2020-14 Otter Creek Res to Vernal UTAH

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.

Otter Creek Reservoir

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.

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.

stayed at two different sites
in Ashley National Forest

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.

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.

views from the road

changing scenery

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

views from Ashley Forest, tons of dispersed camping

Aspen 

Note:  many locals park their campers
in the forest and only come up on weekends

heading up to approx 8,900 ft elevation

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.

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.

Chicken Coop

Josie's 4 room cabin

Pioneer Woman raising her 3 children in isolation 

but had many friends and relatives visit

looking off at the box canyon where
Josie kept her cattle

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.

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.

most of Dinosaur National Monument is
designated Wilderness, where no motorized vehicles are permitted 

More photos:

Road Shots to Vernal Utah

Dinosaur National Monument 

Ashley National Forest