On the Road with Joe and Jill

May 5, 2012 ~ UTAH’S SCENIC SOUTHWEST

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Greetings from Hurricane, UT. We parked in this small town just a few minutes north of St. George in Utah’s far southwest for about a month. It was a little chilly when we arrived in April, but within a week or so, things got pretty toasty. Willowind RV Park is a clean, quiet, well manicured park having all the conveniences within a short walk or drive. Hurricane is a nice town with some lovely homes and pretty neighborhoods surrounding the RV Park. On a bike ride around town during our first week, we discovered Sky Mountain Golf Course, a beautiful public course run by the city with picture-perfect panoramic views. We also took a short drive to the Old Silver Reef Mining Town. What was once a thriving silver mining town with more than 100 businesses nearly 140 years ago, is now a ghost town surrounded by an upscale community of private homes. A few photos are included in the “Hurricane UT Area” album.

Zion National Park’s main entrance is a short 25 minute drive from our home-base so we were able to take two separate day trips into the Park. The first trip was into Kolob Canyons, the smaller, quieter arm of Zion located at a separate entrance northwest of the main park. It’s very picturesque, and even with a snowstorm the night before our visit, there were only traces of snow on the ground. Our second trip was back into the main park to take the shuttle up the canyon along Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, the only means of seeing places like Weeping Rock, The Grotto, Emerald Pools and Temple of Sinawava from spring through fall. The shuttle runs frequently and the crowds had not yet inundated the park so we were able to hop on and off and spend time at most of the stops. We did quite a bit of hiking and got off the beaten path to see some incredible sights. At the end of the day as I continued to stop for photos, Joe was like a horse going back to the barn; he had seen enough rocks. The “Zion 2012” album has some nice shots; the first several are Kolob, the balance are in the main park, and the last few shots are from Joe’s album.

And now, for the highlight; my save-the-best-for-last trip; Bryce Canyon National Park. Did you ever find yourself in one of God’s perfect places and feel an overwhelming sense of gratefulness? Bryce gives you that feeling. At least it did for us. We gave thanks and commented to each other, as we do quite often, how lucky we are to be able to see so many spectacular wonders.

The park is about 36,000 acres and ranges in elevation from 6,620’ to 9,115’. It is called a “canyon”, but technically it’s not since it isn’t carved by flowing water. As in most natural wonders, the geologic history of Bryce is rich and complex dating back hundreds of millions of years, and would take a lot more than this blog post to explain. The condensed version goes like this: The progression of these interesting formations goes from ‘fins’ to ‘windows’ to ‘hoodoos’. The unique Hoodoos, the park’s main attraction, are pinnacles left standing by the forces of erosion. Naturally acidic rainwater dissolves limestone making the rounded edges of hoodoos, but the freezing and thawing of water does most of the sculpting at Bryce Canyon. About 200 days a year, ice and snow melt during the day, then refreeze and expand at night, exerting massive pressure on the rocks forcing them apart from inside the cracks. As the fractures that were created during uplift and faulting are attacked, the rock is chiseled into broken remains. Monsoon rains remove the debris helping to reveal fins. Next, frost wedging cracks the fins making holes called windows, and finally windows collapse creating the rust-painted pinnacles called hoodoos. In reality, the creation of hoodoos is just another step in water’s endless process of destroying the rocks it began creating 55 million years ago.

Bryce was a 2 ½ hour drive from Hurricane, so it limited our in-park time a bit. We did make the entire scenic drive and saw most highlights along the way, but there are so many trails to hike and different scenery, it would be great to get back there someday. It’s a special place and one of our all-time favorites. Check out the “Bryce 2012” album.

Well, it’s just about time for us to pack up and hit the road again; onward and upward to Island Park, Idaho. Next stop, Harriman State Park.

April 8, 2012 ~ MORE RED ROCK CANYON, Leaving Nevada

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As an addendum to the last post, we did get back to Red Rock to do more hiking, but it appears that if we wait for Joe to write a post and share his photos, we may never see them. So, here they are: “Joe’s Red Rock Photos”. Check out the cute little 3 wheeled cars in the album; “Scoot City” must be some kind of tour group. Five months have passed since we arrived here in Pahrump and we will be pulling out on Friday. The next stop will be Southern Utah just north of St. George where we’ll stay for a month. It’ll give us plenty of time to visit the National Parks in the area before heading up to Idaho for the summer. Hope to have a post from So. Utah soon!

March 2, 2012 ~ THE DESERT-RED ROCK CANYON, NEVADA

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Ok, so we’re still here. I know, in the last post I said we were getting itchy, but here we are. We’re still parked in Pahrump, but we’re relaxing and havin’ a good time. The good news; my foot is back to normal, and none too soon. I’m a happy camper. Needless to say, we’ve been walking, (and walking, and walking). I’m like Forrest Gump; maybe I’ll be walking by your house before you know it.

Yesterday we headed into Vegas to do a little shopping and stopped on the way to hike in Red Rock Canyon. Located just a few short miles west of Summerlin in west Las Vegas, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is a stark contrast to the hustle, bustle and bright lights of Las Vegas. This place is beautiful, and so cool; an unexpected desert gem so close to a metropolitan city. You could hike in here every day for months, maybe years, and still find hidden spots and new places to explore. The mountains in the area, some reaching nearly 3,000 feet, are fossilized sand dunes, and the sandstone rocks get their vibrant color from iron oxide. This amazing area is full of desert plants and animals including burros and wild horses, coyotes and bighorn sheep, bobcats and mountain lions, and rabbits and desert tortoise.

The 13 mile scenic loop beginning at the visitor’s center is well-planned with several parking lots along the route for easy access to 19 trails. Each trail, ranging from easy to strenuous, provides a different experience with sites such as limestone Indian agave roasting pits, pictographs, unique rock formations, natural springs, and waterfalls cascading into the canyon. Besides hiking, visitors also enjoy jogging, biking, horseback riding, rock climbing, photography and simply taking in the spectacular scenery. In fact, with more than 2,000 climbing sites, Red Rock is one of the top five climbing destinations in the U.S. We’d planned a vigorous hike, and did do a lot of climbing and rock scrambling, but admittedly, a lot of time was spent photographing the “Red Rock Canyon” album. I tried to get some perspective of how large these rocks are, but you have to look closely for the rock climbers and hikers as the rock formations provide great camouflage. We’re fortunate that Joe has been working out, and you’ll see that he lifted a huge boulder out of the way to make the hike a bit easier for his favorite gal.

We can’t wait to go back soon, and visit often, so there is no doubt you’ll see more of this spectacular area in future albums.

January 27, 2012 ~ HANGIN’ OUT IN THE DESERT

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From Brigham City UT, we headed into central California to have some work done on the coach, and then found time for a short visit with our family in Southern California before heading to southern Nevada. We’d planned on volunteering at the Lake Mead National Recreation area near Boulder City NV for the winter, but circumstances beyond our control ended our stay there before it began. In order to regroup, we headed west to Pahrump about an hour northwest of Las Vegas. We took a site at one of the casino RV Parks in town, and wouldn’t cha know it, the very next day I broke my foot (…yes, again!, for those who know me). So that pretty much solidified our plans, at least for awhile. I’m still not back to normal, but hopefully soon. I love my daily walks and I’m getting very anxious. I haven’t even been able to trek around and photograph the area. Oh well, it’s given Joe time to take care of his medical appointments while we’re in the area. We also had a nice visit with our friend Dick from Mesquite, who by the way, is a VERY bad influence. We partied like it was 1999, and the next day we all realized we’re not as young as we used to be. Shame on you, Dick; why did you force us to drink so much! Well, I guess this became our winter home, whether or not we planned on it. We’ll sit tight for awhile longer, but I think we’re all getting hitch itch (Roxy and Bella included), so it’s almost time to hook ‘er up and move along!

November 23, 2011 ~ TRAVELING THROUGH UTAH

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Our first stop traveling south from Idaho’s Harriman SP in mid-September was Northern Utah. We volunteered for several weeks at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Brigham City. This large refuge, a key part of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, consists of nearly 80,000 acres of marsh, open water and uplands providing habitat for about 200 species of birds along the Pacific flyway. Joe spent some of his time out on the refuge assisting law enforcement, and I spent most of my time in the fabulous Visitor Education Center and Avocet Bookstore. This fairly new facility is one of the nicest we’ve seen in our travels. It is aesthetically beautiful and houses state-of-the-art facilities including a teaching lab and classrooms, interactive exhibit hall, theater, auditorium, bookstore, and much more. Kinda looks like an airline terminal…incredible! Once again, the staff was wonderful and we met a lot of great people. And if I’ve failed to mention this, one of the many nice things about volunteering is that they really appreciate you….and they show it. They’re very generous with their thanks and verbalize it often, unlike a lot of the private parks. They gave us an unexpected send off with lunch and a “thank you” cake, which we greatly appreciate. You’ll see our smiling faces (in a photo taken by Joe Moran) in the “Northern Utah” photo album. During our stay here, we took only one trip up to Logan and hiked to the wind cave, and I didn’t do any photographing around the refuge, so it’s a small album. I have a couple of images of the lovely Mormon Temples, but someday I’ll have to dedicate an entire album to these beautiful churches. One note of photo credit; I took only one photo of the refuge from our RV site at the bunkhouse, so the 2 shots of the visitor center--exterior and interior—were obtained from the web.
As long as we’re talking about Utah, I’ll post some images of Zion National Park and southern UT, a trip we took back in January of 2011. At the time, we buzzed in and out of the park quickly and I held the photos hoping for another Zion trip for some more interesting images. But, since we don’t know when we’ll go back, I’ll share these photos in the “Zion 2011” album and hope for some better shots another time. See ya back here next time!

October 5, 2011 ~ HARRIMAN ST PK, Island Park ID

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At the end of July, we settled in at Harriman State Park in Island Park ID, about 35 miles south of West Yellowstone MT. As we approached, our heads were bobbing back and forth trying to take in the beauty of this special area; big trees, lush green forests, cool blue rivers and streams, snow-capped mountains, and colorful wildflowers….everything we love! Due to a late winter and wet spring, the wildflowers this year were exceptional, lining the highway as well as blanketing most of the park.

In addition to the spectacular scenery and the abundant wildlife including bear, elk, moose, deer and North America’s largest waterfowl, the Trumpeter Swan, Harriman is rich in history with its roots dating back to the early 1900’s. We were fortunate to sign on for a short volunteer position at the park to give guided tours of the historic buildings, also known as The Railroad Ranch. For decades, it was a working cattle ranch as well as a hunting and fishing retreat for it’s wealthy owners including, among others, the Harrimans and the Guggenheims, both from New York. Most of the early shareholders were railroad men associated with the Oregon Short Line, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad. In fact, when you look at the photo of their dining cottage, you’ll notice the table set with china, stemware and silver from the Union Pacific dining cars. Many other cottages also have furnishings influenced by the railroad. E. H. Harriman, Chairman of the Union Pacific Railroad, purchased one of the five shares a few years after its inception sight unseen, but died the following year and never visited The Ranch. Mr. Harriman’s wife and children continued the legacy and visited the Ranch for many years. I wish I had the time and space to tell you all about it; it’s really interesting. Preserving and protecting this prime wildlife habitat was a concern for all the shareholders and was a major reason the Harriman’s decided to donate this spectacular property to the State of Idaho. In fact, the Harriman’s donated additional land in their home state of New York which is also called Harriman State Park.

Today, Harriman State Park of Idaho draws thousands of anglers to the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, a world class trout stream that meanders 8 miles through the park. Visitors also enjoy more than 20 miles of non-motorized hiking, biking and horseback riding trails in summer and fall, and cross country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter. A few of the historic buildings are open as rentals offering comfortable, charming accommodations in the heart of this recreational wonderland. In the "Harriman St Pk" album, you’ll see what we saw as we gave our historic tours, and as we hiked and biked over the trails and through the woods.

During our brief stay here, we took a little time to tour a few of the local sites. Mesa Falls is a short drive from Harriman down a Scenic Byway and is managed by the folks at Harriman. The Johnny Sack cabin is located on the crystal clear waters of Big Springs. John was a German cabinet maker, 4 feet 11” tall, who came to the US in his 20’s as one of Island Park’s early settlers. He began construction of his unique cabin in 1929. Many of the features are on a smaller scale, perfect for his small stature. These images can be viewed in the "Island Park Area" album.

We also visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks during our Harriman stay. Photos from these trips appeared in the previous post.

This beautiful, peaceful area was a great home for a short 7 weeks. In fact, we enjoyed it so much, we’ll be back next June to spend the summer here again. But for now, we are heading south, on to the next adventure in search of a winter home

September 15, 2011 ~ YELLOWSTONE and GRAND TETON NAT’L PARKS

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Yellowstone is defined by geysers, mudpots, fumaroles and hot springs, not to mention the wildlife; moose and elk, bighorn sheep and pronghorn, grizzlies and black bear, wolves and coyotes, beavers and otters, and of course, bison. Birds of prey fly high, and Trumpeter Swans grace the waters while Yellowstone cutthroat trout live below. It is truly a unique place.

On a rainy gray afternoon in late July, we drove the short 35 mile route from our site at Harriman State Park in Island Park ID to the Yellowstone National Park entrance in West Yellowstone, MT. Getting a late start wasn’t of concern as we were close enough to take a sneak peak and then return another day. Even though the weather was gloomy and it was mid-week, there were plenty of visitors and minor traffic jams at the site of every elk. We made it as far as Old Faithful and the massive crowd was just dispersing as we had missed the geyser’s eruption by about 3 minutes. Our second trip in August began earlier in the day, allowing us to make it around the center loop of the park. We were told that Lamar Valley in the northeast corner of the park would be the best place to see wildlife in early morning or evening, but the timing wasn’t right and we didn’t venture that far. Just south of Canyon Village in the middle of the park is Artist Point, and Lower and Upper Falls. At Lower Falls, a parking area and short walk allowed us to get next to a rushing river and beautiful waterfall complete with a rainbow halo at its base. At the end of the Artist Point drive, the distant view of Upper Falls through the canyon was spectacular and the colors of the canyon walls were an artist’s palette; true to the name. Further along in Hayden Valley we got up close and personal with a large herd of bison who have come to own the road, and who decide when and where to stop the flow of traffic. With so much of Yellowstone left to explore, we’ll have to make a return visit. Images from these trips are in the "Yellowstone NP" album.

There aren’t too many landscapes that compare with Grand Teton National Park. (Photos are in the "Grand Teton NP" album.) On August 8^th when we visited, the weather was beautiful and the crowds were nearly non-existent, unlike Yellowstone. Although The Tetons share Yellowstone’s geologic nature, instead of rising steam, this National Park greets you with huge jagged snow capped peaks surrounded by high-elevation canyons. In addition to the alpine vistas, the other natural communities shape the Park’s scenery; lush green forests, sagebrush flats, meadows and wetlands, ponds, rivers, and beautiful alpine lakes. This park took my breath away and it will yours when you visit. We ended our trip to the Grand Tetons with a pizza in Jackson WY, and then headed back over the pass to our comfortable home in Island Park.

August 22, 2011 ~ CRATERS OF THE MOON, Southern Idaho

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Traveling east from the Boise area during the last week of July, we opted for scenic Route 20 instead of I-84, taking us past the strange but scenic landscape of Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. The park offers lava tubes, cinder cones, camping, hiking, caving, and of course bat-watching. We made a short trip in and out, with a walk around the easy loop trail, and then hit the road moving on to our final destination. Check out the “Craters of the Moon” album.

July 18, 2011 ~ SW IDAHO: BOISE, MOUNTAINS, WILDLIFE REFUGE

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We left the Nevada desert at the end of April, and after cruising leisurely through California and eastern Oregon, we arrived in Southwestern Idaho the 3^rd week of May. Our first stop was a quiet country park in north Caldwell northwest of Boise, where we spent a week. During our stay there we took a drive north through the Boise National Forest along the pretty Payette River Scenic Byway past Cascade Lake and up to McCall. Our intent was to then travel east toward Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, but with the Memorial Day weekend approaching, we thought it wise to sit tight for a few days. We planned to stop at the Elks Lodge in Mountain Home, ID until just after the holiday weekend, but wound up staying 10 days waiting for the weather to turn. While we waited, we took a trip along the Sawtooth Scenic Byway up through Ketchum, Hailey and as far north as Stanley. The Sawtooth Nat’l Recreation Area, Salmon River and Redfish Lake near Stanley are beautiful. As of June 4^th, quite a bit of snow remained, and old man winter didn’t seem ready to leave! With the rivers at flood stage and weather posing a problem for travel, we were still unable to head east to the National Parks, so we put it on hold for awhile. In the meantime, we landed a volunteer position with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, so we took the short trip back from Mountain Home to the Boise area to settle in for a few weeks. A few shots of the Boise area (the rose garden and the Boise River in the heart of the city), as well as photos of the 2 scenic trips can be seen in the “Boise & Mtn Areas ” album.

We’re currently volunteering at Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge in Nampa, just west of Boise, and have met another wonderful group of people. We’re helping with various educational and outreach projects and events, and are enjoying living at the lake with the wildlife. There are ducks and birds, coyotes and marmots, squirrels and rabbits, and of course, lots of deer. I’ve become quite involved with all my furry friends who hang out in our yard, especially my little marmot buddy.

We staffed a booth at the Lavender Festival last weekend and the sweet, soothing smell of the lavender fields is still with us. It was a “you-pick” festival (…and we picked!), but by the time I got my photos, the beautiful round bushes of bright bluish-purple were almost unrecognizable. The “Deer Flat NWR” album includes images of the Refuge, our 4-legged neighbors, and some of the outreach events we hosted. Our 7 weeks here will end in a few days and we’ll finally head east. Our next volunteer position will be at a State Park in Eastern Idaho, just west of Yellowstone and the Tetons, where we’ll stay for 2 months, affording us lots of time to explore that beautiful area. Hope to have some nice images next time you stop by!

May 14, 2011 ~ DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

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Who would think the hottest, driest, lowest location in the U.S. with the word “death” in its name could be so beautiful. In early December, late in the afternoon we entered the park with just a couple of hours of daylight left. As we drove to our first stop at Zabriskie Point, we were greeted with different textures and shapes, and layers upon layers of different colored swirls and mounds. My first impression was a smooth soft dish of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Over at the Artist’s Palette, the chocolate-fudge ice cream hills included a hint of pistachio with a little blueberry mixed in. The colors of the volcanic and sedimentary hills here were incredible; browns and tans, greens and purples - truly amazing. Just up the road is the Gold Canyon Trail. We wandered through the twisting narrows and rock formations taking time to appreciate the geological stories that the layers reveal. Since the light was fading quickly, we called it a day and planned to revisit during our next trip through the area.

Our second trip into the park was at the end of March and began at Dante’s View, an awesome mountain-top overlook more than 5,000 feet above Badwater Basin with the surrounding snowcapped mountains in the distance. Next, just before Stovepipe Wells Village lies Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes rising nearly 100 feet from the Flat. Although I would have liked to visit later in the day to capture the ripples and patterns accentuated in the late afternoon light, our stop in late morning was worthwhile and allowed us to view tracks of nocturnal wildlife before they were disturbed. A little further along, we traveled up a long, bumpy, washboard dirt road toward Mosaic Canyon. Joe was not too happy, but obliged me as he always does. But, we both agreed that what was waiting for us was well worth the grueling drive. This narrow, polished marble-walled canyon was an incredible site and one more example of the area’s geological diversity. The midday light made photographing difficult, and once again, you just have to see it for yourself. The next stop was Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation in the U.S. at 282 feet below sea level. The vast salt flats look and feel like a firm snow pack. On the way out of the park, we took the long road south past the Ashford Mill ruins and out through Shoshone.

Sometimes it’s hard to capture the true beauty of God’s awesome creations, but the images in the “Death Valley” album will give you a taste of what to expect if you visit. Even with 2 trips into the park, we only scratched the surface of this massive wonder. Perhaps we’ll have the opportunity to return again.