Kaibab car camping

 So, our truck is still in limbo...to repair or total?  We wanted to get away for a little camp out and decided we could do it in our Pirus but only on a great dirt road not too far from the paved road.  We knew the right spot and got the tent and all of the other needed stuff packed up.  It was a full load.  We left Wednesday morning and drove to Cameron Arizona to start the trip off with a Navajo Taco (we split one) for lunch at the Cameron Trading Post.  So delicious! After lunch we drove over to see the Little Colorado River Gorge where we visited the different viewpoints. It is so deep! Then we drove back to Jacob Lake (with a stop at Lonely Dell Ranch - no fruit ready to pick there) and after some ice-cream and cookies we went to get our camp set up.  We found a great spot just off the road a little ways near the Murray Lake Trailhead of the Arizona National Scenic Trail.  We actually camped right next to that part of the trail.  It was a great spot with no hazards for our lowrider car to get there.  It has been awhile since we tent camped!  We thought about just camping under the stars but it was a little breezy so we decided to put two cots in our tent and use our air pads on top of them along with our down backpacking quilts.  It worked out well.  It was a full moon night, so it was good to be in the tent to make it a little darker!  It was cool and quiet.  We played some card games in the evening until bedtime.  In the morning it was pretty cool, so we stayed snuggled in our beds for a little while.  When it was time to go, we stopped in a Jacob Lake and then headed home through Kanab and then Zion.  We stopped off in Kanab to see their new reservoir.  It's a nice lake that has a trail all the way around it and lots of different sports activities along the side.  Zion was as breathtaking as ever on our drive through.  Paul still can't walk too far, so we only did a little walking during the whole trip.  Soon he'll be on the mend and we'll be able to do more!  This was a great little get away and we needed it!  Someday we'll get our truck back or get another one.  

Stout Canyon Campout!

We left Thursday after school to go camping hoping we could camp close to Mammoth Cave again.  When we got up on Cedar Mountain we saw smoke that looked like it was over that way.  We stopped in at the fire station by Duck Creek and they said they were doing a controlled burn over that way and that we should not camp there.  They suggested going to Stout Canyon.  We started off to go there and stopped in at Harris Flat to look for a closer spot, but it was all a burned out area.  We went on to Stout Canyon and wondered if we would ever find a spot, but then we found the perfect spot!  It was off the road enough to be private and had a small stream running right by it.  Behind it was beautiful forest and above that were Cedar Breaks type rock formations.  We got things set up and had a great dinner. Then after a short walk, we played some games and went to bed.  (Paul got a perfect score in 5 Crowns!)  

In the morning we went for a down canyon road walk and saw lots of beautiful scenery and Heaton ranches.  Then we got in the truck and drove the rest of the canyon to see where it came out!  Then more exploring including driving up Strawberry Ridge road until it mudded out.  We thought we were heading to Strawberry Point.  We did see lots of wonderful campsites along the way.  Next, we did find the road, a better one, to Strawberry Point.  It was beautiful with a view that made the drives worth it.  You could see clear to Zion.  Then we drove some other roads including Unita Flat and found more great campsites!  It was a beautiful day to see beautiful places.  Then we headed back to camp for some lunch and a nap.  After that we took a heinous uphill hike to see those beautiful red rock formations behind our camp.  We ended up finding huge seeping areas covered in heavy grass.  We thought it was just grass until we stepped into the water underneath!  Crazy all of the seeps going on in this area once we knew what to look for.  We did make it up to the red rocks.  It got a little iffy going up very steep games trails, but it was cool to be up there among the rocks.  Then we followed game trails back down the very steep way back to camp.  

At camp we had time for a few games before we made a great dinner.  Then we took an up canyon walk and stopped in at what looked like a cowboy camp.  We had seen them on the way in.  It was all men from young to older and lots of horses/mules.  Turned out to be kind of a male family reunion.  They had taken all their horses/mules and gone riding in the Dive of the Buckskin canyon that day.  We had a good chat and they even invited us for dinner!  It was fun to talk to them.  Then it was back to camp to get ready for bed.  In the morning we packed it up and headed down to take Bean out for breakfast at    I-Hop. Then it was time to head home.  While coming back over Cedar Mountain to Bean we had a tiny hail storm, but the predicted rain didn't really do much more than that. It was such a wonderful camp and fun time of exploring beautiful places!  

Labor Day weekend fun!

We finally decided we'd go camping over in the Kaibab. We wanted to go somewhere cooler! We got an early start on Friday morning.  Since we had time, we decided to stop and visit the Pipe Springs National Monument on the way there.  We spent quite a good time there seeing the film, doing the visitor center things and then walking around the fort and grounds.  We even did a half mile loop trial.  It was amazing to see how people could make a life in such a desert location because of the little spring that's still flowing today.  There was controversy between the original inhabitants (native Americans), the pioneers and then the US Government. In the end, the government settled it.  The Kaibab tribe is still a part of the management and lives in the area today.  It was and interesting and enjoyable activity to start our week end.  

We arrived at the Kaibab/Jacob Lake Inn about 3:00 and had a great snack that included some of their cookies.  Then we found a campsite pretty nearby and got things set up and took a nap.  Then we drove over to Lee's Ferry/Lonely Dell Ranch to see if any of the fruit was ripe.  Neither apples nor pears were ripe unfortunately, but it was a pretty drive.  When we got back we had a great dinner at Jacob Lake.  After that we drove as far as they allowed toward the Grand Canyon.  Many roads are blocked off.  We only got as far as the Country Store/Camp ground.  Then it was time to head back to get to bed.  In the morning we took our walk and enjoyed the cool, cloudy weather.  It was so beautiful.  Then we went to breakfast at Jacob Lake.  It was pretty slow, but also pretty good.  They were actually very crowded with lots of firefighters and other people (some bow hunters) staying there.  Then we went back to camp to take pills/brush teeth and get ready for the day.  We decided to drive to the view points since you couldn't see the canyon other than that.  It was a beautiful forest drive.  We saw some wildlife along the way - deer, birds, lots of chipmunks playing chicken in the road, wild turkeys, and 7 Kaibab squirrels that were nearly impossible to photograph!  We were excited to see that many...more than any other times we've been there.  It had been raining over there and was still cloudy, so it was cool.  There had been another fire going at the time of the one that burned the lodge, etc. You could see it's devastating effects as you were coming up the hill onto the plateau with miles of trees burned along the road and then on  over the hill and down the road toward the Vermillion Cliffs.  It was so sad to see so much destruction of beautiful forest.  But, we were glad about there still being a lot left, thank goodness.  It was a wonderful, cool, relaxing campout!  

We finished up the fun with a Lava Point picnic and beautiful Kolob Terrace Road drive with Bean on Monday afternoon.  The weather was fine with beautiful clouds.  Our picnic was tasty and we enjoyed the drive through the woods.  

Tushar Campout!

 Monday we got things ready and headed up to Beaver/the Tushars for a great campout...and it was!  I don't know if it was because it was Monday or not, but almost no one else was out there camping.  We saw some people by Lebaron Lake and later found some other people very hidden away, but that was pretty much it.  Of course there were parked trailers around as usual, but no people with them.  The best thing was that our favorite camp spot was not one of those as it has been most every time in the last many years.  We had it all to ourselves!  We had a spot of trouble on the drive in losing a leveling leg of the camp trailer, but it is something that can be fixed and we were able to work around it.  We got set up and Paul made us a delicious pork chop/mashed potatoes and gravy dinner!  After dinner we had time to take an evening walk and enjoy the amazing scenery.  One thing that really stood out on this camp were the amazing purple lupines that were SO abundant and beautiful.  We can't remember ever having seen so many in bloom any other time we've been here.  There were lots of other beautiful flowers mixed in too.  

Tuesday was a full day!  In the morning after breakfast we decided to make the drive up to Big John's Flat.  Along the way we explored some other possible campsites and found some good places.  We stopped and "chatted" with a mule and some horses too.  We hiked around a little bit at the top of the mountain.  We could see that there was a forest fire quite a ways off in the distance. We topped out and then found a good lunch spot that even had a picnic table there and then we drove the heinous road down the other side of the mountain to Marysville.  Sadly, most of that side of the mountain/canyon had been burned in a forest fire since last time we'd been there.  So many beautiful trees burned up.  At Marysville we saw some cool sculptures as we drove through town.  We decided to drive up to Boullion Canyon and explored the old mining stuff there.  Then we made the steep hike up to see Boullion Falls...we were glad to get there!  On the way down we found an old cabin/outhouse that we checked out.  Pretty cool.  We got a little numbered guide to sites along the canyon road and did that on the drive back to Marysville.  When we got there the artist of the cool sculptures was out and we stopped and talked with him.  Really interesting.  Then it was time to head back up the mountain to our camp via the Junction road.  We got back and had a great chicken soup/grilled cheese dinner.  We took a little walk and then drove over to check out the Anderson Meadow Campground - very nice.  It was right above Upper Kent's Lake.  We walked around the lake some and it was crazy because the fish were jumping out of the water everywhere to catch the bugs!  It even made me want to try fishing!  Time for bed then.  

Wednesday we slept in a little and then took a morning walk down to Lebaron Lake and came back and had a great breakfast.  Then it was time to get packed up for home.  We got everything stowed and the trailer hooked and left at about 10:30.  We hated to leave the beauty all around, the wonderful cool mountain air, and the peacefulness, but our campout time was at an end.  We stopped in Beaver for some cheese and got home with no trouble.  It was one of the best campouts ever I think!  

First Campout of the year- Pine Park!

Oh what a great first campout of the year we had at Pine Park!  No one was there except us until just as we were leaving.  We went on Friday afternoon and came home Saturday afternoon.  We got there about 5:30 and got everything set up and took a walk up to overlook the canyon and then made a delicious dinner of pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh green salad, and ate it outside.  We had some some wonderful Costco Danish for dessert.  After dinner we  took a short  hike up the South Boundary Trail and then came back and enjoyed watching the full moon rise and sitting out and enjoying the cool evening with the frogs croaking in the stream nearby.  We slept quite well in our little trailer bed.  

In the morning we took a hike up one canyon until it got too impassable and then went up another until we wanted to get out of it.  The streams were full of little fish and things were starting to green up.  The manzanita was blooming.  When we wanted to be done in the canyon we found a good place and climbed up and out of it. We saw bright red Indian Paintbrush up there. Then we went over to enjoy the amazing white rock canyons hiking through them on the way back to our camp doing about 4 miles in the process.  We love the amazing rock formations there.  They are made of bright white volcanic Ash-flow tuff in hoodoos, pyramids and mushroom shaped domes and undulating slickrock basins. These spires have eroded from thick deposits of white volcanic ash-flow tuff known as the Tuff of Honeycomb Rock .  An ash-flow tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash, rock, and gases derived from explosive volcanic eruptions. Pine Park lies at the edge of the ancient Pine Park caldera--one of dozens of calderas spanning from southwestern Utah, across central Nevada, to the border of eastern California. Back at camp we ate leftover Danish and green salad.  We took a nap and then it was time to pack it up and head home.  On the way home we made a stop at the Mountain Meadows Memorial site.  It's such a sad thing that happened there.