Natural Bridges In the Middle of Nowhere

Natural Bridges NM Overflow Camping – Saturday, October 29, 2011

It was 33 degrees this morning and our old discussion of “It’s getting too cold” came up again.  We both agreed it was time to move on.  We had been thinking about staying one more day because there were still some hiking trails we wanted to try.  But, not wanting to go out and do anything until the temperature was at least 50 degrees kinda burns up half the day.  We decide to get ready to head down the road.

Mocha, the Travel Cat, has given her seal of approval to the route and now takes her job of guiding us down the road very seriously.

Hiway 24 leaves the park and takes us eastward.  The speed limit is 45mph because the road is very curvy from having to dodge all those cliffs.  The caveat is that they don’t post recommended speeds for the curves.  One curve in particular surprised us (it was one of those that kept getting tighter and tighter) which resulted in several doors flying open and spewing their contents all over the floor.

Our first stop is Hog Springs for a stretch break.  It is a combination picnic and hiking area situated next to two streams.  It also has a large wooden platform, about 20ft by 20ft, whose purpose we could not figure out.  A suspension bridge hung over one of the streams and EJ declined to walk in front of Frank knowing he would just have to wiggle the bridge.

On down the road we make another stop high up on a hill overlooking one end of Lake Powell.  We’re looking down at the community named Hite, but you can’t see it because it’s underwater.

Then we descend into the Glen Canyon on some pretty steep grades.  At points we’re down to 25mph, letting the engine do the work of providing the braking. Finally we get to go across the Colorado River.

We pass by Fry’s Outpost which is supposed to be a fuel stop, but you can tell it has been closed a long time.  If you really needed fuel you could take a ferry across Lake Powell to Bullfrog Marina.  Fortunately we have enough to make Farmington, NM with a 150 mile reserve.

This part of Utah is really deserted.  Nothing but, sandstone, canyons, and pigmy pines.  Occasionally you’ll see a deserted homestead. A couple of tandem trailer fuel trucks pass us.  Now we can understand why fuel cost more out here.  Transportation charges must be a killer.

We reach Natural Bridges National Monument about 3PM.  We had hoped to stay in their campground, but RV sizes were limited to 26 feet.  No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t convince them that BG was only 26 feet long.  However, they were nice enough to recommend we stay in their overflow campground about 5 miles back down the road, where there are no size restrictions, facilities or fees.

We got to see the 3 natural bridges and ruins the park is famous for, and we learned the difference between arches and bridges.  They look the same, so what’s the difference?  Bridges are formed by flowing water, and arches aren’t.

Armed with a map to the overflow campground we head off into the failing light.  We want to get there' before dark even though we’ve been assured it’s easy to find.  The map indicates the campground is down a short dirt road.  The ‘short’ dirt road turns out to be about a mile long and looked as though it hadn’t been maintained in ages.  Ruts big enough to swallow Big Guys tires, a narrow road, and ditches all combined to make this an interesting ride.  EJ was following in the Element and she said BG was really rockin’ and rollin’.

The overflow campground is a large gravel parking lot next to a small canyon.  But we made it and we have it all to ourselves to enjoy.

BG Miles Today	142	BG Total Miles	11228
Eat Out total $	1694.33	BG Total Fuel $	6365.37
Entertainment total $	1401.63	Total Camping $	1234.53
E Miles Today	19	E Total Miles	3258.81
E Total Fuel $	659.45	Day # of Trip	151

Last Day in Capitol Reef

Torrey, UT – Friday, October 28, 2011

It’s 33 degrees this morning and we’re holed up in Big Guy.  The RV really doesn’t warm up much until the sun hits it.  The skies are clear, but the campground is nestled between cliffs to the east and cliffs to the west.  So we don’t get any direct sunshine until about 10:30AM.  As a result we’re not getting out before then.

Today BG needed some attention.  The house batteries were pretty dirty and the water levels were low.  So Frank took care of that.  The batteries are apparently giving off liquid and gas as they charge and it creates quite a mess.  We need to come up with a fix to route that stuff out of the battery and directly to the outside to avoid the mess and corrosion.

Frank also thinks we need to increase our battery capacity and maybe even look into solar panel for charging the batteries.  That would help cut down on the generator hours.  That way we could generate power all day long instead of 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening, which is all that is allowed in most national parks.

Today we caught up on the blog and we’ll use that as an excuse for a 22 mile round trip to go back to Café Diablo for the only free Wifi around.

Late in the afternoon we went back to the orchard and picked 4 pounds of apples.  The orchards are only harvested by visitors like us.  It’s one of the benefits of visiting Capitol Reef.  We picked some reds and some yellows. We got lucky and only had to cut wormholes out of 3 apples.  And boy do they taste good.  It must be the cold weather that sets the sweetness.

By this time, it’s 5PM and we can start the generator and charge the batteries for evening use.  We have a two hour window, so we drive into Torrey to go Café Diablo for dinner and for the internet so we can post the blog updates.  We had wanted to get a Cuban sandwich, but alas, it was not on the dinner menu.  Instead we had the Crown Rack of Ribs and then a slice of lemon tart covered with strawberries and kiwis with a scoop of espresso ice cream. (I bet Nick could whip up something like this)

After this gastronomic delight we need to hurry back to Big Guy to shut off the generator.  We arrive back about 5 minutes after the deadline, but fortunately the generator police didn’t catch us.

BG Miles Today	0	BG Total Miles	11086
Eat Out total $	1694.33	BG Total Fuel $	6365.37
Entertainment total $	1401.63	Total Camping $	1234.53
E Miles Today	26	E Total Miles	3239.81
E Total Fuel $	659.45	Day # of Trip	150

Capitol Reef National Park

Torrey, UT - Tuesday through Thursday, October 25 through 27, 2011

Tuesday morning we’re up at 6AM.  We’re off the Bryce Point to see the sun rise over the canyon.  When we got there, it was cold and drizzling. The viewing wasn’t as optimum as we had hoped, but it was still fun to do.

Then, as we were standing there enjoying the views and the solitude, a tour bus show up.  There goes the quiet spiritual moment.

We decide to treat ourselves to breakfast out so we head to the lodge. It's only going to be open two more weeks before it closes for the season. We're really bad and get the buffet and gorge ourselves. We figure we're hiking so much the extra calories won't matter.

While we're there, we drag out the computer to check up on a few things and discover that snow and sub 20 degree temperatures are in the forecast for Bryce Canyon. Plus rain is forecast for today. Well that threw everything into a tizzy. We analyze the weather patterns and realize that Capitol Reef is about 3,000 feet lower than where we are, so below freezing temps shouldn't be a problem there.

We rush back to Big Guy and within 30 minutes we're ready to go. That is pretty amazing for us, especially since we had been considering staying one more day. We leave Bryce Canyon National Park for Bryce Canyon City, where we take care of Bug Guy's necessaries and fill up with diesel. We're surprised that they're not gouging us on the diesel price as it is pretty reasonable. That's unusual for a filling station right outside a national park.

Along the way to Capitol Reef we stop at the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Visitor center in Cannonville and the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center in Escalante to collect our NP stamp marks. The temperature along the way hasn't risen above 55 degrees.

We even run into a cattle jam.

Frank hopes to find a place to park BG near Boulder, UT while we go explore the Burr Trail which leads to the Water Pocket Fold. The maps indicate a National Forest Service Campground on the Burr Trail so off we go in BG to find it. The Burr Trail is a paved narrow road that leads to the boundary of the Capitol Reef National Park where it turns into a dirt road.

We don't have an exact location on the campground so we keep going and going and wondering how are we going to turn this thing around? It's obvious that it has rained up here recently and the runoff from the red sandstone cliffs turns into a slick mud. We finally find the campground and the roads consist of the red slick mud and we don't want to risk taking BG into it. Getting almost stuck once on this trip is enough. We continue on, looking for a place to turn around and keep getting deeper and deeper into the wilderness. Finally, after going down a very steep incline to cross a creek we find a dry dirt loop that allows us to turn around. By this time, it's getting late enough that we decide we better get on to the Capitol Reef Campground which is still a good 60 miles away.

Our next challenge is crossing Boulder Mountain, which is 9600 feet high. We're talking snow possibilities at these heights. We stop at the Homestead Overlook which is very near the summit. It's cold and windy, but the view is beautiful.

We get in behind a truck pulling a horse trailer going down the mountain and we are quite content to let him set the speed. He doesn't want to go too fast on the downhill grade and neither do we. Just like coming up the mountain, going down there are quite a few places where we are poking along at 25mph. We let the engine do the braking to save the brakes for when we really need them. It’s a narrow, winding road with no guard rails. EJ whimpers once or twice, but Frank tells her she doesn't need to worry unless he starts to whimper.

We pull into the park before dark and are really surprised. The roads are paved and all the sites are paved as well. This is a really nice place. We sign up for two nights. Just after we get set up, the rain comes and looks like it will last all night.

Wednesday morning we take a walk around the campground and it's all nice. There are even orchards of peach, pear and apple trees. The apple trees still had apples in them. We picked a few and they tasted great. We decide we'll come back and pick some for the road before we leave for good. They have an honor system and it's a buck a pound, leave your money in the bucket, thank you.

Then it's time to drive into Torrey and check out the town. It's smaller than we thought but it does have several chain motels and restaurants. They also have an Outfitters store with big sale banners. Naturally we have to check that out. Even with the sale, we still find it hard to pay $100 for a pair of pants. No purchases for us. We check out a couple of the local resale stores and end up talking to a real character. She explains that the town will mostly shut down in a couple of weeks. The restaurants close and even the Best Western Motel closes all but one building. Apparently folks around here have gotten used to working 6 months out of the year and just close up even though there are still travelers coming to visit the Park. Those that can afford it, leave for Salt Lake City and those that can't stay put and go on seasonal unemployment.

The lady we were talking to said since the restaurants were closing down she was going to start offering chocolate and coffee to entice folks to come in during the winter months. She had no plans to close.

We had seen flyers in several stores advertising a restaurant called Cafe Diablo on the other side of town. We had already driven in that direction and hadn't seen anything but we decided to give it another go. We were glad we did. We had a wonderful steak sandwich and an Almond Joy cheese cake with a side of "Drunk Monkey" ice cream for dessert. And they had internet access. We plan on coming back again to try their Cuban sandwich and post a blog update before they close for the season on Saturday.

On the way back we stopped at all the viewpoints to get pictures of the Twin Rocks, the Chimney, and the Cathedral. And just before sunset, we had time for one more hike, to the Goose Neck Overlook and Sunset Point. Man was it cold!! Back to camp and it's cold enough that we don't want to sit outside for a campfire.

Thursday morning we decide to stay two more nights here in the park. Have you noticed a pattern here?  While we were sitting in BG waiting for it to warm up outside, a small herd of 15 mule deer walked by.

Then it was off to Giffords Farm House where we bought a scone and a small cherry pie. Earlier we had found out they were made by the baker at Cafe Diablo so we just had to have some. We stopped by the visitor center to pick up a brochure for Natural Bridges National Monument which is our next destination. Then we visited the old Mormon School House and a Petroglyph site. Through the school house window we saw a prototype for the Apple IPad.

Frank wanted to give the Element some exercise so we went off in search of a suitable wilderness road. We found such a road in Capitol Gorge. It meanders back into the canyons on a stream bed (not accessible in wet weather). We thought this was just the ticket. High cliffs all around us. The sun didn't even penetrate down here. We just knew we were all alone. Until we got to the end of the road. There were 10 cars and 2 RVs there. So much for our wilderness excursion.

But we did hike a trail along the same stream bed past the Pioneer Register to the Water Tanks. The Register is where people traveling by wagon train, horse back, or just on foot carved their names on the rocks so others would know they had come this way. The Water Tanks were made by a wet weather stream that carved big depressions in the rock bottom. After a rain, water would remain in these depressions for weeks, thus the name Water Tanks. All the streams would be dry, but the travelers could still get water from the "Tanks".

We wandered out of the canyon back to the Element at about 5:30. The temperatures were dropping again as the sun got lower in the sky. By 6 we were back at Big Guy read for dinner and some adult beverages.

We've been doing some more planning, in the most general way you understand, and plan on leaving Capitol Reef Saturday morning to head to Natural Bridges National Monument. They have a small campground that is limited to 24 foot RVs. If we can't squeeze in, we'll head to either Farmington, New Mexico or Canyon de Chelley in Arizona. From there we head to Albuquerque. From Albuquerque we'll head to San Angelo. Unfortunately, we won't be in San Angelo before my brother leaves for his travels in November and December. It looks like we will miss him this trip.

BG Miles Today	148	BG Total Miles	11086
Eat Out total $	1635.77	BG Total Fuel $	6365.37
Entertainment total $	1401.63	Total Camping $	1229.53
E Miles Today	59	E Total Miles	3213.81
E Total Fuel $	659.45	Day # of Trip	147 - 149