Page and North Rim, Arizona

25 Sept, 2017 - Traveling - Bryce Utah to Page, Arizona

We departed the Bryce-Zion Campground with an unclear destination. Our original plan was to spend a couple or three nights in Page, Arizona and then head to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for a day or two....they are not too far apart. As like many other planned stops we could not get a reservation when we tried calling all campgrounds....we even considered going to Grand Canyon first and then Page but they didn't have any room either....but they did have room two days out at the Grand Canyon so we needed somewhere to stay for at least two days. So now our hopes were to find somewhere to camp in Page (maybe without hook ups) for two nights. I had a place on my radar called Lee's Ferry which was a fair drive south of Page but on the way we called our preferred place, Wahweap Campground in the Glen Canyon Recreation area....still no room but he did say they had some dry camping available so as we pulled into Page we decided to stop there and at least give it a look.....wow, what a beautiful place and our luck improved as they now had a site with electric and water available for two nights. Great place overlooking the water (Lake Powell) and the temps were a mild 76 and sunny....just when we thought it couldn't get an better we learned that we had reasonable cell reception and we can pick up 5 TV stations. It's only been about 10 days since we've been able to get a TV station but it didn't seem like we'd missed much.

Sun-setting view of Lake Powell from Campsite

After setting up we immediately began exploring the park and learned that they had some boat tours of the Lake and soon after checking in we were locked on for a tour that went to the Glen Canyon Dam and up the Antelope canyon via water. It was a very enjoyable couple of hours and educational. The water at the Dam is 500 feet deep and this dam provides water and electric to millions of people in the Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada and California area.

Boat Tour - Lake Powell in a canyon

When the tour was done we began exploring the Page area and made a stop by the R&R Solar company to get our propane bottle filled and a nice lesson in solar energy. The gentleman there was very nice and took a lot of time explaining it to me and offering tips on our next purchase. He also mentioned another boondocking campground in the area that we should give a look at before we leave called Lone Rock recreation area.

Leaving his shop and driving around a bit more we headed to the Horseshoe Bend site to check it out. I'd heard that sunset was the time to try to photograph that site and we were an hour and a half before sun set. It was a nice walk 3/4 mile to the site from the parking lot and what an amazing view that was....the Colorado river in a deep canyon makes a 270 degree turn....very pretty. So we decided to join many other folks there for the sunset and it was a sight to see. My photography skills are not up to the standard of many of the folks there but I had fun trying. There were many people taking photos of each other on the cliffs overlooked the bend also.

Horseshoe Bend Sunset

Silhouette of Photographer at work

Another Silhouette

Another late night back at the camper for some dinner and getting ready for the next day. Overnight temps were dropping (expected mid 50's) and we learned that our heater has decided not to work. It has been acting up off and on for several days but was now mostly off. We can turn it on and it will run for about 10-15 minutes and then shut down.....it was a cool night. By this time my traveling partner is getting worried about our next destination as temps are predicted to be mid 50's for a highs and overnight lows in the 30's. She started talking about skipping the grand canyon part for now and I started talking about purchasing a space heater ;-)

26 Sept, 2017 - Touring Page, Arizona

We had a reservation for the Antelope Canyon (Lower) tour for 10:10 so we headed out a bit early for a breakfast stop at McDonalds followed by a Walmart visit before the tour. Surprisingly Walmart does not have any space heaters yet....they have not transitioned from fans yet. I called a couple of spots and found some at a home improvement store and we went by there and purchased one....tonight will be the test of how it works and if we think we can survive the cold wet weather we expect up there.

Next we went to the Lower Antelope Canyon tour along with many other people...it was unbelievably crowded. Our tour left the starting area on time but we stood in line for a very long time before we actually made it into the Canyon. Our tour guide, Chavez, was a very nice Navajo kid and he was an excellent guide....advising on where to take photos and how in some cases and he even used our cameras to take photos of most of the people on the tour. There was one area that had an arch where some people get married (odd to me but....) and as we approached that area sure enough there was a gal in a wedding dress. I tried to sneak a couple photos of her in that surrounding but not such good luck with the quality of them. It was a great tour of a very interesting and beautiful place.

Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon

Bride in Antelope Canyon

Leaving there for lunch in downtown Page...the Mexican food must be good as you get closer to Mexico, right? Well - it was a pretty good lunch. From there back to the camp for a bit of rest in the afternoon before heading out to the last two things on my list for here - visiting the Glen Canyon Dam visitors center and a short ride back into Utah (just across the border) to check out the Lone Rock Campground we'd heard about. That was a treat and is on our list when we ever come back this way. It is dispersed (boondocking) camping right on the shores of Lake Powell and really a cool looking place.

Glen Canyon Dam

Lone Rock Campground - Dispersed Camping

27 Sept, 2017 - Traveling & Touring the Grand Canyon

We left Page after a very enjoyable stop and for a change we headed off with a reservation for a place to stay. We are headed for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and staying in the Kaibab National Forest at the Kaibab camper village.....full hook-ups but not TV reception and cell and internet are not great but some service. It was an easy two hour drive and we arrived at noon. Funny thing as we were checking in, the folks who came in behind us were from Butts County Georgia - the next county over from us. We've met plenty of folks from back east and down south but most of them flew to Vegas and drove into the area...these folks had also driven an RV.

After setting up the camper we headed off to the Grand Canyon which is about 45 miles from the campground and wow, what a beautiful drive. We are right at the prime for the aspens in full color here and they are really pretty. The weather forecast for today was 50% rain with thunderstorms in the afternoon so we were keeping a close eye on the weather....so far we had been pretty lucky - it rained on us driving up but seemed to clear after we got here. We made our standard trip to the visitors center to get tips on how best to tour the park and what hikes were best for us. The North Rim basically has two areas - the area by the visitor center and lodge and a lengthy scenic drive to several vistas and hiking trails. We opt to limit our visit the first day to the lodge area where there was a great viewing deck and some trails around that area. After a visit to the gift shop, some photos of the canyon and a good look around that area we decided to sample the offerings at the saloon. Turned out to be good timing because as we were in there a thunder storm (with snow we learned later) rolled in. By this time it is getting later in the day and we decide to head on back but on the way we did take a detour on a dirt/gravel road into the national forest just for a look.....I like exploring dirt roads in case you hadn't noticed.

North Rim - Grand Canyon

Aspens in full color

Thunder snow results

Back at camp, nearing dark and the temp is dropping fast.....supposed to be 33 tonight and as you know our heating situation is not great. Our camper heater doesn't work well/right much of the time and the rest of the time it doesn't work at all. This is a not at all time so we prepare to deploy our recently purchased space heater knowing that it has a big job to do. On for a pretty short time and the power goes out...we learned that the power in this campground is very unstable....on and off regularly. We did end up running a dedicated extension cord to the heater and performed like a champ we were comfortable all night.

28 Sept, 2017 - Touring Grand Canyon
After a big breakfast we headed back to the park with a day of hiking planned. This time we took the scenic drive road where we made multiple stops to view the canyon from different angles...quite a sight to see. Back when we were at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison I wondered just how much bigger the Grand Canyon could be - well it is huge by comparison. We kept an eye out for a unique looking squirrel (Kaibab Squirrel) that is basically black with pointed ears and a white tail...different looking. We saw a few but they didn't like being photographed. We didn't pack a lunch today as we intended to get lunch at the lodge deli after we finished hiking....well we walked until my feet were aching and we ended up eating lunch at 3:30 in the afternoon.....but a very enjoyable day. Temps were in the mid 50's but sunny so it was perfect hiking weather.

Pine Cone

Bench with a view

Kaibab Squirrel

On the way back to camp and another detour on the forest service dirt road and we were home before dark....tired and pretty happy with the two days we spent here. Now we will leave here in headed in a southerly and easterly direction....the National Park touring is done for this trip.

Angels Window

Hiking Trail sign

Kaibab Forest - Low Clouds close to sunset

Headed for Flagstaff, Arizona in the morning

Capitol reef, Zion and Bryce

20 Sept, 2017 - Touring - Capitol Reef

A relatively early start with temps in the mid 50's and off we go into the park. Capitol Reef is a bit different than the others we've been in so far as there is a state road (Route 24) that runs through the park east to west.....so that road is open 24/7. About midway of that road there is a visitor center and a turn off that leads to some attractions and a scenic drive. When we entered on 24 we came upon a pull off - scenic view called Grand Wash - it was a four mile hike (out and back) that went through a slot canyon and traveled a dry river bed. It was a very interesting, pretty and cool hike....a pleasant way to start the day. That area is pretty dry with sparse vegetation and many signs posted in the hike area about not entering during periods of rain as flash flood area prominent. You could tell where years of flash floods had formed interesting rock formations.

Looking for treasure on Grand Wash Hike

Slot Canyon Hiking

Taking a break

After the hike and nearing lunch time we went to the visitor center and viewed the movie, grabbed a park map and looked around the gift shop. We had lunch there and after lunch headed out for their scenic drive. It was about 10 miles out on mostly paved roads but at the end you could continue on a dirt road.....which we did for quite some way but eventually we decided to turn around. The scenery was very pretty .....huge rock mountains with very pretty contrasting colors in most areas and especially pretty depending on how the sun was hitting it.

On the way down the scenic road we passed an old homestead turned museum/bakery that advertised cinnamon rolls and pies so we were already looking forward to that stop on the way back. We waited too long as the cinnamon rolls were gone and the pies (in small aluminum pans - think pot pie size) seemed too big even to share, not to mention they were not hot. We dodged some calories there :-)
The remainder of the park we hadn't seen yet was continuing out highway 24 headed west towards Torrey, Utah so we headed off in that direction and enjoyed the drive/views. Having not been on WiFi, cell service or TV for a few days now we decided to ride into Torrey in hopes of improving that situation. The town of Torrey, although quaint, did not exactly meet my expectations....it was a very small basically one street town with a few restaurants. Our hope for some free wifi at a McDonalds were dashed. We did find a restaurant there, Cafe Diablo, that a couple back in Black Canyon of the Gunnison had recommended to us so we made dinner reservations and plans to come back later that evening.

Capitol Reef scenery

When we checked into the RV park, we asked the owner where folks went for groceries around there....he mentioned a town called Loa which was another 18 miles west of Torrey. Still having a little time to ride around and in need of many groceries but critical for coffee we decided to ride to Loa. Another pretty small town but substantially larger than Torrey we found a nice country grocery store and they actually had Starbucks coffee....we got it. Decided to save the remainder of our shopping for a Walmart if there is one in Utah :-)

Headed back across the park to Sleepy Hollow for a shower and get ready for our evening dinner out at Cafe Diablo. We had a very nice dinner there and a good way to end our visit to this area. Heading out in the direction of Bryce and Zion in the morning.

21 Sept, 2017 - Traveling

We left the Sleepy Hollow campground in Cainesville heading for the Bryce-Zion Campground which is in a very small town (not as small as Cainesville) that is sort of half way in between the two parks - Bryce Canyon and Zion. We have a couple of missions today - make a detour en-route to Walmart which is a bit out of the way but we need some supplies and get to the campground early enough to do laundry. We head about 25 miles out of our way to the town of Richfield where there is plenty of shopping where we get the much needed supplies. After that we have an easy run down Hwy 89 to our next destination arriving around 4:00 and getting set up. On the way there we discussed not going into the park (either one) so we could have a restful evening...not to be. We had been hearing from other campers just how busy Zion National Park was and that there is no parking...gotta take a shuttle, etc.... so we decided that we would run over there and evaluate the situation in preparation for the next days planned visit. We intended to go there and get the normal map and literature to help plan your day and then return home. When we got there (around 6:00 P.M.) we were so amazed/impressed with the beauty of the park that we continued to drive thru and look. We went to visitor's center to get advice for our planning...the best tip they gave us was get here early or you won't find a place to park. It was well after dark when we returned from that preview visit and we still had laundry to do and dinner... another late and tiring night with plans to rise early the next day.

Zion National Park

22 Sept, 2017 - Touring Zion National Park

We headed over to the park about 6:45 A.M. and neither of us like the idea of setting an alarm clock anymore. We were very glad to be arriving early during sunrise as the animals in the park were pretty active...we saw two sets of bighorn sheep and some deer on the way into the park. We arrived at the visitors center plenty early to get a good parking spot and prepare to board the shuttle. There is one road that runs through the park that you can drive but the scenic drive up the Zion Canyon you must take the shuttle....it is free, runs very frequently, and was a great way to handle the crowds. We had a suggestion to take the Angel's landing hike but when the description contains words like "strenuous", "death", etc....Kathy was not on board - besides my feet were hurting. Instead we opted to schedule a few shorter/easier hikes that depending on how we felt we could opt out of if necessary. First up was the riverside hike....two miles of fairly easy hiking that led to what they called the narrows....at the riverside hike turn around point you could continue to hike in the river up a very narrow canyon...we turned around there. It was a very enjoyable hike in the early morning with temps in the mid 50's.
Next we went to another shuttle stop and did the hike to the lower emerald pool which also offered the opportunity to continue to the higher elevation mid and upper emerald pools....so we kept going and were rewarded with a cool spot at the upper pool. It was not a lot farther but was considerably more uphill - but worth the trip. After returning from that hike we had lunch at the Zion lodge before catching the shuttle back down to the Museum where we watched the park film and soaked up some free wifi which has been pretty scarce lately.

Park Greeter

You lookin at me?

When we left the museum we could have taken the shuttle back to the visitor center but there was an easy hiking trail that went thru the park campground and we decided to make the walk instead. It was a nice walk along the river there plus we got to take a closer look at the campground.
Back at the truck and pretty worn out we decided to call it a day for touring Zion but before we headed back and while we had at least some verizon reception I took advantage of the opportunity to update the blog which I was falling behind on. It has been difficult with the places we've been the last week or so to get a good enough bandwidth to upload photos and upadte it....the signal there wasn't the best but I was able to get it done.

Riverside Hike Scenery

Heading into the narrows - not us!

23 Sept, 2017 - Touring Utah Highway 12

Highway 12 runs from Bryce to Torrey and is billed as an All American Scenic Highway....in fact the shortest route for us to get to Bryce/Zion from Capitol Reef would have been on Highway 12. We opted to not pull the trailer on that route because several people talked about the mountainous route with no guard rails, etc.... besides we wanted to be without the trailer so stopping would be easier and more enjoyable.

Two of these on the route

Since this day was planned only as a driving tour of that highway and the sights it offered we took advantage of a little rest in the morning and did not head out at first light. Our current campground is about 35 miles from Highway 12 and Bryce Canyon National Park so we made that our first stop....not to tour it but to get the literature to help us plan for the next day. A brief stop in the visitors center there and we were on our way.

This was a very scenic route with many changing landscapes along the way. The route passed through the Dixie National Forest, The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and by a few of Utah's State Parks. It offered many pull offs with incredible views and because it was in National Forest and Bureau of Land Management (public lands) areas there were many opportunities to take dirt/gravel roads - roads less traveled by tourists.

Hwy 12 Scenery

Amateur at work

We stayed on Highway 12 and went as far as Boulder where we intended to turn around and head back. We noticed on the map that there was a gravel road called Hell's Backbone that would take us back to Escalante a different way....45 miles through a forested area called Box-Death Hollow Wilderness. We saw that as an opportunity to see something maybe a little different and possibly even some wildlife. The road, although advertised as gravel, was actually paved for the first 6 or 7 miles and then turned to gravel, and then turned to narrower gravel with washboard ruts, and then turned to mostly dirt. It was still very passable without four wheel drive and a pretty cool ride. All along highway 12 and this route we'd seen signs for open range cattle (the road is there's too) but on this particular road we saw a lot of cattle in the road.

We came eye to eye with this guy

Hells Backbone road turned into Pine Creek Road near the Posey Lake Campground which is a Forest Service Campground. We decided to detour slightly to see what the campground and the lake looked like. By this time (5:00 P.M.) and combined with increased elevation the temperature had dropped to the upper 30's - very cold and some snow flakes blowing around. As we neared the campground a man was sitting in a vehicle on the side of the road with flashers on...we stopped and he asked if we'd seen any guys on mountain bikes...he was waiting there to pick them up and they were due there at 1:00 (four hours late already). We continued on to look at the campground and he stopped us again on our way back out and asked if we'd go for help....he wrote a note describing where the men had departed on bikes, where they were supposed to be picked up, there ages (73, 70 and 50) and he gave us phone number for their wives back in Loveland, Colorado. He said the men were not prepared to overnight in the forest and he was getting worried because the weather was getting worse and it was getting dark - but he was determined to wait there where they were supposed to rendezvous.

We promised him we would get to the authorities and see if we could get some help up here for him. This entire area is so remote that cell phone coverage was not an option so we headed for the nearest town, Escalante....still about 20 miles (gravel) away, keeping an eye on our phones for any signal....none. Eventually, as we began to get out of the forest, we saw a ranch (Turn-About Ranch) and pulled in to see if we could use their phone. They allowed us to call 911 from there where we got help on the way....hopefully it has a happy ending. The 911 dispatcher actually called us back an hour or so later to get more information and he said that someone was on the way up there and that they said the bike ride the men were doing was about 15 miles of very steep uphill and they probably grossly under-estimated the amount of time it would take them to do it. That added a little of extra excitement to the ride.....ours a probably theirs too!
After that it was an uneventful but pleasant ride back to the campground.

24 Sept, 2017 - Touring Bryce Canyon National Park

The last of three full days at this stop and we are feeling a bit tired from all the touring & long days. This day is set to be a bit easier as we are only doing Bryce and no long hikes planned. We awake to nearly frozen water pipes as the overnight low dipped to the mid-30's. When we left for the park it had warmed up to 36 degrees and was pretty sunny but the wind was strong and a biting cold.
Once in the park our first stop was the visitor center where we viewed the movie there....since most of these Utah parks are all part of the events millions of years ago that created the Colorado Plateau - the stories are sounding very similar. As we've gone from one National park here to the other I began to wonder just how different they could be from one another - again in Bryce I was amazed (just like Zion) at the difference between them and the beauty they offer. We spent the entire day touring the park and going to all of the scenic views and some limited hiking to get the best views possible. By mid afternoon we'd seen them all and headed to the lodge for lunch.

Beautiful Bryce Canyon

#1 Tourist

Wow, just wow!

Photo op

Natural Bridge

Since this was our last day in this area and we were pretty tired - we decided to head back relatively early (for us anyhow) and make it an early evening and begin preparations for our move into Arizona tomorrow morning. I have to say that the parks in Utah are very pretty and worth visiting. We plan to return and hopefully camp in the parks themselves and do more of the hiking and other activities they offer. But for now, heading to Arizona.

Moab to Cainesville

17 Sept, 2017 - Traveling & Touring

We left the Mesa Verde RV Park fairly early for the two hour drive to Moab mainly because we couldn't get a reservation at the RV Parks there - they were all full so we wanted to be early for the first come first serve opportunities. We thought we were being smart by coming this way after school had started back and most families were finished with vacations but apparently a lot of other folks had the same bright idea. We were heading into town with our only hope to stay at one of the first come first serve Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sights that we'd heard about. They are very inexpensive for everyone but even better, half off, for folks with the senior park pass. And even better than that we learned they are right along the Colorado River in a beautiful canyon. We got there early enough to ride the length of the BLM area which contained about 5 or 6 different small campgrounds to determine which we'd like to try to get....well we had to go with our second choice but wow - what a nice sight to be camping in....Big Bend Campground. Since these sights offer no hook-ups (water, electric, or sewage) we only signed up for two nights as we are not well equipped for much longer stays off the grid. Our original plan/desire was to spend three nights in Moab.

BLM Campsite in Moab

After admiring the views and our luck with the campsite for a short while we head on over to Arches National Park which is less than 5 miles from the campground. That is an amazing landscape to view and the naturally formed Arches are everywhere.....very cool spot. Unfortunately they are working on the road there at nights and they close the park at 7:00 everyday and even some parts of the park are closed during the day so we were limited to about a 5 hour window on this day. We ended up driving about 3/4 of the park, signing up for a ranger led hike for the next day and took a hike to the Delicate Arch before it closed. The hike was only three mile round trip but it was a pretty steady uphill run out and downhill on the way back....it was a very cool place and well worth the effort. Photographing it was a challenge because of all the folks there taking selfies while standing under the arch...but we tried.

Delicate Arch

Returning to camp we had just enough time to run the generator for about an hour. In these BLM campgrounds you can only run your generator from 8 in the morning until 9 in the evening....and you know it - those are the hours we are our touring so we don't generally get much of a battery recharge or use of our 110 volt system, no gererator means no coffee until after 8 and that is about two hours late for us. That evening we grilled some dinner and called it an evening pretty early.

18 Sept, 2017 - Touring

Given the fact that reservations are getting difficult to find AND we couldn't make our own coffee - we opted to head over to McDonalds for some breakfast and free wifi so we could work on our next destinations and reroute if necessary. We had a 9:00 appointment for a ranger led hike into an area of the park called Fiery Furnace. Our ranger, Travis, was a great guide with lots of stories to tell. The reason the hike was ranger led was because of the difficulty of the hike (I'll explain) and the fact that it would be pretty easy to get lost in there. Although the hike was only two miles and not really huge elevation changes there were many places where you had to navigate different obstacles...jumps, sliding down on your back side using your feet as brakes, and some narrow areas with substantial drop offs. During the hike Kathy was not impressed that I signed her up for that but afterwards (having survived) she was happy she'd done it. It's interesting to me how something like that builds teams - we went in with ten other people we didn't know from Maryland, Chicago and California (we represented Georgia) and we all helped each other through the difficult parts and worked as a team....coming out with a brief friendship. That took three hours so we are now at noon on our last day in this area. Since we are close to the area and the hike is short we opt to go to hike to the Landscape Arch.....it is a relatively easy 3/4 mile each way....enjoyable hike.

Down into the Fiery Furnace

Arches area scenery

Arches Scenery

Arches Scenery

Moving on from Arches and starving to death we head into town to have lunch at the recommended Miquel's Baja Grill only to learn that they are a dinner only restaurant so we ended up eating at the Moab Diner....pretty good but they could take a lesson from Steak and Shake on making milshakes. Over lunch we discussed how worn out we were but still wanted to at least try to see some of the Canyonlands National Park with our remaining few hours in the area....at least a look at the Needles part of that park we'd heard so much about. Following our GPS to the park and stopping at the visitor center we learn that this park is actually divided into two parts and you cannot drive thru the park to get from one to the other and we were in the part that was not the Needles area. Despite that bit of news,  we spent the next couple of hours driving and stopping at the overlooks and enjoying the views. It was pretty nice but not as impressive as Arches. We met a nice couple from Kentucky there at one of the turn outs and spent a great deal of time talking with them....it's always good to hear some more southern accents when you're off like this :-)

Canyonlands

After such a late (and heavy) lunch by the time we returned to camp we were not even hungy for dinner. We had about one hour to run the generator so we did that and after a shower just relaxed our aching muscles. Since we have no internet or TV here we opt to watch a segment of Law & Order on the laptop that I downloaded from NetFlix before we left just for these occassions. Another early night to bed with moving day tomorrow but we both really like this area and declared we would return to see so much more the area has to offer.

19 Sept, 2017 - Traveling

A good nights sleep and a good breakfast to start the day off right. After breakfast we go outside to enjoy some coffee in our beautiful surroundings before it's time to get on the road but the wind really started to pick up so that was short lived. We get the camper ready to travel and off we go towards Capitol Reef National Park. Again we find reservations difficult - our preference is to stay in Torrey, Utah but neither of the three campgrounds there has any vacancies so we ended up on the eastern side of the park in a town (surprised this place even made the map) called Cainesville, Utah....and glad to get what we had. We booked two nights there....probably not enough to see the area thougherly but we will get a full day in the park.

The fastest route to get there would have been I-70 but my friend, Don Nagel, said that would be a mistake and advised that we go back south on 191 to Blanding and pick up 95 towards Hanksville....oh my, what a wonderful and scenic route that was. We encountered so many different terrains that it felt like different planets. The GPS said it was a 2.5 hour trip but we ended up with an all day adventure as we made so many stops along the way. The first stop was at a pull off marked Butler Wash Indidan Ruins....a short hike to some more cliff dwelling ruins was a nice break from the driving. We spoke to a couple there who actually live and work in Yellowstone National Park (he is a ranger and she a contract nurse)  who said there was literally hundreds of similar sights in this area.

Butler Wash Indian Runins

Next stop for lunch and a look around was the Natural Bridges National Monument...another pretty interesting environment. We did the nine mile loop drive there and got to see several of the bridges.
The Natural Bridges area was mostly deep sandstone (white) looking canyons but as we continued we entered the Glen Canyon National Recreation area and saw some fabulous views of red rock formations and ultimately crossed the Colorado river again.....can't seem to get away from it. It was a very pretty area where the bridge was and I believe it was right at the northern end of Lake Powell which we hope to visit in the next week or so. We stopped at a pull out by the bridge for some photos.

Glen Canyon - Colorado River Bridge

As I was walking down and bank (without Kathy) to photograph the interesting looking bridge that crossed the Colorado River I came upon a stick that looked an aweful lot like a snake in the path....upon closer inspection I realized it was a snake and we were at a standoff. I gave him some distance in hopes that he would move but he wasn't going anywhere. In order to expedite this situation I lobbed a small rock in his direction in hopes of scaring him off....the rock landed right on top of him and he left in a big hurry. He took off so fast that I wasn't sure where he went...just disappeared. I continued on a short distance to get nearly under the bridge with an eye out for him...still a little nervous when a big truck on the highway above crossed the bridge and it made such a noise that it scared me to death....but I didn't see him again.

As we left that area and continued the landscape began to change again and looked like a moon-like appearance with what looked like low rolling hills of sandy desert....but the farther we went and the closer we got to our destination it became higher hills but differnt looking...no trees or vegetation at all....very different looking. We laughed and said we could hardly wait to see what our camp site looked like.

Landscape east of Cainesville, Utah

Landscape east of Cainesville, Utah

Checking into the Sleepy Hollow Campground was an interesting adventure also.....they had told me they offered water, electric and a dump station on the campground. Normally that means water and electric at each camp site but here it meant electric at the site and you could fill your tanks with water before parking. Not a big deal as just the electricity was an upgrade from the previous two day. The campground is small and literally in the middle of nowhere....we met some very nice folks from Vermont and Washington State as we sat around outside talking until after dark. Nice temperatures but a bit windy still.