Boondocking categorized most of our camping this week. Bridger-Teton NF in Wyoming, Indian Rock BLM in Idaho and Flight Park State Rec area in Draper Utah. Lots of folks use these types of camping places and everyone is respectful. We loved the mountains and valleys we were privileged to see from our campsites. We viewed the night sky in the telescope at Teton park where our eyes were full of Grand Teton Mountain standing 13,000+ ft high. Hwy 26 follows the Snake River from Wy to ID and the terrain is mountainous. And guess what!!! We found our beloved Southern Comfort eggnog for our coffee. Best find today! Idaho has a lot of forest fires burning in the north, but we didn’t encounter any smoke. Indian Rock BLM is situated between hills and mountains close to McCammon ID. Again, we watched the night sky (sans telescope). Flight Park State Rec area is situated on top of a high plateau where folks can have some paragliding fun. It is surrounded by a berm, and we could see the night lights of Salt Lake City and neighboring towns (population around 1 million) from the top. We woke up to brisk winds and over a dozen people with colorful paraglides on top of the plateau. There is a nice landing place down over one side of the plateau and a huge sand pit/cement plant on the other.
In Salt Lake City we hoped to walk around the Mormon Temple, but it was under construction. We were able however to walk around a couple of buildings that were once used for worship services, but are now just used for concerts, etc. They were quite ornate, and the guides called the first settlers pioneers. The folks on the street were friendly.
We first learned of Hurricane Fiona on Tuesday. Going to hit NS, PEI and NFLD with brute force. We prayed that our loved ones and our homes would be spared.
Ben and Zach had given us a book named “Road Food”. Some guy travelled around the USA and wrote about his eating experiences. So we found Mom’s Café in Salina UT. It is a little café that was started almost a hundred years ago. A person would think that they would have learned how to cook French fries in that period of time, but maybe they like limp crunchy fries! Everything else was top shelf though! Salina is a hole in the wall small town, very friendly.
We made our way to Capital Reef NP in Utah. The landscape made a drastic change – rock formations, gullies, and gorges were aplenty. The scenery is stunning as we travelled over Apawa Plateau which has an elevation of over 8300 ft. The little RV was earning her keep! Capital Reef is surrounded by huge rock formations and has lots of trees. There is no cell service at the campground – only at the visitor centre a mile away. All national parks have evening activities and Thursday evening offered night sky viewing with a guy that had a 16” Dobsonian scope. Saturn was quite visible with its rings. And national parks have a lot of different hiking trails. We hiked Cohab Trail – a 2.2 mile hike over the mountains and valleys close to our campsite. It was a hot sunny day and we were out on the trail for almost 4 hours. Again, the scenery was unbelievable! This is wild cat territory, but no mention of rattlesnakes.
On Saturday morning we contacted Ally and Mike to find out how the hurricane had been. It was the worst hurricane to hit the Maritimes with sustained winds of 100 k/h and gusts of up to 140 k/h. Lots of damage, but thank the Lord our families were pretty well spared. Power was put out with many not expecting reconnection for up to a week. Trees and power lines were knocked down indiscriminately and many houses and cottages were completely destroyed. We are quite saddened by that report. But we hear of countless stories of people helping people and the resilience of the sturdy Nova Scotian! We will continue to pray for our fellow Maritimers as they struggle to clear the mess. Jesus calls, “Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And “My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
On a happier note, our drive to Lone Mesa BLM, close to Moab UT was full of beauty. Harsh landscape, like another planet which looked like petrified lava with deep ridges. It is barren high desert with canyons named Desolation Canyon and is part of the “Outlaw Trail” used by Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch as they hid after some their nefarious jaunts. We came upon Jackass Joe’s in the middle of nowhere – a store chock full of different varieties of jerky, pop and beer (and a few souvenirs), but not a single jug of milk (which we needed). So we paid $8 for 2 bottles of rootbeer.
After making camp and having supper we watched the stars pop out. The desert is the ideal place for starwatching.
Let's Do The 180! 