Parks – Page 5 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

January 30, 2020 Organ Pipe Cactus NM

The plan for today was to drive the Ajo Mountain Road and hike a couple of the trails along the road. I woke up about 6 am and thought I would go out and watch the sunrise after I made my morning coffee. I made my way to the top of a hill and enjoyed the quiet of the desert morning. The sky was crystal clear which made for a pretty but not spectacular sun rise. I ended up wandering up into the desert and ended up with a nice walk while enjoying my coffee.

I tried a little artistic shot of an Organ Pipe at sunrise, but I miss the real photographer in the family.

After returning to Scout and puttering around for awhile I bought another day for the campground before taking off for the drive. The Ajo Mountain loop is a 21 mile gravel road up into the Ajo’s. Both hikes are near the base of the mountains. One is called Arch trail and is an easy 3 mile out and back, though I never did see the Arch. The other trail is two trails that connect to lead you to an overview that gives you views into Mexico, and back towards Ajo. When I got to this trail I was feeling a little lazy so I decided to hike the flat part and skip the 1000 foot climb to the overlook. I was able to follow two Park Service Rangers out looking at plant life.

Two nice examples of the namesake cactus of the park.

The park is being significantly impacted by the current government immigration policy. A large portion of the wall is being built across the valley floor at the base of the Monument.

It was early afternoon when I returned to the campground for lunch. I was planning one more short hike from the campground for the afternoon, but instead I ended up talking to my neighbor John for a couple of hours about Tiger ownership, military experience, and blogs. John and Yvette’s blog is www.theturtleandthetiger.com, it is their adventures full timing in a Tiger around the US.

This bird was singing up a storm when I went by.

Before I realized it it was dinner time and time for me to do my evening catch up with Ton. I ended the day with another interesting Ranger Talk on how nocturnal animals navigate in low light. The Ranger talks are one of my favorite things about the parks, and the young men and women who share their passion for the parks and nature always gives me a warm feeling.

January 29, 2020 Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Today I reached the target for the trip. When I was looking for places to go both Ton and Dylan my son said that I should visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. So I am here now, and I am really glad they recommended this place.

I was pretty low on fuel so the plan was to find a gas station before I left Yuma. I plugged the Monument into Greta and she gave me a different route than I took yesterday but I figured there would be a gas station on the way. The route took me through an extensive agricultural area in the desert. I learned why the Proving Grounds tested bridges in the desert as the Colorado River runs thru Yuma. The agricultural area is a result of tapping the river water.

The green of the fields against the desert mountains was jarring.

I ended up on the Interstate without gas and I really needed gas so I got off at the first available fuel. When I pulled up to the pump they were really gouging so I put in enough to get me to the exit from the freeway. A little further up the freeway I saw fuel at a reasonable price so I filled up. With the fuel problem solved i headed on down to the Monument.

The drive thru the back country was pretty quiet, with no towns for about 70 miles until I came into the old mining town of Ajo. My family has a connection with Ajo as my sister lived there for a few years. On the way out I plan on stopping to check it out.

The drive into the monument is lined with all types of cactuses not just the Organ Pipes that the monument is named after. On arrival I was a little worried about campground availability so I headed up there but there was plenty of room and the Ranger told me I could pick any spot that had a green card on it. As I was driving in I saw another Tiger like ours which is pretty rare. The spot next to it was empty so there are two Tigers parked side by side. The couple is from Massachusetts and they are full timing in their Tiger.

Scout parked up next to a large Saguaro cactus.

Once I settled in and finished lunch I decided to head for the visitors center along a walking trail where I got an introduction to all of the different types of cactus in the Sonora desert.

There are four types of cactus in this photo if you look carefully.

They were giving a Ranger talk when I got to the visitors center so I caught the end of it. After I consulted with one of the volunteers and made a plan for the next couple of days I headed back to Scout to prepare dinner. After dinner I spoke to my other neighbors who are also from the west side of Portland and finished the day with another Ranger talk on coyotes.

October 28, 2017 Grand Canyon NP

These gals were hanging out at the RV dump station. They were there both days.

We started out the day by switching campgrounds. Last night we had the luxury of a full service campground in the park. But that spot was only available for the day so we had to switch to a dry spot for the second night. Temperatures are supposed to be in the high 30’s so it will test the cold weather adaptation of Noi and Dang.

After getting settled for the day we took the bus out to Hermits Rest and worked our way back to the village. A lot of the smoke had blown out of the park, and it was as clear as any of our visits there. Of course everyone, (but Ron) took a lot of pictures.

As the day wore on we split up, Dang and Noi went for sunset. Ron and Ton opted to head back to the village for a while, and went back to the truck early to prepare for dinner.

These flowers are all over the desert this time of the year. Ton really likes them.

It was a very long day but worth the time and effort.

October 27, 2017 Grand Canyon NP

Today Jeap had to return to Thailand so the morning was spent sending her off to the airport in Page AZ and picking up some groceries at Safeway. After that we headed to the Grand Canyon.

Though it is late in the season the park is still pretty packed. We were able to get the last spot in the full service park so tonight we have electricity and water. Tomorrow night Dang and Noi will experience their first night of dry camping, and the low is supposed to be around freezing so it should be an experience.

There is a controlled burn going on in the national forest so it looks like conditions for pictures are going to be less than optimal unless we get some wind overnight. Ron and Ton decided to take it easy, while Dang and Noi went out to take pictures.

October 26, 2017 Bryce Canyon NP

While Elephant did not move today, we all did. When planning the trip Ron was very skeptical about visiting Bryce Canyon this time of year. But, the weather the last 10 days has been spectacular, so we decided to take a 300 mile roundtrip to Bryce in a rental car.

Bryce is Ron’s second favorite National Park. Because of the time crunch we limited ourselves to the Navajo trail, and sunrise and sunset point areas. We also stopped in the Red Canyon as we entered the park. As the weather was almost perfect it was another great day in Bryce Canyon.

The Hoodoos are spectacular at Bryce any time of the year.

Glen Canyon was also very beautiful even though we did not spend any appreciable time there. Ton said that we need to come back and spend some more time in the future.

October 25, 2017 Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

An example of the shapes from Antelope Valley.

Today we visited Antelope Valley which is a poor mans The Wave. Antelope Valley is a wash where at two points water is funneled into very narrow canyons that are almost caves. These flash floods make for an incredible variety of shapes and the light from the very narrow opening at the top adds spectacular colors. It is mandatory to use a Navajo tour guide to enter the wash where the canyons are.

Ron rode up front with our guide, and he gave him the history of the valley. Up to 1997 it was virtually unknown and little visited. Two things happened around then that changed it to a heavily visited attraction under control of the Navajo. In a great bit of marketing the Navajo invited National Geographic to do a photo shoot around then and when it was featured in the magazine the interest spiked considerably. Then later in the year a guide entered the wash with 10 customers despite the gates being closed. It turns out that while it was not raining in Page at the time, it was storming up in the mountains, and while they were in the canyon a flash flood swept thru and the only one that survived was the guide.

A shot of the entrance to the canyon at Antelope Valley.

Today they allow up to 70 people into the wash per hour, and it is run with military precision, as all of the tours are booked months in advance. While they keep you moving and it is a little bit of a cattle call, it is very much worth doing if you are in the area.

May 20, 2016 Sedona AZ

Today was spent exploring some more around Sedona. This time we did some drives out into the Red Rock Country. Besides spending some time taking pictures of red rocks we drove out to an ancient Sinagua Indian site. Unfortunately we arrived just as they were closing and were only able to catch the end of the petroglyph tour. The short tour was fascinating and the Ranger from the Forest Service was knowledgeable.

Typical Red Rock formation around Sedona.

We also visited Red Rock State Park. We joined onto a tour that was in progress and it was ok. Our impression of Arizona State Parks is that they are quite expensive and a little underwhelming given the cost. I think we are spoiled with the Oregon State Park System that is relatively well funded by the State.

May 18, 2016 Sedona AZ

We decided to stay in the Flagstaff area for a few days as Dang has never seen the area and the Air Force recreation center is an incredible bargain. Today we ran down Oak Canyon to Sedona. Sedona was really bustling compared to the last time we had visited. It is still a nice setting but seems to be getting more and more commercial. We got our fill after a few hours and headed back towards Flagstaff. We stopped at Slide Rock State Park. It is an interesting stretch of river (creek) with a natural waterslide for about 100 yards. It was not getting much use as the water in the creek was 58 degrees. Just as we were leaving about 100 middle schoolers arrived and put the slide to use.

The natural waterslide at Slide Rock SP.

February 1, 2014 Saguaro NP

Today was highlighted by a trip to Saguaro National Park near Tucson. We left El Paso and the dust storms the day before and ran into a couple of rain showers in the desert. This was the warmest night of the trip with overnight temperatures in the 50’s, it was actually disconcerting to not hear the heater going all night as we have been at or below freezing every night on the trip. The Malayan is very well insulated and despite the cold temperatures has been comfortable at night. It is really living up to Provan’s promise of being a 4 season camper.

The Saguaro NP is located on both the east and west side of Tucson. We have been looking forward to visiting it for many years. We choose the east side as it is the most photogenic. We got an early start as both of us woke up early due to the change of time zones and arrived at the park around noon. It is an interesting place to visit as Tucson has sprawled out right to the edge of the park. We were questioning the accuracy of the GPS as we were in a typical suburban neighborhood right up to the park entrance. The park lived up to our expectation and Ton ran the camera out of power taking pictures of all of the various types of cactus in the park.

We have given up on our backroads plan for this trip and are back on the interstates. Our plan for the day was to spend the night in Tucson. As we were looking for a place to stay, Ton pointed out we could watch the Superbowl in Las Vegas with our son, so we decided to press on towards Las Vegas. So that’s how we ended up in Wickenburg Arizona for the night. Seems like a nice town that will be worth visiting again in the future.

September 6, 2017 Haines AK

Today we relaxed and enjoyed Haines. While yesterday was one of the prettiest days of the trip, today was back to rain. The first half of the day was just cloudy, but around noon the rain came in and it was pretty nasty.

A nice view near the fish packing facility.

We visited a working fish packaging facility, and got to see the process from purchase to packaging. It was quite interesting, and based on Ron’s experience in manufacturing he was amazed that we were able to pretty much wander around the facility unsupervised.

Our next stop was a Tinglit Indian cultural facility. The facility was really well done and the people operating the facility did an excellent job presenting the history of their people. They were obviously quite proud of the culture of their ancestors. The museum has some antique “Totems”, and we were quite lucky to have one of the elders tell us the story behind each totem. It was very fascinating, pictures were not allowed but we really recommend a visit.

We are currently sitting in the Haines library using their internet. Later we will decide whether to go back to the commercial campground in town to take advantage of 30 cable channels and unlimited electricity, or to an Alaska State Park where Scout is more in her element.

September 3, 2017 Teslin National Wildlife Refuge

We woke up early in order to get some more photos of the glacier. I know Ton was excited because she got up and braved 32 degree temperatures for well over an hour shooting pictures in all directions. While it was cold it was the clearest day we have had on the trip.

In addition to the glacier we were parked under there was a large mountain range in the distance that Ron thinks is Denali, and Ton does not. There is a picture below for others to judge.

Mid-morning we pulled ourselves away from the glacier and headed out on the Richardson. Along the way we came to long sections of the Alaska Pipeline. It is an impressive engineering feat, and has largely delivered the oil safely to Valdez. The problems have been after delivery.

We ended the day in a nice campground in the Teslin National Wildlife Refuge. It is on a large lake. Right after we settled in a float plane made a couple of landings and takeoffs to entertain us and the other campers at the site.

This float plane entertained us for a while doing touch and go’s.

September 2, 2017 Summit Lake AK

Today we began to point back towards home. A lot of the businesses that cater to travelers close up after labor day weekend, so I guess that it is a hint that we should begin to head home.

But there are still things to see so we did not make it that far today. We had originally planned to head into Valdez for the night, but when we woke up the weather forecast for Valdez was lousy. Instead of heading into bad weather we decided to head North a bit towards the Denali Highway.

I have not mentioned the Milepost book since we took off, but do not come to Alaska without a copy. It is an incredibly detailed guide of all of the roads in Alaska, Northern BC, and the Yukon. It basically tells you everything about the road you are traveling on down to pullouts, and warnings of bad sections of road. The Milepost said that the first twenty miles of the Denali highway from Paxson were not to be missed, so we decided that would be our focus for today.

We made what should have been a 10 mile detour to go to the visitors center for the Elias-Wrangel National Park, but somehow we both missed the large sign on the highway telling us to turn, after about 15 miles we figured it out and turned around and headed back. Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest park in the US, but it only has two dirt roads that go into it, so it is largely wilderness. The visitors center is very well done and informative about the park.

We headed north on the Richardson Highway, and it was a long stretch of frost heave, and pot holes. We were averaging about 45 mph, even though the speed limit was posted at 65. There were plenty of people who did travel at 65 though so we were constantly watching our rear for fast approaching cars and semi’s.

The Milepost was right the Denali Highway was worth the trip. Ton nearly killed the battery on her camera taking pictures. At the top where the pavement ends was a BLM campground that had 100 spots. We decided we would stay there for the night, but it is labor day weekend, and despite being remote, it had a sign at the entrance saying that it was full. It turned out to be good luck.

The view from our campsite. The glacier in the background is Gulkana Glacier.

Consulting the Milepost, there was a State Park about 45 miles from where we were, and it also mentioned a BLM remote camping area with great views of Gulkana Glacier. We had decided on the State Park, but as we were driving down the Richardson we saw some RV’s parked in an area with incredible views. We have joined them for the night parked at the end of an old emergency airstrip with incredible 360 degree views.

August 31, 2017 Denali NP

Today was a long but very fulfilling day. As I said earlier we had some debate about whether to retrace our steps to Denali National Park. Today we are glad we did. We signed up for the 12 hour shuttle bus ride to the very end of the road in the park, and while it was a long day it was worth the trip and the sore butts.

We had done this trip seven years ago in late July and had a partial view of the mountain. Today we had low expectations as the forecast called for clouds with a good chance of rain. We were hoping to see some critters and those hopes were fulfilled, with multiple grizzlies, a couple of moose, and a few caribou. The front of the bus saw a lynx, but we were in the back so we missed it.

The highlight of the trip though was Denali, and the landscape in the park. Much to our surprise and the bus drivers Denali came out in full, and stayed out for several hours. Also the fall colors had set in and were surprisingly colorful with a nice mix of reds, yellows, and greens. Ton who as I have said is a fall colors snob, gave Denali a thumbs up.

A view of the mountain from the visitors center.

We did not get back to Scout until nearly 9pm so we had a quick bowl of instant noodles and turned in tired but happy we made the 600 mile detour to come back.

August 30, 2017 Denali NP

After a lot of debate we decided to backtrack to Denali for a couple of days. The weather was supposed to be good, meaning not raining. When we woke up this morning it was not raining and there was a little blue in the sky, but as we drove towards Denali we first encountered fog, and for the last 100 miles heavy rain.

The end of the road for private vehicles.

Ron was a little down about the rain, but as we pulled into the park the rain lifted. We signed up for the all day drive into the park tomorrow so we will have to get up a little early and head over to catch our ride. We drove into the park as far as we were allowed, had a nice siting of a moose, and took a short hike. While still a little gray we enjoyed the hike. The tundra is starting to get its fall colors which is pretty. Ton is a fall colors snob (nothing beats New England), but she thought these colors were worth the trip.

August 27, 2017 Seward AK

Today we woke up to sun! What a difference a little blue sky did for our morale. We have been struggling with the constant gray weather since we arrived in Anchorage. But today was glorious.

We are shifting over to Seward today which was a highlight of the last trip. On the way out of town we stopped at an overlook of Homer which we had passed the last three times because it was socked in. This time it was quite sensational and Ton got some good pictures.

Driving over to Seward we had views of a group of off shore volcanoes and several clear views of Mt. Denali. For the first time Alaska was living up to our memories from seven years ago.

The required picture at the entrance to a National Park.

As we came into Seward we stopped at Exit Glacier. We read that the glacier had retreated 1000 feet in the last 10 years, so we were curious about how it would compare to our memories. It had definitely moved back and the face had shrunk quite a bit.

August 22, 2017 Anchorage AK

We woke up bright and early to head over to Alaska Sales and Service. They were able to diagnose the problem, and the good news is it is under warranty. The bad news is the part was not in stock so we have to return tomorrow to finalize the repair. They also confirmed that we could drive around town and take care of our other business.

We had some time until we had to be at Costco for our tires, so we headed downtown to check things out. We joined in a guided walk by the National Park Service. As usual with NPS talks it was outstanding. The ranger was very knowledgeable and the weather was clearer than forecast so we could see Denali and all of the other mountains.

Some flowers from downtown Anchorage, the flowers are starting to fade in mid-August.

Our next stop was 49th state Brewery. The food was good, the beer was good, and the view from the restaurant was outstanding.

We next took care of our tire replacement at Costco, and filled up our refrigerator with food. It will be nice to be able to have full confidence in our tires.

We joined Gabi and Ron for an outstanding Chili dinner. We solved a lot of the problems of the Tiger world, and shared war stories from our times in the service. Thanks Ron and Gabi for the great chili and company.

October 30, 2017 Zion NP

After an early wakeup we had two options for camping today, in the park they had availability in the dry campground, right outside of the park there is a commercial campground, after discussing the bathroom situation we opted for the commercial park as the park service is closing all of the bathrooms today for the winter.

We decided to head into the park before checking in at the campground. We took the bus to the Temple of Sinawatra to start the day. About half way down the trail Noi was a couple hundred yards ahead of everyone else when we came upon her talking to four people. It turns out it was two Thai couples from Hawaii and California. Everyone joined in the conversation. Ron and Dr. Dragon (that is the English translation of his name) were talking as they had both recently retired from the military, (Ron’s official retirement date was his 60th birthday). Dr. Dragon had been a Captain in the US Navy, at some point Ron mentioned that Dang had also retired from the Thai Navy. Captain Dragon then pointed at the wife in the other couple and said she had also been a Doctor in the Thai Navy. Dang and Doctor Jin began talking and it turned out they had attended the Thai equivalent of Officers Candidate School together. It is a small world when two people from Thailand can renew an acquaintance from 40 years ago in the middle of a canyon in Utah! A walk that should of taken an hour turned into three hours as a lot of catching up had to be done. At the end we agreed to meet for dinner in the evening.

Ron’s stealth run to the brewery was busted when one of his credit cards turned up missing in the morning. Everyone was worried and turning the truck upside down looking for it. After dropping Dang and Noi off for shopping at the visitors center, and another run into the park Ron was forced to confess that he had left it at the pub, and he and Ton went to retrieve it.

While Noi and Dang were making a second run into the park, Ron and Ton took care of getting Elephant settled for the day, and took a little breather. In the evening we had a very nice Mexican dinner with our new (old) friends from Thailand!

October 29, 2017 Zion NP

Noi was up before the crack of dawn for some sunrise shots, while Dang, Ton and Ron slept in until about 7am. After Noi returned we had a fairly long drive to Zion. On the way out of Grand Canyon we stopped at a few sites for some more pictures.

We arrived in Zion about 3pm and like Grand Canyon we were able to get full hookups for the first day and then we will have to figure out what to do for tomorrow. After arrival the three Thai women made a reconnaissance run on the bus up into the Canyon.

Ron elected to stay behind and rest his ribs. After a while he decided to make a stealth run to a brewery in town to check out the local beers, and to scout for a place to watch the Timbers tomorrow.

After another long day we had a late meal and everyone turned in. The plan is to head up the canyon early tomorrow after relocating the truck to another campground.

October 24, 2017 Monument Valley UT

We are making a quick pass thru Monument Valley. We managed an early start to the day to cover the 140 miles to Monument Valley in time for Dang, Jeap, and Noi to do a Jeep tour of the valley. Ron and Ton stayed behind as the women decided Ron’s ribs were not up to a rough road.

On the way in we swung thru Gooseneck State Park which is a famous place where the San Juan river makes several 90 degree turns in a short area.

The San Juan River turning on itself at Gooseneck SP.

The tour was a great success and lots of pictures were taken. The guide was a Navajo women named Hope which was interesting as almost every other guide is male. She brought a different experience to the tour.

Some of the famous monuments in Monument Valley.

After the tour we were sitting on a balcony in the visitors center waiting for sunset, when a couple of small birds landed in a bush in front of us. Dang said that they were sparrows, and Ron with great confidence told her it was not a sparrow. About the same time a Navajo sitting next to us said that it was not a sparrow. He had been there for a few minutes doing pencil drawings of the valley. After a couple of minutes of looking at the birds I saw him take out his phone and open a bird app. After a couple of minutes he smiled looked up and said it is a sparrow, a Barrel Sparrow to be exact. Chock one up to Dang and Thailand over an American and a native living in the valley!

Darrin told us he was a guide and asked if he could answer any questions. We spent an hour or so talking to him about the Navajo, Monument Valley, and the surrounding area. He was a fountain of knowledge and clearly incredibly proud of his tribe, and heritage. On top of that his sister is a graduate of Oregon State living in Eugene with her husband a graduate of University of Oregon, so as he said his nephews are platypuses. For non-Oregonians that means a product of parents of the two universities whose mascots are the ducks and the beavers.

October 23, 2017 Moab UT

The day started with Ron and Ton heading into town to try to pick up some prescriptions for Ron. But after waiting around awhile for Ron’s doctor from Oregon to contact the pharmacy in Moab we decided to head back to get Noi, Jeap, and Dang.

The women headed back to Arches for some follow up photos and another shopping spree at the visitors center. They had strict instructions to return by five as the pharmacy closed at six.

Another view of Arches NP with no Arches.

They completed everything and were back at Elephant in plenty of time to head into town to fill the prescription and take care of some laundry.

The day ended simply with some cheeseburgers and a salad. The cheeseburgers were a hit as everything tastes better when grilled outside.