Beautiful tree near Lake Washington

Taken Saturday, April 26th near Seward Park on Lake Washington in Seattle 

Home again

We made it back safely to Wenatchee on Wednesday afternoon, April 23rd. We had a good trip other than again having problems with our left blinker on the trailer. We have an appointment in a week to get it checked out.

Those fuel prices are sure a killer. We spent about $1500 on fuel during our 5 week trip. That sounds like a lot - which it is, but when you think about the alternatives for traveling it's not too bad. We figure we spent about $400 on RV sites during our trip, so the total for the trip was approximately $2000. During that time we saw St. George Utah, Glen Canyon Dam, Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, Natural Bridges, two districts of Canyonlands, Arches, Capital Reef, Goblin Valley, and Bryce. It was a really fun trip.

We're looking forward to seeing our new grandson this weekend. Toddi and Hudson are over at her mom and dad's home in Anacortes this week. Our summer is shaping up to be busy. We have signed up for several weekends at Circle 8 square dance ranch, plus are attending the state festival in June.

Bryce Canyon NP

 

Bryce Canyon NP

 

Pronghorn antelope at Bryce Canyon

 

Bryce Canyon NP

 

Fred Flinstone at Kodachrome SP

 

Kodachrome Basin State Park

State park in Utah near Bryce Canyon NP 

Bryce NP and Kodachrome Basin State Park

On Friday morning we left Escalante and drove to Kodachrome Basin state park. It's named for the Kodak film of the same name due to it's beauty. We signed up to stay here three nights but bailed out after two nights. It was very windy on Saturday and was causing Bob havoc with his allergies.

On Friday after settling into the park, we headed out on our mountain bikes. There was one trail in the park where we could ride, so we thought we would give it a try. We're not that great at mountain biking so did a fair amount of walking as well! But, the views were great and we certainly burned up a few calories.

Saturday we were up bright and early to drive to Bryce Canyon. The weather was sort of warm - upper 50's, but windy bursts. We did every viewpoint, plus did a short hike on the Navajo loop trail.

Sunday morning we left Kodachrome and drove to about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City where we spent the night. We're headed to Hill AFB just north of SLC this morning.

RV at Capital Reef campground

 

Little Wild Horse Canyon

 

Little Wild Horse Canyon

 

I thought this one looked like E.T.

Goblin Valley 

Goblin Valley

 

Hickman Natural Bridge

Capital Reef 

Escalante, Utah

We left Moab on Monday morning, April 14th. We drove to Goblin Valley state park. We were hoping to stay there, but the campsites were full. We did a couple small hikes while at the state park. That afternoon we moved over to the BLM camping (free). It was very windy! After dinner we did a hike into little wild horse canyon. This was really beautiful. We didn't see the whole thing, but hiked enough to get a flavor of the canyon.

Tuesday morning we drove to Capital Reef National park. Again we had lots of wind. We spent two nights at Capital Reef. The wind really caused problems with Bob's allergies and he was pretty miserable. I did a hike by myself to Hickman Natural bridge in Capital Reef NP on Wednesday.

Thursday morning we left Capital Reef and headed west. We drove through Bolder and onto Escalante. Along the way we stopped and did the Lower calf creek falls hike (6 miles round trip). The weather was really nice - no wind and in the 60's. Today we're headed to Kodachrome basin state park near Bryce. The weather report looks good - upper 60's. We'll be north of Salt Lake City on Monday and Tuesday evenings at the Air Force base. Then back in Washington by Thursday.

La Sal Mountains in background from Arches NP

 

Landscape Arch - Arches NP

 

Fiery Furnace hike

Getting ready to go through narrow area between rocks 

Fiery Furnace area where we hiked

 

Kissing Turtles Arch

On the fiery furnace hike 

Canyonlands NP - Island in the Sky

 

Upheaval Dome - Canyonlands NP

 

Arches and Canyonlands

Tuesday we arrived in Moab. Wednesday was a little cool with rain threatening. So, we decided to do laundry, do a little cooking, and look around town. Late in the afternoon, it hailed and then poured. The next morning when we awoke, it had snowed just a little.

We headed up to Arches National Park. While in the park we first signed up for the Fiery Furnace hike on Saturday. Then we proceeded to tour the park and do several hikes. We hiked around balanced rock, did the windows and double arch trails, and then the trial to delicate arch. This is a pretty neat trail. It climbs about 500 feet over 1 1/2 miles. You can't see the arch until you're very close to it. See the picture here on the blog.

Friday we headed to Canyonlands National Park - the Island in the Sky district. We did a rim walk, the hike to upheaval dome, and a short hike to Mesa Arch. The same day we headed over to Deadhorse Point State Park. This park had some beautiful views of the river. The name comes from a story that some wranglers drove a herd of wild horses to the point. They then selected some horses and left the others behind a baricade to die of thirst.

Today, Saturday, we headed again into Arches NP. At 10:00 this morning we did a ranger (volunteer) led 3 hour hike into an area called Fiery Furnace. It was a really fun hike climbing through arches, through slot canyons, and up and over lots of slickrock. Next we drove to the end of the road at Devils Garden and did the hike to Landscape Arch.

For dinner we decided to try the Sunset Grill up on the hill above Moab. The meal was excellent, but the service left a lot to be desired. The restaurant used to be the home of Charlie Steen, a geologist who first discovered a huge pocket of uranium back in the 50's.

Deahhorse Point State Park, Utah

 

Deadhorse Point State Park

Utah state park near Moab 

Us at Delicate Arch

 

Double Arch - Arches NP

 

Balancing Rock - Arches NP