Almost Full Circle

A picture of us at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

The last state to cross before returning to California.

    Our journey has come almost full circle from California back to California. We are spending our last days on the road in Nevada, trying to linger a bit before the return to California. Our originally planned date to be back to Colfax was October 27, next Tuesday, but we are near Austin tonight (Wednesday, October 21), a destination we have reached in one day from our Colfax home in the past, so doubt we'll stay on the road for another week. Also the long range forecast calls for snow at Tahoe on Sunday, and we definitely don't want to navigate mountain passes in the snow with LesThora. In the meantime we are enjoying these last days in Nevada.

    After leaving the Bryce Canyon area last Tuesday, October 13, we took the long way to head toward the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We wanted to see the Vermillion Cliffs area of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and a bit of Lake Powell. We were hoping for a camping spot for the night at a campground at Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River just below the Glen Canyon Dam but we dilly dallied so much on the way that by the time we got there the last spot was taken. I think that was the most disappointed I have felt about not getting a camp site, and it made us both a little nervous as we headed west on the lonely road toward the North Rim. However, we were surprised, and lucky, to spot a wide spot just off the road where we could camp for the night. It was beautifully situated immediately adjacent to the Vermillion Cliff Wilderness area, and the road traffic was very light.

I think this was the only time there was a good place to pull off the road so I could get a  picture of the state sign without trying to catch it through the windshield.

Lake Powell

I have very mixed feelings about these huge dams and their impact on the environment, history and culture of the regions where they are located, but the blue water contrasted with the desert colors was beautiful.

The canyon a few miles below Glen Canyon Dam and where the first Navajo bridge was built across in 1929. This picture is taken from the old bridge which is now a walking bridge next to the more recently constructed bridge that is a pretty close replica, but more able to accommodate modern traffic loads.

The two birds sitting here on the new Navajo Bridge as seen from the old bridge are California Condors. When we first walked across the old bridge I noticed the birds, but didn't pay a lot of attention, thinking they were turkey vultures, but that they looked a little bigger than I think of turkey vultures. There was a visitor center for the Navajo Bridge and one of the interpretive signs there mentioned that there were California Condors that had been reintroduced to this area. I took a closer look on the way back, and I am certain that's what these birds are. The first time we saw California Condors was at Pinnacles National Park several years ago, and they really do look like giant turkey vultures. I love that the Yurok tribe is working on a project to bring California Condors back to the north coast of California at Redwood National Park, and I loved getting to see these Condors in Arizona!

What looks like a balancing rock near Lee's Ferry.

The Vermilion Cliff Wilderness right next to where we camped for the night on Tuesday, October 13.

    Wednesday we drove the rest of the way to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Despite a horrible parking situation made worse by the park closing a large section of the parking lot so new stripes could be painted we managed to find a parking space so we could walk out to the rim which is about all we did there before leaving that parking lot and finding a nice picnic spot along the rim on our way out of the Grand Canyon. The campground there has been closed all summer due to a water problem. We had stopped at De Motte Campground, Kaibob National Forest, on the way to the canyon rim and found a spot to camp for the night, so after our lunch we headed to our camp site.

Part of a Bison herd we saw on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

I took a picture of the Grand Canyon National Park sign, but this one was much prettier.

Part of the trail/walkway to Bright Angel Point, North Rim Grand Canyon.

The North Rim gets many fewer visitors than the south rim does, but there were lots of people here the day we were. A number of parks and campgrounds have commented that this has been a very unusual year with not many foreign visitors like usual, but lots more United States visitors than usual. We have talked to more than one family that is traveling with their school age children because they are tired of distance learning at home when they can do it anywhere.

Us on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 

We have been to the South Rim 25 years ago, but never to the North Rim together.

I went for a walk in the afternoon up a road from De Motte Campground and enjoyed some of the yellow Aspen trees. We saw lots of Aspen in Utah and Arizona in various stages of autumn changes - some large stands of trees completely bare of leaves, some yellow leaves, some orange leaves, some still green, and it all seemed random and not related to elevation. 

    The first time we went to the red rock country of Utah and Arizona 25 years ago I fell in love with Zion National Park, so of course I wanted to return there. On Thursday, October 15, we headed back to Utah so we could see Zion. We didn't expect to get a camp site, but looked forward to driving through the Canyon. When we got to the entrance station we found out that the free shuttle in and out of the canyon required a reservation and they were all gone for the day, and no private vehicles could drive in the canyon. Yes, we could ride our bicycles through the canyon, but first we'd have to find a place to park and the Ranger was not encouraging about that, but said we could go to the visitor's center and see if there were any open parking spaces for our 26 foot vehicle. I was feeling pretty down about the prospect of not getting to see Zion at all, but we lucked out and got the one remaining parking spot that barely fit LesThora. We ate our lunch and then unloaded the bicycles for the 16 mile round trip ride through the canyon. It was hot and though pretty gradual, it was still uphill along the Virgin River, and I wasn't sure we'd go all the way to the end, but the scenery was stunning and we made it to the end of the road and then walked the 1 mile trail back to where the Narrows trail that actually includes walking in the river begins. We didn't take the Narrows trail, but we enjoyed the walk, the gorgeous scenery and the shade that was now our companion as the afternoon got later. We had a wonderful, cool ride slightly downhill the 8 miles back to LesThora. We left the park pretty late and weren't sure exactly where we'd find a spot to camp for the night. We managed to find a place for dispersed camping near Hurricane, Utah, not too far west. Hurricane was aptly named that night. There were strong gusts of winds that persisted past midnight, shaking LesThora and making it hard for me to sleep. I think that was my most uncomfortable night of the whole trip.

    

Zion National Park scenery

More Zion Natinoal Park

More of the beautiful Zion rock

The Virgin River in the Canyon at Zion

       On Friday, October 16, we entered Nevada and headed to Valley of Fire State Park, a place I'd heard of some time ago and really wanted to see. It did not disappoint and we managed to get a campsite with electricity for two nights. It was a beautifully kept campground and a truly beautiful park. Valley of Fire is Nevada's first state park and features red rock that was sand dunes millions of years ago. It kind of looks like red, sandy play doh fashioned into an infinite number of configurations. There are other colors of minerals mixed in in some locations giving rainbow and other affects, but the predominate color is red. Friday afternoon we walked to nearby petroglyphs and Saturday morning we rode our bicycles to the visitor's center and around the park near our campground. This was the Nevada desert which means during the middle of the day when the sun is out we stayed in the shade and started a jigsaw puzzle. Sunday, October  18, we drove the scenic drive in Valley of Fire State Park, stopping at various places including to take a hike to Rainbow Vista where the first picture in this blog was taken.

Kind of hard to see the Welcome to Nevada sign with all the other signs.

Near our camp site at Valley of Fire State Park

Some petroglyphs near our camp ground 

A flock of big horn sheep we saw on our bike ride. We watched two of the rams stand off against each other and then but horns which made a very loud noise. I missed getting a picture of them clashing.

More of the Red rock shapes at Valley of Fire

Some more Red!

Arch Rock at Valley of Fire State Park

Do you see the heart shapes in this rock?

On an early morning walk on Sunday near our camp site I saw lots of tracks, including these. 

Anyone know what made these tracks?

    Sunday we headed north to Cathedral Gorge State Park where we found another beautiful Nevada State Park, very different from Valley of Fire, but very interesting and wonderful. We stayed there two nights also and hiked in the morning, and finished the jigsaw puzzle in the middle of the day. 

Some of the unusual formations at Cathedral Gorge

A slot canyon, this one pretty narrow.

But we both made it through to continue exploring. 

There were a number of these slots, none of them going too far, but they did meander just enough to make you wonder if you could get lost.

A trail next to the formations

A view of the top of Cathedral Gorge

Notice the horizontal line? These fascinated me.

A view from our Monday morning hike.

Another view near the trail. This looked like a slot canyon that got blocked.

The view looking down from our Tuesday morning hike.

The view looking up on Tuesday's hike.

Notice the structure to the left at the top?

This structure, like so many things we have seen in parks across the country was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

    After leaving Cathedral Gorge yesterday, Tuesday, October 20, we continued north toward Highway 50 with our destination being Great Basin National Park on the eastern edge of Nevada. A visit to Great Basin National Park probably 30 years ago played a big factor in my coming to love Nevada and I really wanted to return before we headed back to California, but I felt resistance as we had to turn east for 30 miles to go toward the park, instead of heading west. It feels a little like we are the horse headed to the barn at this point. I was so glad we did get to Great Basin National Park. It was beautiful and adorned in fall color. The upper campground at almost 10,000 feet that we camped at with daughters Erin and Ruth so long ago was closed for the season, and we couldn't have driven there anyway because the road to it is limited to vehicles under 24 feet. We found a beautiful campsite at Lower Lehman Creek Campground right next to the creek, nestled in some colorful trees. We took a short hike up to the Upper Lehman Creek Campground before heading inside out of the cold evening. This morning I got up early to enjoy the sunrise and take a hike up the hill for a ways. We are seriously considering trying to be camp hosts at Great Basin National Park next summer.

There was no good sign for Great Basin National Park, so this one will have to do.

Some pretty fall color

The creek by our campsite

LesThora nestled in amongst the beautiful fall color

Can you see the deer that greeted me on the end of this morning's hike?

And no, it is not a buck - what look's like antlers are just tree branches.

More fall color on this morning's hike

     Today we left Great Basin and headed west on Highway 50. We wanted to get a chance to visit Camp Kelly, a United Methodist Campground near Austin, Nevada a little over 200 miles from Great Basin National Park. I got contact information last night for someone to let us into the campground and was sort of figuring we'd do it tomorrow, but we decided we could make it today so we drove a little faster and harder, I think, than has been our custom and made it to Camp Kelly about 2:30 this afternoon. It is hard to describe what this place means to me. It was definitely not love at first sight when we came here for the first time over 30 years ago, but it is part of what feels like home to me now. As I got out of LesThora to open the gate, the smell of the sage brush hit me like it has every time we've returned and I was delighted to be here. We found a fairly level spot to park LesThora for the night and explored some of the campground infrastructure we helped build so many years ago. We walked the trail I built that needs some maintenance, but was still possible to follow. We'll just stay here one night, but I treasure this place and all it has meant to me, including the people we have shared it with.

Another Eureka, this time in Nevada. Eureka Nevada is between Great Basin and Austin..

   

My trail - faint, but still there after all these years.

Rob standing on the rock at the farthest reach of the trail - a little over a half mile from the campground.

The view across the valley from Camp Kelly at sunset.

I got a rare opportunity to take a picture of Straus and Elsie together. 

As soon as I lift the phone to take a picture Straus usually gets up and leaves, but this time he was actually further away from Elsie to the right when I started to take the picture and when I picked up the phone he got up and moved behind her to "pose,"