We sent two nights at the campground in Green River State Park. The campsites are spacious and grass covered. Each campsite has a parking space, picnic table, grill, potable water spigot and electricity. Our plan was to take a day off from traveling and decide more specifics for the rest of our trip. This campground also has showers and flush toilets. It is spotless. You could eat off the shower floors. Except for one woman who was "celebrating" something it was very quiet. Two nights cost less than $80. We resupplied on ice and a few things.
After resting up at the campground we decided to head to Cedar City. I had read a lot about the Cedar Breaks area and wanted to check it out. We got a room at the Rodeway Inn for two nights because we wanted to check out the town and I wanted to prowl the guns shops. The Rodeway Inn is operated by Indian immigrants and was very clean. Rooms were reasonable and an indoor pool was available. We arrived around noon and the lady who checked me in came out of the family living quarters. The smell of curry followed her and I was ready to see if she would adopt me.
We hung out in Cedar City. There is a large farm and ranch store there that was interesting. We have farm stores in Illinois but this one was much bigger than our local ones and included much more horse and veterinary supplies. The horse area included 2x4 racks of horse shoes. I had never seen horse shoes for sale before. We then proceeded to check out gun shops. While pulling out of a very tight parking space the fender flair on Trucky rubbed the front of a Honda owned by a college girl. I asked her to call the police while I called my insurance carrier. The local officers arrived and told me that if there was less than $1500 damage an accident report would not be required. Both the officers and the college girl thanked me for stopping and providing information.
At the Cedar Post Pawn shop I spied a Smith model 64-3 lying neglected in a case. I asked about the price and was told $350 + tax. They also said they would ship to Illinois. A few calls later and my local FFL emailed a copy of his license and the deal was done. A similar gun would bring $500 in this area. Touring guns shops showed that Utah is definitely rifle country. The shops had handguns but rifles ruled. The local Sportsman's Warehouse had lots of rifle ammunition an d components (they were out of 7mm mag brass which tells you something) There was also ammunition for Weatherby magnum rounds I had only just read about.
We decided to head up into the Dixie nation Forrest and do some dispersed camping. We looked at a couple of areas and eventually pulled onto a forest service road labeled Crystal Springs. The road was dirt and pretty well maintained. I never had to use 4x4 but Trucky's high ground clearance was a plus. We found a camping spot among some Quaking aspens and conifers. The scenery was gorgeous and we settled in pretty well. There was a front moving in so it was pretty windy. We explored around and found some deer tracks and elk poo. WE also found some rose hips on little rose bushes about 4" high. No fire because of dry conditions and wind. We did run the Buddy heater in the tent and it performed perfectly. We were toasty .
The next day we broke camp and headed for Cedar Breaks monument. Cedar breaks is above 9000 feet and is stunning. We took a few pictures. We had hoped to camp at Yankee Meadows but were told that it had burned. Using the free camping near me app we learned that good camping was available near Mammoth Creek. We located Mammoth Creek road and tuned down a Forest Service road well above mammoth creek. We located an absolutely stunning camp sight. Level ground among some pine trees with rocky cliffs, quaking aspens, grass, and little underbrush. I am not sure what altitude we were at but we were below Cedar Breaks and above Brian Head.
Altitude: I would guesstimate that we were around 8000 feet. We did feel the effects of altitude. We expected to be short on breath and paced ourselves accordingly. The nights were cold but the heater kept the tent toasty. What did get to us a bit was difficulty sleeping. There were a couple of nights where I felt like I was suffocating. Also I should have drank more water. Altitude and low humidity will suck moisture out of you pretty fast.
We did a little shooting at this camp site. Plenty of safe backstops and we picked up our targets. For people from east of the Mississippi having access to public land takes some getting used to. Being able to hike or shoot or camp on land pretty much at will is hard to get your head around at first. Those of you who have access to it should rally value it. I spent a little time playing Elmer Keith with the .44 special shooting a compact microwave sized rock across the valley at about 175 to 200 yards. The rock was sandstone so hits were really visible, much fun.
After 2 days at this campsite we decided to head down for a change of scenery. We went to Parowan to see the dinosaur tracks and the native rock pictures. Then we headed for Moab.
Moab: Moab tends to pull us back when we are in Utah. It is not for everyone and is a bit quirky but we like it. As the nearest town to Arches National park it gets many foreign tourists. We got a tent spot at a private campground. $20 per night for a place to put up our tent, showers and flush toilets, and free WIFI. The tent slots are small but it was adequate. The showers and restrooms were clean and everyone respected the quite hours. There were some interesting folks at the campground. 4 Russian college girls were set up behind us. They were pretty shy so we didn't get to talk to them much. We spoke to a young French guy a little and on our last night at the campground a nice Swiss girl set up next to us. We both had Swiss Army knives and she tried some of our deer jerkey. She had flown to Canada and rented a car and was driving across the U.S.
Arches Adventure: A friend of mine is fond of saying "an adventure is the result of poor planning" that is kind of what happened to us at arches. We had seen about half of arches on a prior trip but got diverted wen we took Trucky on the 4x4 trail to Tower Arch. Mrs. Thumbcocker wanted to see delicate arch, the arch depicted on the Utah license plates. We arrived at the trial head and prepared to set off. I did not know the full length of the trail but grabbed a shoulder bag two 1/2 liter bottles of water and our hickory hiking sticks. We later learned that the trail is 1.5 miles each way, is rated difficult , and 2 liters of water per person is recommended. Much of the trail is solid rock with no shade and sloping upward. The temperature was 95 and the humidity in the 20% range. The trial head is 4300 feet and the arch is at 4800 feet.
As we hiked we did feel some altitude issues. Keep in mind our home is at 500 feet above sea level. Mrs. Thumbcocker is light skinned and has a tendency to get warm in the summer. We would hike a few hundred yards catch our breath and go on. Shade was scarce and used when it was available. We rested under a juniper tree with a group of Japanese tourists with small children and in some rocks as available. Mrs. Thumbcocker was feeling the heat but was bound and determined to get to delicate arch.
The People on the trail: We met people from Germany, Japan, China, Korea, Middle eastern countries, and numerous states. We visited with a mom with two daughters from California. Everyone was exceptionally polite and looking out for each other. At the arch people from half way around the world took turns taking pictures for each other standing under the arch. A beautiful and charming mid eastern woman volunteered to take a picture of Mrs. Thumbcocker and I. A common question was "Do you have enough water?" When I dropped a water bottle and it rolled down a couple of hundred feet a very fit young man and his friend went down and got it because they did not want us to run out of water on the way back. My faith in humanity got a shot in the arm.
Mrs. Thumbcocker meets the EMTs: Mrs. Thumbcocker had been feeling the heat despite water and frequent breaks. Finally she said she had to stop. She rested in the shade of a huge boulder. She was still sweating so it was not a critical situation. I went back to the truck to get more water and soaked some towels in the cooler and put them in a Wal-Mart bag. As I was heading down the trail two female hikers asked if I had a problem I told them the situation and they immediately proceed to Mrs. Thumbcocker with water. Back at the trail head I told the Ranger stationed there what the situation was. She said she would hike back with me. The Ranger's name is Shawna. About 5'6" 130 pounds and tough as wood pecker lips. She changed into her lime green shirt, grabbed her emergency pack and radio and headed back up the trail with me. We found Mrs. Thumbcocker coming down the trail, she had gotten her second wind, and Shawna proceed to check her out and administer electrolytes in a bottle of water. Shawna was a professional and treated Mrs. Thumbcocker with respect and compassion. Later we stopped at the visitor center and wrote a letter to her boss about her professionalism.
When I was heading back up the trail I had paused to rest a second with my head down and my hands on my knees. A middle eastern man with heavily accented English stopped to make sure I was ok and was very concerned about me going back up the trail so fast.
While Shawna checked out Mrs. Thumbcocker and put damp towels on her she asked me to stand and create shade. We then headed down the trail. Shawna had me keep spraying Mrs. Thumbcocker with a spray bottle set on mist. When we reached the trail head two EMTs met us. They had been in the park on another call with their ambulance. Mrs. Thumbcocker was checked out in the ambulance with the air conditioner running full on and pronounced as ok . There was no charge for the checking out. I had my insurance card ready but it was not needed.
Summary: Utah is a fascinating place with really good people and fantastic scenery. You can go from high alpine to desert in a few hours just by changing elevations. We have had nothing but positive experiences with people from many different cultures and lifestyles. We met some gay couples who loved the outdoors and were pleasant to talk to and visit with. Utah seems to be diverse but differently diverse. What I mean is that "diversity" seems to have come to mean "I am different than you are and if you don't actively celebrate how I am different there is something wrong with you." In Utah it is more of a this is who I/we are we don't expect you to celebrate us. We will be courteous and polite and expect the same from you. This pretty well fits in with my midwestern raising. Be polite to people unless they give you a reason not to.
We will be going back.
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