Arches National Park

Thursday, October 17
We drove about a half hour south of Thompson Springs down Hwy 191 toward Moab. We turned at the entrance to Arches National Park and was greeted by two VERY long lines of traffic making their way toward the Entrance Station. (note: be sure to arrive before 0930 even on a weekday in October!) It took close to a half hour to make our way into the Park. A quick stop at the Visitor Center and decided it would be better to view the exhibits later in the day. So, off we went on the 23 miles of paved roads that takes you to viewpoints and hiking trails to some amazing natural wonders.

The lineup to get to the Entrance Station.

See the lineup of  vehicles heading to the Entrance Station on the left?

It was a perfect hiking day. Temperature around 70F (20C), light wind and light cloud cover. The only thing to contend with were the crowds. The parking areas are not large and we drove right by some trails as you just couldn't park anywhere near them. That's OK, we caught them on the way back in the afternoon.

The Gossips

Balanced Rock

Up close

The trail to the Delicate Arch overlook. I think these look like tortoise shells.

It's interesting to look closely at the makeup of the rock. Mostly sandstone.

This is Delicate Arch. The most visited of all the arches. Look at the people on the trail! We couldn't get close to the parking lot so this overlook view will have to do.

Various colors to the rocks tells the history. Inland seas, water and winds layered the sandstone.

These type of formations are called 'fins'. Eventually they may erode to create an arch.

This is Tunnel Arch. If you look closely you will see a second 'tunnel' on the left.

This is Pine Tree Arch.

This is Landscape Arch. A portion of it collapsed in 1991.

This one is Skyline Arch.

Impressive rock structure.

Turret Arch

The Windows

Double Arch. See how tiny the people look? This is a huge arch.

After our feet couldn't take any more we drove to the Visitor Center to view a short video. The gift shop was closing for the day (Awww) so we packed up and headed into Moab to buy a few groceries and wine. The traffic lineups were crazy just getting into the town limits. We found a Kroeger food store, bought our groceries and then found the State Liquor Outlet. This is Utah and liquor sales are controlled by the State, which means not quite the same value as we found in Arizona. Anyway, all stocked with wine and bourbon so time to head back to Thompson Springs. Thankfully no traffic delays getting out of town!

Downtown Moab

Sunset from our campground.

Friday we head to Canyonlands National Park. If it is half as spectacular as Arches NP was it will be well worth the trip!

........and that was Our View From Here!

A great start, then it got nuts, then good again!

Wednesday, October 16
Monday we left Gull Lake and headed south down the highway for an overnight stop at Milk River, Alberta. The rain/snow mix that was forecast had all cleared up before we got on the road so we had dry roads and the occasional peek of sunshine on the drive. We stayed at Milk River which is just a few miles north of the USA border. We do this for a couple of reasons......one, we are usually tired by the time we get there, two, it is getting dark and I really don't want to hit a Montana deer, and three, by waiting until the next morning we 'save' a day of time in the US which is important if we want to maximize our allowable time in the US.

Tuesday we were on the road before 7 AM. A short stop at the border to speak to a nice Border guard and we were on our way. We stopped for coffee and a bite to eat and fill with reasonably priced fuel ($2.89/US Gallon for diesel) at Great Falls. It was a very nice day with no wind. We decided to stick to the Interstates and head through Butte and down to Idaho on I15. There is an alternate route that many folks use that would take us along a river valley and avoid the big hills and twisty road of the Interstate, but we'll maybe try that route in the spring on our way home.

Sunrise over Montana

Spectacular!

One of the great trout rivers in Montana

Reservoir to manage precious water resources.

Breathtaking scenery.

Idaho is pretty spectacular itself

Anyway, not much to report on the trip. Mostly favorable winds, reasonable traffic, and the usual breathtaking Montana scenery! We stopped at the Fort Hall Casino just north of Pocatello, Idaho for the night. They built a new casino and hotel there. Very nice. Of course we needed to check out some of the slots and poker machines.....just to be sure they were functioning correctly. I'm not sure they were. We escaped breaking even. Doesn't the House always win??

Just northeast of Fort Hall is an outcropping of a lava flow. There is a nice 1/2 mile interpretive trail. Exercise, just what you need after a long drive.

Interesting formations. The lava tubes leave behind caves that animals use for shelter.

The lava tubes collapse leaving these large sink holes.

There are a lot of  old dormant cinder cones in the area.

Very pretty scenery. The sagebrush smells were quite overwhelming at times. 

Wednesday we screwed up our courage and headed down I15 to that gong-show traffic in the Salt Lake City area. About a hundred miles of craziness! What is it with the lines they paint, and then re-paint, and then re-paint again!!!! People trying to figure out what lane they are in , going 80 miles per hour, and us RV'ers desperately trying to keep our sheet metal away from theirs! Arghhhh! I've still never actually seen Salt Lake City at the various Cities surrounding it. My eyes are glued to the bumper ahead of me with the occasional glance further ahead to watch for brake lights and swerving vehicles! I let the dashcam record the insanity. I'll review it later if I ever want to prove innocence!

Notice anything missing on this truck? Like exhaust stacks? Yep, she's electric! Other than tire noise, this thing was super quiet. Kinda freaky when it pulled along side of me.

Somehow we managed to make our way unscathed to Spanish Fork south of Provo and turned onto Highway 6 at exit 247. I'd like to say it was a nice peaceful drive, but I guess compared to I15 it was. Still a busy highway but lots of passing lanes and very pretty scenery. Yes, I actually looked around a bit!

Rugged terrain. If you look closely there are two railway tunnels under the mountain.

Highest point on Highway 6.

Roadway cut through the rock. Price Canyon.

We are staying at Thompson Springs which is about 30 miles north of Moab. Not sure what is going on around here but every campground is booked solid. The Campground even called me earlier in the day to double check we were still coming as they had a waiting list looking for spots.

We got set up and as if we hadn't driven enough we decided to take a spin around town, which took all of two minutes, then we headed north toward some petroglyphs and an old ghost town.

Thompson Springs has seen better days.

Beautiful scenery here.

A few miles north of town is the site of ancient petroglyphs.

We'll come back to explore these further. Maybe Saturday.

Remnants of old homesteads.

Cooking oven.

Fall foliage is prominent.

Old ghost town of Sego, just north of Thompson Springs.

Cemetery at Sego. A lasting monument to the folks that lived here.

Some wild turkeys greeted us on our return to town.

Tomorrow, Thursday we head to Arches National Park and Friday to Canyonlands National Park. You could spend a week at each I'm sure but the weather is a bit of an unknown this time of year and we would rather give them a quick look and move on than risk missing them entirely due to bad weather.


.......and that was Our View From Here!

That's a wrap, and winter travel plans

Monday, October 14

We've really enjoyed our first summer at Sandy Point Resort on Gull Lake. It's been busy and certainly blogging didn't make it far up the 'to do' list.

The Grandkids loved to go metal detecting on the beach.

The results of our treasure hunt. I think we found a total of 15 cents, but we did clear up a lot of nails and sharp objects from the beach.

The park held a 'Summer-ween' at the end of August where all the kids (and adults) dressed up in their Halloween costumes and went door to door. Candy for the little kids, something much stronger for the adults! A great time and a good way to wrap up summer.

The leaves began to fall and the temperatures remained reasonable.

The best time to hike through the woods is Fall. These trails are within our resort boundary. So handy.

Found this fellow grabbing a snack. A beautiful Pileated Woodpecker. He's well over a foot tall.

The forest is working hard to reclaim man's waste.

It's beginning to look a lot like it's time to make like the geese and head south. We've actually been working on our itinerary for a while but we got serious about it once the first few flakes began to fall.

Our first snowfall on September 30.

We plan on crossing into the US on October 15 and heading toward Moab, UT. We want to check out Arches and Canyonlands National Monuments. Then we'll head down through Monument Valley and back through Four Corners before sneaking back into Colorado for a few days. Then it's down into New Mexico. Albuquerque, Santa Fe then down to Roswell, and Carlsbad then to White Sands. Then we'll head over to Southeast Arizona and check out the sights there, such as Tombstone, Bisbee, Karchner Caverns and so much more. Next we'll head toward Tucson and explore around there. Then up to the Phoenix area for a visit. We just have to go back to Lost Dutchman State Park and we have a reservation for a few days there in early December. After that it's over to the Yuma area for a couple of weeks until after Christmas, then head over to San Diego to meet up with some family visiting there from Canada. After the first of the year we'll explore southern California, Anza-Borrego, Salton Sea, and Palm Springs then head back into the Parker and Quartzsite area. Then we'll gradually make our way north toward Nevada. I'd love to see Death Valley so hopefully that will happen before it gets too hot. After that we hope to head further north in Nevada but as always once you hit the end of March many of your plans are weather dependent. Our plan is to be home by the end of the first week in April.

Another long trip with many stops and locations to visit. I hope we're not planning too much. I think our longest stop in one place will be two weeks. Eastern Utah, Southern Colorado and New Mexico will be totally new for us, as will the Southeast portion of Arizona and Southern California. After last year's marathon tour of the US Southeast, this year's trip will seem like a breeze. One of these years we may just have to choose a location and stay there! ......or maybe not! Nice to have choices!

We're looking forward to meeting up with friends in the south, but life circumstances mean that some won't make the journey to warmth this year. The desert won't be quite so colorful without them, but we'll do our best to share our exploits so they can feel they are a part of the experience.

Looking forward to seeing lots of colorful sunsets in the desert, like this one over our Resort.

See 'ya next year!

........and that was Our View From Here!