Mt. Rainier

Once again, we lucked out and had absolutely perfect weather! Mike and I drove into Mt. Rainier national park today. The mountain/volcano makes it's own weather (clouds,etc) due to the glaciers on the top so we were lucky to have a spectacular sunny day. Not long after we left the campsite, I realized that we forgot our camera. We kept going though. On the way, we passed through Packwood, where a HUGE flea market sale was going on for labor day. I mean, tents were everywhere...the entire length of the town it seemed. I would have loved to stop but it would have taken up the rest of the afternoon. As soon as we reached the gate to the park, I decided that I had to have a camera so we stopped and bought a disposable. I guess the photo posts will have to come later. Mt. Rainier was amazing. We took a short hike from the Paradise visitor center and on the way out we passed a ranger. He said that we were lucky because this was their most popular trail but today he saw only one other couple out there. Yippee! No crowds! The view through the binoculars was awesome. Just as we left the viewpoint, we heard a loud cracking noise and rushed back to see if we could see some ice cleave off or a rock fall. There was no difference. It was probably just the glacier moving. Once again, we could have spent more time here but our reservations urge us on. I made reservations through Labor day so that we would have somewhere to camp on this busy weekend. After labor day, we have no reservations and will no longer plan so far in advance. Tomorrow is Mt. St. Helens.

Mt. Rainier photos

Here are some photos of Mt. Rainier. Keep in mind that we took them with a disposable camara so the quality isn't very good. I've back dated this post so that it falls in line with the Mt. Rainier day. Enjoy!


This photo shows the Nisqually Glacier from an overlook on the Nisqually Vista trail. You can see the creek/runoff coming out from underneath the glacier. At this point is looks brown because it is covered in dirt and debris.

Volcanoes

Today we left the coastal, Tsunami prone area and went inland to the land of the volcanoes. Actually, we drove to Randle, WA to stay at a campground close to Mt. Rainier (also a national park.) I chose this park because it was on our discount campground list. I was a little nervous about this campground because when I called two weeks ago to make reservations, the guy on the phone sounded a little wishy washy. He said I had a reservation but never asked my name. Well, I volunteered it and made sure I got his name too. Earlier this week, Mike called to confirm our reservation and the lady who answered said that she had no record of it. We told her the name of the person we spoke to and she said that was her son and he was worthless. Great! Anyway, she said they were full and we should just "come on and we'll figure something out". I imagined we would have to park in her backyard with an extension cord for power. Actually, the campground area isn't too bad. There are lots of trees and space between the sites. Our site actually has 50amp service and I was only expecting 30amp. Nevermind the fact that our site has someone else's name posted on it. They told us to park here. We were very lucky and were even able to set up the satellite for internet and TV. Tomorrow, we're off to Mt. Rainier.

Sand Dollar!

This afternoon, we drove to Westport, WA to see the tallest lighthouse in Washington state. It was not impressive. Mike and I both said, "is that it?" I guess the lighthouses in the outer banks of North Carolina leave a lot to live up to. This one looked to be about a quarter of the size of the ones in NC. We skipped it and headed to the beach. No fog today so we strolled for a while. I noticed pieces of sand dollars everywhere. Then...yippee!...I found a whole one. By the time we left, I had 8 intact sand dollars. I can't remember every finding one whole one before. The sizes ranged from about 2-3 inches in diameter.

We stopped at a little bar for a beer and then went for some fresh seafood. After dinner, we went back to the beach to check out the sunset. Here I am venturing out on the windy beach.

I am very happy about my sand dollars. I hope I can get them back to Texas.

Fishing on the Hoquiam River

The RV park we are staying at is called Hoquiam River RV park and our spot is right by the river. Earlier today, we drove out to Ocean Shores, a little seaside town and looked around. Once again, we encountered the ocean fog. In Hoquiam, the temp was around 65 degrees, but as we started to drive into the fog the temp dropped to around 50 degrees and the wind picked up. We drove on the beach for a little bit but the tide was high and the driving "lane" was occasionally in the surf. It made me nervous that we would get stuck so we turned back. This beach was really flat! It looked like you could walk way out there and only be up to your knees. Anyway, there were signs along the beach saying that the currents were very strong and you could get swept out to sea and drown...but have fun. Just kidding, I made up the last part. We did stop at a seafood market to pick up some shrimp cocktail and a shrimp or two for bait. Later, we tried fishing in the river by our RV. I didn't hold out much hope because I'm the unluckiest fisherwoman in the world. But, if you can believe it, I did catch a couple of little fish. Turns out, they were lingcod. In order to keep them, they had to be two feet but ours were less than 6 inches. Anyway, I caught one and we had a good time.

Beach photos

Here are two more photos from our trip to Rialto Beach.

Hole in the wall

This morning we woke up at 6:30 so that we could drive to Rialto beach and walk 1.5 miles north on the beach to the "Hole in the wall" and see the tide pools during low tide. When we left Forks, the sky was clear. The closer we got to the ocean, the foggier it became. On the beach, it was pretty thick. This section of beach is part of the national park. I was amazed by the size of the driftwood on the beach! Huge, white trees! I'm not sure if they grew there, then died from the salt water or if they were washed on shore from storms. Either way, they were all along the beach.

Apparently, all along the Oregon and Washington coast, there are rock spires. Here is one that materialized out of the fog in front of us. Notice me at the bottom of the shot and the tree growing on top of the rock. Who knows how big or how old that tree actually is, but it looked small from my vantage point.

Once we made it through the hole in the wall, the starfish were abundant. Colors ranged from orange to deep purple.

Here are a few shots we took on the way back to the car. We were out there from around 8am to 10:30 and the fog seemed to lift only slightly as the sun pushed more overhead. (I'll post them when blogger starts working again)

The Hoh Rainforest

We left Sequim this morning and drove west, then south to Forks, WA. From Forks, we're going to go to the Hoh rainforest and Rialto beach, both in Olympic national forest. This park has such diversity! We spent the afternoon in the rainforest area. They get more than 200 inches of rain here each year. The day we went it was sunny! Probably the only day all year! :) Just kidding. One chart in the visitor center said that the month of December averages 25 inches. The trees were huge!

This tree is one of the largest Sitka spruce trees in the USA. It stands 270 feet tall, 12.5 feet thick at chest level, and it is 500-550 years old.

In the forest, trees that have fallen and are starting to decay will become "nurse" trees for younger trees. Basically, new trees start to grow on them. Eventually, the decayed tree will finish decomposing. This creates a hollow area under the now established tree.

Wineries and Sol Duc Hotsprings

The northern Olympic peninsula has a bunch of local wineries. Four of these wineries were in our area. We visited them on the way to the afternoon destination, Sol Duc Hotsprings. The first one we found was just a little house without vineyards. As it turns out, the climate is too cold and most of the grapes are grown in eastern Washington. The third winery we visited was a small family operation who produced mostly fruit wines. Who would have ever thought Rhubarb wine would taste good? It was pretty good, though. Then again, this was the third winery and my tastebuds may have been under the influence. Anyway, we drove past crescent lake in the national park. It was beautiful and supposedly over 640ft deep! Late in the afternoon, we stopped at the Sol Duc Hotsprings, also in the park. It was definetly a natural hotspring pool. You could smell it before you saw it. Sulfur-y. It was a busy place. We sat in the 106 degree pool for a while and then hit the road back to the RV (but not before we washed off the sulfur smell :). These photos are of a salmon creek off the road to the hotsprings. We were all alone and it was very peaceful.

Tide pools and Hurricane Ridge

I read about an area of Tide pools relatively close to where we are staying. When we arrived at the Salt Creek Recreation area, a Clallam county park, we were surprised to find a campground that would have fit our RV with appropriate hookups and a gorgeous view of the Straight of Juan de Fuca. It would have been an awesome place to camp! Anyway, we made the most out of the day use and walked down to the tide pool area. It was pretty chilly in the shade of the cliff with the wind blowing. Here are some photos:


This county park was also had two large bunkers that were used during WWII to house guns that would defend the pacific shoreline if needed from invading countries. These days, they have large trees growing on them and in front of them. You can't even see the water from the openings.

By now, it was later in the afternoon and most of the morning clouds were burning off, so we drove up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Forest to see if we could view Mt. Olympus. Mt. Olympus is the tallest peak in the Olympic range. This is part of the view and the Carrie glacier.

We went from the beach to the mountains in one day! Pretty cool.

Sequim, WA (pronounced S'kwim)

Mike and I left our RV park in Bothell (Seattle area) around 10am and successfully navigated the Seattle area traffic down to the Tacoma area. We decided to fill gas at a truck stop there and it was a good thing we did because the gas was a lot cheaper. After that, we made our way northwest and crossed over the Hood canal floating bridge. Hood Canal Bridge is the world’s longest saltwater floating bridge.

After arriving in Sequim, we got settled in and explored the area. Apparently the area is known for it's lavender farms and they have the Dungeness spit (like a long sand bar), which has a lighthouse on the end. We're thinking about taking the 4-mile walk out to the lighthouse if we have time. We'll see...I read that it's best to go at low tide so you can walk on the sand and not have to navigate around and over the rocks and logs on the middle of the spit but low tide occurs around 8am and we haven't been in the habit of rising too early these days.

Here we are on the Olympic Peninsula. A photo of a sign not seen everywhere.

Dinner with Gordon

Today was a day of running errands. This evening we met Gordon for dinner and had a very nice time. We also got some mail that was forwarded from Mike's dad. Tomorrow we are going to drive to Port Angeles, which is on the northern side of the Olympic Peninsula. The challenge in the morning will be to find a gas station that we can easily get in and out of in the RV. That's always fun.

Across Washington state

Yes, the eastern part of Washington state was kind of boring. Lots of farmland. One neat thing we saw was the Columbia river. It was huge! We arrived in the Seattle area around 5pm. That's right, rush hour. It actually wasn't too bad. We hit the stop and go only a few miles from our exit. We are staying at a place called Lake Pleasant RV park. The "lake" is more like a big brown pond...I mean...wildlife habitat. They are really taking advantage of the space because we are squeezed in here like sardines but at least there are shrubs between the spots. When I was looking for campgrounds in this area, I was really surprised by the lack of options. I guess the land is just too expensive.

City park and the wooden boats

Today was a relaxing day. The Coeur D'Alene resort was having a wooden boat show so we walked around the boardwalk and checked them out. The rest of the afternoon we hung out in the city park and swam a little in the lake. Later, around 6pm, we went for appetizers at the floating restaurant down the way from the RV park. The weather was great and it was a nice evening. Tomorrow we leave for the Seattle area. Mike promises that it will be a long, boring drive across Washington state. Yeah!

Anyway, we found the center of the universe.

Route of the Hiawatha

Today didn't turn out exactly as I expected. Mike and I were going to ride the Hiawatha trail. Here's the blurb, "The Crown Jewel of Rail Trails! A 13-mile historic rail trail through nine train tunnels and across seven skyhigh trestles, for mountain biking and hiking." Great! Sounds like fun. Mike was not as enthusiastic but he humored me and came along. We loaded the bikes up and stopped at lookout pass to buy our passes and the shuttle tickets for the way back up. At the very beginning of the trail is the 1.8 mile Taft tunnel. You have to bring a headlight because it is pitch black through the tunnel and it's 40 degrees year round. I was unsure at first but this turned out to be the best part. It was actually pretty cool! After about 2.5 miles into the ride, I mistakenly took us down the wrong road (the shuttle road) for about a mile which was steep and rocky. When we figured out it was the wrong way, we had to hoof it back up hill to the trail. This really sucked! Then, to make matters worse, on the trek back up, Mike's peddle fell off his bike. The nut holding it on was lost. Keep in mind he didn't really want to go in the first place and now he has to ride the other 12.5 miles down with one peddle. The bungee that we were using to hold a flashlight on the bike was used to hold his foot to the peddle. We didn't take many photos after that because he didn't want to lose his momentum downhill. I rode the gimp bike for about the last 5 miles. It really was a gorgeous ride with all the tunnels and trestles. Here are the photos that I did take. One is pre-peddle malfunction.

And here is the other time we stopped. Post-peddle malfunction. I suspect the smile is fake.

Lake Coeur D'Alene

The RV park where we are staying rents pontoon boats so when we got up this morning, we called and were lucky enough to be able to reserve one for this afternoon. (We woke up an hour earlier than planned because I forgot to reset my alarm clock to pacific time...oops.) At 2pm, we set out on the 18 footer. It was a great and relaxing day. The water was really clear and we could see the bottom until around, maybe, 20 feet? It seemed kind of chilly (we're from the south) but all the local kids were swimming and the other people on the lake were partaking in the normal boating activities so we decided to take a swim. Mike tried to set up the camara to take a photo of us jumping off the boat, but this is the photo we got instead. Keep in mind, this was taken right after we hit the water for the first time...it was very refreshing.

It was a really nice day! Here's another scenic shot.

Tomorrow we're going mountain biking on an old railroad route. It used to be a railroad line but now it is used for hiking/biking. The section we're going to ride is 15 miles of 2% grade downhill. At the end, we'll take a shuttle back up to our car. We will be going through multiple tunnels and over some tressels. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous. I can't wait!

Coeur D'Alene, ID

This morning we packed up and hit the road for Coeur D'Alene, ID. We slept in a little and it took us a little longer to pack up than we anticipated, so we were pushing it to leave the park by the check out time. They said they would charge for staying another night if you weren't out by 11am and I saw the owner driving around in his truck at 10:50. Anyway, it was another scenic drive today. I think we came within 15 miles of Canada. Not much more to report today. We're just taking it easy.

Biking in Glacier

It rained on us this morning. Thunder was our alarm clock. I thought the mountain biking would be a bust due to mud and slick surfaces so we decided not to go. It turned out to be a beautiful morning, though. I guess it was our loss. Rich and Laura said the trail was a lot of fun.

In the afternoon, we drove into Glacier and rode around on a bike path through the forest. It was really nice. Not long into the ride, we had to turn around and head back to the car. Another round of showers and thunderstorms were rolling in and we were starting to feel a few drops of rain. Once the rain started, we stopped off at a little bar right outside the entrance to the park and had a beer while sitting on the porch. It was refreshing. The rain and the beer.

Tomorrow we will leave this area and head west to Coeur d'Alene, ID. For the last few weeks we have been heading north, but now we are starting the bend that will take us to the west coast and eventually home to Texas. We have a new nephew waiting for us there, Lincoln Michael Staats. I can't wait to meet him!

Trip to Columbia Falls, MT

About 7 miles from the RV park is the town of Columbia Falls. We drove over there today to look for a part for our toilet and some parts for the RV so that Mike can change the oil. It's a gas engine and he was able to complete the task pretty quickly. We were not able to find the piece for the toilet so I guess that will have to wait until we're in a bigger city.

Tonight we tried our hand at fishing in the pond. Mike got a bite once and I got squat, nada, nothing. That is what usually happens when I try to fish. I'm fish jinked. Our friend Rich caught a trout, so we know there was at least one in the pond. We are thinking about going mountain biking at the ski resort in Whitefish, MT with Rich and Laura tomorrow. It's supposed to be an easier trail which is good because we are beginners. Maybe we should have purchased better health insurance :)

Glacier National Park

Today we made the trip over the Going to the Sun road. It's a famous road that traverses the lower half of Glacier N.P. During the winter some parts of the road receive 800-1000 inches of snow! In the spring, portions of the road has to be resurveyed before crews know where to start snowplowing. They usually start to dig it out in April and it opens fully sometime in mid-June. The scenery is spectacular! I have had such a hard time just picking a few photos to post.




We saw these mountain goats at Logan Pass. They were so close. Also notice the ground squirrel .

We drove the entire road over to St. Mary lake on the east side. At the lake, we had a picnic lunch and took a boat ride. At the other end of the lake, we disembarked and hiked to two waterfalls. The second part of the hike was lead by a park service intern. It was a 3 mile round trip hike and then we caught the boat back to the dock.

We stopped at a little restaurant/bar for burgers on the way home. It turned out to be a biker bar and we were definetly the only tourists in the place. I bought a lotto ticket when Mike stopped to get some gas so come Wednesday, we should be millionaires...I wish.

Mountain Meadow RV park

We have arrived in Hungry Horse, MT at the Mountain Meadow RV park. It's a nice little park with lots of trees and a trout pond for fishing. The trees make our spot feel a little more private. Here is a photo of us getting set up in our campsite.

Later, we drove into Glacier N.P. to pick up some information at the visitor center so we could plan our visit. It was beautiful and we haven't even really gone into the park yet.

Also staying at the RV park are Rich and Laura. They are a cool couple who have been fulltiming since 2005. I found their blog a few months before we hit the road and we have corresponded on and off since then. They just happen to be staying at the same park at the same time we were. What a coincidence!
Here is their address: http://bagittour.blogspot.com

Seeley Lake, MT

We have seen some pretty colorful signs on the way through Montana. One said, "World Famous Bullshippers". I guess they ship a lot of cattle? Another one said, Testicle Festival "Have a ball". That was a good one!

Our campground tonight was in the back of the Seeley Lake Motorlodge. The only spot available had 30 amp service and nothing else. No water. It wasn't a problem though because we planned ahead and put some water in the tank. Seeley lake was beautiful. It was in the 70's and windy and people were water skiing in the lake (think snow melt). Now I know I'm from the south because...BRRRRR! I was ready to put on a long sleeve shirt not a swimsuit. Anyway, here I am in front of the lake.

Here's Mike keeping us in tiptop shape! Checking the tire pressure

Museum of the Rockies

We pulled into the Sunrise Campground around 12:30 today. It was a quick 2 hour drive from West Yellowstone to Bozeman. Most of the drive was through the Gallatin Forest area. What a pretty drive. I saw so many fisherman, plus a few rafters, and folks on horseback. The museum and planetarium were interesting. They had a great exhibit on dinosaur bones. Bozeman looks like a cute little college town. We're going to try to check out some of the shops tomorrow before we leave for Seeley Lake, MT.

Half waxing the RV

Yesterday, after the IMAX, Mike and I waxed the front of the RV so that maybe the bugs wouldn't stick so bad. Today, we waxed all around the bottom half of the RV. My arms are tired and sore. I should really improve my upper body strength. What a wimp! Other campers have been coming up to us while we're working on the RV saying, "This is supposed to be a vacation. Why don't you do that when you're at home?" Well...this is home and it needed to be done. If this wax product works well, we may do the entire RV next time. I'm not looking forward to that. Afterward, we took a little bike ride around the town. It was fun.

Tonight we went to the Wild West Yellowstone rodeo. It was a small production but it was fun and entertaining. Those bull riders have got to be crazy! Tomorrow, we're heading to Bozeman, MT and the Museum of the Rockies.

Downtown West Yellowstone

Today was a quite day for the most part. We strolled the little shops on the main street in West Yellowstone. We also went to a showing of Lewis and Clark at the West Yellowstone IMAX. Here is a photo of Mike in front of one of the old touring buses that used to run in Yellowstone.

Mudpot Special

We made it out to the park by 7:45 this morning. Our ranger adventure hike was for the mudpot special. Basically, you can sign up for any of 6 hikes. It's $15 and they are limited to 15 people per group. We saw a lot of off-the-beaten-path thermal features and the ranger was nice and very interesting.



Around 11:30, after the hike, we went to see Old Faithful erupt. There were so many people there! I was really surprised at the size of the parking lot! Actually, this whole park is pretty busy. People everywhere. Anyway, the geyser was awesome.


This afternoon, we washed the RV and the jeep. By the end of it, the $260 we were quoted to have it washed and waxed was looking pretty cheap. I think the jeep will have to get a bra. Even though we have a rock guard on the RV, we still had a lot of little chips in the paint in the front.

1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake

We slept in today and took a break from driving all over Yellowstone. About 15 miles northwest of where we are staying, there was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in 1959. Part of a mountainside broke away and slide down into a canyon. It blocked up a river and created Earthquake Lake. It was a horrible natural disaster and 20 something people lost their lives. Most of them were camping in the canyon near the slide area. The park service has set up a visitor center on top of the slide rubble. It was very interesting to see the lake with all the dead trees still standing in the middle. The slide area is still very noticeable. The area and Hebgen Lake is really pretty. I'd like to camp there but the earthquake history is a little unnerving so I'll probably skip it.

Here I am in front of the slide area.


On the way back to West Yellowstone, we stopped a little bar called the Happy Hour which was situated overlooking the lake. It was a sunny, nice day so we sat on the patio. Beware, they have a rather loud airhorn on the side of the building facing the lake and they like to blow it when unsuspecting tourists are trying to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery...just to watch you jump. Then, to smooth things over, they give you a sticker that says you got "honked". Whoopee! I could have done without the airhorn.

Here is the photo I took right before I was airhorned.


Back in town, we strolled the main drag and looked in some shops. Only one shopkeeper was actually nice. I guess they get tired of being chatty with the 2 million tourists that come through in the summer. Anyway, it was a nice relaxing day. Tomorrow is our Ranger Adventure Hike at the mudpots. It's going to be another early morning.

Canyon and Tower area

We woke up at 6am this morning so we would have time to get ready and drive to the middle of Yellowstone for our 2 hour horseback ride. We actually got there a little early. In the middle of the field next to the horse corral was a large elk with a very large rack of horn. It was a beautiful morning.

I went in to check in for the horseback ride and found out that the ride was cancelled due to wet weather the days before. Apparently the trail was in bad condition. What a bummer! Anyway, we went to the grand canyon of the yellowstone and saw the upper and lower falls. These photos were taken from a trail called Uncle Tom's trail and are of the lower falls and canyon.




Here is bison walking down the street next to our car.



The rest of the day we drove around the northern section of the park. Sorry, no more photos. The battery died right after the photos of the falls.

Norris and Mammoth Hot Springs

We started the day with the plan to go to Mammoth Hot springs and hike a five mile loop and then do the short hikes around the hot springs themselves. Well...there was more to see on the way to Mammoth than we realized. He had to stop to look at wildlife, waterfalls, mudpots, geysers, and thermal springs. Around the Norris junction, we took a 1.2 mile hike around the Norris Geyer basin and saw Steamboat Geyser, the largest geyser in the world. When it erupts, somewhere between 4 days and 50 years, it shoots upwards of 300 ft in the air. It last went off in 2005. I'm kind of glad we didn't see it go off, we would have been too close for comfort.

Artists paintpots (mudpot)


A thermal spring


Part of Norris geyser basin


By the time we got to Mammoth, it was later in the afternoon and the afternoon rainclouds had started to form. We went to the visitor center and realized that the trail we were going to hike had bear warnings on it. A trail close by had a mountain lion warning. Yikes.

We took a self-guided tour of Fort Yellowstone. The army managed Yellowstone before the NPS was formed. It was interesting because a lot of the original building remain. Most of them are now residences.

Tomorrow morning I have scheduled a 2 hour horseride. We will be leaving from the Canyon area, a new part of the park for us. In order to get there on time, we have to leave the RV at 7am!

West Yellowstone, MT

Yeah! We made it to West Yellowstone. West Yellowstone is the name of the little town outside of the west entrance to Yellowstone national park. We're staying in a nice Rv park here and it is so close to the park entrance. That's about the only thing that's close, though. This park is huge! From the entrance, it's 14 miles to the nearest junction of roads, then it's at least 14 miles to the other junctions. Some areas of the park are 60 miles from our entrance and it's 45mph through the park.

After we set up the campsite, we made a quick trip into the Old Faithful visitor center to buy some tickets for a Ranger Adventure Hike on Tuesday to the Mudpots. On the way back out, we stopped to see some of the thermal features. They look so pretty but stink so bad. Imagine rotten egg smell. When the steam cloud hit's you, it can almost take your breath away. We saw a moose, a bison, and some elk today just driving on the roads. Tomorrow we start exploring.

Blackfoot, ID

We left Moab today and were planning to overnight in the Salt Lake City area. Most of the drive was rainy. We saw some Utah coal mines (I didn't know there were coal mines in Utah, notice the train tunnels) and had a bit of excitement when we encountered a recent rock slide. Some of the rock bits in the road were the size of cantaloupes with jagged edges. We couldn't avoid it so Mike just tried to steer around the larger pieces. Thankfully, no damage was done to the MH or the Jeep. There was a small car pulled off on the side of the road with a blowout.

We made it to our chosen WalMart around 5pm. Mike felt up to a little more driving so we stocked up on groceries and set out sites on a WalMart further up the road. It got dark while we were driving and we discovered that driving at night is the pits. We have crummy headlights and a 24,000 lb vehicle that doesn't stop very fast. Mix that with road signs warning about deer crossing the road. It made me nervous. Plus, you can't see the scenery.

Canyonlands and Arches- 2nd half

After Mike and I ate lunch, we were on our way back out of the park, when we stopped at an overlook. Notice down below, the off-road trail? The switch backs? Well, we decided to try it in our Jeep Liberty. The end of the trail came out at a road that lead almost right into the entrance of Arches N.P. It took us a few hours but I am so glad we did it. It was a lot of fun and we saw some very dramatic and beautiful landscape. In the 2nd photo, look for the jeep on the ledge.



By the time we made it to Arches, I was sunburned and it was pretty hot outside. We took a quick autotour, hit the highlights, and made our way back to the RV for the night.


Tomorrow we will be driving to just north of Salt Lake City on our way to Yellowstone N.P.

Arches and Canyonlands National Parks

We left the RV around 8:15 this morning, ready for the long day ahead. We went to Canyonlands N.P. first. It was partly cloudy and the high was supposed to be 89 degrees. We did so much this day that I'm going to separate it into 2 posts. Before 1pm and after 1pm. Canyonlands is a large park that has the Green River and the Colorado River running through it. In the park the two rivers join into one. Therefore, the park is separated into 3 sections. We stayed in the Island in the Sky section. Here is the Green River Overlook, elevation 6000 ft. You can barely see the Green River at the bottom of the canyon.

Here is a photo of the Upheaval Dome. No one knows how it was created, possibly a meteor strike. It is 1 mile across to the other side of the rim. See Mike in the lower right of the photo.

Here is the Grand View point. Can you see the little jeep trail that runs around the rim of the canyon down below. This is the White Rim trail. It runs around this section of the park and is 100 miles long.

Mike and I packed our lunch and this is the spot where we decided to take a break under some shade and eat. The arch is called Mesa Arch.

Moab, UT

Today we drove to Moab, UT. For those of you who have never heard of Moab, it is a popular destination for mountain bikers and off-road enthusiasts.

It is also in close proximity to two national parks, Arches and Canyonlands. Which we will try to see tomorrow...both of them...yeah, I didn't leave enough time to see everything. But we already have reservations in West Yellowstone for Friday and we didn't want to have to drive 10+ hours in one day.

Here is a photo of one of the first sandstone outcroppings we saw. What does it remind you of?

After we got settled into our campsight, we headed into town to see what was there. This photo is of the Colorado river, if you can believe it. (It's not that color in Texas) It had rained a little earlier in the day, so the river had a lot of silt from the red colored sandstone in the area.



We also did a little shopping in town and tried some of the locally brewed beers. After the first beer, we decided to try the specialty appetizer. On the menu it sounded like jalapeno poppers but it turned out to be similar to a calzone with fresh jalapeno pieces inside. It was so hot, my lips burned for 30 minutes! Anyway, this last photo is the evening view out the front window of our RV. Isn't it nice? I thought so.