The View with a View – Posted in installments, because it's almost a novel
Part 6:
Nailing It - The Final Chapter
Nailing It - The Final Chapter
October, 2017
10/19, Thursday We made good time heading up towards the Grand
Canyon, but when I called to see if there was room in the campground, they
laughed at me! I was informed that it’s a VERY popular place, and reservations
are full a year in advance. Uh, OK. So I started googling other nearby places.
“Sorry, we’re closed for the season.” At least they answered the phone. In
desperation, I asked the ranger for other ideas. Well, I hit the jackpot. He
told me where to dump & fill the RV in Williams, AZ, and how to look for
“dispersed camping,” a term I had never even heard before. It’s a thing.
Really.
I knew about BLM property, as we had camped at
BLM campgrounds on previous trips, back when we camped with a tent and our little Camry. We found them in the AAA Campbooks. But this
was a new concept for us. He told us where we could turn off on Forest Service roads,
and find a place either in the forest or the meadow, and just camp there. As we
visited an RV park to dump, we were told where to get propane, and exactly
where the locals camp. So you go down 4th street, and it turns into
Spencer Road, then after you go past the dam, you’ll cross a cattle gate, and
you can camp anywhere. We made a left after the gate, and went about a half
mile down a well-maintained gravel road. Well, we found a spot that was level
and shaded, with unlimited campfire wood, and NOBODY nearby. We loved it so
much, we said, “That’s it, we’re staying here for 3 days.” And we did. We even
had a good cell signal there, so we stayed in touch with the civilized world.
It’s good to be us! The campfire, the stars, and the quiet
are simply phenomenal.
We reluctantly left here to head up to the Grand Canyon.
People are such idiots. There were some elk grazing in the trees right by the
road. About 10 cars screeched to a halt, and people ran across the road and
started taking pictures. One elk was very large, with huge antlers. We just
kept going once we got past the traffic jam. We pulled into one overlook spot
that had a dumpster, and got rid of our 4 bags of trash from the last few days
in the forest.
We were now on a mission… to find the next
best camping place at the Grand Canyon, away from the crowds. We followed
directions in the Kindle Boondocking book, just off the road to the north rim, along a Forest Service road for
several miles, and continuing after the gravel turned to dirt. It was a well-maintained road, so our rig hardly complained at all! We passed a
couple groups camping, one with kids and 2 Airstream trailers, and another in a
regular van. They had good spots, but ours was great. We were just about 15
yards away from the east rim of the canyon. We were literally camped at the rim
of the Grand Canyon, completely alone! Again, we were able to gather wood and
have a nice campfire. We had amazing views, and amazing privacy.
Would you go down a road like this and camp on the edge? Sure, why not?
I don't ever want to forget the wonder I felt when we found our spot and looked out over the Grand Canyon. Here's a peek:
Alas, we needed to dump & fill again. We
thought about trying to get into the one remaining campground open at the north
rim and headed down there. The ranger told us showers had already been turned
off, but that we were welcome to use the dump station. There weren’t many
people around as the north rim park was closing for the season in 2 weeks. We
ended up having a grand shower adventure. I had a dream where an old lady, I think neighbor Mona's auntie, was greeting everyone at a party, and when she got to me, she
said, "You stink!" I explained that we had been camping, but then
realized I should have asked to take a shower. Anyway, on our way into the park
in the morning (we camped outside yesterday, on the east rim- not part of the
park), I asked where we could take a shower. Well, a brainstorm hit. We both
showered, albeit quickly, while were at the dump station. We just kept filling
& dumping until we were done. Normally we can't waste our water on showers (insert commercial for baby wipes here!) because the tank only holds 30 gallons. We would have been willing to pay a dump & fill fee, but there was no charge. The showers (that were closed) take
quarters, and we had them ready! Oh, and
the water there tastes great. So woot!
We hiked to the point at the north rim, then
headed for Utah, where we planned to go through Zion & Bryce then camp
nearby on Forest Service land. It was crazy windy, so no campfires. We found
our place by using GPS coordinates for the first time. We were actually surprised when it worked. The Rand McNally GPS system in our unit is a piece of junk, generally behind by at least a block, or sometimes showing us on no road at all. From reading the reviews, I know that a map update isn't going to fix the problem, and it would just annoy me if I paid extra to get lousy guidance. I use the cellphone whenever possible. Usually we find the
spots by mile markers or landmarks. We pulled in and there was a little view, but mostly
it's a big gravel pit about 1/4 mile off the highway. It had been rainy and
windy, but hope springs eternal for the next day.
We turned back at Zion because we hadn’t done
our homework, and found out our rig was too big for the tunnels, so you pay $15 extra, and they stop traffic, making it one-way, and you can pass
through. That sounded really annoying to the other guests, not to mention time-consuming.
We had been there before, so we turned around and headed for Bryce. On the way,
you get a big treat, going through Red Rock Canyon. We probably should have
camped around there (try Toms Best Spring Rd), but we kept pushing on.
Bryce had its own RV issues… They
wouldn’t allow you to park an RV at the visitor’s center or the best spots in
the first section of the park. You park outside, then ride a shuttle around to
the various overlooks. Again, being herded with the masses just isn’t our
thing. But we went into the park, planning go to the more remote overlooks. And we were
rewarded with some stunning views. Typical of birds being drawn to Bill, he was
able to walk right up to this guy, who never moved, the entire time we were
there. We checked on our way back down, and he was gone. Again, the elevation
makes hiking a bit challenging.
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| Quoth the raven... |
10/21,
Saturday - After a lovely day of sightseeing, it was time to find camping again.
We began looking for a spot in the Escalante area, and saw that one is supposed
to obtain a free permit before doing dispersed camping in the area. So we went to the Forest Service office to
handle it. There were a number of places noted in our Allstays app, but the
ranger suggested perhaps we’d be more comfortable if we checked out the spots
at mile marker 70. Again, the View was rewarded with a view, and later I wrote
to the app developer to have him add this great spot. The brochure says there are no campfires allowed
anywhere in the Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument dispersed camping areas. But every site we saw had a nice
fire ring, and there is sparse vegetation. I’m not saying WE had a campfire,
but as we looked across the area that night, we saw fires at every site. I
guess that’s a rule they don’t enforce when there’s low fire danger?
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| Escalante Highway 12, Mile Marker 70 |
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| The holy grail of camping without levelers |
One thing we decided on this trip for sure is that we're going to get automatic levelers installed on our rig. How many times did we move a foot and check the bubble? About a zillion. We also think solar panels will be a nice addition, but there are factors of weight and $$ to consider. The Yahoo and Facebook user groups have proven to be a great resource for advice on such things.
10/22, Sunday –
Capitol Reef, Why Not?
We were in the area, on a roll, so headed up to
Capitol Reef for the day. We were busy capturing more “View with a view” pics,
when a lady walked up to us and insisted that she take a pic of us together. OK
then.
We decided to stay at the park’s campground in
Fruita. Again, being National land, that senior pass netted us a site with
electricity for only ten bucks. I say “bucks” because the place is filled with deer,
munching the fallen fruit all day. We also saw wild turkeys and homemade fruit
pies. What? Yep, the little store sells pies, made fresh every day. Guess what we had for breakfast?
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| Camping at Fruita - Capitol Reef |
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| Breakfast! |
10/23, Monday –
Arches National Park
We voted this the best visitor’s center of all
the parks. They built an arch inside the building. I liked Balanced Rock, and
another formation that I thought looks like the 3 wise men.
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| This visitors center has a view inside and out |
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| C'mon, doesn't that look like the 3 wise men? |
The campground in the park has been closed all year as they resurfaced
the road, working at night. After we left the park, we looked for camping nearby. The Allstays app showed government land, but
there was nothing that seemed especially appealing. We ended up at a place
called 7 Mile Parking. It’s run by a contractor, and for $15, cash
only, you get a picnic table on a gravel lot, and access to a porta potty. Only
2 stars awarded for that one! But we did get to watch ultra-lights flying
around, and we enjoyed the “mandatory watermelon” we picked up in Green River.
There were watermelon stands on every corner, so we figured that meant all
visitors were required to buy one. We also saw a very interesting sunset.
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| Mandatory watermelon |
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| Ultra-lights flirting with the rocks |
We made a beeline for home after this, with a quick overnight in Ely, and boondocking at a casino in Hawthorne (again, thanks, Allstays). We were kicking ourselves for not fueling up before we left Nevada, as we were victims of highway robbery at the station in Bridgeport. It was by far the most expensive fuel of the entire trip. The average price was around $3 a gallon throughout the trip, with the best prices being in LA and TX ($2.39). We found that price fixing must be in play as the only two stations we saw in Bridgeport were charging $4.59. It wasn't that high other places in CA, including Lee Vining, which isn't that far away.
We took Bill's route home, experiencing the white knuckles, but zero traffic, as we went over Sonora Pass (Hwy 108), a harrowing but beautiful road that's not recommended.
We were sad the trip was over, but glad to be
home. We missed our little granddaughter so much. Heck, she started walking while we
were gone. The other good thing about being home? 2-ply toilet paper!
So what would I do differently next time?
Possibly live a little more in the moment,
rather than constantly doing this:
Taking pics, posting to Facebook, writing postcards
recording
daily events, sending e-mail
Nah, I’m good. Gotta remember those views from our View. Now that we've taken it on our first big trip, I'm happy to report that we have absolutely no buyer's remorse.
Here are the trip stats:
Dates: August 31-October 26, 2017
Miles Traveled: 12,755
Fuel: 870 gallons / $2,788
Average MPG: 14.7
Until next time (Alaska maybe?), enjoy the View with a View.
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