#14 Coveys Great Adventure - July – Southern Utah: Moab, Torrey, Panguitch Lake, Kodachrome Basin

If you haven’t toured southern Utah, you have missed some of the most spectacular vistas in the whole country. I have been through the area three times on a motorcycle, but never really saw it, I was going too fast to focus on anything but the road. That way of traveling certainly has its own appeal, but that’s a story for another time. Suffice it to say, the road alone was worth the trip. On this adventure we took the time to see as much as we could.

We had our first on-road “event” on I70 just after passing Vail. I looked in the mirror and saw clouds of smoke, never a good thing. We pulled over on the narrow shoulder and discovered that the left side (naturally) dolly tire had blown out and was literally shredded. A harrowing hour-plus later, we had the spare tire mounted, the car back on the dolly and were headed down the road again. Kayeanne did a great job directing traffic. I wish I had taken a picture of her gesturing to the truckers to give us a little room.

Monsoon season has arrived

We hadn’t planned to spend a week at Portal RV Resort in Moab. We intended to spend three night there and then move to one of the BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River, but the temperatures were so high when we arrived that we elected to stay at Portal to be able to run the AC units all day. Of course, two days later it started raining. It rained every day for the next 12 days, and the temperatures never exceeded 80 degrees. So much for the budget.

Arches National Monument

I liked Moab. The town is clearly focused on tourism, but it hasn’t sold out completely. It is big enough to have a real supermarket, one barber shop, two hardware stores, a few interesting shops and several reasonable places to eat. If you go, be sure to take in the free music on Wednesday night and the free magic shows Thursday thru Saturday nights. We saw a group called Sand Soup, four “mature” guys who really enjoyed playing together, and they were very good, too.

The dynamic duo

Moab is the hub for visiting three of the really spectacular sites in Utah: Arches National Monument, Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. It is hard to imagine what several million years of wind, rain and freezing will do to rock until you see it for yourself. The many wonders that people have created over a few centuries simply pale when looking 2,000 feet down into the canyon of the Colorado river from Dead Horse Point or Canyon Lands. We spent a day at each of these sites and only skimmed the surfaces.

Canyonlands: roughly 2,000' down to the Colorado River

Dead Horse Point. What some people will
do to be in a picture: that's a sheer drop

It is a relatively short drive from Moab to Torrey and the road, Rt 24, passes right through Capital Reef National Monument. What a great way to arrive in town! I have stayed at the Chuck Wagon Motel and General Store in Torrey on three bike trips and enjoyed it every time. It is the only store in town, and it also has a great bakery and pool. This time we stayed a week in site 32 at Thousand Lakes RV Park, a couple of miles west of town. The sites were pretty close together, but aside from that we enjoyed staying there.

She liked Capital Reef

As noted, Capital Reef National Monument is just outside of town. Capital Reef doesn’t have the “wow” factor of the sites in Moab, but is much more accessible. We spent a couple of days just touring around, looking at the rocks and taking short hikes to see some of them up close. The historic town of Fruita is also worth a look.

A short segue for the riders and drivers in the audience: We took the short route from Moab to Torrey: north on US 191 back to I70 west, then south on Rt 24 through Hanksville. Rt 24 is scenic but fairly boring until you pass Hanksville. The section from Hanksville to Torrey through Capital Reef is visually terrific and a fun drive, too. The longer and much more interesting route from Moab is to take 191 south to Blanding, then Rt 95 west to meet Rt 24 in Hanksville. Rt 95 is an excellent road with lots of fast sweepers and elevation changes, and it has lots to see, too, including Natural Bridges National Monument, with its many spectacular stone arches. Torrey also is where Rt 12 starts, maybe one of the best roads I’ve ever ridden.

Double rainbow in Torrey. Some compensation
for all the rain

As usual, we spent a lot of time during our stay in Torrey exploring back roads, especially dirt roads. I am constantly impressed with how well our Toyota Sienna minivan handles these roads. Scoff if you will, but it has covered a few thousand miles of “unimproved roads” without any complaint. Near Torrey we found some NFS roads in the Dixie National Forest that took us way, way back into the tall timber on the back way to Boulder, UT via a very scenic route. Unfortunately, it started to rain and the road quickly got pretty slippery so we yielded to discretion and turned back. If we had all wheel drive we would have pressed on. The next day we discovered hundreds of miles of county roads crisscrossing a high plateau near Bicknell, UT, including one that would have eventually taken us all the way to Escalante. But another thunder storm moved in, and when a bolt of lightening went right by the car (yikes) we decided that we had better quit while we were ahead and turned back again.

We were really looking forward to spending the next two weeks with Christine and Ed Woznicki, but unfortunately they had to cancel due to a business emergency.

We had no reservation for one night between leaving Torrey and arriving at our next spot,

Ripley at Singletree NFS campground

Panguitch Lake NFS campground. A couple of months ago I had tried to get a reservation at Singletree Campground, one of few in that part of the Dixie National Forest that could handle rigs our size, but all the reservable sites were taken. We drove by Singletree when we were exploring the area from Torrey, and decided to drop in and look around. We discovered that a few large sites were not on the reservation system and were designated as “first come, first served”. A few days later we pulled out of Thousand Lakes arrived at Singletree early enough to get one of those sites, number 19. Singletree turned out to be one of our “A List” campgrounds. No hookups, but water is readily available and there is a dump station in the campground. The setting is just beautiful and as peaceful as you could hope for. We want to return for a longer stay.

As I mentioned, I have ridden Rt 12 on my motorcycle, and I wasn’t going to take our 27 ton rig down that road if there was a reasonable alternative. We could make it, but it wouldn’t be any fun for either of us. So, the next day we headed back to Torrey to follow Rt 24 to Rt 62, to US 89 to Panguitch. Panguitch Lake NFS Campground is about 16 miles west of town on Rt 143, which is the main road to Cedar Breaks National Monument, again in the Dixie National Forest.

Our "yard" at Panguitch Lake

We had a reservation for site 48, but I could tell by the looks we were getting as we passed the other campsites that we might be in trouble. I didn’t even try to put the coach in that site. The reservation system was way out of synch with the reality on the ground this time. We were very lucky to get out of that part of the campground without hitting a tree or one of the large rocks that seemed to be everywhere. We sought out the camp host and he pointed us to another section that had a few larger first-come sites. I was initially skeptical, but Kayeanne pointed out that we could pull in headfirst because we didn’t have any utility hookups to worry about. That made the docking procedure a piece of cake. Site 20 gave us a great view, a huge yard and was really private. At over 8,000’ and heavily forested, the campground was cool, even chilly at times. The rain that we brought from Moab to Torrey also followed us to Panguitch, too. 

One of hundreds of spectacular vistas at Bryce Canyon

Besides wanting to see Ed and Christine, we were looking forward Panguitch because of its

Near Fairyland

proximity to Bryce Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument. I have been to Bryce on one of my bike jaunts, but Kayeanne had never seen it. We spent several hours driving from one jaw-dropping overlook to the next. The sheer scale of the place is really impressive, over 18 miles from the entrance to the end of the road and something special to see every mile or two. I went a little nuts taking pictures that don’t come close to seeing it in person. Kayeanne wanted to get closer than the overlooks allow, so we came back the next day planning to hike about 2.5 miles along the Rim Trail from Fairyland to Sunset Point. Again, the pictures fall so short of seeing the actual terrain that it is really frustrating. We planned to take the shuttle bus back to the car, but were told that there was no service to Fairyland, despite a tram stop that we parked across from. We decided to hike back rather than take the bus to the access road and hike in from there. We had a great time seeing everything again, but from the reverse perspective, but were certainly glad to reach the car.

Cedar Breaks National Monument sees about 5% of the traffic that goes to Bryce, but has a

lot to offer on a quieter, more personable level. Cedar Breaks is roughly 2,000’ higher that

Overcast didn't dampen our
enthusiasm for Cedar Breaks

Bryce and has a different climate and topology. The cloud cover was down around our ears the day we went, making it hard to get decent pictures, but imparted a slightly eerie, subdued ambiance. One of the young rangers knocked herself out sharing her in depth knowledge of the place, her obvious enthusiasm was fun and made it even more interesting.

Marmots were everywhere at Cedar Breaks

Again, we had a great time exploring the area around Panguitch. Just down the road from our campground was a sign for Hatch Mountain. We’d passed it several times, but this time we took the turn. Dirt roads are the key to seeing some of the most beautiful countryside we find. After 30 miles or so, Hatch Mountain Road eventually put us on US 89 just outside of Hatch where we discovered the Galaxy Diner. The burgers and sandwiches were good, but the french fries and onion rings were outstanding. We also found the only golf course between Page AZ and St. George UT, a 9-hole course and RV park (golf is free to campers) in Hatch. The rough certainly looked challenging.

After a week relying on our generator and the water in our tank we were ready to move on to Kodachrome Basin State Park near Cannonville, UT. The park is surrounded on three sides by red rock cliffs, acres of slick-rock and groves of pinion pine and cedar. The views surrounding the small campground were sensational, and like the film

Just a glimpse of Kodachrome State Park

the park was named after, they changed as the light changed. It’s a really fascinating place to visit, and the hiking trails were some of the best we’ve seen. The dogs were really happy because the park allowed them to accompany us on hikes. Our section of the campground had full hookups and we certainly needed the electricity because the temperatures were at least 20 degrees higher than we had seen since arriving in Moab.

Kodachrome State Park is surrounded on all sides by Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. We drove all over Escalante: to Boulder to visit the Anasazi Museum, to Boulder again to check out the Kiva Koffeehouse, to the town of Escalante to shop and to preview Wide Hollow Reservoir State Park campground. We headed out to see Grosvenor Arch, the only double arch in the Monument, and of course we explored several dirt roads, one of which took us within a few miles of the front side of Bryce Canyon giving us a perspective few other tourists see.

Grosvenor Arch

Despite spending almost a month in southern Utah, we feel like we just scratched the surface. We could easily spend 3 or 4 months and still not see everything we had to pass up this time, especially if we had a four wheel drive vehicle. Even without that, though, there are seemingly endless paved and unpaved roads to explore and fantastic places like Bryce, Canyonlands, Arches, Cedar Breaks, Escalante, Kodachrome and Capital Reef to revisit.

As I finish this, we are back the WillowWind RV Park in Hurricane, UT, for Liesa’s 25^th birthday. Unfortunately, Luis, her significant other, is in northern California fighting the big wild fires, so it’s just the three of us.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie.

More soon,

Bob 

#13 Coveys Great Adventure – June 2015 #2: Western Colorado

Colorado: Trinidad, Durango, Silverton, Ridgway, Ouray, Gunnison, Longmont

June certainly was busy and we’ve really had a lot of fun:

Trinidad Lake State Park

The trip from Amarillo to Trinidad Lake State Park, our first stop in Colorado, turned out to be a relaxing and interesting drive right up to the turnoff into Trinidad. The directions on the state park website were easily misinterpreted and we had quite a tour of downtown Trinidad via large coach. Some of the locals looked a little bemused as we went by. Kayeanne soon got us rerouted and a few minutes later we pulled into our first Colorado state park.

I’ll get this off my chest now, rather than repeat it every time we get to a new park: Colorado is the only state that we have been to so far that charges extra for towed vehicles. Despite having a prepaid reservation, they demand an additional $7 per day for the car whenever we pull in. That means that the reservation cost on their website is understated almost 30%!

I think this is at best deceptive, and smacks of deceit if not outright fraud. Every park host and ranger has received so much angry feedback that they are all gun shy, braced for yet another outraged outburst. I don’t understand why Colorado continues this scheme. There must be some political or fiscal reason that I can’t see that makes creating so much ill will worthwhile. 

To compound the situation, most of their parks only have 30 amp electrical service. All modern RVs over 30 feet need to run two or even three (us) air conditioning units in the summer and that requires 50 amp power. So, Colorado's state parks end up delivering over priced, under performing service while really annoying many of their customers. It’s a real shame, because the parks are otherwise some of the best we’ve seen. OK, rant off.

Take CO 12 west to Walensburg -
100 miles of stunning country 

Trinidad Lake is a manmade reservoir set in the mountains a few miles outside of the bespoke town. The park is surrounded by hills that offer a number of easy or challenging hiking trails. Birds of all kinds, deer, rabbits and squirrels are everywhere. The camper services building had a small laundry and great showers, both of which we took advantage of.

Trinidad has a nice vibe. From the 1880’s to the 1940’s, it was the center of the largest cattle and sheep grazing operations in Colorado. Many of the original buildings and houses have survived. The town history museum was closed the day we visited, but we did tour the AR Mitchell Museum of Western Art. Few people recognize his name, but most have seen his work. AR Mitchell was the foremost cover  illustrator of cowboy and western pulp fiction that thrived in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The museum is filled with Mitchell’s very colorful, original paintings as well as the works of several contemporaries that he collected. We went in on a whim and spent over an hour exploring the kind of art that we had never really appreciated before.

US 160 from Trinidad to Durango is one of the most scenic and most challenging roads for the coach that we have encountered. The climb to the summit of Wolf Creek Pass is over 10,000’ of steep, winding road, going up and going down. I didn't want to stop for pictures, so here's a link to some. 

Big diesel-powered trucks and motor homes climb and descend steep roads on their engines. Power is obviously used to go up, but it is engine compression braking (aka the Jake Brake) that is the key to safe descents. Trying to use just the wheel brakes on long descents is impossible, they simply overheat due to the weight of the vehicle and fail with usually catastrophic results. So, we climbed Wolf Creek Pass at 35 mph using every bit of the 500 horsepower in the engine, and we dropped down the other side riding the Jake Brake at about the same speed. Wolf Creek Pass took almost an hour.

One of the reasons we wanted to visit Durango was to get together with Cheryl and John Clement, friends from Thousand Oaks who moved to there last year, shortly after we hit the road. We had a great time visiting, walking our four dogs in the Forest, and even managed 9 holes of golf at a lovely course near their home. Cheryl’s salmon dinner was outstanding. We hope to see them again, soon. Both of us really liked Durango and look forward to returning. 

Can you spot the coach? Back to nature at Junction Creek

Junction Creek NFS Campground is on the edge of the San Juan National Forest, just outside of town. We spent a week there, enjoying the beauty of the Forest and the amenities of the campground. Well, maybe not too many amenities. We had a site with just power for three nights and then had to move to one with no utilities at all for the other four. Not a problem, the coach systems worked as designed and we were quite comfortable.

Another reason for going to Durango was to ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad up the canyon of the Animas River to Silverton. The D&SNGR’s steam train trips are world renown and half the people on our train were from outside the US. The train takes about three hours to cover the 50 miles to Silverton, and about 40 miles

or so are both jaw-droppingly beautiful and a little scary. How the original engineers and builders managed to push a railroad through those canyons is beyond me. I tried to take a few pictures to show that in places the side of the coach is overhanging the tracks with a huge drop-off into a raging river.

Silverton was pretty disappointing. The town is pure tourist trap. The train returns about two hours after arriving, more than enough time to get lunch and see the place. The setting is really worth seeing, but the town isn’t worth much time.

Animus River gorge looking straight down from the train

Being a steam train, a little soot and cinders are all part of the ambiance. We rode the train both directions, but if we were to do it again, we’d ride the bus up to Silverton and take the train back to Durango. About two thirds of the passengers on our train did the opposite, so the return run was less than half full. That meant I could move freely from one side of the coach to the other to follow the best views. Needless to say, the return trip was terrific.

No railings!

Mesa Verde National Monument is a short drive west of Durango, but might as well be in a different world. The mesa rises on the horizon, stretching for miles to the south and west of the surrounding landscape. Mesa Verde is one of the most extensive collections of cliff dwellings in the country. We toured the Balcony House, which is accessed by descending a steel staircase attached to the side of a sheer cliff, then climbing a 30 foot ladder without hand rails or safety nets. That really got our attention. So did the cave we had to crawl through to get to another ladder to get out. Great fun!

Our guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The site itself and the views were simply fantastic. The National Park Service has done a great job conserving these sites while making them as accessible as possible to large numbers of very interested visitors. We will certainly return when we have more time. You could easily spend a full day there and not see everything. 

There are two routes to Ridgway from Durango. The most direct is US 550, the “Million Dollar Highway”, that is notorious for its steep climbs, fast descents, and sharp curves without guardrails along sheer thousand-foot drops. It is a terrific ride on a motorcycle. It is doable in our coach but would not be much fun, requiring 100% concentration at all times. Kayeanne was understandably nervous about it, too.

Galloping Goose Trailhead, US 145, Uncompahgre National Forest

The other route, via US 160, 145 and 62 is almost twice as long, but turned out to be a great drive through some of the prettiest mountains and valleys we’ve seen, right through the Uncompahgre and San Juan National Forests. It took longer, but was much more enjoyable.

Ridgway State Park is a very nice campground located along the shore of the Uncompahgre River a few miles north of town. The Park is known for its great fishing. The sites are huge and easy to get into with lots of separation between neighbors.  About all it needs is 50 amp power, because the temperatures soared into the 90’s and stayed there.

Ripley finally gets a bath at Ridgway

Ridgway turned out to be an interesting small town, containing one of the best surprises we’ve had in a while. On Ed Woznicki’s recommendation we went to Taco Del Gnar for lunch. It is one of the most unique places we’ve been to in a long time. The menu listed a Korean short rib taco with kimchi. It was delicious!

The home made spicy lamb sausage taco was a close second, and Kayeanne said her grilled ahi taco was the best she had ever had. If you are in anywhere near Ridgway, make it a point to stop. You won’t regret it.

One of the reasons we went to Ridgway (before we learned about Taco Del Gnar!) was to visit Ouray, about 12 miles south. Ouray was fun. It’s a small touristy town nestled in a very deep, narrow valley, almost a gorge. It is a very picturesque setting. Lots of sheer rock and several small waterfalls really give it a striking backdrop. Don’t miss Mouse’s Chocolates and Coffee. They make their own ice cream. ‘Nough said. The locals also claim it is the best coffee in town, too.

Downtown Ouray

I have been looking forward to returning to Gunnison since I rode through it on a bike trip several years ago. It is one of those towns that is big enough to have most everything you need, but not too big to get to know the whole place. Located in the valley of the Gunnison River, the scenery is distinctly different from the renown Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Farming and grazing are the main activities in the fertile green valley. 

Very noisy neighbors

Lottis Creek NFS Campground is actually in Almont, in the Gunnison National Forest, along the banks of the Taylor River about 25 miles northeast of Gunnison. We had a great campsite: level, easy to get into and completely shaded by large trees. It also came with neighbors: herds of cattle and a bear. The Forest is open range and cattle move from one grazing area to another on their own volition using the public roads (really, really messy) and a series of trails through the woods. One of those trails passed about 100’ behind our coach. Cattle calling to each other in the woods in the middle of the night will certainly get your attention the first time you hear them.

Any place he wants to.....

A couple of days after we moved in, Kayeanne and Lucy were sitting outside when a young black bear ambled by about 30 yards away. It crossed the camp road and started foraging in the tall grass along the edge of Lottis Creek. It immediately got everyone’s attention. People yelled and banged pots and pans together, blew their horns, and one guy set off his car alarm. They could have been singing lullabies for all the notice they got from the bear. He hung around most of the afternoon, to the consternation of the camp hosts and ranger. We got some great pictures before he finally disappeared for good. I think we will take bear warnings more seriously in the future.

We took a couple of side trips during our stay at Lottis Creek. One day we followed the Taylor River up to Taylor Lake, another manmade reservoir located in a natural park, a really pretty natural park that was

flooded when the dam was completed. The lake is a very popular fishing destination, and is large enough to actually sail on. The river is also prime fishing country and popular for rafting and kayaking. The latter looks like great fun and I am really tempted to look into getting one.

The other trip took us to Crested Butte, a very nice town in a spectacular setting about 40 miles from our camp site. Crested Butte is one of the legendary Colorado ski areas, often on the same list with Aspen, Telluride and Steamboat Springs, but on a smaller, more personal scale according to local folks. Some of the towns we visit don’t give off much positive energy (Montrose, for example), while others give off really interesting vibes. I think if people like to live there it shows. The residents must love Crested Butte. We certainly enjoyed the time we spent there.

Leaving Gunnison we headed northeast, following US 50 to the junction of US 285 which would take us almost to Denver. US 285 turned out to be a good route choice. It was a really pleasant road with lots of scenery, and relatively easy driving until we got to Monument Pass. Monument Pass is one of the notorious high mountain passes that really test a coach and driver. It is about as steep as any in the West, with long stretches of 8% grade and many narrow turns. The scenery is just spectacular, what I managed to see in glances as I focused on getting us up and down without any drama.

We planned our Colorado travels around getting to spend time with old friends Cheryl and

St. Vrain State Park

Chet Baffa in Broomfield. We managed to get reservations at St. Verain State Park in Longmont, about 20 miles north of their house. We may have gotten the last site that fit our coach. We only stayed three nights and should have stayed a week.  It was great to spend a couple of days with them at their brand new house and to meet a few of their grandkids.

We did manage a quick trip to Boulder to restock the pantry at Trader Joe’s, and we refilled the wine cellar at a local discount liquor market so we head into the wilds of Utah with a full larder. We didn’t get to see Rocky Mountain National Park, Fort Collins or Estes Park this time, just poor planning on my part as Kayeanne gently pointed out. Next trip.

More soon.

Cheers.