1 May – Moab: Last night we got some rain! Not much but enough to fill the Little Rock pools on the slab we parked on. While we have been getting a bit tired of dust it would have been horrible to wake up to red mud this morning so our camp spot was a real blessing.
A quite early start had us outside Canyonlands National park in time to join the conveyor belt of cars going a from one spot to another. The NP here are impressive but at times it would be nice to have less people and more serenity.
Initially we had thought to do Canyonlands today and Arches tomorrow but while trying to find a spot to camp around lunchtime we discovered that Arches has a timed entry system (an even bigger conveyor belt) that you need to book in advance online. By luck there were late spots today and none for the next 2 days (at all) so we quickly hurried off. The first stops were a bit overcrowded again until we stopped at Sand Dune and Broken-down arch. Both were quite spectacular and made more so by less people and non-paved paths to get to them
2 May – Horse Canyon Road, Emery County: A brief stop in Moab (pretty but so touristy), then along the spectacular scenic hwy128 which runs along the Colorado River. We were undecided as to where to go or what to do. Decided a night in a hotel would be good so we can have proper showers and just get out of the desert for a while but the most reasonable was still some way away in Salt Lake City so stopped at a BLM spot on the way.
Grabbed a quick shower next to Mr J on arrival and had a very pleasant afternoon BUT the constant BLM camping has worn us down
3 May – Spanish Fork, Sheep Creek Nat Forest: Green grass and some sunshine!
First stop was in Price for grocery shopping and a very annoying experience in Walmart to pay for our cellphone data packages – last month we weren’t able to pay the T-Mobile online as they don’t accept international credit cards but paid quite easily at Walmart so assumed the same for this month. All looked okay, except they followed a different process and generated a “redeem voucher” which in theory was fine except it was for “Metro by T-Mobile” which it turns out is a different setup/company. End result was $84 wasted as they could not refund it!
Hoping that we may have now escaped the desert, but not holding how breaths just yet
4 May – Days Inn, Springville Salt Lake City: Time out from Mr J. After weeks of wild camping on BLM land it was time for a spoil – basically we were only interested in having long hot showers – we have taken a night in a reasonable priced hotel (City/Road Lodge equivalent). And it has been well worth it, especially as today’s weather has turned cold & wet!
5 May – Snowville, Curlew Nat Forest: Cold and windswept tonight. After a very well needed and deserved hotel night, in which we made max use of the shower, we delayed our start until checkout time (11am). The delayed start meant we could make the most of wifi to update Garmin maps, do the finances and check in investments, etc.
First stop for the day was laundry, then Mavericks to fill up water tanks and then we headed north to Salt Lake City and its famous Mormon church. Unfortunately, the church is undergoing major renovations and is covered in scaffolding so we didn’t stop.
In reality this was probably a blessing for us as it was already 3pm and the greater metropolis of Salt Lake City doesn’t offer much affordable camping options. 2 hours later and we are in another State Forest “free” campground.
8 May – Snake River: Bell Rapids access dock: Recap of last few days: after a cold and windy first night, the last stop turned out to be a real gem of a find – lots of birds, quite and the weather warmed up nicely, even free firewood and so we ended up spending 3 nights. Made the lost of the downtime to dismantle rear door cover, clean up rust and spray paint plus a few other sundry jobs.
Today we meandered around, initially to the “Niagara Falls of Idaho” aka Shoshone Falls but the river flow is minimal and they didn’t look that impressive from high up so we elected to avoid the entrance fee and carry on (perhaps we are a bit spoilt with the number of waterfalls we have seen).
Afternoon was spent wandering along River road as it snaked along Snake River with some spectacular views and properties along the way.
Camped for the night at a boat access point to the river which while close to many smallholding farms seems lovely and peaceful.
9 May – Warm Springs Road, Sawtooth mountains: Last nights spot turned out to not be as peaceful as we had hoped when some locals pulled in very late and proceeded to party until early hours of the morning, fearing a repeat as today is Friday, we packed up and pushed north into National Forest areas.
Have ended the day in the Sun Valley area of the Sawtooth mountains near the town of Ketchum (a very pretty and fancy ski resort town). One of the reasons for coming into the sawtooth mountains was for its hot springs but the one near were we stopped is under cold snowmelt water as the river is running very strong.
11 May – Evans Creek, Anderson Reservoir: Trying (and failing) to find somewhere both warm (er) and with internet signal.
We had hoped to follow the backroads through the Sawtooth Mountains to this spot but sadly not long after leaving our last campsite we started to encounter snow/ice drifts across the road and with at least 600m of ascent ahead it was obvious this would only get worst, so we turned around and backtracked to Ketchum.
From Ketchum,it was along normal roads through scrubland where we did briefly consider (and in hindsight perhaps too briefly) heading off to some possible campsites. All seemed good heading for the reservoir until we come to this huge canyon downstream of the dam wall, at which point it become obvious that we would be heading down and away from any chance of signal and to make matters worse a huge storm was blowing up the valley and literally ricking Mr J!. While having signal is not essential, when travelling just as two of you and always camping remote it is a way of keeping contact with a sphere beyond just us and often having something interesting to think about and talk about. Bottom line we weren’t happy campers and it come through in the mood.
All things aside, the campsite is actually very pretty and peaceful
13 May – Swan Falls, Snake River: Today we went shopping – for a Starlink. Have decided to give up ont his struggle to be connected when camping remote. Its not cheap and we have to figure out how to mount it efficiently as we don’t want to be hauling it in and out each (plus that uses up valuable internal space). At least tonight we have no buyer’s remorse as we are in a beautiful location and wouldn’t have signal if not for Starlink
16 May – Lucky Peak / Arrowrock Reservoir, Boise: After a nice couple of days down by the river, we had already decided last night to start moving again so when we woke up to cold and grey skies it seemed like perfect timing.
Stopped in Boise for groceries, water and a visit to Home Depot so that Stuart can begin the construction of a roof rack mount for the starlink.
After a very pretty and spectacular drive up the valley to our current camp spot, past a couple of large dam walls (when summer arrives these waters must heave with Boise residents, as evidenced by the huge parking areas at the boat ramps). And the decision to purchase dishy so far is paying off as this will be our 4th night with no cell service.
20 May – Loftus Hotsprings, Boise National Forest: Hot spring delight. This area is known for its hot springs but many are small pools in the mountain rivers which with the current snow melt are running very high and therefore flood the springs. A chance discovery while perusing Google maps showed us this one and as a bonus it is only a 50m walk from where we parked Mr J for the night.
21 May – a meadow near Warm Lake: Stunning meadow surrounded by snowy mountains.
The day ended up being longer than we had thought it would but overall a very lekker day with lots of pretty scenery. First up was the pretty and scenic drive upriver from the hot springs, then over a rather tight mountain pass (which had Mr J leaning at quite some angles) with superb views (for Stuart not Tania), followed by a few more valleys until we popped out on a tar road near Lowman.
A navigational error took us west instead of directly north (but this probably saved us a lot of windy dirt) and then it was up north towards Warm lake. Late in the afternoon when we picked up cell signal we stopped for an hour or so to “use up” our remaining cellphone data and watch (amongst a few other items) with some amusement (and pride) the meeting of Cyril in the Whitehouse.
After our social media fix we headed toward Warm Lake, and were a bit scared the last 15km or so as we passed loads of snow but thankfully we dropped down in altitude and have settled in a lovely meadow with lovely afternoon sun
22 May – Stopped by the snow: In total contrast to the weather forecast (and our expectations), we woke to rain, cold and lots of cloud so we picked a route north that would hopefully take us to lower altitudes and warmer temps.
Figuring we had a day of miserable weather we decided there was no harm in taking the scenic back country route even if it was the slower one BUT what we didn’t count on was encountering blocked roads from ice pack! After 600m ascent we hit thick snow but as we still had 200m of climbing to go so there was no way we could risk pushing further.
After 2,5hours of driving we had to do a multipoint turn on the edge of the mountain (picture doesn’t do justice to the drop off)- how many wheel turn marks can be counted in the mud??
We had been aiming for McCall and were so close but so far away.
5 plus hours of driving and we ended up 5km from last nights spot. A very scenic and enjoyable drive despite the frustration of not being able to get over the final mountain due to ice
23 May – Riggins: A day we hope to never repeat!
After spending the morning attempting to find a campsite and failing becuase of ice, campground and cold weather we eventually decided to drive northwards to a spot that was at least 1000m lower in altitude hoping for warmer weather.
About 10km outside McCall, a pickup attempted to overtake us on solid white line and slight blind rise and there was a sedan coming towards us!!! We managed to move over slightly but with a ditch on the side could not get off the road and so the two other cars collided head on right next to us.. Incredibly the only damage to Mr Jones was a piece of metal that must have flown through the air and embedded in the rear fender arch! The two involved cars and one behind us were not so lucky and all occupants got taken to hospital.
The universe really looked after us today!
27 May – Ferdinand, a spot by the river on the old highway: We had a lovely Memorial Day weekend on the river, with some good long and interesting chats with two different locals (Larry and Mike) – finally some real conversations! It definitely helped that the weather was warm (in fact Sunday was almost too hot), so hopefully Sprung has finally sprung…
The drive today was fine although both of us felt a bit on edge, the memory of Fridays accident and how quickly and out of nowhere something can change was definitely dogging our thoughts. It took a few stops today to eventually settle where we are as nothing quite felt right before this but this spot is supper peaceful and we have been welcomed by two sets of locals (a older couple picnicking and a grade 4 school outing – you know you are near a small town when class consists of only 7 students!).
28 May – McCroskey State Park: The usual long shopping and laundry day. Spent the morning and a bit more, in Lewiston doing a big load of laundry before a large grocery stop. Grabbed a quick lunch at Arby’s and then spent a little while catching up on social media – we may now have starlink but as that has limited data, figured we may as well make the most of having a decent signal.
Then an hour and a half drive northward. Both of us are still feeling a little rattled on the roads after the near miss accident last week..
29 May – Rose Lake Boat Launch area: A day of lots of twists and turns (which played on our frayed nerves) as we wound our way through a valley system with lots of lakes and rivers. Was hard to admire the scenery as the roads required lots of our attention.
At least at the moment we are having some summer weather, both yesterday and this morning which has meant slipslops and t shirts for a few days – what a pleasure.