Bryce Canyon

Good morning all. Yesterday we spent all day driving the car around Bryce Canyon and The Grand Staircase at Escalante.  I took about 150 pictures the scenery is just spectacular, but pictures don't do it justice. We also stopped and took a hike back into a canyon to see a cave and a waterfall. When we left our campsite it was 6 am and 32 degrees. We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast to go and hit the road. On the way to Bryce we seen ice on the grass and fence where they were watering the fields. By the afternoon it was 85 and beautiful. It was a long drive and we took a shortcut home. We decided we would come in the back way over the mountain to our campsite, bad, bad decision. The paved road turned to dirt as we started up the mountain. The climb was so steep the car could barely make it. This was putting us in a very precarious position. If the car stopped moving up the mountain we would not get it moving again. The road was too narrow to turn around with loose rock and pot holes. Backing down would have been suicide, the switchbacks were way to sharp. I was very nervous and worried we would not make it. I thinjk the Prius has about 95 horsepower not enough. We needed a lifted four wheeled drive with a V-8 engine. When we finally reached the top at 13,000 feet we stopped and could smell the transmission belt burning, so we sat there and calmed down. The next 20 miles was a dirt logging road.

This Mule Deer better go hide, hunting season just started.

Bryce Canyon

Just spectacular scenery

This picture of the waterfall wes taken on our hike.

We finnaly mad it to the top of the mountain.

The good part was we did end up on the road we were camped on. As soon as we got back to the campsite it was time for a drink or maybe two? It was late and we were tired so we ran into down for dinner then came home and relaxed. So another exciting day in the mountains of Utah. Tight lines and safe travels.

Dispersed Camping Updated Tuesday

Here we are out in the boonies. We have cell service if we use the amplified cell antenna. So I can still blog. We can not leave it on all the time because it drains the battery. I am attaching some pictures of our free camp site. We are going to start visiting the National Parks this week. The river is ten steps from the motor home, tomorrow I will give the fish a chance. Their is a cave across the road from our site in case we need it. Talk to you later.  Here is a picture of the fish we caught at a lake up in the mountains. There are two Browns and two Rainbows four is the limit here in Utah. A lady we met in the last campground told us where to go. We have been watching a pair of Eagles fly around over the motor home, I think they have a nest on the mountain near us. Tomorrow we are driving the car to Bryce Canyon NP for the day and then next week we will head for Zion NP. We have met a couple that is camped about a half mile down the road and spent some time at there fire tonight and that was fun, they also ride motorcycles so we have that in common. Lynn just heard an Owl hooting outside so we are being serenaded. Pictures of Bryce Canyon next.

Beaver Canyon Utah

We are in Beaver Canyon campground in Beaver Utah. This is a passport America campground so it is half price with full hookups. We arrived here Thursday and are leaving tomorrow Sunday. The weather is beautiful here 45 at night and 80 during the day sunny sunny every day. This is a cute little campground with allot of permanent campers that pay by the season. They have little building and fences built at there sites to make it more like home. People come from all over to spend weekend here. We spoke to a lady this afternoon who drives 3 1/2 hours from Las Vegas to spend weekends. Lynn did laundry again today and we will hit the showers tonight before we head for the boonies.

Old mining cars from the area.

I tried to get Lynn to rent this one but no luck.

This is a locals addition to there site.

I think Tony is a local.

Our camp site at Beaver.

We are heading up into the mountains about ten miles from this campground to do some dispersed camping. This is where you can find a spot on government land and camp for 16 days for free. There are some beautiful places along the Beaver river we have found to set up camp. There are about six lakes up on the mountain, some at 10,000 feet, that are very popular trout fishing lakes, so we will blow up the boat and give them a try. Our biggest challenge will be conserving water for 16 days and not filling up our waste tanks. I  told Lynn to make sure she takes the Bear Spray when she goes in the woods to do her duty. We know we will not have cell or Internet service up on the mountain so we will have to make phone calls and blog when we come to town for supplies. We will be doing some traveling with the car to visit the National Parks in the next two weeks, like Bryce NP and Zion NP. Here are some pictures of the Beaver Canyon campground.

The Big Hike

Monday we went into Jackson Hole Wy and did the laundry again. After laundry we had lunch at a chinese resuratnt and walked  around town and did a little shopping. This town is like Palm Springs very high end. In the park they have four huge archways bulit form thousands of Elk antlers.
Tuesday the Moose were back in camp early. We grabbed the camera and walked over to see them again. This time there were only two the mama and her young bull. We followed them until they crossed the river behind the campground and then headed for Jenny Lake. We had heard from our neighbors that you could take a boat across the lake and hike up the mountain. We got there early enough to sign up to go with the ranger on an informational hike. When I saw she had bear spray with her I went to the car and got mine. We arrived on the other side of  Jenny Lake about 9:45 am and began the hike, there were about eighteen people in our group. The Ranger went slow and stopped to talk with us about every half hour. It was very informative and we learned allot. The first part of the hike was not bad climbing about 400 ft, but the second half got steep and narrow. This was no place for anyone afraid of heights, Holy Sh!!. The last part of the trail was steep and very narrow and rocky. You worked your way along a narrow ledge that dropped off hundreds of feet. Lynn's legs were getting tired and mine were wobbling and the altitude was making me dizzy. When we finally made it to Inspiration Point I was inspired to never ever do this again. Now all we have to do is go down and try and make it back to the boat without the Ranger, she left. I think going down the narrow ledge was scarier than going up. We got back to the boat at 2:30 pm. Imagine stepping down three steps at a time in a stairway on loose rocks. OK that's enough of that we had fun and both had Charley horses in our legs that night.

Arch of Elk Antlers there are four of these in the park.

I met a guy in the camp ground who invited me to go fly fishing with him in the Grose Verant River that runs behind the campground. This was after I got home from the hike ohh. So we headed out and hiked to the river he was very knowledgeable and we caught a few Cutthroat Trout. When the sun went down it got cold fast so we headed back before it was too dark to see the bears. I found out my waders leak and my feet were frozen. The next morning we headed for Utah. We took the back roads and it was a beautiful drive that followed the Snake river. The old motor home struggled a couple of times going over the mountains but she made it without over heating. We stayed in a Walmart in Ogdon Utah. We were tired from traveling so we ate out at a Chillies across the street. After dinner we went into Walmart and did the grocery shopping and we both got a haircut, boy we needed that.

Yes that is frost on the bushes. It is 25 degrees this morning.

Good bye Moose it's been fun.

Our Ranger Jamie.

That's where we are going, up there?

I will give you some inspiration, don't listen to you wife.

It is beutiful up here. We started hiking down on the lake.

The scary ledge.

Hidden falls on the way up.

We left the Walmart this morning and we are now in Beaver Utah at a Passport America private campground with full hookups for $12.00 a night. We are going to Bryce Canyon from here it is only fifty miles away and Las Vegas is 200 miles south. The weather is great here 85 days and 45 at night. I have allot of pictures of our hike but still have slow downloads so I will try and send a couple of pictures. Tight lines and safe travels.

Grose Verde Campground Wy

Our new friends Kathy, Mary and Bill

This is Wyat and Jiggs

From left Mike, Martin, Al and Jim

Martin and his wife Billy

The Grand Teton Mountains

Moose in the camp.

This is what a horny Moose looks like.

Well we left Yellowstone Sunday morning after saying goodby to our new friends that we have been hanging out with at Bakers Hole we will miss them. We drove through the park headed for Grand Tetons NP. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains with a couple of slow climbs on the way, but the old motor home made it over the top, slow but it made it. We arrived at the campground about 2:30 pm and got set up in site 110. We took a bike ride and a guy on the road ask us if we had seen any Moose, we said no and he said they come through this campground every morning early. So we decided we would have our coffee looking for Moose this morning. We got in the car and drove about fifty yards and there they were right in front of us coming into the campground. Their were about a dozen people taking pictures so we got out and started taking pictures. There were four Moose, one big bull and one small young bull with two cows, they were all big and close. I took about sixty pictures while we watched them for an hour. The big bull was wanting some loven from the cow and she was having no part of it, when he tried to jump on she ran with him right behind her right through the crowd that was taking pictures, us included. I grabbed Lynn and jumped behind a car as everyone else scattered to get out of the way, our hearts were pumping. We were getting cold and the batteries were dead in the camera so we went back to the car and went for a ride to the visitors center. Later we went into Jackson Hole and did laundry, walked around town and had lunch. Tomorrow we are taking a boat ride across Jenny Lake to hike a wilderness trial to Hidden Falls (note to self, bring bear spray) here are a few pictures from the last couple of days. Boy this is a beutiful place. More news later hoping for Grizzly Bears next. We could hear wolves last night when we went to bed. See Ya

Cold and Rain

This is our rig.

This sculpture is in Ennis Mt and is made from expanded metal.
The horse is hauling Elk meat and antlers.

One of the Otters coming up for air.

Well we went to the lake and fished but no luck. The wind was blowing hard and I think that turned the fish off. I have been catching some fish behind the motor home and found out their are some large fish in there. I watched a guy catch a 16" brown using a soft hackle, whatever that is. He said he caught a 21" rainbow in the same spot last year. While Lynn and I where watching this guy fish two Otters came swimming up the river diving for fish. The fisherman said well their goes the fishing, the Otters scare all the fish away. It has been raining and cold all day today so we stayed inside. I just had to stop typing because some of our new friends stopped by and invited us over. We have met six new friends and have been hanging out at cocktail hour and at the camp fires so we are having a great time consuming too may libation's. All our new friends have dogs so Lynn is in heaven spoiling them all. It has been below freezing at night and I think I am getting low on propane. Hope your weather is better than ours. Tight lines and safe travels. I think I fixed the comment thingee.

Bakers Hole NF Campground.

We are here near West Yellowstone camped on the Madison river. It is a National Forest campground and cost $8 a night. We will be here until Sunday when we head south. This is a beautiful campground and our site is near the river. Yesterday we toured Yellowstone and seen lots of Buffalo and a bull elk with his harem laying near the river. While we were in the park we stopped by one of the campsites with showers and took a nice hot shower aah. It cost $3.00. It was a long ride but we seen a number of beautiful waterfalls and mountain scenery. Today we stuck around camp and got some chores done, then we took a ride to check out a fishing access site on Hebgen Lake. The site is pretty remote but we can make it in and launch the kayak. heir is supposed to be allot of trout in the lake, we'll see. We met a group of folks this evening that we will hang out with this week, they are allot of fun. We also went into West Yellowstone and did some shopping, Lynn had to get her fix.

Sunrise on the Madison at our site.

Jay walkers are a pain.

I bet you think this is Old Faithful,wrong it is Beehive and it shoots water higher than OF once a day.

Someone give me a rifle.

OK when I was fishing behind the motor home I told Lynn to watch for fish rising and feeding off the surface, leaving a little droplet ring. On our way back out of Yellowstone we were following the river and she was watching the water. All of a sudden she said honey the fish are feeding all over the river. I put my hand on her shoulder and said no honey it is raining.She was not looking out the windshield and never noticed it had started to rain. I will try and add a couple of pictures with my slow phone connection. See Ya