Goodbye Utah

We ended our time in Utah with a swing down the South East taking in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks then down to a great free boondocking campsite in Goosenecks State Park. We then bid farewell Utah with a drive through Monument Valley.

Monument Valley was memorable not only because of the neat landscape but because we were witness to a bunch of old cars zooming by! They were all from Europe and involved in a New York To Alaska Ralley. Anne and I just parked on the side of the famous road and watched all the vintage autos cruise by and wave, it was a fun afternoon.

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Since Utah we have been driving everyday to escape the heat!! Ever since we came down from the higher elevation of Utah it has been baking hot. So hot we have had to get up at 4:30 am and drive until its too hot for the truck to lug our trailer up the hills at the same time as blasting the AC which is usually by 10:00 am. One stop at in Needles California just south of Las Vegas it hit over a 100 degrees and the trailer AC couldn't keep up so we had to head out for milkshakes to cool down.:) After four long hauls we have made it to the California coast near Monteray and Santa Cruz beach and the weather is nice and cool again, yay!

Check out the travel map and see the last big jumps 

Scenic Highway 12

After Bryce Canyon which is located at the start of Highway 12 in Utah we moseyed are way down to a little State Park , Kodachrome Basin State Park to check out the cool rock formations and colors there. The campground has a awesome view and it's a very pretty location. There were many hiking trails and even allowed pets so Angie got in some good hikes.

 Next stop was another beautiful national park called Capitol Reef. Wow more terrific Utah scenery was served up! During sunset the cliffs light up.

 Finally at the other end of highway 12 and a little way up highway 24 is a really cool state park called Goblin Valley. It's named that for all the interestingly shaped rock pillars and blobs the valley has. Anne and I had a good time walking amougst the goblins.:)

 This One Looks Like Oscar

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Enjoying South West Utah

We have left Arizona behind and made our way North to Utah. First stop was Coral Pink Sands State Park for a few nights. It's a bizarre landscape of orangey pink dunes surrounded by red rock cliffs. Angie got to roam free and run and run as much as she wanted. She had a blast!

 Next we booked a week in a great RV Park right near the entrance to Zion National Park. The park shuttle bus stopped right outside the campground so it was super convenient to explore the park, and man what a park. Everywhere you look is one spectacular view after another. The canyon contains a beautiful river valley with towering sandstone walls on each side and many hanging canyons. Hiking and canyoneering are the main activities here. Not having the equipment or the bodies for canyoneering we did a ton of hiking. Most of the hikes were easy along the valley floor and the Virgin River but several were a little more intense up into the mountain canyons with some decent elevation changes.

After our week at Zion we decided to head up to Bryce Canyon National Park next and then we can drive down famous Scenic Highway 12 towards the other National Parks in the South East of Utah. Bryce sits up at over 7700 feet and some of the park is as high as 9100 feet so it gave our old Big Baby Blue truck a workout dragging the trailer up, but we made it! The Bryce Canyon is made up of very cool looking hoodoos that at sunset and sunrise glow red.,orange, pink. There are also trails down into the hoodoos but no elevator up, ack, it's a chore coming back up especially because of the high elevation. Luckily there is a road that follows the canyon rim with many pull outs to take in the amazing views.

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You can tell from the photos Utah is gorgeous country. We are looking forward to more as we head east to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks as well as many State and National Monuments. Utah is just loaded with stuff.