Didn’t leave Bryce until after shower which ended up
being 10:30am. The drive through All American Scenic HWY 12
was scenically pretty. But the mountain
curves was exhausting all the way up into Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument. It’s a good thing I’ve had years of training
through HWY 17. I went low gear through
many hours of those miles. I didn’t do
anything longer than a stop at Escalante.
 |
| On the rocks overlooking amazing views |
I met three bikers who told me about Salt Flats in
Utah. They were really nice and had gone
to Canada on their bikes.
At Capitol Reef National Park, I just pulled over too and went to look at
Petroglyphs. I had lunch outside the
campground underneath a big tree. It was
all very pretty in hot heat. I ate
dolmas and tomato, olives, hummus at 4pm.
It was a late lunch. It had been
a long and difficult scenic drive to get there.
I didn’t stop at Boulder to camp or the Burr Trail. I heard a 4 wheel
drive or SUV would be better for those roads.
 |
 |
| Petroglyphs |
I drove through the dessert over looking Goblin
Valley State Park. All very interesting, the sky
with dramatic clouds were amazing.
I drove to Green River and it stank so bad that I totally
wrote off the idea of camping there. Yup
the map don’t tell you such things like, it stinks at this campground or this
park.
So I decided to drive straight to Arches. I made it to the entrance gate at
7:30pm. Everything was closed. I kept on driving past vista points looking
for campgrounds. It was far in Devils
Garden. It took another ¼ tank of gas to
climb. I should have gotten gas but I
didn’t know.
I asked a family by the Ranger Host RV to let me camp
with them but they declined me. I moved
a few slots over to another family with two sons one is special needs and the
one with special needs named Brandon in 7th grade said yes because
he likes helping people and that was how I found a place to camp for the
night. His brother’s name is Sean and he
is 8 years old. Dad has traveled the world
and is in the insurance business and is into photography. They are not using their campsite since they
are all camping out of their RV camper and is parked in the parking spot.
I set up camp avoiding ant hill holes. It is beautiful here and the sky is amazing
in day and night. This lovely family
invited me to their camp fire. This was
my first camp fire for the trip. It was
lovely. The weather tonight was in the
50’s. I am so glad it is warm here.
There is no shower here.
The restroom is solar powered and the water does not taste good.
