After looking at the map, we realized that Canyonlands was too far from here. We'll visit that park from Moab, our next stop. So, we worked till 1 or so, then walked across the street to the
John Wesley Powell museum. Now there was a driven man! I took a raft trip down the Grand Canyon once. That was in a large inflatable boat with a motor and a guide who knew every rock in every rapid, and it was still scary at points. John Wesley Powell did it in wooden boats with oars in 1869 when the Green River and the Colorado river were big blank areas on the map. AND ... he had lost an arm in the Civil War - what a
story.
Anyway, we enjoyed the museum and then asked the woman at the front desk what she might suggest as a local drive since we weren't going to go to the National Park. She had a couple suggestions, but then concluded by saying, in a rather unenthusiastic tone, that the easiest drive for a couple hours would be north along the Green River. I so often find the most magical of experiences are the totally unplanned, unexpected ones.
We drove up the nice paved road about 5 miles and came to a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campground right on the river. We stopped and let Odie run on the beach. It's so much fun to set the camera to 'action' and hold down the shutter release,letting it snap away.
What a nice place to camp! No hookups, of course, but it's free for up to 10 days to stay on BLM land like this. Maybe next year we'll have solar power and can take advantage of sites like this. But, we also need phone - cell phone service *rarely* reaches places like this. We're hoping that Voice over IP will someday be good enough over our satellite Internet connection.
We continued up the river where the dirt road got pretty bad - but our Honda had no trouble.
Then we stopped at another parking area and started walking toward the river. We noticed a couple of boats that were beached there. We debated about walking back to the car - not wanting to upset the boaters' solitude, but Odie had run ahead - it was too late. The guys waved and said 'hullo', so we continued on.
Meet Billy and Ernie.
They'd been on the river for a week. They were stopped here for their last night before the takeout point just a couple miles down the river. Two more hospitable guys you can never hope to meet. They pulled out chairs, gave Jim a beer, and me a Crown Royal! I think they would have rolled out a red carpet if they had one. And we chatted for the better part of 2 hours.
They were on a 'boatman's holiday' since they are both river guides in Maine. They mentioned the Penobscot river. We'll have to try to look them up when we make it to Maine - hopefully this fall. They said this trip had been wonderful. I especially liked how they referred to this *muddy* water as a 'golden river'! They've done many river trips out west - when I asked what was their favorite, they both instantly replied - the Grand Canyon.
We finally let them have their peace and solitude back and drove back to that beach to sit and read aloud from Edward Abbey's 'Desert Solitude'.
One thing we're missing by traveling this northern route that we did, is Monument Valley. But, looking at this view, I decided we didn't miss anything!
What a magical day.
Then we headed off to 
If that looks cold, you're right. We've been waking up to 40 degrees outside. It gets up into maybe the 60s during the day.
Here's the west entrance to the park.
And, here we are at the Visitor's Center.
And here we are on the scenic drive.
Flash floods can be big problems in these canyons. You can just imagine a wall of water coming down this wash.
One thing that Jim can imagine is the time when all this was under an ocean. Just look at all those great holes and shelves where lobsters would have been hiding! Oh yea that would have been cool to scuba dive here!
Capitol Reef is known for these angled rock formations. To really see them takes an aerial view.
They are so spectacular, but one problem with National Parks is that dogs aren't allowed on the trails. So we trade off - one day we take Odie with us and just stop at overlooks. Another day we leave him home and go on a hike. What a shame. I really think he enjoys the scenery as much as we do! I give up my passenger seat for him sometimes.
The drive leaving Capitol Reef was almost as spectacular. Those 'wide open spaces' of the west just seem to get wider and opener. We can see several entire weather systems from some vantage points.
So, we're off to see Canyonlands today. We're staying in Green River, Utah.
We would have stayed in Capitol Reef, but we need electricity for our computer work. We could maybe get by with just the 4 hours that they allow you to run your generator .. but, we REALLY need cell phone service for Jim to do his job - and that didn't exist.
We found a funky/practical RV park right about where we wanted to stop.
Hey! Not every site can be in the awesome beauty of someplace like Zion! In fact, we need places like this where we are not compelled to go out and explore. That way we can get some work done! Come 1pm today and we were still both deep in work - so we're even staying another night. Besides, the 'convenience store' is, well, convenient!
Some brilliant flowers along the way. I believe this is scarlet gilia.
and unique pathways
This may look inviting as a slide
until you know what you're sliding to
We always stop to 'smell the roses'
And, here's the waterfall at the top which starts it all
To ease the impact of millions of tourists - you aren't allowed to drive in the canyon. There are shuttles every few minutes, very convenient.
Massive Rocks!
Irresistable to mountain climers.
I took these photos thru the open skylights on the shuttle. Look closely for the little dots that are people climbing this rockface.
We prefer the much tamer "Riverside Walk". We took the shuttle to the north end of the canyon.
I was here once before, about 12 - 15 years ago. Remember that, Chris L? When we reached the end of the canyon then, you could walk in the river up into the narrows. Not now. There is lots of water and it is running powerfully. And ... it's FREEZING cold. I waded out just a couple feet to take this photo and I swear my feet were numb for 10 minutes.
It's a very nice walk.
There are lots of walks along the side of the canyon along the shuttle route and we really wanted to do more. But, we also really wanted to relax at home and read our books. That is something that I see so many RVers do - and we just don't do enough of it. Since we were celebrating our 1 year anniversary on the road, living our dream - we decided to do exactly what we felt like doing!
