National Parks: WA, OR, CA, NV, AZ, UT, WY, MT, ID

2000m2

Observer
Don't stop now; you have us drooling for more.

Haha, we just got back from a camping trip to eastern WA, Palouse Falls. Neat place!

Don't visit this section often, but am going to frequent it to see how this entry turns out. Please carry on.

Will do!

We have been through much of where you traveled and am enjoying your report. Did you have to make prior reservations at the campgrounds? I have not been to Yosemite for long time and long to go back but am leery of the crowds, how was it when you were there?
Mikey

We made reservations a couple months ahead of time everywhere we went. For most places, it was a very good thing to do. In Dixie National Forest, Utah we decided to wing it with dispersed camping and it worked out fine. The parks near there (Zion & Bryce) may have already been full by the time we were making reservations, but I don't remember.
Yosemite was very crowded, but we really only drove through the Valley. We were there in mid-May and at times were in bumper to bumper traffic barely moving. I was jealous of the folks who appeared to know that bringing a bicycle was the best way to get around.
 
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2000m2

Observer
Day 9: Death Valley exploring

After a windy night in the tent, in which it held up just great, we headed further up Wildrose Canyon to the Charcoal Kilns. These were nifty, sturdy structures. I am not totally certain of the history here.
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There were a number of washed out roads in and around the park due to some storms in the fall. This was a bit of a let down as a lot of these roads were the dirt roads and looked more interesting than the paved routes. We were a little low on gas, so we turned around at the Kilns even though we would have liked to continue on the dirt road up the mountain. The nearest gas station looked to be Stovepipe Wells, so we headed back that way via Emigrant Canyon Rd. & Route 190. There were wild burros on the side of the road, which was fun to see. I was surprised at how big some of them were. Turns out we were really low on gas, so I shut the car off and coasted downhill in neutral. My wife wasn't a fan of this idea.

After filling up at Stovepipe Wells, which was at Sea Level, we proceeded south on 190 to Badwater Road. It was definitely getting hotter too, in to the 90s, as we went lower in elevation. We drove through Artists Pallet/Artists Drive, which had an amazing array of colors, as the name would indicate.
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We turned back to the main road and then chose the dirt road known as West Side Road to drive through the Valley. It was a solid 40 miles of washboard. We were cruising along pretty nicely when we noticed some sand blown over the road. We didn't slow down fast enough and hit the first pile pretty hard... and just kept going. 4WD center diff locked and momentum to make sure we didn't get stuck. We got through just fine, but there was a lot of sand through there and I was very happy to have a good set of all-terrain tires. Once we got back to the paved Badwater Road, we continued south, but found that all routes were closed due to washed out roads. We turned around and headed north on Badwater Road, which was good since we passed right through Badwater Basin. Again, really cool area... and really hot, though I understand it is usually a lot hotter at the end of May, so we were lucky.
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We proceeded east along Route 190 out of the park and ran across some wild horses grazing on the side of the road.
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We drove through Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge and didn't see much of anything there. More washboard roads and desert.

Route (roughly) up to this point
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Then off to north Vegas where we got a shower, a good nights sleep at a Best Western and a great Burrito for dinner.
 
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2000m2

Observer
Day 10: Valley of Fire, Zion, Dixie

Well, it's been way too long since I started posting this. Life has been an adventure since my last post with several trips and a big move. We moved from Seattle to the Bay Area and our journal of the trip was in storage for several months along with 99% of our belongings!

Picking up where we left off... :sombrero:

Day 10: I-15 east, Route 9, 89, 14 to FH050
The start to Memorial Day weekend took us from Vegas to Valley of Fire State Park as our first stop. Low gas prices were supposed to make it a busy weekend. It was gorgeous and hot in the Nevada desert. I suppose the name should have been a giveaway in terms of the heat.
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We went on a short hike through some very colorful rock, White Domes. Dogs were actually allowed!
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We continued east to St. George, UT to pick up supplies and gas up on our way to/through Zion.
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We drove through the park (slowly) to get to Dixie National Forest to our undesignated campsite. We didn't make any reservations here and went with the "dispersed camping" option in the Lava Flat Designated Dispersed Camping Area. It worked out great.
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There were about half a dozen RVs in the nearby area and lots of folks on dirt bikes and other OHVs. We camped on the edge of a meadow. It is a beautiful area between Zion and Bryce. I'm sure a lot of folks miss it on their way to each park, making it not at all crowded. We had a nice dinner and went for a walk with the dogs off-leash. They saw some deer and I've never seen animals move so fast! Both dogs finally came back and we learned after that: no more off-leash walks.

Next up: Bryce.
 
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2000m2

Observer
Day 11: Bryce

FH050 north to Route 143 east, 89 south, 12 east and 63 south

It was a chilly night with the altitude, but we were well prepared with our down jackets, sleeping bags and comforter. We drove through more of Dixie National Forest and then through Red Rock Canyon on our way to Bryce.

Bryce was packed, even at the entrance and in the little town right outside the park. We stopped at most of the scenic points along the main drag, Route 63 all the way to the end at Rainbow Point. It was a bit cold & windy and we actually saw some snow flurries.
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On our way out to get lunch, we noticed that they appeared to have closed the park to cars and were sending everyone in on shuttles. With dogs, this probably would have been a problem for us, so it was a good thing we arrived somewhat early.

We made our way back to Red Rock Canyon to do a little hiking with the dogs. Again, dogs were allowed here!
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2000m2

Observer
Day 11 continued

Made our way back to Dixie and took a random dirt road to the top of Henrie Knolls. It was pretty steep and rocky, so 4WD was definitely needed here. Wife loved the trees and we saw some more deer. Great views at the top.
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We decided to go back to the Lava Flats area to camp there, which worked out great again.
Alertly keeping watch
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Slacking off
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2000m2

Observer
Day 12: Zion

Packed up this morning and headed west on Route 14 out of Dixie National Forest to catch I-15 S and enter Zion on Kolob Canyon Rd. The road was an interesting red asphalt. It must be locally sourced material from all of the red rock. Very pretty drive.
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We got back on I-15 S to Route 9 and picked up Kolob Terrace Rd north in to Zion from the west. It weaves in and out of the park with incredible views all around. We took some pictures and walked around a bit near Lava Point Overlook. We drove all the way to Kolob Reservoir and it seemed like a party was going on here with RV's and ATV's setup for the weekend. We drove around the reservoir dirt road and found that it didn't go all the way through, so we had to backtrack a bit.
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Back down to civilization and some lunch in St. George. :drool:
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We stayed in a VRBO this night, so we enjoyed a nice hot shower and A/C since it was in the 90s around St. George.
 

2k64runnin

New member
Great trip. I am planning one for next year with pretty much the same vehicle and maybe a trailer. What did you guys do with you dogs when you went on some of those national park stops? I have 2 dogs too that I would like to take with me.
 

2000m2

Observer
Great trip. I am planning one for next year with pretty much the same vehicle and maybe a trailer. What did you guys do with you dogs when you went on some of those national park stops? I have 2 dogs too that I would like to take with me.

Thanks!

That was one of the more frustrating parts of the trip. I didn't realize just how limited we would be with the dogs, but it was great to have them with us. They can't go on any trails. The only place you can have them in the parks is pretty much the parking lots, so we'd walk them around there and then take turns (wife and I) walking off to see the "sights." Other times, we would leave them in the car for a short period of time when it wasn't too hot to do so. I suggest exploring the neighboring National Forests as well as the parks. The Forests are far more dog friendly.
 
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2000m2

Observer
Day 13: Horseshoe Bend, AZ & Valley of the Gods, UT

It's Memorial Day and we are halfway through our trip. Going by quickly!

We packed up from our VRBO casita in St. George hoping to get an early start for the long drive ahead. This was easier to do when we didn't have to pack up the tent and other supplies. It was a very scenic drive through southern Utah and northern Arizona. We headed east along route 89 to Page, Arizona to the Horseshoe Bend. It was relatively crowded and very hot. Lake Powell seems to be the draw to the area, especially on Memorial Day. It was a pretty impressive drop off to the river. After a few pics, we headed in to town for some BBQ.
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We continued east on route 98 to 160 to 163 through Monument Valley to get to Mexican Hat, UT. Again, a really gorgeous drive with amazing scenery.
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Just past Mexican Hat, we took route 261 to get to the west side of Valley of the Gods Road. We drove a little past Valley of the Gods Rd to drive up to Moki Dugway and Muley Point Overlook for some great views of the valley. It was very much worth driving up the narrow, winding dirt road.
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We made our way back down to Valley of the Gods Road and found a spot to setup for the night. We had 3G phone service, so we texted a picture of the "camp site" to my mother-in-law and she replied with "Loneliest campground in the world." It was awesome. We were lucky to be there when there was still some greenery.
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2000m2

Observer
Day 14: UTBDR to Moab

It was a windy night and a bit loud in the tent. We used some rocks to hold down the annex. The route today takes us on more sections of the UTBDR to Moab.
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Finding this section that starts on "Lower Butler Wash Road" was a little tricky, we passed it once. Gorgeous drive on relatively mild dirt/sand roads past some old mines and winding roads.
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We stopped for lunch in Monticello and continued on the UTBDR in to Manti LaSal National Forest. Incredible views and scenery.
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2000m2

Observer
Day 14 continued

Continuing along the UTBDR and wifey gets to take on the water crossing.
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Let the dogs play a bit.
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Loving the trees.
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...and SNOW! :Wow1:
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Maybe we can make some forward progress? Stuck.
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Luckily these friendly gentlemen from Deseret, UT came along in their UTV and were able to tug us back out. We had been digging for a little while, maybe 2 hours. :archaeolo
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So, back down the mountain to take the long, scenic way around to our KOA campground in Moab.
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This was our first time at a KOA. They are quite an operation and there must be over a hundred camp sites here - RVs, tents, and cabins. We got a nice hot shower, good dinner and the tastiest cold Sprite ever from the vending machine.
 

2000m2

Observer
Day 15: Canyonlands and Arches National Parks

It was a warm, comfortable evening in Moab and we were able to open up the tent windows. It was nice being able to see out of the tent. We packed up in the morning and went to the northern entrance to Canyonlands via route 313. There were some nice open meadows on the drive in with numerous dirt roads criss-crossing the main route. Once in the park, we stopped at some scenic lookout spots.
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We then took Shafer Canyon Road down in to the canyon, which was steep and windy. It offered some more great views.
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Cruising around White Rim Road would have been nice, but we didn't have enough fuel to make it all the way around (100 miles!), so we opted for Potash Road. This took us by the Colorado River.
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This route took us past some ponds that were incredibly bright blue. The maps labeled them at Potash Ponds. I'm not sure what they are for, but they were an interesting sight against the red rock background.

We stopped for lunch at a campground with some shade next to the Colorado river and continued on to Arches. It was pretty hot and we didn't want to leave the dogs in the truck, so this meant mostly taking pictures from the parking lots or roadside. Incredible structures all around.
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Back to our KOA camp site for the night.
 

2000m2

Observer
Day 16: Moab and UTBDR

It was another warm, but comfortable evening at our KOA site. We ate breakfast, packed up and then headed over to Kens Lake for a walk/hike. There was no shade, so it was a bit hotter than expected.
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We decided to explore the area some more and headed up highway 191 towards Canyonlands and took Gemini Bridges Rd. It was a rocky path with some Jeeps, UTVs and mountain bikes all along the road. The bridges were impressive and very much worth the rocky, bumpy ride up.
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We made our way back in to Moab for a nice Mexican food lunch, fuel and groceries before heading back out on the Utah Back Country Discovery Route (UTBDR). We took Route 128 out of Moab along the Colorado River. Another gorgeous drive. We then caught Owl Draw Upland which put us back on to dirt. This was a really neat route that I wish we had pictures of. We were the only ones out there and there were some sections where 4x4 and high clearance were very much required. It was great. We eventually hit BLM 163 which took us all the way to I-70. We went west a bit to Thompson where we stayed in a mobile home at an RV park. We were able to get 3 loads of laundry done, cook our next 3 dinners and relax in some A/C.
 

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