, I even picked up the levelers. It somehow seemed a bit safer to me to have the MoHo settled solidly on all six tires, even if a bit less than level.

Driving west from Las Vegas on I-15 was fast and smooth. Vegas from the high vantage point of the freeway looks different, even bigger somehow that the view along the strip. Traffic was heavy but moving steadily on a Tuesday afternoon. Just past the state line, we were suddenly shocked by the brightest artificial light I think I have ever seen. Huge towers were beaming intense white light and below them something that looked like a strange lake was reflecting the sunlight.

Sometimes it is fun to have the iPad along with a great signal. Searching “bright lights near the Nevada California border” I came up with this. We were passing the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, which just came online on February 13. Mirrors concentrate light and then somehow the light heats water for power generation. Sounds like science fiction, and it certainly looked like it. Funny, with all the hoopla about Solara, neither of us had ever heard a word of this successful solar power generating project.

Near the state line in California is a rest area, and it was time for an Abby walk. What a great surprise. Many states in the south have beautiful state of the art visitor centers, and we love to visit them. Here, however, a simple rest area was gorgeous, and rich with information about this part of California, including the nearby Mojave National Preserve, spanning 1.6 million acres between I-15 and I-40 and east to the Nevada border.

The rest area was artfully designed, with outdoor displays that told the story of the area in a way that could be enjoyed without entering a building or requiring staff to disperse brochures. It was beautifully kept, and even the bathrooms were tiled with images and stories.

Even before reaching the rest area, though, Mo and I had decided to stop in Baker to fill the tanks so we could boondock another night. The excitement of camping at the AFB wasn’t all that alluring, and we thought, what the heck, let’s slip into the preserve, boondock for another night and then we can continue west to Edwards.

Mo had visited the preserve in the past, not only in this decade with the baby MoHo, but in the 60’s when she was teaching at China Lake, California. Our first stop was at Kelso, where the visitor center is located in the beautifully restored Kelso Depot. Anyone reading this blog for any length of time, knows how much we love desert, but often the Mojave experience is filled with development and dotted with desert garbage.

Not here. I am so incredibly grateful for this space. Unlike Joshua Tree, which we also love, it is farther from most of the big cities of Southern California and so far, is blessedly empty. Incredibly empty, and at first it seems like what my daughter calls a lot of “white hot nothing”. With just a little time and a bit more effort, the fascinating diversity of the Mojave becomes clear in a space that feels more remote than either Joshua Tree or Death Valley, if not quite as dramatic.

The roads through the preserve, even the paved roads, can be a bit rough and bumpy, and are two lane narrow routes without shoulders. There are only two developed campgrounds, but after visiting with the staff at the beautifully restored Kelso Depot Visitor Center, we learned that “roadside” camping is allowed in places where there has been a fire ring and previous use.

The Visitor Center is wonderful, with beautiful photographic displays on the walls of the restored Craftsman style rooms. There is a gift shop, interpretive exhibits, three excellent movies to view in the small theater, and art exhibits. I especially enjoyed the recordings of the “booming sands” of the Kelso Dunes

Traveling back toward the northern part of the preserve toward Cima, we turned northwest again to find the World War I memorial. There is a white cross on the hill, which after some lengthy controversy, remains. Mo camped here in back on her solo desert trip back in 2009.

Just behind the cross is a small campsite, with a fire ring and a table provided by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and before dark we were settled in for our first gorgeous, if wildly windy night. The winds didn’t come up until midnight or so, but with the associated cold front, by morning we felt a huge difference in the desert air.

There are several boondock sites that we found in that vicinity, and in other parts of the preserve as well, and I decided to do a separate post about boondocking in the preserve. That post will come later.

The morning was dramatic with wildly speeding clouds flying by and the winds never let up as the day progressed. We headed south back toward Cima and Kelso, with plans to see the magnificent Kelso Dunes, some of the highest in the country. The Kelso Depot Visitor Center is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, but there is an open restroom with a jug friendly spigot. Our water was low, and we filled our extra jugs, just in case we decided to boondock another night at the dunes. Still couldn’t quite get our heads around giving up the wild desert for the luxuries of camping at the base. After several nights being out, we weren’t really as well prepared for more boondocking as we could have been, but we had turned off the water pump, to be sure we didn’t run the tank dry.

Seven miles south of Kelso is the ‘2 wheel drive unpaved’ road leading west to the Dunes and another possible campsite. Within the first few hundred yards, however, we were badmouthing the folks that think roads should be surfaced with gravel. The washboards were so very bad that Mo decided it was too much for the rig and we found a place to unhook and turn around. With the winds at 40 plus mph, the dunes looked less and less inviting. One of the reasons I most wanted to see them was to hear the booming singing sound that the sand makes at times. I figured that with the high winds I wouldn’t hear it anyway.

With a bit of disappointment, we once again decided on going to Edwards, with hookups and WiFi, to wait out the winds and the weather. Continuing south just a short distance, we found another dirt road leading back into the Granite Hills, and couldn’t resist unhooking once again and taking the Tracker for a little spin around the hidden campsites tucked away in the boulders. Mo camped here in the 60’s with some of her students from China Lake and had fond memories of climbing around on the boulders. These sites could make us want to get the tent out again if we had it with us!

Back to the rig, and looking at the map, we saw the road to the Hole in the Rock developed campground was about 50 miles to the east and north. Even after the fill up in Baker, fuel was getting low. If we wanted to see that part of the preserve, we needed gas. We could travel some miles out of our way to find a new wild world, or we could travel west and do the common sense thing and camp at Edwards.

Once again, the desert won, and we finally found a gas station just off I-40, 7 miles west of the Essex Road leading north in the preserve toward the Hole in the Wall area, where there would be a dump station, and potable water to fill our tank. We paid 4.99 per gallon for 87 octane gas, and laughed about how our free boondocking had turned expensive. It is funny how you can figure anything out, and messing with the numbers, we decided our average cost for the two nights in the desert was about $20 per night, factoring in the half price $6. fee we paid for our second night at Hole in the Rock.

The gas station, by the way, is located right on the famous unnamed Route that we visited previously in the unnamed T city in New Mexico. I decided to NOT take photos or even mention the place because I would rather not create another firestorm with all the folks who probably love it. It was rather interesting, with lots of memorabilia, a cute little nook for hamburgers, and a lot of interesting people around. I felt much of the famous route culture at the spot, so if you are a lover of that route, search it out.

The winds had never let up, and by the time we were on I-40, the sandstorms were everywhere, reducing visibility dramatically. We could barely see the mountains, even as we approached the campground. We dumped, filled the water tank, and settled into a nice site in the upper area of the camp. It was a luxury to turn on the water pump, for sure! We weren’t technically boondocking on this night, but it felt as big and dark and empty as if we were. Only a few campers have braved the winds and sand storms to camp here.

After making such an effort to get here, we thought in spite of the dingy skies, we should try to see a bit of the area. The Hole in the Wall visitor center at this location is only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but they did have some trail brochures outside that gave a general idea of the local routes.

Another two wheel drive unpaved road took us north toward the one other developed campground in the preserve, Mid Hills Campground. This is definitely not a place for RV’s, mostly because of the rough road access, and with a recent fire leaving behind the skeletons of old junipers, it wasn’t very inviting. I can imagine it once was a lovely place to tent camp, cooler than the surrounding desert.

Home to the rig before dark, I made a good taco soup for supper and turned the generator on long enough to make corn muffins to go with it. Tasty.

Now, as I write, the winds are almost completely still and the dust has settled from the skies. To the west, everything is crystal clear. To the east I can see a low brown cloud of dust obscuring the distant hills. Once again, we will head for Edwards AFB, with only one night instead of three. With WiFi again available, I will post the blog, read others, write about boondock sites in Mojave Preserve, and check weather sites and snow predictions as we decide which route to take home Friday morning.

3-24-2014 Boondock Heaven near Virgin, Utah

Clear and 70 degrees F just after sunset

For veteran boondockers out west, three days is but a blink of an eye, but for us, as we travel home toward Oregon after nearly three months on the road, it is a great luxury. Our route is a new one for us, with points on the map chosen more for distance from the previous stop than anything in particular we might want to see. In spite of that spontaneous movement north and west, great stuff just keeps showing up.

Leaving behind the vast salmon colored sands of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and the infamous Lake Powell, we entered the southwestern section of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I don’t do politics on this blog, but love him or hate him, the Grand Staircase, in my opinion, is the very best accomplishment of President Clinton. One of those last minute deals that presidents sometimes do, the monument designation created a bunch of controversy. Too bad. It covers 1.7 million acres of wild country, administered by the BLM for multiple use, and has protected some of the most magnificent wild places in the western US.

It feels like home to me, having traveled the northwestern parts for years, both before and after the monument designation. Our little piece of Highway 89 toward Kanab yielded up stories of dinosaurs at the closed BLM visitor center, and a beautiful hike along a wash to the Toadstools, colorful formations in stone that look exactly like toadstools, or whatever else imagination can conceive.

It was hot enough that we let Abby rest in the MoHo while we hiked just a couple of miles along the wash and up eroded hills toward the toadstool plateau. Wind and water once again worked their magic on the landscape, and the stormy skies to the west added just enough drama to make it fun.

The prediction was for 0 percent chance of precipitation, and I was reminded of that as big fat drops hit the windshield when we got back in the rig to continue north. After our hike, we were both ready for ice cream, and the town of Kanab wasn’t too far off.

Sure enough, as soon as the internet came up on the phone, I searched for ice cream and found Three Bears Creamery Cottage. This is the kind of restaurant you always hope to find out on the road and rarely actually do. The menu was creative, the bread was homemade from their own ground wheat, the soup smelled great and I wished we were in the mood for eating more than ice cream! Instead we bought two single scoops in cones, for $2.50 each, and such cones you have never seen. They were huge, and the ice cream was from a company called Russels, that I never heard of before, but was probably the best ice cream I have ever eaten.

Our destination was Hurricane, Utah, a small town east of St George that I visited once a couple of decades ago. We thought it would be nice to boondock somewhere in the Utah desert, and a quick email to Mark Johnson, veteran of years of camping in this part of the world, yielded a quick response.

Sure enough, we followed his suggestion, parked at the head of the road, unhooked to find a spot and were rewarded with utter perfection. We are on a high point along a dirt road, just a couple of miles from the pavement, and we are utterly and completely alone. The only activity is an occasional car traveling east or west, and a few mountain bikers peddling along just out of sight of our campsite until they are beyond us.

The first night here, we had some wild winds, and a few raindrops, but by the next morning it was crystal clear and has stayed that way the entire time. Running the generator a bit in the morning and evening gives us power to charge up batteries and computers and check in on emails and write a bit. Otherwise our small single solar panel keeps the batteries fully charged for running the furnace at night when the temps get down to 40 or so by morning.

The MoHo is just below the x in this photo. Look close.

With two full days to wander, we decided to take the dirt road up to Hurricane Mesa, what the locals call Monkey Mesa. Another suggestion from Mark, and what a great one! I actually linked to Mark’s blog about the place because I think his information is more reliable than most.

I still can’t quite imagine anyone riding a bike up that road, certainly not me! Once up on top the mesas opened up to fantastic views of mountains and canyons. We read about why the place is called Monkey Mesa, although currently there are no chimps being ejected from test ejection seats on the 12,000 foot site. There are still high fences and security all around, but no matter, we weren’t interested anyway.

The views were beyond magnificent. The climb up the mesa is a bit thrilling as well, especially as a passenger on the outside edge. Explain to me why the outside edge of a cliff is always on the passenger side?! Once on top we were treated to vistas of the west side of Zion and the Kolob Canyons on the northern edge of the National Park.

The mesas were lush and the road was excellent, even unpaved. I had no map, but had researched the route a bit before we left, so knew that we could make a long loop and travel back down on the east side of the canyon through Virgin. The route was easy to track, and except for one other car, we were completely alone. It was so refreshing.

Coming down the road toward Virgin, we came to a sharp left turn with a sign that said we were entering Zion National Park. Not a fee booth in sight, so we just ambled up the road and followed the signs to the Kolob Plateau area of the park and toward the Kolob Reservoir. At more than 8,000 feet elevation, the aspens had yet to leaf out and there was ice on the edges of the very low reservoir. With all our travels through red rock canyons, the brown trees and brown hills were a bit tiresome. I can imagine it might be lovely when the aspens are leafed out, but we were happy to get back down to canyon country and red rock again.

Even on a Sunday afternoon, this section of Zion wasn’t terribly crowded, except for the trailheads. As we passed, most of them were completely full of cars. What I loved most about this drive was seeing Zion from a completely different perspective. Instead of all the looking up and up and up, from here we could get a glimpse of the magnificent canyons from the top down, and see them in relation to the mesas that surrounded them. The views were just wonderful.

Our red dirt road led us back to pavement, and then down to the small village of Virgin. There isn’t a lot of shopping in Virgin, but there is a crazy place called Fort Zion, a souvenir shop with a restaurant and petting zoo for kids. Lucky for us, tired and hungry from our day trip, they did have ice cream, good ice cream, and we happily bought a couple of cones to get us back to the rig and the waiting animals.

The evening was beautiful, and after supper we went for a walkabout along the plateau and through a nearby canyon before settling in for the night. In all our years, I don’t think I have ever experienced nights as silent and dark as this place. We leave all the shades open, and fall asleep to only starlight coming through the windows. The moon is rising after 3 am now, so the darkness of the night is total.

I love it here. Love it. Today we left early to explore the more popular parts of Zion, thinking that perhaps being a Monday, traffic wouldn’t be too bad. But that is a story for the next blog.