Rambling in Utah - Part 1 (Snow Canyon, Zion, Harvest Host, and Bryce)

Saturday, April 13 found us at Snow Canyon State Park – what a very busy place this is!  It’s a weekend. But first, since we were in a different time zone and we didn’t want to check in too early, we decided to run into St. George and do laundry. That was a first having to download an app to be able to operate the laundry machines!

There are bikes everywhere with awesome trails.  We’re here for just one night and that’s good!  I reserved us a spot with water and electricity. Sometimes when you view a picture of the campsite online, you aren’t getting the whole picture. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Our neighbor had to pull his slide in while we got ourselves leveled (very unlevel sites). Then we had to arrange ourselves with our slides. Whew! The non -utility sites are beautiful.

Crazy Sites

Our next stop was at Zion National Park, Watchmen Campground. It was fun getting checked in!  We knew the Ranger!  Aaron from back when we volunteered at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park in Stonewall, Texas. This isn’t the first time we have visited a park and run into rangers we had worked with before.

Zion is Utah’s first National Park. It is known worldwide for it’s spectacular cliff and canyon landscape. The immense scale, sheer cliffs, deep alcoves and narrow canyons are magnificent. We had great views from wherever we sat at in our campsite. We enjoyed riding our bikes to viewpoints. You either have to take a shuttle or ride your bike to see things.

Beautiful way to explore - on the bikes!

Springtime has everything green, the water in the Virgin River is flowing good and there are wildflowers. It's a good start to our 4th week on the road!

The merging of a creek with the Virgin River

Cold, drizzly morning when we left. Beautiful!

What can I say about Zion? What other words can I choose besides “beautiful, breathtaking, awe inspiring, God’s masterpiece?

The Virgin River

Just a tourist!

Campsite friends

We were due for an oil change so while we were in the St. George area, we scheduled service at the Ford Dealership and got that done. I scheduled our first Harvest Host visit. Fisher Family Farm, outside of Hurricane, Utah. Despite a little rain shower when we arrived and some cold, we were greeted by the very friendly owner Payton. His daughter Lily stopped by later to give us a tour of the farm. She was cute as could be! It’s my kind of place with greenhouses, growing flowers and plants, raised garden beds, chickens, cows, a lamb, goats. There’s a lot going on here. That’s what’s cool about using Harvest Hosts – you can find some fun places to camp. You have to be able to boondock though.

Parked on their gravel driveway

Lily, our tour guide for the farm.

Tuesday, April 16 we drove into Bryce Canyon National Park.  I think this is our 7^th time to visit here.  The campgrounds this time of the year were first come, first serve. We got to the park around 10:30 and were able to snag a nice site.

It was such a different experience as there was still snow in the campground and at the scenic points. (It also got down to 31 at night.) Pictures don’t always do it right, but I will try! 

The red rocks. The hoodoos. The wind in the tall pine trees. The birds chirping. It’s high elevation was such a nice change from the desert we have been in. It’s magical! Maybe a little bit extraterrestrial. Many hoodoos, odd shaped pillars of rock, and horseshoe amphitheaters are found here.

For those of us that leave where there's no snow, it seems there was still a lot here.

So cool to see the scenery in a different way. Inspiration Point

Hoodoos

This view was amazing in person - very horseshow shaped.

Good ole Rambler!!!

Wednesday morning, we were packing up to leave for our next destination and dang the luck. A flat tire. Brand new tires. The culprit was the valve stem cap became loose. Thankful that we weren’t on the side of the road dealing with that. Capable Ron took care of it.

He got to use some of those tools he packed for the "just in case".

Leaving out the tunnel.

I know it's a picture overload sometimes. But you see.....at the end of the trip, this blog is how I make a scrapbook.  I send it to the printer and it comes back in a bound book.

Stay tuned as we continue truckin' across Utah!

Truckin' Across Nevada!

Leaving Death Valley National Park we turned “The Rambler” (yes, I decided to name the rig Rambler as that was my first car model. Yep in 1976 my father purchased a 1964 pea green colored Rambler from my grandfather. It was nicknamed the tank because you couldn’t dent that thing if you tried!) towards Valley of Fire State Park, northeast of Las Vegas. We stopped in Pahrump Nevada for fuel and laundry, groceries and lunch. As we were driving this Monday, April 8 – the day of the total solar eclipse in parts of America – we realized that we weren’t going to be seeing anything out here in Nevada. That was ok. My friends posted great pictures!

Almost every campsite here has a view like this.

This state park is tied for the “Oh Wow” factor with Lost Dutchman in Arizona. We’re here for 3 nights. There’s a strong north wind blowing on us and it was cold enough that it kept us in the rig.

View behind our campsite

We woke to a beautiful, clear sky day! Chilly in the morning but back to shorts in the afternoon. The park isn’t big. It’s about 7 miles between the west and east entrance and about 5 miles one-way on the scenic loop. The roads were narrow, and crowded, so we opted to drive it and not use the bikes. There are so many tour vendors coming from Las Vegas with tourists.  Parking lots were crowded. Trails for me were challenging in the sand as I am still recuperating from a sprained ankle.  The Rainbow Vista was stunning. So was Fire Canyon Road.

Stunning colors!

Driving the road through the park

A geologist will love this place!

You can always find great beauty with the road less traveled.

Stunning formations

Look for the petroglyphs.

Here, you can listen to the wind as it blows and whips through arches and holes, taking it’s time to make another beautiful creation from our Creator.

And we have some good news to share! Our youngest daughter had a doctor visit on Wednesday, confirming she’s expecting a baby in November! How exciting is that!

A little history here at Valley of Fire State Park. For thousands of years, Native Americans have used it for many purposes. Their petroglyphs are found throughout the park. It’s a geologic wonderland and when the sun shines on it, the rock formations look like fire. It gained popularity in the 1920’s and was formally opened in 1934.  It’s Nevada’s largest state park. They close the trails mid-May through end of September due to the heat.

We did one more state park in Nevada. Cathedral Gorge State Park, about a 3 hour drive north. We’re here for 2 days and we scored a great site!  Site 14!  And we have decent Verizon cell service. Some of the sandstone formations here look like beach sandcastles.

Don't you think it looks like a sandcastle?

We got the bikes out and rode about 4 miles to go see the Cathedral Caves, the Moon Caves and walk into some of the slot canyons.  So cool! Literally! The CCC in the 1930’s built a water tower and restroom facility, no longer being used.

Site 14

Spring blooms!

Beautiful night sky

Our bikes!

Going up to a slot

Slots

Nice and cool in the slots

The Water Tower that was built by the CCC.

Headed to another slot

Explain to me what the board is for.

Looking up pat the sky

Restroom facilities built by the CCC in the 1930s

I hiked the Juniper Draw Loop, a little over 3 miles. It walks you along the formations around the valley floor.

If you look hard, you can find a bloom. These were on the valley floor.

Both parks, if you haven’t ever visited, need to go on your list. Be smart about the time of year you come.  We’ve never been here in the spring and have really enjoyed the flowers.

We logged 505 miles in the state of Nevada! As we wait for the north country to start thawing, we will head The Rambler east into Utah.