Category Archives: Fall colors

White Sulphur Springs, Montana

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September 2020

We stayed for two weeks in White Sulphur Springs, Montana, a small town with a population of less than 1,000. There are lots of beautiful areas in and around this quaint little mining town.

Nearby, there are wheat and hay farms. Everyone grows hay here, it seems. They roll the hay in big bales and use most of it for feeding their own livestock. Winters are harsh here, so I’m sure it takes a lot of hay to last all winter long.

One afternoon, we drove around the back dirt roads around the town. Here are some of the sights we saw.

One day while driving toward Bozeman, Montana, we found this quaint old church from 1898.

And nearby was this iconic view of a typical Montana ranch. Notice the rows of bales of hay to the right.

In September, we moved to a KOA outside of Townsend, Montana, just a few miles from Helena, Montana. One evening it rained and we could see snow on the nearby mountains across the lake. However, in a couple of days the temperature was up in the 80’s again.

As we made our way south, we stayed in Downey, Idaho, for a couple of nights. We were really close to Bear Lake in the corner of Southeast Idaho and northeast Utah, so we decided to take a day trip to see it. We drove most of the way around the lake. It was hazy from the wildfires, but the water was still a beautiful turquoise blue.

Further south, we stayed at a nice campground in Duchesne (pronounced du-shane), Utah, which was right by a reservoir. It would have been nicer if there wasn’t so much smoke from a nearby fire.

The fire nearby.

Categories: Airstream Travel, RV Travel Tags: Airstream, Airstream Travel, Bear Lake, Duchesne, Full Time RVing, Idaho, Montana, Montana back roads, Montana travel, Old Sedan Church, Places to see in Idaho, Places to see in Montana, Places to see in Utah, RVing, Townsend, Utah, White Sulphur Springs

Bryce Canyon National Park

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October 10, 2020

On the way to Bryce Canyon, we passed through Red Rock Canyon. In Bryce, you are looking down into the canyon. However, in Red Rock Canyon, you are down in the canyon looking up.

The red rock spires reach into the sky.

We drove on to Bryce Canyon where we saw this awe-inspiring display at Sunset Point. It wasn’t sunset, but the rocks were beautifully reflecting the afternoon light. Down below were trails, wildlife and conifers. It you look closely, you can see the tops of the trees.

Bryce Canyon is a changing landscape. The spires, or hoodoos, as they are called, continue to change through erosion from wind, rain, snow and ice.

Bryce Canyon National Park is a rather narrow but long national park positioned along the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. In the distance are the gray, white and vermillion cliffs that stair-step down to the land below. The elevation at the rim varies between 8,000 to 9,000 feet in elevation, thus the expansive views.

At around mile 12 of the road into the park, there is a “natural bridge,” which is really a natural arch. The name was given so long ago that it stuck. A true natural bridge by definition is formed by flowing water that cuts through the sandstone. This arch was formed by other means.

Looking across the span of Bryce NP at the end of the road at Rainbow Point.

We enjoyed our day at Bryce Canyon National Park. We would like to go back some day to spend more time there.

Categories: RV Travel, Utah Travel Tags: Airstream, Airstream Travel, Bryce Canyon, Bryce Canyon NP, Bryce National Park, Full Time RVing, National Parks, Red Rock Canyon, Red Rock Canyon Utah, Utah, Utah destinations, Utah scenery, Utah travel

Fall Foliage in Utah

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October 2020

While staying in southern Utah, we took a day trip to see the fall foliage. Driving up the canyon on Hwy 9, we caught some leaves turning beautiful colors.

We stopped at a county park where I hiked up a hill pathway to see where it might lead. I was rewarded with this beautiful pond capturing the reflection of the golden aspen trees.

Categories: RV Travel, Utah Travel Tags: Airstream Travel, CA RV travel, Fall colors, Fall foliage, Full Time RVing, Golden aspens, RVing, Travel, Traveling, Utah, Utah travel

Great Basin National Park

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September 22, 2020

A little town called Delta in the central western part of Utah was a nice little town where we stayed for a week. It was the closest we were going to get to Great Basin National Park on our 2020 journey, so we decided to take a day trip to add another National Park to our accomplishments. Even so, it was more than 100 miles to the park which is actually in Nevada. We packed a lunch and headed out in the morning. It was a pretty barren landscape until we got within 30 miles or so of the park. There’s a huge dry lake, Sevier Lake, that offers some views from the highway. It is an endorheic lake (a drainage lake with no out-flowing streams to other bodies of water).

Before we drove far inside the park, we stopped at an outdoor exhibit. In the field beyond was an old car. It you look beyond it, you can see part of the Great Basin that the park is named after. According to Wikipedia, “the Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Oregon and Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Wyoming and Baja California in Mexico.” It is a vast area. What is surprising is that the Great Basin National Park itself is mostly a road up a 13,000 foot mountain called Wheeler Peak, and the surrounding foothill areas. The park derives its name from the surrounding basin area.

View of Wheeler Peak

The drive up to Wheeler Peak was breath-taking. Right away you could look over the vast distances of the Great Basin below.  The smoke from the summer wildfires in the west obscured our view somewhat.

As we traveled further up the mountain, the aspen trees began to show their fall colors.

The road took us over 10,000 feet in elevation. At the top are the bristlecone pines, some of which are hundreds of years old. Looking up close at the pine cones, I realized why they are called “bristlecone” pines.

Here’s a closer view of Wheeler Peak. At the end of the road is a parking lot where there are trailheads for hiking trails to see ancient bristlecone pines and even one trail to the top of Wheeler Peak. The high elevation and thin air would deter me from such an adventure. On the day we went the parking lot was full, so we turned around and headed back.

Other items of interest to explore would be the alpine glaciers, Lexington Arch–a natural arch, Lehman caves, and the many trails around the park. This park is a hidden gem that I recommend exploring if you ever get the chance.

Categories: Airstream Travel, Utah Travel Tags: Bristlecone Pines, Fall colors, Fall colors in Utah, Fragrance, Full Time RVing, Great Basin National Park, Nevada travels, RVing, Utah travels

Mount Pleasant, Utah

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September 15, 2020

A small town in the center of Utah was one of the most beautiful spots we’ve stayed in this year. This first photo is taken looking from the back of our campground. The mountains around us were red with fall foliage.

We took a drive one day to get a closer look. We drove up this road as far as we could go. We turned around when it became a dirt road. Many of the people in the campground had dune buggies or other off-road vehicles that they use to drive on these back roads.  But we’re just fine driving on paved roads only.

From there, we drove north to Fairview and drove west on Highway 31 up into the mountains. The bright foliage of the trees was just beautiful. Unfortunately, there were very few turnouts where one could stop to get photos. As we got closer, the colors got even brighter.

At the top of the pass, we turned south on Skyline Drive which took us along the ridge of the mountains. We drove up over 10,000 feet in altitude. Looking down from there, we saw a lake in the valley below.

Looking back from where we came, we could see more colorful trees. Nearby forest fires made the horizon hazy.

As we drove further, we found this alpine reservoir.

Although it was September, these flowers were still blooming as if it was still summer.

While we were in this campground, we had a dead battery on the truck one day when we tried to start it up to drive into town. Fortunately, the campground handyman gave us a jump start. We had to drive for an hour to find a Walmart where we could get the battery replaced. The technician also cleaned the corrosion on the contacts of the other battery as well and tested it. We made it into a grocery shopping trip while we were waiting. We were blessed that this happened on a day when we weren’t towing the trailer! God is good!

Categories: RV Travel Tags: Fall colors in Utah, Full Time RVing, Highway 31 Utah, Mount Pleasant Utah, RVing, Utah, Utah places to see