Thursday, April 28, 2016

Heading home and one more disbursed site.

On our way out of Moab on Hwy 191, we looked at one more disbursed area. The ones we've stayed in already, can get busy with ATV'ers.  If someone wants more privacy and quiet, Darby Wells Road is a good choice.
38 42 57.72  -109 41 32.06

Ran into some snow around Vail  Pass and again, near Dillon/Silverthorn.
Dillon Reservoir. Frozen and snow covered.
The Heaton Bay campground on Dillon Reservoir is one of our favorite not-far-away places.

We're planning on heading out again towards the end of May. Most likely staying in the CO mountains.



Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Rocked out for now

It rained most of last night and today. Nature must love it. Pools of water formed in the rocks for the animals to drink and the plants got a good soaking. For us the plus was keeping the dust under control.

We headed into Moab this morning with the intent of staying around for another week. After talking about it, we decided we had about seen enough rocks for a while so decided to head home in the morning. We're at the BLM Goose Island campground tonight. It's the closest BLM campground to town making it a very convenient place to stay. Good VZ coverage is a bonus.

A number of years ago, some friends took a trip to Italy, Greece and Egypt to see old stuff. Bob commented that after a while, one pile of rubble pretty much looked like the other. Rocks are like that too.

The most spectacular view was from Dead Horse Point. Our favorite camping area was the disbursed area off Willlow Springs Road.



Monday, April 25, 2016

Dead Horse Point State Park

On Saturday, at our disbursed camping site on the mini 'mesa' off Dubiky Road, we sat through a dust storm. The weather stations said a steady 35-40 mph wind with gusts to 50+. In the morning there was fine red dust in all the window tracks, on the counters, cabinet trim, etc. The stovetop was covered with a thick layer of red dust. I'm guessing it blew in through the range hood vent. Next time, I stuff a rag in the outside part of the vent.

Sunday morning we left our nice disbursed site and drove to Canyonlands, NP.

We took a driving tour of the Island in the Sky part of Canyonlands. There are two other parts of Canyonlands; The Needles and The Maze. The Willow Flat campground is $15/night. First-come, first-served. There were vacant sites when we drove through.
Dead Horse Point SP is very, very popular in the "season". We lucked into a two night cancellation a few weeks ago. There are  electricity and toilet facilities, and a dump station but no showers. Water is hauled in from Moab. $30/night for camping. The main overlook trail is paved. From her wheelchair, Carol got a good look at the canyon and distant river.
The park brochure says that the view from the overlook is one of the worlds most photographed sites.
Here are a few of mine. There were photographers with $1,000+ equipment. An iPhone suits our  needs.


Reminded us very much of the Grand Canyon. The road below is accessible by 4 WD vehicles via the Potash Road in Moab. Another time perhaps?

That's the Colorado River some 2,000' down



Got a little rain today, accompanied by some hail. The water is surely needed plus it helps keep the dust under control.

Tomorrow we head back to Moab.  The Parrot Guy I met, told me about some areas he thought we would find interesting. We'll check them out.

Disbursed camping off SR 313. North of Moab.

UT 313 runs west off of US 191 north of Moab. It leads to both Canyonlands NP and Dead Horse Point SP.
The general rule along 313 is that camping is only permitted in the 'regular' campgrounds.

There are popular disbursed camping areas along 313.

One  is along Spring Canyon Road and Dubinky Road. These are 'official' BLM disbursed camping areas. Spring Canyon Rd is easily found  by turning north at the sign for the Big Mesa BLM campground on the north side of 313. Probably 8-9 miles from 191. As you drive along either of these dirt roads, you will see numerous smaller red dirt roads leading to disbursed areas. There are dozens of camping areas. Good VZ signal in most areas. Ted is adding some to his campground database.
Teds public campground site