Off on Road Trip2.0

I am sitting at campsite 5, talking with a woman named Sharon who is also sitting here. I remarked that it was an interesting internet cafe.  

But, that's what it is.  We are at Red Canyon Campground, just outside of Bryce National Park, and the park hosts informed us that we can get a wifi signal, of all things, at campsite 5.  So I guess this is the place to make friends.

Now, it is important to mention that we are at Red Canyon Campground in a National Park in Utah, and NOT at a Red Canyon Campground in a National Park in Utah where we have a reservation.  It turns out that there are TWO National Park Red Canyon Campgrounds in Utah, and our reservation is some 400 miles away.  Even with the new pickup we can't make that tonight.  Two of them?  Like how were we supposed to know that having never even been in Utah. 

But the one we are in is great!  We are surrounded by, well, red canyons that loom above us.  We pay an exorbitant $7.50  per night, and there are flush toilets!  And sinks with running water.  And showers ($2 a throw, but worth it). 

We had a terrific trip to Utah.  Everything went as planned (except the fact that we didn't know there were two Red Canyon Campgrounds in National Parks in Utah and our reservation is at the other one). 

Our first day was a short one, mileage-wise, but we wanted to get on the ferry and through Seattle at a time when traffic wasn't horrible.  So, our first night was at Denny Creek Campground in Snoqualmie Pass.  It was peaceful, although a little noisy because it is fairly close to the interstate. 

Leaving home: 

Denny Creek Campground:

The next day we drove to Oregon, and stayed at  Farewell Bend State Park. 

 

 Lots of parks have ways of limiting campers' water usage.  Sometimes, though, they don't always make sense.

Our next campground was at Utah Lakes State Park.

We left Utah Lakes about 10:00 and stocked up on water, groceries, and gas.  We knew our next stop was at a place where we could not get water hookups or electricity.  We also hoped to camp and hike for about 10 days without having to go into a town for more food.

We drove about 250 miles to Bryce/Red Canyon.  It was fun day because we used an "App" on our IPad to follow Jules' bike ride on Whidbey Island.  We could follow him almost all day until we finally lost a signal about mile 90 of his 100 mile ride.  Here is what the app looked like on our Ipad.  We could picture him riding most of the day, since we had ridden with him frequently.  A big part of this ride for him was trying out his new bike, a really nice one.

He's the purple dot, and we're the blue one.  Of course most of the time we zeroed in on where he was, and could see exactly where he was and on which road.  It was fun.

 We didn't realize how high this section of Utah was.  Almost 8000 feet!

Here we are.  What a rough life.  We have a great spot, with a terrific view.  We removed the camper from the pickup, and tomorrow we start hiking.  We are so excited.