Spring Creek Canyon: Our First Slot Canyon of the Year

We moved a whopping 15 miles South! We're staying at a tiny private campground (Red Ledge) in a tiny town (Kanarraville) with no services that is just minutes from slot canyon hiking and the Kolob Canyon entrance to Zion National Park. Kanarraville is about 5 miles off of I-15 so it is very quiet, a nice transition from busy Cedar City.

There are two slot canyon hikes (that we know of) within a mile of our campground and we chose Spring Creek Canyon because it did not include wading through water or a parking fee.

This was a spectacular hike on a partly cloudy, breezy, perfect day and the colors everywhere were out of this world. Words cannot describe how lovely and peaceful this hike was...and our camera can hardly do it justice either!

This has been my first year ever to really experience the fall foliage show and we seem to be following the seasonal change in the right direction along with the temperature change. It is a feast for the eyes! As always, you can click on any picture to enlarge it. Enjoy!

Parked at the trail head. Tiny Kanarraville is just a mile behind us.

Just beyond the trail head.

About a mile or so in we see our first sight of the slot entrance ahead...

As we approach the slot canyon, the trees and rocks become more vibrant.

Color explosion!

The trail followed the creek bed into slots and then into open sections where other slots meandered away.

Sometimes the passage way got very narrow

Sometimes we walked on a carpet of leaves.

It was another awesome day!

Campground Review: Best Western Town & Country, Cedar City, UT

In the vicinity of Cedar City, UT there are many national Forest camping options. But they are all at higher elevations and many are closed by this time of year, and have no hookups. We are not really ready to dry camp, especially as the nights get colder.

We decided to stay in Cedar City (as opposed to other small towns in the area) due to its proximity to Cedar Breaks National Monument. There are three RV park options in town: Country Aire which does not have a website and whose reviews were just fair, KOA which wanted $49.50 per night, and the Best Western Town & Country at $31.50 per night (Good Sam rate, normally about $35/night).

Yes, Best Western Town & Country is the hotel chain! We discovered, from RV Park Reviews, that this particular hotel has 10 pull through RV sites with full hook ups. The RV sites are not listed on their web site. This hotel actually has two separate locations directly across the street from each other. The RV sites are behind the North hotel, adjacent to the post office.

Turns out all three of the RV parks listed above are right on the main drag through town and none of them had any kind of fence separating their RV sites from the street. We chose BW because of price and location; it is walking distance to a park and local bike path, city library, a grocery store and the cute little old downtown area.

The RV sites are situated between the busy main drag, a quieter side street, the hotel and the post office. We found it to be very quiet at night; Cedar City is not a late night town and the post office has predictable hours! With only one other RV in place when we arrived, we were able to choose a site closer to the quiet side street. 

Included in the price of admission is access to the hotel's amenities: indoor pool/hot tub at the South hotel, outdoor pool/hot tub at the North hotel (closed at this time of year), laundry, wifi. Laundry was expensive at $2/load, even for the dryers. We did not use the hotel's wifi but instead used our own blazing fast 4G...the best internet speeds we have seen so far! Verizon cell service was fine as well.

Sites are gravel with utilities shared between two sites and a couple of trees separating most sites. There are a few picnic tables shared between sites.

For a "city" RV park, this location worked out well for us. Though the ambiance was just "fair" the neighbors were nice and the convenience to local services was perfect. At this quiet time of year it was just fine and at the right price!

Our site, #352, with the post office behind us.

Looking down the row of sites towards the quiet side street, hotel in the background.

Close up of our site, facing the post office.

Close up of our site, facing the hotel.

Navajo Lake Loop Trail: One Wild Ride!

It was time to mix things up a bit and hit the trail with our mountain bikes. We rode the Navajo Lake Loop Trail described here, which includes a section of the 32 mile Virgin River Rim Trail. This trail was described as a novice trail in most of the descriptions we read with very little elevation gain (200 feet)...but we knew that riding at about 9,000 feet elevation might make it feel more like an intermediate level trail!

Navajo Lake sits at about 9100 feet elevation 25 miles East of Cedar City, UT just off Hwy 14. The lake is about 5 miles long, running East/West, making most of the trail on long stretches of North and South facing hillsides. This is relevant because with the recent snowfall, the trails on the North facing hillside had snow!

This is what we were greeted with early on, on the trail!

We encountered a few obstacles along the way:

Spruce beetles killed a lot of trees in the 90's and now they are falling over.

A view of the lake from the Virgin River Rim Trail section:

A view of Navajo Lake from the South end during a dry patch of trail.

After about 3 miles of a mixture of hard packed mud, snow and some soft mud we came to a section where no one had passed before us since the snowfall and the going became rougher:

Unbroken snow in front of us!

Nice, hard-packed mud here...that was not the norm in this  section!

After a couple of miles of mostly snow and squishy mud, we finally had enough and found a way down to the road. Traveling up the road we missed our trail turn off and added an extra mile to our ride!

At the East end of the lake the trail crosses a lava flow:

About to cross the lava flow!

Hans' bike is actually pretty clean after riding on a dirt road for about a mile!

By the time we reached the lava we were getting pretty tired due to the elevation and the hard work of going through snow and mud for miles. We were happy to see some of the most beautiful, slightly rolling single-track we've ever encountered:

Lightly rolling single track along the North side of the lake.

Through stands of Aspen whose leaves were long gone for the season.

We were eagerly anticipating reaching the truck when "disaster" struck about a mile or so from the end:

Broken chain!

Hans spent a good 15 minutes trying to fix it while I held the bike up and took in the calm, beautiful scene around us and soaked up the sunshine.

Hard at work!

South end of Navajo Lake. The water is very low at this time of year.

He got the chain back together but it only lasted about a quarter of a mile. Oh well...at least we were only about a mile from the truck. And, luckily, we were almost to the point where the trail met a dirt road. Hans rode my bike to get the truck and I pushed his bike to the road and waited for him to come along with the truck.

The last surprise of the day was sheep being driven down the Navajo Lake Road:

It was an awesome and exhausting day on some fabulous single track in beautiful country! I'd enjoy riding this again...just minus the snow and mud!

Cedar Breaks National Monument

We've transitioned to Cedar City, UT just ahead of some cold and wind.

You don't see this number very often...not that we travel at that speed hauling the trailer  ;-)
Notice the big truck flying past us!

Last weekend a storm dumped rain across the entire NW leaving snow on any mountain at about 9,000 feet or higher. Today we got to enjoy it at Cedar Breaks National Monument, where they got about 10 inches.

All Monument services are closed for the season, but the road is open until the snows take over sometime next month. We hiked half of the two mile Ramparts Trail which overlooks the main amphitheater...the trail was just too dangerous given the snow and ice to complete the whole thing. We also hiked the two mile Alpine Pond Trail. This was gorgeous in the snow and had less than 100 feet of altitude change...considering we started the trail at 10,460 feet that was a really good thing!

It was sunny, cold (37 degrees) and windy when we first arrived but the wind died down and it was a comfortable 44 degrees for hiking as the day wore on. Our little point and shoot camera simply can't do justice to the amazing, expansive views we witnessed.

Spectra Point at Cedar Breaks. South facing mountains are clear of snow.

Spectra Point...North facing mountains are vibrant with sun lighting up the new snow.

The angles and shadows were mesmerizing!

The Ramparts trail from the Visitor Center was slippery in places...with a scary drop to the West!

Hoodoo's!

Alpine Pond

Alpine Pond, the water was crystal clear.

:-)

Following deer tracks through the snow!

Campground Review: Oasis Campground, Yuba State Park, UT

Just 110 miles South of Salt Lake City is lovely Yuba State Park. It's an oasis in this high desert country so we stayed in the aptly named Oasis Campground. (Click on any picture to enlarge.)

Oasis Campground is set in the trees on the shore of Yuba Lake. Snow
capped mountains in the distance, dump station and fish cleaning station
are in the foreground across the road from the campground.

It has 28 sites, 11 have water and electric hookups. Here is a map and legend detailing each site. Sites 2 and 4 are fabulous view sites overlooking the lake but without hookups. There is a dump station just outside the campground. Half of the sites have some degree of slope to them and there are trees and rocks that can make some sites difficult to navigate and some blocks could be required to level.

Our site, #13, had a tree that had been chopped back to accommodate large rigs,
and rocks delineating the parking area. Utilities were on the wrong side, but
were reachable. That's our sitting area on the left.

Sites with hookups are $20/night, $16 without hookups. There is also day use parking for $7. One can even stay in the host site if there is no host for $25. There are two small cabins overlooking the water for rent.

This campground is mostly frequented by boaters, fishermen and ATV riders. In the middle of summer we heard it is booked solid, but surprisingly it is lightly used on the shoulder seasons. There were probably 10 sites full on Sunday night and only 6 on Monday night. The weather was gorgeous we were very happy to be in a beautiful and quiet setting after the hustle and bustle of SLC.

Even though the weather was perfect for ATV riding, there were very few here making it peaceful and allowing us to use the ATV trails for hiking and mountain biking. There is a foot/bike only trail at the North end of the campground where we surprised dozens of pheasants and rabbits whenever we walked it!

Our Verizon and Millenicom 3G cell and internet service worked well here.

All sites, with the exception of the row near the boat launch, are arranged
around a central grassy area with nice separation between sites. Photo taken
from the trail at the North end of the campground, our rig is hidden in the trees
in the center of the picture.

Shower (free) and restroom facilities were clean and new looking. There are horseshoe pits and a sand volleyball court.

Nearby in the State Park there are boondocking sites along the shoreline, as well as boat-in camping and another campground on the East side of the lake that also can handle large rigs.

Yuba State Park

Yuba State Park is an oasis in the high desert and we are staying at the Oasis Campground. It is mostly frequented by boaters and ATV riders, but is lightly used in the fall making it a perfect, peaceful stopover as we headed South from Salt Lake City.

We've hiked and biked the ATV trails on the small hills around the campground and found this area to be bursting with wildlife (at least it is during this quiet time of year). We've surprised dozens of pheasants and cottontails and jack rabbits and even a family of deer from their daytime hiding place. The fishing must be amazing here as we see fish jumping all day long.

We took a loop drive around the lake and checked out the other developed campground in this State Park: Painted Rocks. This campground is a bit different from our current campground in that it can accommodate more large rigs, the trees are young and small, no grass, more sites with amazing waterfront views, more exposed to the wind. It offers electric and water at all sites, with a dump station at the entrance.

Snow capped Mt Nebo overlooks Yuba Lake.

Oasis Campground in the trees next to the lake, the snow-capped
Manti La Salle mountains in the distance. We are camped on the NW side
of Yuba Lake State Park.

You never know what you'll see while out hiking!

Some of the water view sites at Painted Rocks campground, on the SE side
of Yuba Lake State Park.

Old on the left, new on the right. My new bike seat has made riding a pleasure.
It's a Serfas Gel saddle; adding comfort where needed and removing pressure
where it was uncomfortable before. Ride on!

Campground Review: Salt Lake City KOA

We chose the Salt Lake City KOA because of it's proximity to the city center and the very good reviews on RV Park Reviews. When staying in a large city we like to explore the neighborhoods so the location worked well for us.

It is a different camping experience to be in a very large RV park; they have 210 sites, 2 laundry facilities, a pool and hot tub, a barber shop (!), 2 RV/car washes, a Mexican restaurant, and more. There are a number of folks renting sites on a monthly basis and there is a separate section with about the same number of sites that house some mobile homes and permanent RV sites. At this time of year the short term sites are about 50% full. It would be quite crowded if the place was full. There is every variety and age of RV possible and we happen to be camped next to another Montana!

The sites are quite close together with a patch of lawn and a table and a tree. You share an electrical pedestal (30 & 50amp) and water spigot with your neighbor. Sewer connection is grouped with the other utilities as well.

The park is bounded on two sides with major arteries; Redwood going North/South and North Temple heading East/West and only about a mile into downtown. Interstate 80 is only a couple of blocks South and I-215 and I-15 are each less than a mile away. There is a major train corridor less than half a mile away and the airport is a mile or so West. This illustrates the potential noise level in this park. If you sleep with your windows open you may need earplugs as the road noise is not drastic but is ever present white noise. The biggest noise maker is the train whistles! Especially at 4am...

You can access the Jordan River Bike Path from the campground.

Staff was very friendly and helpful. We had two packages mailed here with no problems. I even got a bunch of roses from a friendly volunteer who was trimming the bushes at the time!

Verizon/Millenicom 4G cell and internet service was pretty good, but sometimes it bogged down.

We paid $175 for one week which included the KOA club 20% discount. We signed up for the club upon arrival and it did pay for itself by staying for one week. Also, this park (or perhaps all KOA's?) gave us 7 days for the price of 5.

To top it all off, we met fellow full timers George and Lulu and their Dobie Rocky here. We shared some great happy hours and got some good advice on riveting for a project Hans took care of.

All in all this campground was a pleasant place to stay with good access to all parts of SLC. My only real complaint was the train noise! If we needed to be centrally located in SLC we would stay here again.

We shared utilities with the trailer on our right. Parking area for
your truck or towed is offset to allow privacy for your seating area.

That's our grassy area and picnic table