Category: Finding Dory2

This was our flexibility stop. Full stop. Just stop. Stop and take time for self care. Stop and spend down time with the Kindest People on Earth. Stop for communal dinners and quality chatting. And stop trying to rationalize the whole foot thing, hoping it will go away. It was a good stop and a healing stop. But mostly, it was my favorite stop, with the fewest scenery pictures taken, but the most time spent kicking back with good people.

Our drive in took a bit longer than expected because I opted to cross Albuquerque using 66, right through the middle of town, rather than navigate the highway interchanges. I do not regret that, and we got to see some kind of major police activity downtown for a little excitement. About all we know about that city comes from “Breaking Bad,” so we assume it was a drug bust. That’s how little we know about the area.

The campground is about seven miles outside of Santa Fe, all up and into the mountains. It’s a pretty drive, but you lose cell service immediately. We originally had reservations for three nights, split between sites 7 and 8. Then 8 opened up, so our first night was on a different reservation number, but for the same site. This ended up being confusing to the campground hosts, but they had other ideas in mind for us anyway. Apparently, they get a lot of complaints from people in sites 7 & 8 because those are right across from them and they need to run their generator a lot. So they talked us into taking site 23, which was much larger and nicer. The only caveat was that it wasn’t guaranteed for three nights. We decided to take our chances and set up there. Then we came back down the hill to have dinner with Altoistes friends, Rhea, David, and Marcy, at the Tune Up Cafe. That was an outstanding welcome and fun introduction to the area. We left sated, with a robust sight seeing tour, and midday internet access for Richard, all meticulously planned for the next day.

Then Wednesday night happened and my foot became much more of a concern. What was dull pain and a sort-of-kind-of sense that things were getting better, took a sharp turn into the land of “no really, this is bad,” and a mostly sleepless night. We decided now was the time to find an urgent care and get it looked at. Meanwhile Richard’s bike tire turned out to have been completely shredded somehow, so that ended the bike ride to Marcy’s house for service. Our downtown historic tour of Santa Fe went out the window, in favor of waiting rooms and CVS. Rhea was awesome and drove up to help with logistics while Richard was on his work call and I was waiting to be seen. For the record, Rhea said way early on that it was probably the spider and should be looked at. And she was entirely right. Always listen to Rhea.

The official most likely diagnosis to the foot mystery is Spider Bro. Goddamn Spider Bro. The urgent care doctor was quite confident that the damage was not caused by abrasion or blisters from hiking, and though she’s never seen anything exactly like this, she was pretty sure it was due to an insect encounter gone bad. It is certainly systemic and spreading. She called in a dermatologist too, which made me feel better. They were both genuinely interested in seeing my day-by-day photo album, documenting the progression, so that now feels like less of a crazy thing for me to have done. In fact, when someone asks me to publish this in a well respected medical journal, I will be well prepared. The dermatologist concurred and they prescribed a course of antibiotics, elevating it as much as possible, and a follow up visit to my primary care when I get home. What a random thing to have happen on a trip and who would have ever dreamed a spider could cause so much trouble! I catastrophize a lot of things in my head, but I’ll admit this one was not on my list of things to pre-worry about.

I spent the afternoon at Rhea and David’s. They are in the middle of a major home expansion project, so it was extra nice of them to have us over. They provided lunch on their covered patio, ice packs, and tequila on the rocks. Like really, really good tequila, the kind in a bottle that would look at home in a castle a couple hundred years ago. Richard, Rhea, & David managed some impressive logistics with cars so that Richard could ride across the old Santa Fe Trail, end up at their house with his bike, and get a ride back to our car with us inside, all before dinner.

We topped off the day with an excellent dinner at Marcy’s. She has the most beautiful home, right in the middle of old Santa Fe. She is very well set up for entertaining and provided an absolutely delicious meal. It was a wonderful evening and all that was missing was Marcy’s husband, Steve the Butterfly Guy.

With our first set of Santa Fe touring abandoned, we intended to follow up the next day with an all day trip through the Jemez Mountains, with Rhea and David as our own personal geologist guides. But then Friday morning happened and we found out our campground hosts were confused and befuddled and insisted we did not have any kind of reservations at all for that night. Given there is very little you can do with no service, combined with a call Richard had to be on at 10am, we ended up spending that whole morning getting cell service, sorting things out, and moving to another site. We didn’t get it all taken care of until after 1. Rhea was endlessly patient with us and trimmed our full day tour down to about four hours, starting with the already packed picnic lunch at her place. It was a drive-by Jemez tour, but it was still very beautiful and had the benefit of me keeping my foot up instead of driving. I did get a couple of pictures of the Valles Caldera and the Bandelier National Monument, but the true beauty was in the metamorphosis of the landscape as we drove. The caldera is huge and climbs several thousand feet. So when it was 104º down below, it was 50s and raining up above. It really was a nice tour, though the slow version sounds like it would have been nice too.

We got to enjoy another dinner out at Arable, where Marcy met us. Then we did some rethinking about the weekend. Originally, we were going to be back at Durango, then switched to Mesa Verde to meet up with other friends. Then the reality of all that driving settled in and we decided it was best to just stay put and continue with our Monday reservations at the not too distant Heron Lake rather than do the whole up and back.

This freed up a lot of downtime on Saturday and Sunday, and much of it for me was spent sitting in my Nemo chair, foot up, zoning out or looking at caterpillars (I need Steve the Butterfly Guy to identify an interesting one!). We also chatted with our neighbors, Dave and Cindy. They are from Borrego Springs (near Anza Borrego) and own two restaurants there. They are super nice and have been hit hard by COVID related closures. If you are anywhere in the area, please check out The Red Ocotillo and the Coyote Steakhouse.

We did need to dump tanks over the weekend, since we weren’t being mindful of waste water at all, thinking we would only be there three nights. We came to find there is no water whatsoever in the Black Canyon Campground. Nor in nearby Hyde State Park. Luckily we had one more dinner planned at Rhea and David’s and they were kind enough to let us fill jerry cans from their hose. Marcy got to bring her sister along too and a wonderful time was had by all. Seriously, what great people.

Saturday night, we weathered an overnight lightning storm that lit up the whole sky and shook the trailer with the thunder booms. Sunday, we did some grocery shopping in town, got caught in a major hail storm, and said a fond farewell to Rhea and David. We really cannot thank our Santa Fe friends enough for all their hospitality. They are the best hosts ever. They let us use their laundry facilities, showered us with care, and helped us tremendously when we really needed it. This was a far cry from the “Plan A” sight seeing trip I had imagined. I have very few pictures of lovely Santa Fe but a whole album chock full of spider-based foot grossness. I am confident that if we had not done a full stop here, things would be worse now. This was a good call and we are so incredibly lucky to know such kind and wonderful people.

Total miles: 172.6, 16.4 mpg. Site 23 and 28. Very nice sites actually, with paved level areas for picnic table(s). Sites 7 & 8 are actually quite small, so this was an upgrade. Beautiful wooded campground with sites nicely spaced. NO water at the moment, NO cell. Verizon can get LTE if you go to the ranger station at Hyde State Park, but that’s it. Dump is a narrow bumpy approach with gates you need to open and then close, but otherwise good. This is a good place to stay for a Santa Fe visit as long as you don’t mind the 7 mile drive. There are really no other places that are convenient to downtown.

This was a one night stand along the way that seemed like a good idea on paper. The driving was going to be mostly slogging Highway 40, though I will note that almost as soon as we crossed the border into New Mexico, the landscape became more interesting. Expanses of yellow slowly gave way to rusty mesas rising up out of the ground. There was a storm on the horizon almost the entire day, just to our north, so we didn’t want to dawdle and get caught in it. With one stop at a Walmart in Gallup, NM, we cut it close, but scooted just under it.

Richard got a lot of work done during the drive and we had pretty good service the whole way. We took a couple of little jaunts onto Highway 66 when it skirted 40 and it is always nice to get a break from trucking traffic. We made pretty good time though and got to the lake in the latter part of the afternoon. Here’s where it is really difficult to determine trailer worthiness of sites when you reserve them online.

I had read the site descriptions quite closely and it seemed like the site I chose in the Pinon Cliffs loop would offer a nice view  of the lake, with plenty of room for Dory. When we got there, we slowly drove past the other loops as the road got narrower and less paved. By the time we got to our loop, it more resembled a wide hiking trail than a campground road. The turnoff to the sites was steep and sharply angled and I became concerned about whether I’d be able to get out once I headed down. Richard got out of the car and walked the whole loop to check it out before I committed to the turn. I really don’t think that loop is meant for trailers, although we did see one set up right across from our reserved site.

I tried backing in a couple of times into our site, and although we technically fit, we were at such a slant that it felt I might roll. At one point, Richard attempted to build a tower out of leveling blocks. With layers five high, Dory was still tipped so far to the downhill side, there would have been no way to even unhitch. I pulled the plug at that point and was mentally preparing for driving all the way back to the Walmart parking lot if need be. Instead, we drove back through the campground, looking for an office or camp host at least. We found neither. We tried calling the number for the park and never did end up getting anything more than a recorded message.

Luckily, down in the North Campground loop, we stumbled upon some First Come First Serve sites that were normal sites. I pulled into the first one, site 70, and was oh so done for the day. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the rejected site (37 in the Pinon Cliffs loop). Neither one of us was in the mood for documenting in that moment.

Had we gone to the North Campground first, the arrival would have been far more pleasant, with glimpses of the lake in the background and a couple of horses meandering their way around the park. But at that point, I was getting frustrated with the progress, or lack thereof, of my foot situation, and the aborted site situation did not help. I was tired, Richard was tired, and it took until after dinner to unwind.

I don’t know if this place would be a fun destination in better circumstances. It might. Certainly there were lots of other people out enjoying the lake, even thought the water levels appeared to be very low. There was some guy down at the shore, with an impressive and long projecting voice, shouting “STEVE!” so much that it made us laugh. I hope Steve found him. It seemed important.

Onward to Santa Fe. I can fill you in on the visit to Urgent Care.

Total miles: 178.0, 16.5 mpg. Site 70 First Come First Serve in the North loop. Was 37 in the Pinon Cliffs loop. Abort. Very unlevel. Good dump and potable water. Enough service for Verizon to make calls and check ReserveAmerica. Spotty ATT.

I’m coming back to catch up on posts, as things have been rather busy and my right foot has been quite a distraction. It did require a visit to urgent care and I’m on antibiotics now, but I’ll tell that story later. As for Homolovi State Park, this was a dual purpose stop. I wanted to make tracks towards New Mexico, but also stop at Petrified Forest National Park, and this is only about an hour’s drive.

We took highway 260 out of Cottonwood and up into the mountains. I wasn’t sure about that route because our campground finding tool, Allstays, noted that this was a “dangerous” stretch of road. Here’s what I love about Facebook though. Say what you will about social media, and you’re right about it all, but if you post a question about routes, you will get informed answers within an hour. I also happen to have a super solid social media community with friends all over the place. Personally, I really loved the 260/87 route because it kept me off busy trucking highways and made for a much more pleasant traveling experience. If you’re going east to west, that will be a long descent, but with engine braking, it still should be fine.

Once we came out of the high places, the temperature rose as the tree cover fell. We entered Winslow on a long, straight, flat runway with nothing but golden prairie grass and sandy soil for as far as the eye could see. The state park is about six or seven miles outside of town and boasts several important historic dwelling sites. The feel is very open range in the desert. While we were there, we experienced some good summer storms, complete with lightning and thunder, that came and went in about an hour as they made their way across the open plains. There are even some free range donkeys and horses hanging out in the park (I have no idea what you should call those). They seem used to people coming through, but did stare at Richard judgmentally as he passed them on his bike.

Because of my foot* (*that will be a theme for a while here), I wasn’t up for cooking, so Richard cooked a Bertoli pan dinner the first night, and went into Winslow and grabbed some excellent take out for the second. Of course we had to go into town and snap some obligatory pics with the “Standin’ on the Corner” statues. And yeah, we had to buy the song from iTunes so we could really get the full Eagles experience.

Monday we dedicated to Petrified Forest National Park. We thought there was a lot of petrified wood lying around in Escalante. Hahaha. That was nothing compared to this. It is a twenty five mile drive to go from one side of the park to the other and, in addition to it being lousy with petrified wood, there were all kinds of really colorful dunes and mounds all along the way. We first stopped at the famed gift stores at the south entrance to the park. You can actually camp there, but it’s not as though this would be a scenery based decision. It is exactly what it sounds like: a parking lot next to some gift shops. It seemed like some of the sites had hookups, but it’s not like there is anything else around there. In retrospect, I was happy with the state park plan, even though it required a drive out and back to the park.

Richard rode the national park road while I drove it, stopping at any of the overlooks and points of interest that did not require a lot of walking. On that day, I was feeling better, but certainly not to the point of “normal.” We both loved this national park and I especially liked the Painted Desert views up at the north end. And the plethora of jewel encrusted petrified wood scattered all over the park is just amazing. It’s like Badlands with bling.

Due to the rains, it was nowhere near as hot as I feared it might be. In the national park, it hit mid 90s, but Richard seems to have no problem with that. I was in the air conditioned car, so not really a concern for me. At night it cooled off a lot. Great stop along the road and another national park checked off!

Total miles: 119.7, 17.1 mpg. Site 26. Electric and water. Great solar with one extremely well placed shade tree. Good LTE for both. Close enough to see Highway 40, but not close enough to hear it. Richard saw fireworks coming from town on the 4th, but I was staying put with my foot up inside. Good dump and potable water.

Ok, before I talk about our stay in the Sedona area, I’m going to talk about my right foot. Don’t worry, there will be no pictures or colorful descriptions. Instead, I’ll insert pictures of lovely pink, deep red, and purple rocks; lovely colors for landscape, less so for feet. Just know that I have Googled everything, my eyes cannot unsee what they have seen, and the term “zombie feet” makes sense to me now. You know how I was so brave and strong and had new trekking poles and new shoes and did that Grand Canyon hike like a person who hikes? Well I want to make it very clear, I felt no ill effects during or immediately after that hike. The only thing I felt was maybe a little rubbing under the pinky toe of my right foot that I figured was a pebble. The next day I did not notice anything either, except yeah, maybe I got a teeny tiny blister near my pinky toe. Not a big deal. It wasn’t until after we left Page, AZ that things started getting alarming. I for sure developed two enormous blisters on the bottom and outside of that foot, but then this dark area started growing on the top of my foot, above the outside, and that did not make any sense.

Now I’m going to tell you about “Spider Bro.” Spider Bro appeared at night when we were both doing pre-sleepy time iPhone things. Lights were out except the glow from our phones and Richard suddenly started moving around frantically, making the oddest sounds I think I’ve ever heard him make. It turns out a large spider ran across his iPhone screen in the dark. You can imagine. All the lights went on and all the bedding got thrown back and urgently examined. No sign of Spider Bro. That’s the worst, isn’t it? We had no choice but to ultimately try to go to sleep knowing we’d be sleeping with Spider Bro.

Cut to three days after the Grand Canyon hike and my right foot is now causing me to wonder what life would be like with a prosthetic. I tried getting in to see a podiatrist in the Sedona area, but having only three days to do this, and with a holiday weekend coming up, I knew that was far fetched. I was therefore left to my own devices, which primarily means Googling symptoms and trying to determine when it might be time to head for an urgent care (I was always well aware of how far the nearest one was and had directions pre-Googled). We went to a couple of pharmacies and basically said, “Give my every kind of bandage you have.” Richard is now a rockstar at field dressings. I also have a new pair of Tevas and a bunch of liner socks.

At this point, you should be really worried. Believe me, I was. But mostly because the upper foot injury made no sense. It has now been just over a week from the onset of the really alarming colors and I can allay your fears by saying it’s getting better. Like I may survive this, y’all. I still don’t know if it was the combination of the Grand Canyon hike for someone who does not normally do that, plus new shoes, leading to an abrasion bruise that took a while to color. Or it was Spider Bro’s poisonous little fangs, causing deep tissue damage that my body has finally managed to fight off (I Googled those pictures too). I would actually prefer it to be Spider Bro because I was really proud of how well I did with that hike and I do not want to believe that this was the cost. I have been off this foot basically for seven days, except for driving. I have elevated it, bandaged and Neosporined it, and kept out of closed shoes entirely. My right foot is normally super wide, so it is always a challenge finding shoes that fit. Plus I wear orthotics for arch support. I was very happy with my new shoes. So this is all a big bummer, but as I said, I think I might live to shoe shop another day.

I led with this story so that when I tell you about how the Coconino Forest closed completely just before our arrival, due to wildfire concerns, you will believe me when I say this came as a welcome relief. Sure, we missed out on hiking some of the most beautiful trails in the country, whose renowned spiritual energy and multiple vortices attract travelers from all over the world. But for me it meant I got to keep off my feet without regret or second guessing. Richard got to ride every day and I got to sag him, listening to music in the air conditioned car the whole time. I got excellent advice from friends (thanks Lynne!) on which roads to see and they did not disappoint. We did so many of the scenic drives this way that there were basically no “Pink Jeep” tours left that would take me anywhere I hadn’t been. One day we need to come back when the forest is open and do one of those as an off roading adventure. Sadly, those were all as closed as the forest.

As far as Sedona goes, I had no idea. It was like a more spread out version of Zion, with a lot of people living in it. Crazy beautiful with some equally crazy architecture, and housing prices that approach the boring areas of California. Cottonwood is a cute town with plenty of hip restaurants to keep us busy. Dead Horse Ranch State Park ended up being a nice home base. It is a drive from Sedona, but I found that to be calming. There are sure a lot of people in the big city, with very few RV friendly places. The state park was spread out and quiet. When the weather turned stormy, it was cool to watch the rain dump over the desert, and we were never in a position to worry about flash floods.

Oh, that reminds me. On our drive down, we hit an intense rain dump going through Flagstaff. Like the heavens opened up and let loose right on Highway 17. That was way way too much for me and I had to pull off at the first exit. We sat in some county park for a while and then found out there was a Walmart about three miles away. I don’t know why Walmart parking lots are calming when there is stress, but they are for me. We had a soft pretzel inside and waited out the worst. It had already been a stressful day of driving for me, so taking a break was important.

Earlier in the day, just before we came to a tourist trap place in Cameron, AZ, a police car came screaming down the highway with lights flashing and siren blaring. We happened to be stuck at a one lane construction stop a the time. Everyone sort of tried to move over to the side, but there was one lane open, cars coming through in the opposite direction, and the rest of us skooched as far over as we could get onto the shoulder. I saw the police car in my towing mirrors, weaving through cones, and oncoming cars, and people stopped behind me. I swear, he must have come within inches of rear ending Dory2 and all I could do was watch. That triggered some PTSD right there. So when the rain came later on, my brain was like, “Yeah, I’m out.”

Overall, our four day stay in Cottonwood was recuperative. It was less hot than we expected and more crowded in Sedona than I pictured. We got in some nice drives, ate out at some great places, and took in the cool hippie energy. Some day I’d like to go find all the vortexes. I bet I’ll have new shoes then.

Total miles: 210.7, 18.5 mpg. Site 94. Electric and water hookups. Good dump. Good LTE cell service for both. Sites nicely spaced apart. Nice free unlimited hot water showers (we each partook given this was a long stay for us). Plenty of solar. Note to future self: remember not to be tempted to take 89A south from Flagstaff as a way to avoid Highway 17 if you’re towing. Just suck it up and do 17. Unless it’s raining. Then just stop.

As we moved along our tour of Southwest Summer, we knew we were approaching the zone that was Most Likely to be Miserable in terms of temperatures. Dropping from 7-8 thousand feet all the way down to 3 was always going to bring the heat. Many times we thought about cancelling the Arizona reservations, particularly when we saw forecasts of up to 108º. Lucky for us, all that predictable heat moved its way to the zone that was Least Likely to be Miserable: the Pacific Northwest. We felt bad for people wilting online and reporting temperatures of up to 117º, but also felt pretty relieved to only be seeing low 90s on the horizon for our entire stay.

Leaving the North Rim, we saw some crazy scenery. From a herd of Bison, casually grazing by the road, to the appearance of the Vermillion Cliffs, to the seriously beautiful side trip to Lee’s Ferry, the day’s journey was extremely picturesque. We continued south on Highway 89A (A for “Alternate”) and this took us right through a wide sweeping descent into Marble Canyon. Nestled at the dead end of this canyon is the confluence of the Colorado and Paria Rivers. There is a campground there I’d heard about called Lee’s Ferry, which is first come first serve and no hookups. The campground lies within the borders of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and holds its own with any national park campground, in terms of surrounding geological beauty. We took a little five mile detour off the highway to go check it out and darn near stayed there. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the heat, I think we would have. Instead, we found an empty campsite and raised the roof to at least have a nice long lunch.

At the end of the day, reservations with full hookups waiting for us in Page was too much of a draw. So we continued on down the valley until it merged with Highway 89. It then climbed up the other side of the canyon, offering impressive views of the whole of Marble Canyon. The descent into Page is no less visually striking. Here, the rocks take on a light pink and bone-white look.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is huge and encompasses the entire river system terminating in the Glen Canyon Dam. The Colorado River goes on from there and everything north and east of that forms Lake Powell. The water levels are low now, an ever present reminder of the growing state of drought across the west, but it is still, to my eye, an otherworldly kind of beautiful. The crisp blue of the water, nestled deeply within the stark white cliffy canyons is dazzling, and so unique. I forgot to take any pictures until the light faded with the sunset. So you’ll have to use your imagination when it comes to the color of the water.

Almost as soon as we got set up, we left for the other reason we were looking forward to Page: Walmart. I know. I get it. And yet, if you want to kill a couple of hours out of the heat and restock everything from frozen dinners to RV TP, this place is reliable. Also, after spending a couple weeks in Utah, where the selling of alcohol is strictly limited, restocking wine had become a priority. We happily passed enough time that when we emerged, the sun had already set.

Overall, this was a rest stop for us. Richard got in some work time with good cell service, I caught up on communication and blogging, and we kicked back and did very little. Sadly, the place I was hoping to see, Antelope Canyon, is still closed to the public. That would be worth a return trip.

Some excitement came on our last night when a big storm rolled in. You could see that it was something serious by the way it completely blocked out the horizon. We took down everything outside and battened down the hatches. For us though, beyond some pretty close lightning strikes and moderate wind, it was nothing big. However, over on the other side of the cliffs, Marble Valley got hit pretty hard. There were all kinds of flash flood warnings and it sounds like Lee’s Ferry was evacuated, so I’m pretty happy we didn’t end up staying there. Meanwhile in Zion, all kinds of Hell broke loose. Looks like there was a ton of damage there, which is sad, but it also seems like this whole area really needs the rain.

Our two night stay was quite pleasant and much cooler than we expected (even though it was in the 90s). We would stay there again, though a summer visit might not be the brightest idea we’ve ever had. We were both frustrated with the service. At times we’d have four bars of strong LTE and then it would just disappear. Same with the campground WiFi. Sometimes it was strong and fast, and then it would just fall off to nothing. In town, everything was full bars, just down in the campground, it was iffy. It is nice to have a potable water spigot right in the site. In North Rim, the spigots were spaced far apart, plus the water was heavily treated. We filter our drinking water anyway, but it mattered when Richard hiked down to the Supai Bridge and he could smell the chlorine. Good thing he had plenty of his own water left. It would have been a shame if he’d died because of being a water prima donna. I can imagine him out in the desert barely conscious lying in the sand when some rescuer finds him just in the nick of time and brings a canteen of precious life saving water to his lips. With his last breath he would say, “Wait, is that filtered?”

We give this place an overall thumbs up with the caveat that it gets hot, duh. The campground offers lots of services, including laundry that we never got around to using, and makes an excellent location for a stopping or jumping off point. It also lies inside Glen Canyon, so be sure to have that National Parks Pass ready if you go.

Total miles: 139.6 (with side trip to Lee’s Ferry), 20.6 mpg (must have been all the descending). Site F3, full hookups, back in. Sometimes full bars of LTE, then nothing. Campground WiFi is best in front of the registration building but can be hit, sometimes, from the campground. Pretty good sewer hookup but there is also a separate dump.

And there we have it: Grand Staircase Bingo! This place was a great score because we had reservations at De Motte Forest Service campground, well outside the park, before we got these as a cancellation. The forest service campgrounds all closed, along with all of the Kaibab National Forest, due to fire risks. We can understand because we witnessed the massive devastation caused by the Mangum Fire in June of 2020. Acres and acres of dead, burned trees still fill the hillsides as you approach the turnoff from Highway 89A to Highway 67. That entire area was closed for a long time and the scars will remain for decades. A rather sombre approach to such a beautiful national park, but then, one must acknowledge that the beauty of these special places is born from natural upheaval and ecological disaster. It’s hard to equate that with things that are human caused, but it helps me to think: this old Earth has been through a lot and she’s still a smoking hot babe.

The very first thing that happened after I cleaned Dory’s windows was it rained. So now they’re all dirty again. Oh well. We arrived after the clouds had passed us by and got really excited about the fact that there is a general store, plus laundry and a gas station, inside the park. No cell service really, and only a bit of wifi at the store, but that was expected. Our site was a nice pull through on the outside of the loop, so we had lots of room and privacy. Also lots of shade, but again, the solar panels seem to be eking out whatever amps they can get when there are moments when the sun pokes through the trees. Still happy battery so still saying ‘yay’ and not worrying about it.

We went over to the Visitor Center, which is very small, and then to the Lodge, which has a huge room with floor to ceiling windows where you can take in the view. There is a short trail out to Bright Angel Point for an even better vantage point. That is one big canyon there. We decided to go back and catch the sunset on the Transept Trail, right by the campground. The show is all about the end of day light cast on the many peaks and folds in the rock faces. It is just beautiful to watch.

The next day was spent driving up the viewpoint roads. This is a long and windy road, so if you are going to do this, allow plenty of time there and back again. You can catch glimpses of the vast drop-offs sometimes on the corners, but beyond that, you’d think you were just driving up any old forest road. We did the little viewpoint hikes at Point Imperial, Vista Encantada, Roosevelt, and then went up to Cape Royal. There you can go out an easy paved trail to the lookout and get the supreme experience. You pass by Angel’s Window, a triangular opening in one of the rocky outcroppings, and can walk across it even.

We then went on the Cliff Spring Trail, which is about a half mile downhill until you get to a spectacular little oasis, hanging off the side of the rock wall. The spring water continually drips through, creating an ideal environment for ferns and flowering plants that could not otherwise survive. That was a beautiful hike where I was pleased with how well I handled the uphill return without dying. We celebrated the day by taking an anniversary selfie on one of the overlook trails and tried not to become tragic selfie statistics by backing off a cliff.

Instead, we decided to kill me the next day by doing an honest to goodness Grand Canyon hike. We always refer to trails that go steeply down at the onset as “Grand Canyon hikes” and that is a reminder to be careful. In this park, they color code your likelihood of becoming a cautionary tale. People die doing these trails fairly regularly because of the heat combined with how easy it is to overextend yourself on the downhill. They try their best to give parameters to how far is reasonable to do down and still make it back up. I set a tentative goal of Coconino Overlook, with an evaluation at that point about whether to try for the Supai Tunnel. Richard put the Supai Tunnel in his mind with a decision point about whether to go on to the Redwall Bridge. We had lots of water and salty snacks and the weather forecast said a high of 77. All systems go.

We are not the kind of people who hit the trail at 4am, or 6am, or even 8am. We didn’t dawdle, but we also didn’t get to the trailhead until about 10am. The parking lot at that point was full. So Richard left me there, drove the half mile or so back to our campsite, and walked back. It’s really handy to be married to a fitness maniac sometimes.

Pictures can’t capture the rapid rate of descent, but we were both wary. I knew every step down would require several steps up in return. It got a little hotter as we went down, but nothing like the reported 107º on the canyon floor, a good five thousand feet below. Now and again, we were passed by mule trains, carrying people down the same path. I was told that for those who find themselves too low and really can’t get back up, the rangers will rescue you with a mule trip, costing $800. That could be false, but it sounded like a good deal and a believable story.

We made it to the “green zone” Coconino Lookout quite soon, and it felt way too early for me to turn around. So I decided to keep going, perhaps all the way to the tunnel. I had counted the switchbacks on the map but soon realized they do not depict each and every one. So I had a harder time approximating how much was left. Sometimes we passed people coming back up and we tried to get information on the trail ahead. About the point where I was starting to become concerned, we met a couple who had been to the tunnel. When asked how much further, they both groaned a little and said “You have a ways to go.” They estimated another three quarters of a mile. Straight down. They also said there was a ranger down there who was very familiar with the trail and she was turning people back, like if they didn’t have snacks or enough water. I figured that was my cue to call it a day and start slowly slowly climbing back up. Richard felt fine, of course, and wanted to keep going. I told him he would pass me on the way back up. In fact, he could probably go rim to rim and still pass me on the way back up. I was totally fine with him going on.

I just went super slow, one step at a time. I rested in all the shady spots. The ranger eventually came up the trail and checked in to make sure I was ok. She seemed particularly focused on salty snacks, which I had. I counted down the switchbacks on the way up, because even if they weren’t accurate on the map, I knew how many I’d done before turning around. There had been six or seven rangers working on trail maintenance near the Coconino Overlook when we went down, so when I heard them, I knew I was going to be ok. I stopped for a long while there and ate, chatted with other hikers, and took in the view. Then it was just .7 miles to the top, and it was getting cooler and shadier. No problem. Really, the worst part of the ascent was meeting another three mule trains on their way down. Sometimes they decide to all pee in the same spot and the odor just about knocks you out.

Finally, I made it to the top and was not gasping for air. I was happy to stop for a while, but I did not feel spent, nor was I wondering where the nearest AED might be. Ok, I actually wonder that more than you’d think, so that might be a lie, but I was not specifically wondering at that moment due to wondering if I might need one. I had not only survived a real for real Grand Canyon hike, but I had gotten out of there before Richard did twice as much. Celebrations all around and I was ever so chipper welcoming him when he climbed up to the top.

Richard reported that I was actually really close to the tunnel and that it only took him another ten to fifteen minutes to reach it after I’d turned back. Maybe a quarter mile. I have no regrets mind you. I was making a rational decision based on the information I had at the time. He also said there were several rangers down there checking on people and turning some back before Redwall Bridge. They had enormous metal trunks full of medical supplies and there were potable water spigots and a vault toilet down there. It is meant to be a respite for weary hikers as well as a water station for anyone who misplanned. So if that place is a 1400 foot drop at 4 miles round trip, then I probably did at least 1200 and three and half. He talked to the rangers and they took his name and let him go on. I thought that was interesting. They were clearly trying to track the traffic up and down the trail. They waved him on saying, “Ok Richard, see you in an hour.” I wonder if they go down and up the Grand Canyon every day. What a job that must be.

As for the scenery down there, he took pictures of the tunnel and the bridge, both quite the feats in engineering given the terrain. HIs day clocked in at 2200 feet of climbing and 5.2 miles round trip. He felt the whole thing was pretty safe and well managed by the rangers. The one who was more negative was a volunteer and probably just had a more cautious point of view. Not a bad thing in a place where three people died in June alone. I’m sure they work really hard to try to keep people safe.

Since I was not totally spent, and in a pretty good mood about surviving the day, I was able to walk back to the campground rather than send Richard back for the car to come pick me up. That was my plan because I assumed I would be close to dead. Instead, I was amped up and excited about getting an ice cream sandwich at the general store. Man that was good.

This was an exceptionally nice stay for us. We love the park and agree that it is probably a better vibe for us than the South Rim, though we’ve never been there. It is beautiful and woodsy and peaceful, with natural wonder of the world views in the background. I will admit that the views often looked fake, like CGI or mat paintings. The clouds looked like Pixar made them too. But as fake looking backdrops go, this place has the best.

Total miles: 165.9, 19.1 mpg (must have had a tail wind). Site 25. Very nice. Private, shaded. Not much cell service anywhere except on occasional lookouts. Better for Verizon than ATT even then. Wifi at General Store, and also supplies like milk, eggs, various foods, camping supplies, touristy things, and ice cream in the freezer. Dump was ok and had potable water. Gas station on your way out with Regular or Diesel. Laundromat on site but closed at the moment. All forest service roads were closed.

The purpose of this two-night stop was primarily to find a place sort of near to Bryce and near enough to Cedar Breaks for a day trip. I’m working on a Royal Flush for Grand Staircase parks, and Cedar Breaks, though in a lesser tier, is definitely part of the official set. It’s also usually nice to stay at lakes because they are pretty. It wasn’t too high, like Navajo Lake at nine thousand. So Panguitch Lake won in all the categories and I would come back to this campground if I returned to the area.

Richard completed this trip’s round of Highway 12 section riding, heading out after we dumped at the North Campground. We set a pin for Joe’s Main Street Market and met up just as it started to rain for real. This is a great store and we were able to get everything from our shopping list to stock up for dinners. There is even a butcher there so I could get reasonable amounts of meat. Most of the drive up Highway 143 to the lake was in rain. It was not torrential and I don’t mind rain on lesser traveled roads where there is no one behind me. It was a pretty route, following a stream mostly, with gentle climbs up to around eight thousand four hundred feet.

We stayed at the North Forest Service Campground, which had some nice pull through sites for larger rigs. Our site said it was a “double,” which I think means we could have invited a friend. I likely paid double for it, but also probably didn’t care at the time I made the reservation. There was no dump at the campground and we drove through the South Campground, across the road, to see if that had one. It most definitely did not, and I would not recommend booking that one with a trailer. The roads over there are unpaved and narrow. I suppose there might have been a couple sites where a trailer could be maneuvered, but in my estimation, it would not be worth it. On our side of the road, many of the sites in the low numbers, like 2-16 had some glimpses of the lake. They were very well spaced from each other and our site got a little bit of solar around midday.

Our day trip the next day involved sagging Richard up a climb of two thousand feet over thirteen miles. Cedar Breaks National Monument sits at an elevation of ten thousand. I take elevation pretty seriously because of one bad event; all it takes is one. I was pretty focused on making reservations that gradually stepped up and Panguitch was going to be one of the highest. It was only a few hundred higher than Bryce and I didn’t feel any ill effects. However, as I climbed up toward ten, I started to feel the familiar face tinglies and off balance feeling I’ve come to associate with high country traveling.

I knew to take it easy and keep downing the water. Here’s the problem with downing water: you need frequent bathrooms. Guess what Cedar Breaks is really lacking. Yeah, the people in line waiting at the Visitor Center’s single bathroom were a bit… anxious. If only I had known that if we’d turned right instead of left at the rim road, we would have gotten to a lovely vista point, with rangers, information kiosks, and three porta potties. Once we were there, I had a more enjoyable time looking out over the views of “Mini Bryce.” Ranger Darcy was particularly helpful and informative and was deemed “better than Siri” by us both. For example, we were puzzled as to why the symbol on all the Highway 12 signs looked like a bee hive. Well, that is because it is. Apparently the Church of Latter Day Saints, very influential of course in Utah, has adopted the beehive as a representative image because they are known for being busy like bees and they work for their community. So the state used a beehive graphic for their most famous scenic highways and byways. The more you know.

After taking in the views and documenting plentifully with photos, I wasn’t much interested in staying longer and I’d seen what I came to see. We headed back down the road and made quick time descending back to a comfortable eight thousand. I felt much more grounded then and we celebrated with soft serve ice cream and WiFi at The Burger Barn.

We headed back to Dory and I put in some time cleaning her beautiful windows. That is a project, but one that always produces a satisfying reward.

We head out in the morning for the Grand Canyon and will make a stop at Joe’s Market for sure.

Total miles: 45.5. 16.6 mpg. North Campground, site 14 (double). No cell service, but WiFi at the burger place. There was occasional cell service during the climb up Highway 143 to Cedar Breaks, but then it would disappear. Boat launch in two places I saw around the lake. Dump station closed, but you can go to White Bridge FS campground down the road where there is a good dump and potable water.

So sometimes reservations are WOW and sometimes they are ‘meh.’ This one, despite the excitement potential in its name, was the latter. Back when I was cobbling together whatever reservations I could snag, there was a hole between Kodachrome and Bryce, and this place seemed like it was not too far and was well reviewed. I think if I fished, it would have been great.

Richard rode out of Kodachrome with our “pin” being a meetup at Ruby’s Market, just outside of Bryce. That was a great ride for him, with the pink cliff of Bryce ever in the foreground. It was about a two thousand foot climb, but he’s a maniac, so no problem. He likes that stuff. The last stretch was under construction, so he had to be super careful. He said most drivers were very courteous and gave him a wide berth, and it was not too busy in terms of traffic.

Ruby’s is a great oasis. There is full LTE and all kinds of stores and service businesses, aimed at traveling tourists. We checked out the grocery store so we could plan a big shopping trip before we came back on our way to Bryce. There are still things in the produce department that are just going to be harder to find, but there was enough to build several Blue Apron recipes.

We headed north on John’s Valley Road and that was a lovely drive. It was quiet and mostly flat and straight. Eventually, you come to the Black Canyon and it gets quite scenic. We were imagining Otter Creek tucked away in some lush, lakeside valley with trees lining the banks. Nope. This is a reservoir with rocky banks and a distinctly desert feel. I do not believe otters hang out much here anymore, but I’ll bet they do still exist either way upstream or downstream. The fishing people seemed to be having fun though.

We didn’t much care because it was a one night, time-kill, kind of a place. I was worried one night would feel too short a time, but that was not a problem. I did think about getting my boat out, but just as I was getting things from the car, the wind picked up and clouds came in. It was a strong enough wind that we got out our little Kestrel anemometer and clocked gusts up to 30mph.

I grilled a steak and made panzanella salad and that was great. We tried to bum WiFi off the RV campground across the street with limited success. There was no cell service so we watched a couple episodes of “Broadchurch” and fell fast asleep. Our next destination is Bryce Canyon, so there will be no shortage of views on this trip.

Total miles: 65.8, 18.9 mpg. Site 51. Electric hookups. No cell. Boat launch inside park. Great solar, not great shade. The store across the street that goes with the RV park had delicious popsicles.

In the continuing adventures of ‘what could possibly happen if you camp in the desert during the summer,’ we moved to our next stop heading east along Highway 12. Kodachrome State Park is a marvel of multicolored rock beauty. It also tried to kill us, but more on that later.

There was a great kiosk in the park with an excellent visual on what is happening geologically across the whole Grand Staircase region. I think they should have that all along Highway 12 with “you are here” dots. It really helps me get my bearings on what I’m seeing and why one region differs so much in appearance from the next.

Richard rode early from the lookout point after Escalante, all the way into the park. Thus he adds pieces to his Highway 12 section ride. I drove on ahead and enjoyed the vistas and a coyote sighting. Then, I got set up in our site ahead of him, and it was a beauty. The Basin Campground is extremely well laid out, with pull throughs and back ins having plenty of space and privacy between neighbors. We also had electric hookups this time and I was super excited to run the AC. In fact, before I did any unhitching, I plugged Dory2 in and started running the cooling goodness while I put up the Aluminet for good measure.

There is no cell service anywhere in the park, with the exception of little spurts here and there on the high points of some of the trails. However, there is good WiFi in the Visitor Center. That was where I found Richard after his ride. I was happy to lead him back into a cool trailer and at first, things were going really well. Even though temps were hitting 102º outside, we were seeing mid 80s inside. I was excited. 

Then slowly, the temperature inside started to rise. We think this is because once you stop moving, there is no more wind to cool off the aluminum roof, so the outside heat overtakes the inside cooling for a while. I did things I thought would help, like run additional fans toward the ceiling to move the hot air around, and close the privacy curtains. I put up the awning and an additional Aluminet over the front, plus I built a pillow fortress to insulate the back window. Still it crept up into the high 90s and eventually crossed over into triple digits inside. Yikes! I was panicked at that point and Richard suggested we get out until the later part of the afternoon. We drove to Tropic, which is about 12 miles away and has a grocery store next to Kyndie’s Ice Cream. Bingo. Much better.

We returned around 4 and I was just hoping for anything less than a hundred inside. Thankfully, the AC had time to do its thing and it was a mere 84 and falling. Thank goodness because I wasn’t sure what we’d do if I had no nighttime shelter from what was going to be a scorching week. It never got that hot inside again, fortunately.

With things under control, we did an after dinner hike on the Angel’s Palace Trail, departing around 7:30. Sunset was due at almost nine, now that we are in the long days of summer, so we had plenty of light. By that time, the world had cooled and we got to enjoy a beautiful view from the rocky walls above the campground. We were tired monkeys by the time we got back, but happy to have a genuinely cool interior for the night. I slept like a rock.

The next day was a project day for me and I made use of the awesome laundry facility in the park. There are four nice washers with four matching nice dryers in a building that seems to stay cool without any detectable AC. For clothes that don’t go in the dryer, it only takes about a half hour on a clothes line to parch them fully. We also went grocery shopping in Tropic, which has a decent store and excellent LTE.

Night hikes were working well for us so we did that again, but this time on the Parade Trail, that takes you around the base of the same walls. From this trail you can find a couple of cool “box canyons” which we believe means canyons that dead end. You’ll notice there are a lot of “pipes” or tall vertical rock formations in this park. There are several theories about their origins, but no firm consensus on what they are. Some of them, really most of them if your mind has already gone there, have rather suggestive shapes. It’s like a psychological test to see how deep in the gutter you are.

On our last day, Richard wanted to spend time with the Visitor Center’s WiFi to see if he could investigate something with the inverter/charger. We’re getting a mysterious code that looks like: “f5t” or “fst” and no one seems to know what that means, including Xantrex tech support. After about an hour of online connection, we both noticed that outside it was dribbling water from the sky. I won’t say “raining” exactly, but the clouds covered the sun and it seemed a perfect opportunity to do the Panorama Trail, even though it was midday. What could go wrong?

So summer rain clouds have a short life span, I have learned. What looked like solid cloud cover turned out to last about as long as it took us to reach the farthest point out on the trail. Then the sun came out in all its glory, surrounded by nothing by blue skies, and the temps shot up immediately. This was the hottest part of the afternoon and the thing we knew to avoid any time someone said “don’t do anything stupid out there.” Oops. We had some water, but not as much as we would have brought if we’d known we would be in the middle of the desert in the middle of the afternoon. But we never would have done that, so…

Really we were only about two miles from the trailhead, but every time we left the shade from a canyon wall, or big tree, we felt like we were traversing the Sahara. So we went tiny distances from shade to shade and contemplated sitting under a tree until nightfall. We also watched the clouds closely because it looked like there were more piddle clouds moving in. It might sound really peaceful to sit under a shade tree and watch the slow movement of the clouds, but this felt more like Survival Camp and we were the campers some counselor was going to have to angrily go rescue. We did in fact make it out of there and back to the car. Of course, by that time, it was cool and piddling again and groups of hikers were just heading out, wondering what the hell was wrong with us and our flushed, panting faces.

We really enjoyed lounging in Dory2 that night. I had a margarita after downing three liters of water.

Things we think we learned about keeping an Alto R1723 cool when we have hookups in 100°+ include: 

• don’t have a BFW (kidding/not kidding), but if you do, FOR SURE cover it with a Magneshade the minute you arrive,
• get the AC going ASAP with roof still down and run the Fantastic Fan a few minutes to expel hot air on arrival,
• minimize door opening, 
• no cooking inside at all, even early,
• for showers use the Truma Eco water heater setting on Electric1 for 30-40 min to take the edge off the cold water (or take cold showers), 
• take sponge baths in the afternoon to cool down, 
• use the awning and/or Aluminet to shade both side walls, 
• use good fans aimed up and toward the back to move the hot air off the ceiling and keep it circulating, 
• keep rear curtains closed at the back wall and put pillows in front of that plexiglass window, 
• put on the blackout cover under the Fantastic Fan and keep it closed, 
• keep privacy curtains along the bathroom wall open because that is the flow of air from the AC and it seems to help to keep that whole wall unobstructed,
• keep privacy curtains on kitchen wall closed,
• allow a couple hours after arrival (preferably with no one inside) for the AC to get into its groove. 

We were ok after that first spike, but we screwed up heating the milk steamer inside the next morning and it took a while to recover. We want to get a “Coolaroo” shade cover to throw over the roof and those big black solar panels, but we’re nowhere near a Costco or Walmart right now. Several Altoistes have used those, and anything that can deflect the sun’s rays off the roof should help.

Hookups are great, but they are not magical. When it’s over a hundred outside, it’s not going to be seventy inside. It’s good to choose driving activities to do between noon and four and it’s good to do hiking or biking activities first thing in the morning, or after dinner. So far we’ve been ok and are still having fun in the heat. I’ll let you know how I feel in July when it’s closer to 115º. But then again, our hometown was hotter this week than it was out here, so we may as well see a bunch of red rocks and really commit to summer.

Total miles: 42.6, 17.9 mpg. Site 33 in the Basic Campground. Great site. Back in with lovely views of the rocks and the … interestingly shaped spire. Water spigot is either nothing or firehose. Great dump. No cell but pretty good WiFi at Visitor Center. Plus, AC and cool water bottle filling station. Arch View and Bryce View Campgrounds are up an unpaved road. There seemed to be a couple of sites that had hookups. The views didn’t appear better up there and there were fewer shade trees. The Shakespeare Arch collapsed in 2019, BTW. Didn’t seem particularly worth it.