Utah In Review

We dropped off our home at a repair facility in Salt Lake City with a long list of repairs and thankfully- with all of our issues, Fleetwood extended our warranty coverage for another month.  So we were off for who-knew-how-long without our home, living out of suitcases again.  But this time we wouldn't be traveling alone!  Martin and Deb (who met us in Maine), were coming to join us in our adventure again- and we were thrilled!  We kind of had a plan, but didn't have a plan- but were all ready to wing it:)  We met each other in Moab, excited to begin our exploring in Arches National Park.  Of course good food is the first sign of a good town... and we found a gem at Love Muffin Cafe.

Also found decent mexican food, though the atmosphere was the highlight.

Day 1: Arches National Park

Created as a national monument by President Hoover in 1929, Arches National Park now preserves this red rock wonderland of towering spires, balanced rocks, and over 2,000 natural stone arches.

Deb & Martin

We took the 18 mile drive through the park, stopping along the way to photograph, climb, or even (as seen below), imitate the multitude of rock formations...

The 3 gossiping girls in front of Three Gossips rock formation:)

Sheep Rock

Balance Rock

Natalie, Alayna, & Deb under Balance Rock

Gawking at Balance Rock inspired us to create our own balancing rocks...

Jeanne & Natalie in front of Turret Arch

 Along the way we explored Wolfe Ranch.  It was here, on this dry, desolate piece of land, that the Wolfe family settled in the late 1800's for over 10 years.  Their 100+ year old cabin still stands today. 

Our next stop led us to a lovely, yet distant view of the well-known Delicate Arch.  Unfortunately, the hot, dry 90's made the 3 mile hike to it just too much for our crew.

The Devil's Garden Trailhead was our final hike of the day and led us to Landscape Arch- an amazing, narrow ribbon of stone 306' long!  It is one of the world's longest freestanding natural arches.  My personal fave of the day!

In 1991, a 60-foot-long rock slab fell from the 306-foot arch leaving 180 tons of fresh rock debris on the ground!  Had us all wondering how much longer this one will uphold...

We were hot & tired, but needed to head to our next destination.  We grabbed cold drinks & drove 4-ish hours to Bryce Canyon National Park.  The start of our drive held gorgeous views of reddish-orangish rock formations & lots of sage bushes, but as we approached Bryce, the landscape changed dramatically to mountainous hills covered with forests!

Day 2: Bryce Canyon National Park

At the visitor's center a park ranger was offering peaks at the sun magnified through his telescope.  We were able to see sun flares on this gorgeous, glowing orange ball!

As we stood on the rim of Inspiration Point we took in the gorgeous views of the many hoodoos.  Hoodoos are the tall, skinny spires of rock seen in the photo below.  Though they are found in many areas including along the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands regions of the Northern Great Plains, their most abundant location in the world is here in Bryce Canyon.  They can range in size from that of an average human to heights exceeding a 10-story building.

We then journeyed the three-ish mile Navajo Trail which led us down into the canyon.

The switchbacks leading us down 550 feet were steep and consisted of fairly slick dirt and gravel.  A woman near us slipped and fell, lying unconscious for a bit.  Without cell phone service or easy access out, Jim started a chain of people hollering up the canyon for help.  Once we knew she was okay, we continued our hike... just a little shaken.

We were filthy by the end of our day:)

Bryce Canyon Pines Restaurant "home of the famous homemade pies" was the perfect reward to our tiring day!  Though our day wasn't quite over...

At 9:30pm we headed back to the visitor's center where park rangers had set up massive telescopes in the pitch black parking lot.  With dozens of other visitors, we waited in lines to get magnified views of Saturn, the moon and a "double-double" star!

Day 3: Zion National Park

Driving to this national park included major switchbacks, 2,000 foot sheer drop-offs, and tunnels built right through the rock- one being 1.1 miles long!  

Once we landed at the visitor's center we hopped on shuttles, which were the only way to get through the park.

Court of Patriarchs, named for 3 towering figures of the Old Testament..
The 3 peaks from left to right:  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Emerald Pool Trail

So refreshing on this 105 degree day!

Temple of Sinawava- hike along the Virgin River

After 3 full, hot days of hiking 3 national parks, we were completely exhausted... but no time to stop!  We wanted to pack in as much as possible while we had Martin & Deb with us... so on we drove.

Day 4:  Four Corners

Martin & Deb in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico!

Other than standing in line waiting for our cheesy pictures, we spent a little time browsing the local craft stands (mostly pottery & jewelry) & trying fry bread (similar to a funnel cake topped with cinnamon & honey).

Our journey with the Cernech's continued into Colorado (which will be in the Colorado post), and after finishing our tour of that state, the four of us made it back to the RV center in Salt Lake City only to pack for our next adventure while our home continued to be repaired... Alaska! 

While packing in Salt Lake we also visited IKEA (can't wait for one in KS!), had dinner at the Red Iguana (seriously delicious food!), and spent an afternoon at Park City- home to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games- to ride the alpine slides & mountain coaster. 

Working on a bug collection with all this driving!

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A) Salt Lake City (dropped off our motorhome here for repairs)
B) Arches National Park
C) Bryce Canyon National Park
D) Zion National Park
E) Four Corners
F) Telluride (beginning of our Colorado adventure!)

Idaho In Review

Despite our recent RV repair, we were experiencing more issues.  Our water pump (which provides running water in our home when not hooked up to city water) was no longer working, and -even worse- one of our inverters had again gone bad.

Thankfully the inverter controlling the lights and fridge still worked, but gone was the use of any outlets.  No charging cell phones & computers.  No use of microwave or other plug-in kitchen appliances.  No hair straightener or blow dryer.  That is, not without running extension cords in through the bedroom window!

On top of our electronic issues there were snow storms predicted for the area of Idaho we'd most hoped to visit.  We knew we couldn't face cold temps and the chance of no heater!  So we moved our home to Caldwell, ID.  And without much to do in this area, we took advantage of a couple "down" days to work on business & school work- excitedly starting to complete some of our school subjects!  Only one of our days here did we venture out.  Much of the southern portion of the state (where we were forced to stay) was flat & unimpressive so we drove 2 1/2 hours north to our original destination, McCall and as we ventured north, the landscape changed to bumpy, Washington-type hills, and then mountainous, pine-covered forest with beautiful views of the Payette River.  Oh, what a beautiful area!

Driving to McCall

We explored the beautiful Ponderosa State Park...

Lily Marsh

Ponderosa Pine bark

In a local tourist magazine, I found a small three-lined sentence about an intriguing hike in the area and we tried following the minimal directions given.  We never did find the trail, but discovered the most gorgeous Idaho countryside and eventually happened upon a different trailhead. 

We discovered a small trailhead sign in a remote area and decided to tuck our Jeep among the Ponderosa Pines and head out to explore (with a bit of snowfall).  The Boulder Lake Trail wandered along 3 beautiful lakes and up to breathtaking mountain scenery...

Our drive back on hwy 55 followed a stretch of the Payette River.  The North Fork section contains powerful class V whitewater that doesn't let up for 15 miles!  We stopped to watch experienced kayakers take on the challenge:)  Until visiting, we didn't realize Idaho was known for its white waters... it offers more whitewater river miles than anywhere in the lower 48 states!

Moving further east, we we made our new homestead in Twin Falls, ID.  Here we visited Craters of the Moon National Monument where in 1923 geologist Harold T. Stearns described the area as "The surface of the moon as seen through a telescope".  With rousing public interest, President Calvin Coolidge established this "weird and scenic landscape, peculiar to itself" as a National Monument in 1924.  It is believed that huge amounts of lava here was produced not by one volcano, but from long fissures (52 miles!) across the Snake River Plain known as the "Great Rift".  We explored many volcanic features including spatter cones, cinder cones, lava tubes, and miles & miles of pahoehoe (smooth) and 'a'a (rubble-like) lava.  We were certainly reminded of our visit to Hawaii!

This area, known as Devil's Orchard, was so named because of a minister who visited in the 1800's, declaring this jumble of rocks, shrubs, and trees to be "a garden fit for the devil himself".

Though seemingly barren, the landscape sustains a surprising diversity of plant life upon closer inspection.  We were lucky to visit while the wildflowers were in bloom.

This Inferno Cone is a cinder cone that was formed by a vent off in the distance that spattered volcanic cinders high into the air, dropping them into huge mounds like this.

This Inferno Cone Overlook captured views of the Pioneer Mountains & Lost River Range

Climbing a spatter cone, or mini volcano

Alayna standing over a huge lava tube

Exploring one of the many lava caves in the park, we ventured down into the cave, traversed over large rock piles, and exited through the tiny hole of Indian Tunnel which is 30 feet high, 50 feet wide and 800 feet long (and the only cave in the park not requiring flashlights to see!)

Near our campground in Twin Falls was the beautiful Perrine Bridge, stretching 1,500 feet across the Snake River Canyon.  The real treat was watching BASE jumpers leaping from 486' above the canyon floor!

The three following photos each contain a BASE jumper... just specks in comparison to the bridge and canyon!

In 1974, with crowds watching, Evil Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon in his "sky cycle" (dirt ramp shown off in the distance in photo below).  His parachute deployed immediately after launch, and he floated -strapped to his cycle- to the bottom of the canyon near the river's edge making his endeavor unsuccessful.   

Known as "Niagara of the West", Shoshone Falls tumbles 212' to the canyon floor.  A beautiful spot for our picnic and restful afternoon.

The rest of our Idaho time was spent in campground laundromats, as our electricity was still out of service.  A 2 1/2 hour drive brought us just south of Salt Lake City to Draper, Utah where we dropped off our home for much needed repair and unfortunately had to tour the next few states without it.

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A) Caldwell, ID
B) McCall, ID
C) Craters of the Moon
D) Twin Falls, ID