9-19-16 - Heat Escape - Day 39

                                                            Campground Fire Pit

We lazed around again this morning, We ate lunch around 10;30 while watching The Young and The Restless, then headed to Vernal to stock up at Walmart and fill up the truck with diesel.

When we got back from town, we thought it was a take it easy kind of day. We went through our brochures for the area and decided to ride to the Indian Petroglyphs Dry Fork Canyon. We thought this would be a good way to spend a couple of leisurely hours.

We stopped and admired the American Flag on the cliff remembering the victims of the battleship Maine in the Havana Harbor.  It was beautiful.

We thought we were going to see some easy accessible Petroglyphs at the Sadie McConkie Ranch .  We donated the $5 as requested, and went on the main trail.  We thought for a little while that we had overpaid, then we saw the sign to walk an additional 3 blocks to see more.  It was a little more work, walking up the hill than we expected, especially being we were actually sweating a little.  It was a hot 82 degrees, I had to pull off my sunglasses because my eyes were sweating.  Wasn't expecting this.

After hiking the main trail, we saw the sign for 3 Kings Trail.  We went through the cow pasture, watching deer, and dodging cow manure, praying there was not a mean ole bull out there, to another area that had even better petroglyphs.

                                                    End of trail (3 Kings)

                                                                    Zoomed in

We were kinda tired when we returned to where Amber, (motorcycle) was parked..  We had a snack at the picnic tables, and continued our ride to the lower Dry Fork Canyon.  It was a beautiful ride through the canyon  where there was plenty of BLM land.  We turned around after a little while on the dirt road, Red Cloud Loop.  After we turned around, we realized that the dirt road was smoother than the paved.

                                                          Tiny House for sale $49000

We got back 4 hours later, woke up Fernykat, and sat outside for a while.  This is the warmest evening that we have had in quite a while.  It may be a little warmer, but not nearly as bad as the hot humid weather we have escaped from.

It has been a great week at Outlaw Trail RV Park, but we will part tomorrow and continue on our Happy Trail.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/REKgq4mqLoPVH7EE6

9-18-16 - Heat Escape - Day 38

We took the back roads to Jones Hole Fish Hatchery.  We, (at least me,) enjoyed the back roads.  We saw a deer within a half mile of the campground, saw several golden eagles, (didn't get a good pic.,) and some more deer.

The little country bumpy roads turned into awesome.  We were all the sudden going up the hill. slowly around the curves, when all the sudden we had beautiful views of Diamond Mountain.  Not what we thought we were gonna see today.  Again. AWESOME!

                               

We walked around and saw the fish being fed at the fish hatchery, we took a stroll down the banks and saw a few fish in the stream on a nice trail, talked to some fishermen, then made our way back to the Harley.

                                                             
We had our picnic lunch overlooking Diamond Mountain.  It was less than 80 degrees and a beautiful view.

Lunch spot

                                                     

We made it back to camp early and got the dreaded washing of clothes done.  This is the best laundry that I have ever been in. It makes life so easy and simple to have good washer and dryers.

We had Parmesan chicken on Zucchini tonight.  Another awesome meal.

We talked with the owner of the campground for a while tonight.  She is very enthusiastic about the park and so are we. We would't mind another visit here.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/FpB4p5qaFKfpyv9L9

9-17-16 - Heat Escape - Day 37

                                                                   Good Morning

We ate steak and eggs for breakfast, then packed our picnic lunch and headed toward Flaming Gorge Dam.  It was a beautiful ride, with 8% grades and lots of curves. We took our time stopping along the way taking pictures.  It got cold, 56 degrees on the summit.

We continued on our beautiful ride to the dam.  We decided to take the walking tour of the dam.  Awesome dam tour guide.  She was very informative, not only about the dam but about other things in the area to see and do.

                                                    Best Dam Tour in Utah

                                                          Feed the fish at the bottom

We left the dam and drove to the Wyoming state line, only about 10 miles. We went back across the dam and went to Red Canyon.  Gorgeous!, and we saw big horn sheep and turkeys.

We continued on our journey to the Sheep Creek Geological Loop, this was an amazing drive.  We made it back to Highway 44 to look at kokanee salmon.   It was 4:30 pm and we hadn't ate lunch yet.  We stood by the Harley and ate our lunch then went to look for the salmon.  We found a few.

We took highway 44 to highway 191 to Vernal then home.  We saw at least 10 mule deer on the way back across the pass.  It was still in the 50's across the summit.  We scooted on down  the 8% grade, 10 curves in a mile, or whatever the sign said.

Of course, when we got home, Fernykat was ready to go outside.  She got cold and went in earlier than us.  We took a few sunset pics and called it a night.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/Eqmw5aZEcyruYTog9

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