Utah – Page 2 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

September 27 Hiking in Capital Reef

The rest of the photos for this hiking day are here>

The wind blew most of the night, bringing fresh, cool, dry air with it. The humidity must be under ten percent and the moon was brilliant even though it is now less than full. I couldn’t sleep last night, in spite of the fresh breezes, and stayed up writing and looking at photos. For some crazy reason, the wireless connection that didn’t work at all earlier managed to work fine after midnight. Now, at 8 or so in the evening, I still have no wireless. I don’t plan to stay up till midnight again tonight posting photos, believe me!

Morning was cool and breezy, perfect for a hiking day. Our camp hostess gave us the number of a dog groomer who was also willing to board Abby for the day so we could hike without worry. In spite of the cool morning, we turned on the air conditioner for Jeremy, left behind safely in the MoHo.

Breakfast at the Capital Reef Inn and Cafe was light and perfect and we traveled back along highway 24 east to the park entrance. One of the first park trails after entering the park is the Chimney Rock Trail, and as many times as I have been here, I never bothered to hike this one. However, a great hiking guide book I found at the cafe this morning discussed Spring Canyon, just beyond the Chimney Rock Loop trail, and we decided that it would be a perfect days hike.

I have too many photos of this canyon. Photographers far better than me with equipment far finer than mine still can’t capture the grandeur and majesty of these canyon walls. We hiked about 4 miles into Spring Canyon, through narrows with walls 400 feet tall on both sides. It certainly didn’t qualify as a slot canyon, with the narrowest corridor maybe 50 yards wide, but it filled my heart’s desire to walk between massive walls of Wingate sandstone and feel the color red. You don’t see red in these canyons, you feel it.

Of course, after eight miles and less water than I should have carried, I was feeling red in a different way, and climbing out of the fairly easy hike into the canyon just about did me in. It was only in the mid 80’s but the sun was intense and the breezes were sporadic. When we finally reached the switchbacks half a mile from the trailhead, I looked down and wondered how in the world we actually climbed up that that thing! I was glad for my hiking sticks, believe me, and my knees were grateful, too.

Eating in Torrey, Utah

When Mo and I traveled through Torrey in 2007, we discovered a great restaurant just across the street from our RV Campground west of town. Cafe Diablo boasts “southwestern cuisine”, and the first time we went there, it was a quiet place, fairly new, and nearly empty. Our meal was a fabulous treat, completely unexpected in a place like Torrey, and we were excited about eating there again on this trip.

Cafe Diablo is open seven days a week, and since we wanted to eat in the patio, I called for reservations just after five. Even that early, on a Sunday night, the place filled up before we even placed our order. The gardens were gorgeous, the menu was filled with fabulous creations, and the wine list was huge.

A special treat included complimentary tapas, fresh vegetables from the garden, marinated in various delectable flavors, presented beautifully. As the evening wore on, however, and the place filled to capacity, our server was too busy with larger tables of four to pay attention to us.

Our meal took forever to arrive, behind other diners who arrived much later than we did. When it did arrive, it was great, actually a fascinating piece of edible art, but then again, we were ignored for much too long. Considering the price range for entrees, we did expect better service. It took more than an hour to get our after dinner coffee, and when Mo asked for the check, the waitress basically ignored her.

We had looked forward to this particular dinner, so were pretty disappointed with the service. We won’t go back.

In contrast, another place in Torrey, just a half mile or so down the road, is the Capital Reef Inn and Cafe. I first found this place in the early 90’s, and always manage to stop in at least once when I am in Capital Reef. There is a small motel adjacent to the restaurant, and beautiful stone paved gardens filled with native and non native plants. The small store in the restaurant has canyon stuff, including maps, guidebooks, tee shirts and sweat shirts, the usual, but it is all so much fun to look through. In the dining room is a large mural of red canyons, and my favorite little treat is a display of dozens of vials of various colored sands collected from throughout canyon country.

What makes all this even more worthwhile is the fabulous, fresh, healthy tasty food, all at completely reasonable prices. I have had breakfast and lunch at this great inn, and last night I wished I had tried dinner there as well! The service was fast and efficient, and usually friendly.

There are other restaurants cropping up in Torrey, and some smaller establishments associated with newer hotels are appearing. But for me, the Capital Reef Inn is the perfect compliment to my time in Torrey.

September 26 Blanding to Torrey, the scenic route

The rest of the photos for this day are linked here>

After gassing up in Blanding, to the tune of 3.09 per gallon, our route led us across one of the most scenic roads in America. Highway 95 crosses the great canyons of the Colorado River dropping to Lake Powell at Hite Crossing, and rising again on the east side of the Henry Mountains to Hanksville, Utah. We took our time, stopping along the way for photos, and I cooked breakfast for us while we parked in a wide spot at a canyon trailhead. Again, one of my favorite parts of MoHo travel, the ability to stop and rest, or cook, or eat, just about anywhere we want to do so.

I first drove this road on a wintry February day after traveling to Santa Fe in 1991 alone in my little red Ranger. I fell in love with Canyon Country then and have loved it ever since. In 1993 I spent six days in a small paddleboat with five other women and two river guides rafting Cataract Canyon of the Colorado River.

Today we crossed Hite Bridge at Lake Powell and I remembered how it felt to see that bridge rise up into view after so many days in the canyons. It was where we put out and then flew back to Moab in less than 30 minutes. It was a trip of a lifetime. I stood above Hite today, and thought again with amazement about John Wesley Powell, who adventured through these wild unknown canyons in a wooden dory, all the way to the Gulf of California.

It was a perfect day and a gorgeous drive, and after leaving Hanksville on route 24 we stopped along the Fremont River in Capital Reef National Park so that Abby could go for a swim. The park was busy with fall visitors, and we decided to bypass the visitor center altogether and go directly to our campsite at the Sand Creek RV Campground.

Sand Creek is an unassuming little place, a bit tattered, but the proprietress is a sweetheart and had saved number 11 for us. We are at the end of the park, with nothing to obstruct our view of the red mountains north of us except a bit of debris and some old ramshackle outbuildings. Twenty bucks with full hookups and the quiet and privacy make this a better choice for us than the fancy and more crowded Ten Thousand Lakes RV Resort just half a mile down the road.

September 25 The rest of the Rockies

The rest of the photos for this day are linked here

Today lived up to my expectations of what the Colorado Rockies would be. I spent much of the time wondering if I couldn’t breathe because we were at 10,000 feet or because the views were just so breathtaking. Again, we spontaneously rerouted and after visiting Ouray decided to go south to Telluride and then take the San Juan Scenic highway south to Dolores and into Utah at Monticello.

What a great choice. Mo had camped in Ouray in the late 60’s and we stopped and walked through town to see if we could find the campground where she stayed. No luck on the old campground, but the town was delightful, with galleries and shops filled with truly amazing art and some very expensive wonders.

The aspens lit the mountains like yellow flame, accented perfectly by the dark green spruce. I took a ridiculous number of photos, and with a small point and shoot with a normal lens it is impossible to capture that light and those vistas. Of course, I tried, and my photos will help me remember what it felt like to be in this part of the Rockies.

After Telluride, and the last pass, the road followed the Dolores River, and within a very short distance we were over the mountains and on the Colorado Plateau, approaching Monticello from the east. I knew of a small RV park in Blanding, a simple overnight stop when necessary, so we though maybe that would do if the state parks were full.

Just beyond Monticello however, on highway 191, Mo caught a sign on the west side of the road for the Devils Canyon Forest Service camp and the road even looked paved. It took a mile or two to turn around, but it was worth it. This campground has 42 sites, all spaced well, with campfire rings and water available. After cruising the nearly empty campground, we settled on a pull through spot, and paid our five dollar fee for another night of dry camping.

We walked a couple of miles through the rest of the campground before settling in to supper and a quiet evening. One more walk around the loop took us past an RV all set up with a solar oven, TV antennas, satellite dish, the works. I saw a woman at the window and asked if she was getting TV. She laughed, and said, “No, I just saw all the other people had theirs up so thought I would try it”. We laughed too, saying that is exactly what we had done!

Kate was friendly and fun, and jumped right out of her motorhome to come and share with us all sorts of information, including her great solar oven, some nice small lightweight chairs she got from WalMart, and her blog, Cholulared.blogspot.com. Being a full timer, she knew all the full time bloggers, and we laughed about what a small world it is. Made for a fun evening.

Traveling West to Colorado and Utah

Transcribed from our old red leather journal in April of 2011

May 18th, 2007

Once we arrived at Edna’s place things got a bit strange for a time. Her dog got all upset about Abby being there and piddled on the floor. Edna acted like it was because of Abby, but as time progressed it became clear that the dog has been doing this at other times. It surely was a bit uncomfortable for a time though. Then the homeowner’s association had a problem with the MoHo being in front of the house and we had to move it to another area.

On Thursday we all had breakfast with Edna and Tom and visited with his mom a bit before we went for a walk with Abby in the Bear Creek green belt. Edna took a nap then and Mo and I decided to take the bikes and go for a bike ride. We left Abby in the car and of course she barked, but it was out of the way so hopefully it didn’t bother anyone. The bike ride was really beautiful, and the trail went for many miles along the creekside, though neighborhoods and around a golf course to the dam. We went back home and waited for the big dinner that Edna has planned for the family at a local restaurant. It was a nice restaurant, but very very loud and we were seated in a long table fashion so no one could really talk to anyone very easily. We were glad to get home. Mo and I told Edna that we would be leaving very early the next morning so we didn’t plan to get together for breakfast.

Up Friday morning feeling free and wonderful because we knew that we didn’t have any more people to please and that we were now totally on our own. We drove west over I-70 and really enjoyed the views of the mountains, the stop along the Colorado river and the feeling of getting back out west. We got to Torrey in the early evening and found our little camp ground with a site at the edge of the park and a view of the cliffs. We had to move the next day but that first night it didn’t matter to us. Slept like babies again in that place.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed west on 24 to 72 to go north to the turnoff for Cathedral Valley. It was a good thing I knew about where the turn was because it wasn’t marked at all along the highway. The air over the valley was pretty smoky, in fact all the west seemed fairly smoky and we couldn’t figure out where it was all coming from. Maybe southern California? The road over Thousand Lakes Mountain was much better than it used to be and I carried the gourd with Shera’s ashes over the mountain while we took photos and really enjoyed the views. The Cathedral Valley campground was completely empty and there wasn’t another car on the road in the entire area. We parked at the base of the trail and since no one was around we were able to take Abby on the hike to the mound where I spread Shera’s ashes in the perfect place where I know that she wanted them. It was a simple and good experience. Much easier that it might have been a year ago, so I was glad that so much time had passed since Shera died.

We then traveled east on the Caineville Wash road to the Lower Cathedral Valley and out again to HWY 24 by afternoon. We stopped at the Visitor Center again, and then home to a really amazing dinner across the street from our camp site at the Café Diablo. It was really fancy and fun and our food was so pretty that a tourist asked if she could take a photo of it. That was good for us since she emailed the photos later.

Sunday morning we decided to go south to the Burr Trail and headed down HWY 12 over Boulder Mountain and the spontaneously decided to take the Devil’s Backbone road back into the mountains. It was a great ride, and we came out into Escalante and drove back up HWY 12 to Boulder where we had a great lunch and met an Italian couple on their honeymoon. They were traveling all over the US and Polynesia for several weeks and were lots of fun to talk with. We drove down the Burr Trail, now paved of course, so it’s much easier than it used to be. Then took off on the side spur to Upper Muley Twist canyon and the Strike Overlook. It was my first time at the strike and I hiked up there without Mo and Abby since there wasn’t any place that was shaded enough to leave her in the car and it was pretty hot. When I came back down however, there were no more people any where around so Mo and I hiked back up to the overlook with Abby and that was great because then Mo got some photos of me up there. She laughed and said that there are a lot of photos of me on high places sitting on a rock.

We drove down the switchbacks and then back up the NoTom road over all the washboards, checked out Cedar Mesa campground and then one more time through the park headquarters on HWY 24. We then went on a great hike out behind our area and found a good place for walking without worrying about Abby being on the trail. Once more we had the place all to ourselves, which is pretty amazing for Memorial Day weekend!

Monday morning we left via HWY 72 to I-70 and then back across Nevada to Ely where we stayed at the KOA campground just out of town. We went in to town to try out the casinos and I won50 bucks almost immediately. That was fun. Then trying to buy a salad at the local McD’s was interesting. I guess most of Ely is reservation and the accents were really hard to understand. The town itself looks as though it has seen better days as well. But Cave Lake and Cave Creek were really beautiful, with a lovely dry camp campground that we would like to stay in sometime. The sites were level and the trails were really nice as well. Abby like the stream and the whole area was really pretty.

Tuesday morning we made the short trek from Ely to California. We found a Scenic Byway to the Lunar Crater and took a side trip there and had fun hiking and looking for desert things and driving the baby car on the flat smooth salt flat of a dry lake. Over the mountains we decided to unhook the baby car so the MoHo wouldn’t have to work so hard and drove the eastern portion of HWY 120 west to 395. That was a really beautiful drive with open space and roller coaster humps and no other cars. It came out in the vicinity of Lee Vining and Mono Lake where gas was 4.18 per gallon. The highest on the trip. We spent the night at June Lake in a campground where the owners were full of rules and all snooty and put us in a crummy site, but it didn’t really matter because we were headed home in the morning. Drove home over Tioga pass after unhooking one more time, and then go to Jamestown early afternoon. Great trip with no problems at all, and only one close call with Abby.