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 |
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