9-16-16 - Heat Escape - Day 36

                                                       Another beautiful day in Utah


It was 45 degrees this morning.  I slept in while Lauren made coffee and warmed up the camper.  I cannot remember ever turning on the heater during the month of September in Mississippi.

Lauren cooked a great omelet.  We had apricot preserves with our omelette, thanks to our good friends.

I thought this morning, as I rolled out of bed that I was a little bit tired.  I had muscles that hurt, but today would be an easy hiking day.   As Clyde would say. "W R O N G!"

When we got to the Quarry Entrance of Dinosaur National Monument, the park ranger recognized my doo-rag from yesterday, (thanks again to my St D Family).  We had planned to hike between Green River Campground and Split Mountain Campground.  She made a call and confirmed that part of the trail was closed at Green River due to a power pole falling.

She told us her favorite trail is the Trail of Silence.  We decided to take the 3.2 mild to strenuous hike.  We were kinda bored for the first half, when we were in the wash, switchbacks, where you couldn't see anything except the red bluff next to it, kind of trail.  All the sudden, it was on.

                                                                    The Wash

                                                                     Friend

                                                              Pano from the top

We crawled, scooted, climbed, and realized why this was the park ranger's favorite trail.  It was absolutely gorgeous and challenging.  The Sound of Silence song kept playing in my head.

We made it back to the Harley, and rode to Split Mountain Campground, had our picnic snacks, and went on the 1.5 mile trail.  It was pretty and very informative.

informative signs along this trail

                                                  Some of the signs were from grade schoolers

                                          Viewing the view, near Split Mountain boat launch

We both have to say the 3.2 and 1.5 mile trails seemed a lot longer.  When we got back to camp, we had been over 7 miles each according to fitbit.

The ride back was 70 degree weather in shorts and short sleeves.  It was wonderful beautiful day!


Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/H9x5mt6jH7p7sTp66

9-15-16 - Heat Escape - Day 35

                                                     Beautiful Day for exploring


I woke up at 9 am this morning.  I felt really guilty about sleeping so late, until Lauren said he had got up at 8 am.  We were both tired from the 5:30 am wake up call from the hail storm yesterday.

Being we got up so late, after drinking our coffee, we decided to have lunch before we went hiking in Dinosaur National Monument.  As we were eating, we had a knock on the door.  Jim Carver stopped by.  We had a great visit.

We took the the asphalt queen on the gravel road to Josie Morris' cabin and hiked the Box Canyon and Hog Canyon trails.  Very pretty.  I kept thinking how strong Josie must have been to have lived off the land in the middle of nowhere until she was 90 years old.  OMG!!!

                                                             Josie's cabin

                                                                    Hog Canyon trail

                                                               end of Box Canyon trail

On the way back down the dirt road we stopped and took a hike up the hill to find petroglyphs.  It was addictive, the more we found, the more we wanted to find.  We had to be careful as we were looking up the hill side to watch our footing.  Lauren was, (as always,) more adventurous than me.  He went on the little goat trail around the side of the mountain to see what was on the other side, as I was scooting back down on all fours on the loose gravel heading back down.  He saw a beautiful view of Split Mountain and then passed  me by on the way down.   As I have said before, I have a fear of heights.

                                                                       Pano

We thought about going back to camp after we had hiked about 5 miles.  We stopped at the visitor center and checked out the Fossil trail.  It was kind of boring  until we saw a Dinosaur spine in the hill.  Again, we were amazed at the excitement of looking up the hill and finding dinosaur bones.  We now have a new past time, petroglyphs and paleontology.  Who would have thought it??

                                                                     Spine

                                                                         Leg???

                                                                  Another large bone????

                                                             Fish scale fossils (small circles)

When we returned home, Ferny had to come outside. She kept patting, digging, and exploring under our outside rug.  Who knows, maybe she is "digging up bones," she may become a cat paleontologist.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/vHLnKpK6JBfUBC9S9

9-14-16 - Heat Escape - Day 34

                                                              Our wake up call (hail)


It was a nice relaxing sleep last night.  The only concern I had was, if,  I might invade Fernykat's space while she is sleeping at the foot of the bed, by Lauren.  She does bite, (gently,) if I make a mistake and invade her space.

A little after 5 this morning,  I woke up and thought I was in the pine trees of Timberlake with the pine cones hitting the side of the camper.  Only problem, I'm not at Timberlake and we are in a campground with no trees.  Then, it sounded like we had fireworks showering down on the roof of the camper.

All three of us jumped out of bed.  All of us running around, then Fernykat headed back to the closet. It was hailing.  We were sure it was a least golf ball size then Lauren opened the door and it was only about the size of a dime.  Thank goodness.

We also heard a flock of geese honking as the hail was hitting the top of the camper.  Lauren said a few choice words about the hail and the geese.

This afternoon, we went to Vernal and ate at a Chinese restaurant, and did some shopping.  By the time we got back to Jensen, the sun was a shinning.

We rode to the Quarry Entrance of the Dinosaur National Monument.  We had heard that the dinosaur fossils are awesome.  Words cannot describe what it feels like to be looking at at all those fossil bones from billions of years ago that are in that hill.  Too many emotions to write about. If you are ever in the area, you really need to experience this place.

We ate a steak and baked potato for supper tonight then watched the clouds cover and uncover the full moon tonight.  This was so much more relaxing than the start of our day.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/Qq2Ry8H3933p9DMA9

9-13-16 - Heat Escape - Day 33

                            We relocated 43 miles west to Outlaw Trail RV Park in Jensen, Utah.

 After we set up camp, we had bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch.  Those fresh Colorado tomatoes were good.

                                                               Ferny approved?????


We went back to Dinosaur National Monument to drive Echo Park Road (12 miles of bumpy, dusty, narrow, curvy road,) to see Steamboat Rock. It was very beautiful ride, (except for the road,) Along the road is the old Chew family ranch house, Petroglyphs, and many bumps and curves. (have I mentioned that)

                            

                            

                            

                                                              original RV

                           

                                                               Steamboat Rock


                                    We saw several herds of pronghorns coming and going.

It begin to rain on the way back.  The temperature was 80 degrees when we left camp, at one point it dropped to 46 degrees.  We were in the mid 50's when we returned to camp.

                                                                    Back to Utah

Fernykat insisted on coming outside when we returned home.  She lead me around for a while, then all the sudden she headed to the door.  About the time she got in, the rain started again.  We are in for the night.



Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/jyPvc3RzMMCEDn8E6

9-12-16 - Heat Escape - Day 32

                                                              Welcome to Rangely

We had a good omelet for breakfast this morning.  We have it down pat.  Lauren was cooking breakfast while I was packing our picnic lunch.

We decided to take a ride to the Quarry entrance of  Dinosaur National Park.  On the way, we stopped in Dinosaur, Colorado and called Jim Carver, (Lauren's classmate from Poplarville), who has been in this area for a few months. We met at the welcome center and had a great visit.

We continued our journey to the national park. It was very a great day for a motorcycle ride.  We decided there is a lot of stuff to do in this area so we checked out RV parks in the area and have found our home for the next week.

                            

When we returned, Fernykat was a little hesitant to come outside.  Being there was no rabbit in sight tonight, she got real bored, real fast, and went back inside.  She is still pouting about leaving Pam and Chuck's.

We kept seeing the rainy looking clouds in the mountains on the way back to camp.  We were lucky enough to get back without getting wet.  As we were grilling pork chops tonight, the rain started, then the rain stopped, and the wind begin to howl.  We feel like we are out to sea sitting inside the camper tonight.

                                               
                                                  All Colorado products to make this beer

Tomorrow is relocation day.


Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/LbRP29j7X8sc11bo6