Bryce Canyon

Oct 3    Zion National Park - Bryce Canyon National Park   84 miles   2 hrs 15 min

After lunch, we drove to Bryce Canyon. We drove the Mt. Carmel highway. This 12-mile scenic highway connects the South and East entrances of Zion. From Zion Canyon, the road travels up steep switchbacks, through the historc Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel, and emerges on the east side of the park. There are restrictions for large vehicles, we had to pay $15 for traffic control. Because of the tunnel's size, for large vehicles, traffic is stopped so we can enter by ourselves and drive in the middle of the road.

Traffic backed up when we came out of the tunnel

We found a campsite at Bryce Canyon. Dry camping for $30 a night. Had dinner at Ruby's Inn. Very good country buffet. Saw the sunset at Inspiration point and made a campfire. It was really cold, about 45 degrees.

Sunset at Inspiration Point

Nothing like a campfire when its 45 degrees outside

Oct 4  Ruby's RV Park, Bryce City         2 miles

We moved outside of the park to Ruby's RV Park. Kind of expensive here.

Keahi & Miki on their way down

After setting up at our new campsite, we went back to Bryce to do a hike. We did the Navajo Loop/Queens Garden hike. It was about 4 miles and took us about 1 hour 45 minutes. We all got a good workout. Was kind of chilly today, about 65 degrees. Good, we would've been sweating on that hike with all the switchbacks going up and down. This hike was awesome...so scenic.  We really enjoyed it.

Awesome!!!

The girls trying to hug a tree

Which way now??

Amazing views

They thought they were almost done

Still going

After that workout, we went back to the campsite to have lunch and jumped in the hot tub.....so relaxing!

Zion National Park

Oct 2   Hurricane - Zion National Park     30 miles     1 hr

Today we drove to Zion National Park. We have reservations at the Watchman Campground for only 1 night. Hard to get reservations here, need to book months in advance. We have an electric site, paid $18. Next January, the rates will go up to $30 per night.



Miki's been wanting to do the Narrows hike, so that's what we did. It starts off with the Riverside Walk which is an easy 1 mile hike. A paved trail follows the Virgin River along the bottom of the canyon. Then the Narrows start. The Virgin River has carved a spectacular gorge in the upper reaches of Zion Canyon. The Narrows, with its soaring walls, sandstone grottos, natural springs, and hanging gardens can be an unforgettable experience. It is not, however, a trip to be underestimated. Hiking the Narrows means hiking in the Virgin River. At least 60 percent of the hike is spent wading, walking, and sometimes swimming in the river. The current is swift, the water may be cold and deep, and the rocks underfoot are slippery.

After our hike today, we had an awesome dinner. Joe grilled some rib eye steaks, zucchini, eggplant, and onions....so ono! Oh and for dessert, cheesecake!!!!

An unexpected guest at dinner

Oct 3   Last Hike at Zion




We're leaving for Bryce Canyon today, but before leaving Zion, we did one more hike. We started on the Kayenta Trail that has moderate drop-offs. An unpaved climb connects to the Emerald Pools. We went to the upper, middle, and lower Emerald Pools. We hiked over 4 miles, and it was hot! At the end of the trail, we stopped to cool off in the river....so refreshing! When I got up from sitting on the rocks in the river I dropped my camera....right into the river. After a couple of days of drying it off in a bag of rice, I recovered the pictures but the camera is shot.

Utah

Sep 27   Rock Springs, WY - Jordanelle State Park, UT      161 miles     3 hrs 20 mins

We crossed the stateline and entered Utah today. Staying at Jordanelle State Park. They have electric and water hook ups for $25 a night. Very nice here.

Cooking our dinner

Our site with a nice view

Jordanelle is located in a scenic mountain setting near Heber City and Park City. Jordanelle Reservoir was created when Jordanelle Dam was built on the Provo River as a water storage for the Central Utah Project. There's a lot of water activities here, especially in the summer. They have a lot of day use picnicking areas along with the two different camping areas. We're staying at the Hailstone Campground. The views are amazing.

Sep 28     Jordanelle State Park - Fillmore, UT     136 miles     3 hours

We drove for 3 hours today to Fillmore, Utah. When we left Jordanelle State Park and got on highway 189, the scenery was awesome. We're spending the night at Wagon West RV Park. Pretty decent campground just to overnight. They offer a Passport America rate so we get 50% off. Full hook-ups for $22, can't beat that.

Very nice scenery on Hwy 189

It's a waterfall

Sep 29     Fillmore - Hurricane, UT   148 miles  2 hrs 45 mins

Drove to Hurricane, Utah today. The campground is called WillowWind RV Park. Very nice here, with lots of shade. They gave a Good Sam rate of $35 per night. They also have a weekly rate starting at $210 and a monthly rate starting at $395 plus electric.





The location is very good. About 25 minutes from Zion National Park and about 2 hours from Las Vegas. We paid for three nights. Will stay tonight, tomorrow we leave the RV and drive the car to Vegas to pick up our daughter Miki and niece Keahi who will be joining us for the next few days. Will drive back to WillowWind on Thursday then head to Zion. We're very anxious to see the girls, we miss family.



Sep 30  Las Vegas

We left the RV at WillowWind and drove the Kia to Vegas today. Checked in at Sam's Town for our 1 night complimentary room and drove downtown to meet Papa Rudy and Uncle Mike. They've been in Vegas for about a week and fly home tomorrow morning. We found them in Golden Nugget on the blackjack table. We ended up playing for a while, made some  money, then went to dinner at Claim Jumper in the Golden Nugget. Was really nice hanging out with them, they are a blast!

We met Keahi back at Sam's Town. She flew in from Colorado, where she's a student at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. So happy Keahi's able to join us.

Oct 01  Back to WillowWind

Miki flew into Las Vegas early this morning, so happy to see her! We went back to Sam's to have her rest a bit, went to In-N-Out to get some burgers for lunch, then on our way back to WillowWind to start our adventure with Miki and Keahi.

Keahi, Joe, and Miki ready to start our adventure

Wyoming

Sep 26   Custer Park SD - Rock Springs, WY     476 miles   10 1/2 hours

We decided to leave Custer Park one day early and start driving towards Vegas. Our daughter Miki, and niece Keahi will be meeting us this coming Thursday. No plans on how far we were going today, just got in and started driving.

It turned out to be a very long day. Joe felt fine driving so we pretty much left South Dakota, crossed into the east side of Wyoming and drove all the way to the west side of Wyoming. We ended up stopping in Rock Springs, WY and finding a Walmart to camp overnight.

Crossing this bridge in Wyoming

A herd of pronghorns

Pronghorns all over the place

Love the colors

Custer Park, SD Part 2

Sep 24   Game Lodge Campground - Stockade North Campground  11 miles  30 minutes

This morning we went to the Arts Festival down the road from our campground. They had all kinds of art, crafts,entertainment, and food. Joe & I both had a buffalo burger then later, I had a bowl of buffalo chili. Was very good.

Then we moved 11 miles to the Stockade North Campground. We're still in Custer Park. Will be here for 3 nights. It's dry camping for $21 per night. It's nice here, lots of trees and very quiet.

Some turkeys in our campground

Sep 25  Buffalo Roundup

The Buffalo Roundup was awesome! We got up at 5am, had breakfast, packed up some goodies, and was on the road a little after 6am. The traffic to the North sighting was awful, it took us over 2 hours to get there. Seems like thousands of cars headed to the same place. We finally got there and made our way to a spot on a hill, along with a few thousand spectators.

The line of cars went on for miles

Pronghorns commonly referred to as antelope

At least the scenery was nice

Buffalo coming over the hill

The buffalo finally made an appearance around 1045am. They came over a hill, around a corner, into the corral.

Around the trees

Notice all the people at the South viewing on the hill

Through the gates to the corral

This guy got caught in the mix

Then a few minutes later another herd of buffalo came. But as they got closer, you could hear the cowboys cracking their whips and yelling. Somehow the buffalo got spooked and started running in different directions. The cowboys had to chase them down and turn them around, it took them a few minutes.The buffalo came through the gate close to us. There was a lot of excitement from the buffalo, cowboys, and spectators!