2020-14
Otter Creek
Reservoir Utah
to
Vernal Utah
Campground: Otter
Creek Reservoir. Free camping. Also a State Park nearby. Sites are
situated along individual dirt roads leading down to the reservoir.
Many are considered only suitable for one camper or as a group site.
I got lucky and have a site to myself at this point. No water,
sewer, or electric as it is dry camping. No cell phone coverage, but
I get 38 over-the-air TV channels and two radio stations.
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| Otter Creek Reservoir |
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| with individual roads leading to each camp site, many can handle a couple of campers |
Campground: Price
Utah, Walmart. Free camping. I’ve stayed overnight here in the
past, off to the side and out of the way. Even though I will admit,
I have no plans to go inside the store. Actually, I’ve only gone
in one Walmart in the past 4 months. Having ordered groceries for
curb site pick up a couple of times.
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| Walmart Parking lot for the night |
Campground:
Steinaker State Park, Vernal Utah. 7 miles from town. $20
elect/water, #30 for full hookups. $400 for a monthly site (they have
a couple). No Tv reception, no Verizon cell/internet. Nice paved
sites, half are pull-thru’s. Lake access.
Campground: Ashely
National Forest, Flaming Gorge Utah. Dispersed camping. 8900 ft
elevation. Wonderful open grassy sites, surrounded by Aspen and pine
trees.
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| stayed at two different sites in Ashley National Forest |
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| forest road camping... just about any dirt road in the forest is ok for dispersed camping |
Distance Traveled:
116 miles
Leaving Kanab Utah
As you can tell from
my previous reports, I enjoyed my stay in the Kanab area very much.
It was a safe location, pandemic wise, and there was more than enough
to see. Temperatures ranged from the 70’s, 80’s to 90’s with
sunny days. I would definitely come back to this area again.
But it was time to
move on after a months stay in Kanab. So I headed out with a few
quick stops at the grocery store, gas station, and McDonald's. Love
being able to use the phone app to order a quick meal and coffee and
then have it delivered right to the camper sitting in the parking
lot.
Traveling north on
hwy 89, past the exit to Bryce NP, continuing on, I stopped at the
historic home where Butch Cassidy lived for a couple of years during
his teen years. It’s in the small town of Circleville Utah.
Butch Cassidy, real name George Parker became a real outlaw, robbing
banks, trains and along the way survived many a report of his demise.
Then it was a short hop to the Otter Creek Reservoir where I plan on
staying for a day or two.
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| Circleville Utah. Butch Cassidy, |
I should mention
that the drive from Kanab north to Kingston Junction was really quite
interesting. Not far out of Kanab the terrain became more wooded,
with Cedar trees in abundance. As I continued to climb a bit in
elevation, I passed many ranches that looked like Alpine meadows,
rivers and streams with their icy cold waters tumbling over rocks and
winding through pastures and meadows. Further on up, the highway
(really a well maintained two lane road), there were bare rock
formations on the left, a green valley to the right with large
mountain ranges increasing in size the further I headed north. There
was even a stretch where I was surrounded by a pine forest. Talk
about a diverse landscape.
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| views from the road |
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| changing scenery |
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| distant vistas |
Temperatures today
are in the 50’s and 60’s. I doubt it will even reach 70 degrees
today. But the sun is shining and the fresh are feels good. The
pungent aroma of sage brush and cedar is in the air.
I’ve ordered my
mail to be delivered to Vernal Utah which should take 5 or 6 days to
arrive there, so I have plenty of time before I need to arrive at
that destination. Gosh it feels good to be back on the open road.
Going from being pampered with full hookups, you’d think it would
be somehow a downgrade doing dispersed camping without any amenities,
but with the Class C camper, I have water in my holding tanks, solar
for my electric needs for both day and night use. As well as a good
generator to provide any additional power I may need. And imagine,
out here pretty much away from civilization, I’m getting 38
over-the-air TV stations. Not bad for roughing it.
The only thing I
really miss is internet and cell phone signals way out here in the
middle of nowhere. I would probably stay a bit longer, but without
internet, I feel just a tad too disconnected. Though it is giving me
more time to read as well as watch a bit more TV.
And lots more time
to reflect on our current Government state of affairs, Covid 19
concerns as well as reflecting on my own past errors in judgment and
mistakes made along the way. I’m not beating my head over the
dumb things I’ve done in the past, as I do accept life for what it
is. Just trying to be the best version of myself I can be right now.
Overall I’m amazed that I’ve come this far and cherish the
friendships I’ve made along the way.
Another reason I’ll
be moving on tomorrow is that I’m getting low on propane and will
need to fill up fairly soon, as the refrigerator runs on propane
while I’m boondocking. As well as needing to run the furnace
occasionally at night. Yes it can get that cold out here in Utah at
night. Though I do have a backup in case I need heat. I’m able
to run the generator and turn on the heat-pump as my secondary source
of heat or a/c as needed as they use diesel fuel. Nice to have that
option.
Distance traveled:
Anther 100 miles
Price Utah
Price Utah. I’ve
passed through this area and they do have a wonderful canyon called 9
mile canyon that has quite an impressive set of pictographs and
petrographs. Not sure I’ll tour them this time around.
Distance Traveled: 107 miles.
Vernal Utah
Vernal Utah. Close
to Dinosaur National Monument, nice dinosaur museum in town. I’m
here to pick up my mail and get a new power cord plug installed on
the camper. I have some separation with the cord connection to the
plug. Cosmedic at this point but could cause issues in the near
future.
I planned on either
staying on dispersed land or at the Walmart's, which was super busy.
With it being kind of warm today, I decided to get a spot at
Steinaker State park before heading up into the National Forest land.
It works and it’s close to town for my in-town projects. A nice
park, just no internet or Tv signals. They do have WiFi service for
a fee. I just couldn’t get connected.
The county that
Vernal is in is now considered Green, safe. Unfortunately, no one is
wearing a mask, not the servers in the restaurants, shops and
virtually all the customers don’t wear masks. Maybe one in 25+
might wear a mask. I was one of them. And of course, I use hand
sanitizer constantly. I talked to a waitress, and she admitted she
is concerned that she might get it and infect her children. Yes I
went to a favorite place of mine for a steak and eggs breakfast. At
least I was in a room almost completely by myself and well separated
from other diners. Best Hash browns I’ve ever had. The gal told me
they use their baked potatoes, mashed up and add dehydrated hash
browns, nicely browned and just awesome tasting. Something I rarely
have on a low carb diet, but gosh were they good.
Distance Traveled:
40 miles
Ashley National Forest
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| views from Ashley Forest, tons of dispersed camping |
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| Aspen |
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| Note: many locals park their campers in the forest and only come up on weekends |
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| heading up to approx 8,900 ft elevation |
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| Aspen, always reminds me of birch trees in N Mich. |
Traveling north on
hwy 191 north of Vernal Utah, over 10 switchbacks and tight curves
ascending a couple thousand feet in elevation, I’ve arrived in the
Ashely national forest and the Flaming Gorge region. This is my
second time camping in this national forest. I checked out two
promising sites, staying only one night at a location I’d
previously camped at. The next day, I drove to a large alpine meadow
that may or may not have elk sightings. A forest road on the north
end provided me with an awesome view of the meadow and I hope to be
able to see some elk in the next day or so.
Before arriving at
this awesome site, back in Vernal, I took care of a couple chores,
needing to install a new 30 amp plug on my camper. The previous one
had come somewhat separated from the cord. And I had a couple of
signs made up (SITE OCCUPIED) for when I find a good boondocking site
and need to go back into town for supplies, I can put out the sign
attached to a chair, to hold my campsite.
Dinosaur National Monument
Along with getting
propane and diesel fuel, it was time for a bit of exploring don’t
you know. The Dinosaur national monument was partially opened to
visitors and is only a 20 minute drive from Vernal. The main
dinosaur bone museum and visitor center were not open. Which is a
shame but there is so much else to see in the park. Doing a driving
tour I was able to stop at a couple awesome Petroglyphs sites, some
with original paint still on them after over a 1,000 years. The
descriptions were very basic as it is often difficult to even attempt
to decipher their true meaning. Then it was onto Josie’s cabin. A
log cabin that she built homesteaded with her three children. Raising
cattle, chickens and fruit trees.
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| Turtle Rock |
The drive just
getting to Josie’s cabin, built around 1900, in itself is part of
the adventure. The pavement ends and a dirt road leads deep into the
canyon, past a small bridge where the creek flows under it. The dirt
road jogs around a few rock outcroppings and eventually become very
narrow. The last stretch being one lane traffic only. And of course
I’m using the Class C camper for transportation. But I arrive at
the end of the road and the box canyon and hog canyon where Josie
would corral her cattle.
I open up the slide
on the camper, turn on the generator and a/c unit as the day is
starting to heat up. Make myself a quick lunch before touring the
homestead. Coming out of the camper, other tourists remark on how
much they would love to have a camper like mine. I get this so often
now that I’m traveling with Zippy. Many folks have the dream that
I’ve made into reality.
Josie’s homestead
is a favorite place of mine. it’s quiet, peaceful, and easy to
imagine what life must have been life back then. A simple life, hard
at times, but seeing the accomplishment with each effort made. The
natural spring fed stream bubbling up out of the ground making it all
possible.
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| Chicken Coop |
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| Josie's 4 room cabin |
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| Pioneer Woman raising her 3 children in isolation |
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| but had many friends and relatives visit |
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| looking off at the box canyon where Josie kept her cattle |
I’ll let you know
if I see any of those elk in my next report. Closing out for the
time being, from Ashley Forest.
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| most of Dinosaur National Monument is designated Wilderness, where no motorized vehicles are permitted |
More photos:
Dinosaur National Monument
Ashley National Forest
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