There must be something special about the number 12 when they use it to designate highways. We went on a Highway 12 in Colorado and it was just gorgeous. Today we drove into Torrey and then turned south on Utah Highway 12 and it is truly extraordinary. The well-maintained two lane road starts climbing just outside Torrey with an elevation around 6500′ and continues up to about 9600′ between Grover and Boulder. From this stretch of road through the Fishlake and Dixie National Forests the views are down upon Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument AND up to snow-capped peaks to the east. They are magnificent views. This road above the scenery reminds me of the Blue Ridge Parkway with its views over North Carolina and Virginia. The difference here is the scenery isn’t just below you a couple thousand feet. Here the views extend from 4000 feet below to 2000 feet above you. Very spiffy.
In Boulder we turned east on Burr Trail Road headed for another remotely accessed section of Capitol Reef. The Burr Trail Road runs about 30 miles to the west boundary of Capitol Reef but the absolutely amazing scenery along this road is mostly within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The road offers expansive views from ridgetops yet other portions of the road pass through a beautiful slot canyon with the unimaginative name of Long Canyon. A better name would be Magnificent Colors Canyon or Truly Awe-Inspiring Crack or something a bit more creative. The walls are very tall and very colorful along with being quite close together. At the north end of the canyon, the road breaks out at a nice pullout overlooking the entire Waterpocket Fold. This place is stunning.
The road then drops at 10% for a while before flattening out across a high desert mesa with soil the color of red wine. After about 10 miles the road hits the Capitol Reef boundary and it promptly turns to gravel so we chickened out, turned around and backtracked home. For those into 4 wheel drive fun, the gravel road at the end of the paving actually offers the quickest way back to Torrey but tough tires and good equipment would be prudent. If you get hurt down in this remote place, aid is a long time coming and medical help is very far away.
Utah Highway 12 and Burr Trail Road together offer truly world-class vistas filled with extraordinary scenery. I rank these roads right up with Colorado Highway 12 and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
We got some yummy pix which you can see if you click here

We awoke in this gorgeous place again today. A bit of fortified coffee, some eggy stuff and we were back in Charlotte’s front seat for another pass through Capitol Reef National Park. We wanted to get going fairly early today as we guessed that the spectacular scenery here would look different in morning light and we were not disappointed. Strangely, as we drove through nearby Torrey and noted there was a cop car parked in exactly the same spot we saw it parked in yesterday and the day before. I noted yesterday that the cop appeared to be sleeping on the job. We pulled up next to the cruiser today and were surprised to find the cop was a dummy with a head that looked like Richard Petty, except uglier.
Excluding the stops we made in about ten pullouts along Highway 24, we drove straight through the park’s eastern boundary and maybe 10 miles beyond before turning around and heading west with the sun at our backs. On the way back through the park, we saw some amazing stuff. We saw a few wild turkeys, some scrub jays, a Ranger with a shovel, many tenacious and beautiful desert flowers, a boatload of deer and many views of the stunning rock formations in this great place. We took a dirt and gravel road through a wonderful section called the Great Wash, dodging the terrified motorists in substantially smaller vehicles approaching us on a road with scant passing lanes. It was a great, albeit short, round trip down this very pretty slot in the gigantic, looming rock cliffs.
We got back onto Highway 24 westbound a bit later but pulled off at a spot called the Goosenecks. After another little bit on another dirt and gravel road we arrived at a small parking lot where a couple trailheads exit. We took the trail to Goosenecks which turned out to be serpentine courses followed by a river in the bottom of a gorge. The perch at the end of the short trail is 800 feet above the river below and those courageous enough to peer over the edge will note that the first step is a very long one. From this viewpoint, you can see the river 800 feet below, the spectacular canyon it winds through and the colorful cliffs maybe 2000 feet higher near the Chimney Rock area in the background.
From here we headed back west on 24 but turned south on UT-12 in Torrey. About 5 miles later, we turned west on a paved road that took us through Teasdale. Just before we entered town, we passed through some snow which had inconveniently stuck to the road after falling. This made the weather we encountered here today as: bright sun and clear skies in the morning, increasing clouds by midday, thunder and lightning storms as we headed west on 24 and snowfall as we crossed a high spot near Teasdale.
No complaints today. We got to see the park’s assets in bright morning sunshine, took a great hike, made an exploration down the Great Wash and passed through weather from bright sun to snow, all within about 30 miles. What a fabulous place.
There are some pix if you click here

Last night, after we returned from our primary recon of Capitol Reef National Park, the weather closed in and gave us another treat from nature; a lightning and thunder storm which, based on the volume of the thunder, passed directly over us resulting in almost simultaneous cold, blue blasts of light and terrific explosive and crackling noises from the sky. It was fantastic.
I arose this morning and my beloved spouse had coffee already waiting for me. A small amount of fortification later, I was drinking my fave bev and whipping up breakfast for her. Shortly thereafter, we took off for an excursion into Capitol Reef.
This morning the weather was mostly clear with some big, puffy clouds passing over. We started our drive by driving up closer to the magnificently colored sandstone cliffs north of our RV park. We were only able to go a mile or two north on each of our aimless probes before encountering dirt roads which looked shaky for those driving big, traction-challenged pickup trucks with soon-to-be-replaced highway tires. For off-road use, our tires would probably fall within the “maypop” category.
We turned east into Capitol Reef and almost instantly were dazzled by the amazing contrasts, colors and astonishing geology in this place. We turned south at the visitor center and went down the aptly named “Scenic Road.” I understand that descriptions utilizing many superlatives are useless so I will instead venture that this is a place to be included on the Bucket List for all those exhilarated by large scale demonstrations of nature gone wild, albeit with very few critters in the cast. Peggy, due to her superpowers involving vision, spotted some marmots on an enormous rock while driving the gravel section of Capitol Gorge road. We also spotted some brightly-colored scrub jays and some dinky chipmunks but all the other gorgeous features of this park are geologic. Erosion has created a fantastic playground here and I highly recommend at least a pass through the park on UT-24.
The weather turned to scattered brief downpours this afternoon but, fortunately, did not affect our drive down the Scenic Road and the trip down the wash at Capitol Gorge. Once it starts raining, even in seemingly remote locations, those stupid enough not to pay heed to the weather can soon find themselves in need of gills because they will be seeing the world from the perspective of a lahar, or debris-choked flash flood. Right after Peggy drove back onto pavement, the rain started. I hope those that drove down the one lane road to the bottom of the gorge after we emerged were not turned into mulch. We drove the short distance home passing through scattered downpours but made it home without challenges. This place is gorgeous.
Although the camera is never as good as the eye, we took pictures today that can be seen by clicking here

It was a travel day today although we only went about 80 miles. We departed Temple Hill RV Park behind the Manti Tavernacle and struck out going south on UT-89 until we got to Gunnison where we turned off on UT-24. As soon as we got on 24, the road conditions changed from straight roads through farmland to twisting, climbing and descending roads through mountain passes. I think the highest pass was around 8500′ but eventually the road corkscrewed itself down into Torrey, UT, elevation about 6500′. Torrey is located about 5 miles from the western edge of Capitol Reef National Park. The weather cooperated all the way.
We pulled into the Thousand Lakes RV Park which is just a few hundred feet off UT-24. The park has both pull-thru and back-in spaces that are fairly close together, full hookups, wi-fi of dubious value, a pool, a few laundries, a really great camp store, an onsite restaurant with pre-order custom barbecue, a playground, hot showers, a pavilion, cabins for rent and a spectacular view of the multi-colored strata of enormous sandstone cliffs to the north. They even have home baked muffins in the store and scones with honey butter at the restaurant.
Since we had such a short distance to travel, we got to Torrey right about check-out time for the park and we set up very quickly in our pull-thru, shaded site. In less than an hour, we were set up for camping minus the satellite antenna. Since TV viewing takes the seat at the very back of the bus, we decided to take a preliminary spin through Capitol Reef National Park.
According to the Park Service interpretive sign, many former sailors came west and explored this country for the first time by white men. I’m sure the Native Americans already knew their way around. Anyway, the white former sailors allegedly called things to be avoided “reefs” and also thought many of the geologic formations within the park resembled capitol domes, hence the name “Capitol Reef,” Sounds pretty thin to me.
The name they selected is okay with me probably because “A World-Class Testament to the Amazing Forces of Geology and Erosion National Park” may have been deemed insufficiently catchy. Nevertheless, this place is an absolutely awe-inspiring array of some of the most colorful and majestic natural art extant in the world. Peggy and I have been to many fantastic places in the U.S.A during our last 23 months but no place, so far. has shown us the raw, almost terrifying results of geology and erosion in fierce competition like this treasure. Gigantic cliffs loom up from small river and creek slashes through the terrain exposing not less than fifteen easily identifiable strata being chiseled and scrubbed by wind and water erosion. The results are magnificent and might not be equaled anywhere in the world. This park is an E ticket ride. We made one pass each way through the park on UT-24 before returning home, eager to start some serious exploration tomorrow.
We took some pix on our pass through the park and they can be seen if you click here

Peggy and I decided to explore the west side of the valley where we are camped in Manti near the big Morman Tavernacle. We headed back north on US-89 to Ephraim where we stopped and got a replacement rear turn signal lamp at the local NAPA store. They had the part and I gave them about $1.50 and walked out happy.
We continued a few miles north and then turned on UT-117 to the town of Wales. It does not look like any pictures I have seen of Wales. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places. From Wales we got on a very well maintained gravel road and drove south down the west edges of the grasslands and prairie. West of us were some big hills but the scenery was none too exciting. We saw many cows. There were also some sheep. From almost everywhere we drove, we could see the Tavernacle in Manti.
On the way home, we made another stop at Miller’s Drive-In for shakes and they were awful good again. After a stop for fuel we headed back to the campground in order to replace the tail light lamp without any clues how to change bulbs in a fixture with mystery fasteners. After maybe too long, due to consuming some of my favorite chocolate bar, I was able to figure out how to replace the tail light lamp. It was quite a bit easier on my old Toyotas, maybe because the method required was self-evident. Nevertheless, I was successful although I don’t know why. I had some more fun dumping the tanks and otherwise prepping for our departure tomorrow for the Capitol Reef area further south in Utah.

We departed Logan this morning and headed west on UT-30 over the ridge again and back to I-15. We turned south on I-15 through the entire Salt Lake City metropolis. We passed through many smaller cities with names I don’t remember but, after about 2 hours, we turned off at Spanish Fork through a little pass and soon were southbound on US-89. We were pretty jazzed about going so far so quickly, primarily through the excellent conditions on the Utah highways. It is quite evident that they should pass a handheld phone law here because the only dangerous folks we saw on the roads today were happily yakking away while motorists in adjacent lanes swerved wildly to avoid collisions due to the loquacious one’s driving antics. The rest of the folks on the road were okay except a lumber truck driver who was in the #2 lane with roof trusses aboard who kept trying to stab adjacent vehicles with the roof peak sections overhanging the right side of the truck, apparently unaware of the chaos he was causing just behind and to the right of his load.
We drove at a very leisurely pace down US-89 from Spanish Forks through Birdseye, Mount Pleasant and Ephraim before pulling off the road and into the Temple Hill Resort in Manti. The RV park is located directly adjacent to and behind a big hill that has an enormous almost white limestone Mormon Temple that is very spiffy. The park is small with few shaded spots but the views from the park are very nice, there’s a pool, wi-fi and full hookups. It turns out the wi-fi is shit. This place is alongside some 10,000′ mountains to the east and mere 9,000′ runts on the other side of the valley. It costs $18.18 per night with our PA membership. We set up pretty quickly and despite being on the road for around five hours, we still had fooling around time. Daylight savings helps, too.
With our free time we hopped back into Charlotte and took a spin up Manti Canyon Road for about 6 or 7 miles. It is dirt almost all the way but the enormous limestone formations on each side of the gorge are pretty impressive. It is quite a nice drive but we chickened out when the dirt road started to get real narrow, an environment not ideally suited to a 21 foot long, 4 ton 2 wheel drive monster with old people at the controls.
In Manti we found what was originally just a bakery but now includes burgers and shakes called Miller’s Drive-In. Milk shakes were the mission and we were successful. We were bad and ordered large portions which cost us $3.25 a piece but they were great. It is fortunate we do not live near this place because we would happily die from dining here.
You can see a picture of the madman lumber truck driver’s load and some other shots taken during travel by clicking here

We woke up this morning knowing we needed to complete some miserable and mundane tasks like shopping and laundry. Initially, our hopes for fun stuff today were not high. We decided to console ourselves by having breakfast out in a restaurant. We had consulted the staff at Traveland RV Park about good breakfast joints and were directed to the Bluebird Cafe which the staff touted as having good fare, great cinnamon rolls and candy made on-site. Unfortunately, when we arrived we found the establishment does not serve breakfast and does not open for lunch until 11:00. We ate at a nearby spot called Angie’s where the service was excellent and the food was okay. The chicken fried steak I got had a good coating but tasteless gravy and a merely acceptable slice of steak. It was kinda dinky. Peggy stated her veggie omelet was good. We got out for about $30, including tip.
Our shopping then began in earnest as we stopped by the state liquor store. We soon had spent a lot more than the same purchase in California due to being in another western state with punitive liquor laws. Oregon, Idaho and Utah all control liquor sales in state stores and Washington has relinquished control by making merchants extract plainly the highest cost for liquor of any state we have visited. California, due to truly progressive liquor laws, allows sales in grocery stores without price controls. Jack Daniels 1.75 liter bottle costs $30 in CA but almost $50 here. Its $65 in WA. Pesky legislatures.
Our food shopping went well and soon we found we had available time and decided to try a trip up the next gorge south from Logan Canyon where we ventured yesterday. We drove south to a town called Hyrum and then turned east into the mountains up UT-101. Sure enough, here is another scenic extravaganza with the river in the bottom and jagged rock formations forming the steep sides of the gorge. The land around here is called Hardware Ranch and it is beautiful. There is a game reserve at the end of 101 but we saw nothing other than a turkey, some geese, some ducks and a few fishermen. The scenery in this canyon is quite stunning but the road is a bit narrow in places and there is less evidence of springs in the gorge but that won’t stop me from returning here if I have the chance.
During our return, Peggy stopped off and got some new burglary shoes at Big 5. We fueled up Charlotte’s tank and headed for home. I did the usual mirthful activities with the waste tanks and water supplies and Peg knocked out the laundry so we are all ready for departure for points south tomorrow.
We got some photos during today’s travels and you can see them if you click here

We saw Heyburn in the mirrors as we departed that ordinary place. There was a truly beautiful sunset last night which did not show up until after I posted my blog so maybe that place does have some admirable features. We headed south on I-84 from Heyburn towards Logan, UT. Peggy and I were last in Utah 35 years ago and we imagine there may have been some fundamental changes. One thing has remained unchanged: the scenery is gorgeous.
We started the day at about 4200′ elevation and I-84 took us on a steady climb to around 5500′ at a pass near the Utah/Idaho border and continued to have a few more rises up to over 5000′ elevation before we dropped down into an enormous basin where Peggy spotted a big section of dry lakebed of the Great Salt Lake west of the interstate. We continued until we turned north on I-15 for a few miles. We then turned east on UT-30 and made another climb from the basin up about 500′ over a ridge before making our final descent into Logan, UT. The view as you drive over the ridge into the valley where Logan is situated is spectacular; meadows and wetlands in the foreground, the city in the middle and a sharp rise east of town to a line of snow-capped mountains.
We pulled into the Traveland RV Park and right into our pre-paid, assigned spot. The park has a laundry, wi-fi and full hookups but no pool, lodge or gates. It is behind a Comfort Inn motel which pretty effectively blocks the sound from the four-lane highway passing on the other side. Since we traveled almost all the way on the interstate system, we arrived early in the day and had time to fool around after setting up our mobile estate.
Just east of downtown Logan some pretty impressive mountains spring from the flat valley floor. From the center of town the deep gorge of the Logan River runs between between two of the monsters and we took a drive up Logan Canyon, following the River. The change from bottomland to gorge is very abrupt and the walls are very steep consisting of almost entirely jagged rock except where bits of tenacious vegetation like small pines, junipers and aspen trees have gained a foothold. The road closely follows the river and climbs steadily to about 7600′ at the Bear Lake overlook. The view from this spot is pretty breathtaking with a big azure lake in the bottom and the Rockies on the top.
We lingered at the overlook for a while before turning around and heading down the canyon, watching the river cascading along and stopping at Rick’s Spring which is an enormous eruption of water about 10 feet across but not really a spring. It is actually an alternate route for some of the river’s water. They discovered this because folks used to come here to fill water containers with what they believed was absolutely pure spring water. When an ice dam blocked the river during a harsh winter, the spring fired up very early in the year and the believers all got sick from giardia which exists in the river. Fnork.
There are some active springs emanating from the gorge walls and they create some nifty waterfalls. The drive up and down Logan Canyon rates a 9.7 out of 10 on the Mystery Meter of Metaphysical Impossibilities.
Some pictures of the drive from Idaho and the trip up Logan Canyon can be seen by clicking here

We had a day to fool around which we had scheduled without ever being here in Heyburn. This may not have been the wisest choice by me since there is little to do or see here. Our 100 mile round trip to City of Rocks yesterday was terrific but we were unable to find much to see today. Nevertheless, we went looking for some redeeming features and started our day by driving over to Minidoka Wildlife refuge a bit northeast of Heyburn.
The area between Heyburn and Minidoka is almost all farmland except where there are some food processing facilities. Maybe 15 miles into our drive, we pulled up on the north side of the refuge and found the Minidoka Dam. It is an unremarkable structure but there are quite a few interesting aquatic birds there: grebes, American pelicans and big flocks of swallows that were busy feeding on the abundance of nasty little bugs in this area. The bugs were so thick that you could see big clouds of them prior to some of them being smashed on the windshield of the truck. Stopping the truck and getting out is a rallying call for the tiny vermin so it is best to stay in your vehicle unless going for the lumpy skin motif. I’m suppose there are myriad other forms of wildlife here but we mostly saw bugs.
We drove out of the miasma of insects and decided to try a state park called Massacre Rocks about 25 miles east and took a route around the south side of Minidoka where we were fortunate to see a jackrabbit and some more swallows. Massacre Rocks are named for the location where one of the extremely rare attacks by Native Americans occurred on a wagon train back in the 1860s. Apparently it was a back and forth battle but the settlers came out on the losing side 10 to naught. The location is in a quite beautiful gorge of the Snake River that now has a state campground and a boat launch ramp. We drove through the area until we ran out of stuff to see which took about 20 minutes.
From Massacre Rocks we drove about 3 miles to a place called Register Rock where early settlers carved graffiti into a big boulder near the Snake River, leaving their misspelled names and accurate dates of their passage on a big basalt boulder. This place is on the National Register of Historic Places but seems unworthy of a special trip to see it. Instead, one can drive almost anywhere near railroad tracks here and see a plethora of graffiti painted liberally onto boxcars as art in motion.
This concluded our excursion to see all the fascinating Heyburn vicinity attractions we could find. On our way back home, we drove through Burney on the other side of the Snake River from our campground and stopped at an allegedly Chinese restaurant named Shon Hing for an early dinner. Peggy ordered a mystery pork dish and I ordered something called General’s chicken. Both dishes were not very good. The pork dish had vegetables that had been properly vulcanized to the point of tastelessness and the General got his chicken from a bag of frozen white meaty stuff. The fried rice was white which raised the question of what fried rice should look and taste like. We were not going to get the answer to this question at Shon Hing. To top it off, the little pidgin-speaking waiter attempted to have us pay way more than the food was worth through a massive arithmetic error in addition. I caught it before we paid. He didn’t even look sheepish about his abacus work.
I am sure that Heyburn residents consider their home a vibrant, interesting community but we do not agree. I will borrow a phrase from a movie to describe the place: Heyburn is a place with few admirable qualities but, taken as a whole, I was wrong to have thought so highly of it. For our readers: Give Heyburn a pass.
Despite Heyburn’s null set of attractions, we did take a few wildlife pictures toady. You can see them if you click here

Another day of exploration today and we decided to go see something we did not know existed called City of Rocks National Reserve. It is just a little north of the Idaho/Utah border about 50 miles south of our current camping spot in Hayseed..no…Heyduke….uh….Heyburn, ID.
We started the trip by driving across the Snake River on US-30 into Burley where we turned south on ID-77. We passed through tiny towns called Albion, Elba and Almo before turning west on a dirt and gravel road into the Reserve. We hadn’t gone very far on the gravel before we came across a small cattle drive tended by a young guy and girl and using the road as the pathway. They were very nice about us fouling up their drive and told us to just drive through the herd. The cattle were very nice, too, but they did leave quite a bit of green splatter on the road as we approached from the ugly end of the beasts.
The Reserve is pretty small (hence the dirt road) but has some dispersed camping spots and lots of big rock monoliths that are always preferred by those wacky rock climbers. Apparently, they were also favored by pioneers coming across the country in wagons because they used to stop here and left their names on the rocks with axle grease for paint. The rock projections pop out of green pastures up at about 6200′ elevation. The hills on the horizons have quite a bit of snow on them. The rock formations are shaped such that they sort of resemble big dinosaurs or turtles or monsters and, in some cases, penises. Very sexy.
The gravel road extends from where we came in near Almo and remains gravel and dirt up through Emery Pass at 6800′ and then descends toward Oakley. It is pretty plain that you are passing through different climate zones on the way because the plant and flower types keep changing.
This little hidden gem is absolutely gorgeous. There are many places to stop and take short hikes and the changing vistas along the road are magnificent. It is a pretty long drive from anywhere to see this place but the trip is worth it. If the weather is uncooperative and rains or snows, it might be better to see the Reserve another day unless driving a four-wheel drive vehicle. We spotted many birds, including some Lazuli Buntings, Red-winged Blackbirds, hawks and lots of finches and swallows. We also spotted about a dozen mule deer and big, fat gopher snake patrolling the road near Oakley.
There are some pix we took along the way and you can see them if you click here