Mesa, Arizona, is a place where snowbirds stay during winter. Occasionally, it gets really cold there too. We were wintering in Mesa hoping to get some really nice weather, but when we arrived, it was chilly. A couple of storms blew in blanketing the surrounding mountains in snow.
Stormy clouds over Mesa, Arizona.Four Peaks as seen from Mesa, Arizona
It’s not usual for the Four Peaks (above) to get snow in winter, but it is for Superstition Mountain (below). This storm really blanketed the Four Peaks, and dumped a fair amount on Superstition too.
Superstition Mountain after snow storm
It only lasted a couple of days before it melted.
Superstition Mountain
We spent most of January in the area mostly getting medical visits taken care of. It was also nice being close to so many stores. It made shopping really easy. We enjoyed eating out several times too.
Sunset at Monte Vista RV Resort, Mesa, Arizona.d
One thing about Arizona, the sunsets are fabulous!
During November and December, we enjoyed spending the holidays with our kids and grandkids. In January as we were headed out of California again to spend the rest of the winter months in Arizona, disaster struck.
California has bio-diesel at a much cheaper price than Diesel #2. We thought we were saving money. Now we know better. Apparently, our truck has a unique fuel pump that can’t handle bio-diesel. It failed and all the metal parts were distributed throughout its fuel system. Three weeks and thousands of dollars later, we were wiser but poorer. Thankfully, we were able to spend those three weeks in a nice campground near Santa Barbara while the truck was being repaired.
The hills outside Santa Barbara, California.
We were surrounded by mountains, and the hills were beautiful in the evening light.
The campground was a working ranch with horses a plenty. I took the opportunity to get acquainted with some of the equine one afternoon.
Rancho Osa outside Santa Barbara, California, is a working ranch.
Our main concern was not being able to shop for groceries. Although there was a country store on the campground, the selection was very limited, especially when it came to fresh food and meat. After a couple of weeks, our supplies were very low. Our daughter, Ann, rescued us by driving there and taking us grocery shopping one afternoon in Santa Barbara. We were very grateful.
Because of the pandemic, auto parts were delayed in coming. We had a great mechanic, and the park rangers were very helpful in extending our stay. The hardest part of being stuck there for three weeks, was the lack of communication. The campground was in a canyon. We had to walk to another part of the campground to get enough phone signal to make a phone call.
One way to spend time while we were waiting for our truck to be repaired was to take walks in the afternoon or evening discovering the beauty around us.
Prickly pear cactusBloom where you’re planted!
We were so grateful to have our truck back, and in the future, we would love to explore this area more.
By October, we were in northern Arizona headed south to warmer weather where we would spend the winter. We stayed a couple of days in Waweep RV Park which is just south of the Utah/Arizona border near Page, AZ. Our cell phones were constantly confused about the time since Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings time and Utah does. The campground was very nice with the campsites spaced out nicely. We could look out our windows and see the mountains and Lake Powell.
Our campsite at Waweep RV Park near Page, Arizona.My morning walk down the path to Lake Powell.
A nice pathway winds through the campground and down to the lake. I took a walk one morning and just enjoyed the beauty of the rocks, mountains and water. Each evening we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
One of the items on my bucket list was to visit Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River. It just so happened it was only a few miles away from our campground. Although it is on Indian land, it is accessible to the public. There is, however, a $10 charge to park. The trail is paved and there are a couple of shaded benches along the way. We were warned to take water with us since it can get quite hot and the hike is a 1.5 mile round trip. The hike is a gradual downhill walk. At the lookout, there are guardrails along the edge. It was quite an experience looking down a 1,000 foot drop. Down below I could see tiny figures that I realized were people kayaking on the river. My cell phone wasn’t able to get the whole view, but fortunately I brought along two other cameras that had wide-angle lenses that were able to capture the entire view. Even then, it was impossible to get the entire view in one shot. I did some research and found that timing is important. If you get there too early or too late in the day, the canyon is in shadow, so I made sure I timed it just right.
Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River near Page, Arizona.It’s a 1,000 foot drop to the canyon floor below.
APACHE JUNCTION, AZ
Although it was October, the temperatures were still in the 90’s. We headed to Apache Junction (near Mesa, AZ) to stay in one of our Thousand Trail Encore parks. While we were there, we took a day trip to Canyon Lake.
Canyon Lake
Along Highway 88 from Apache Junction to Canyon Lake was a pull out with a trail to Weaver’s Needle, a rock spire in the Superstition Mountains. I hiked to the end of the trail hoping to get a photo of the needle. I was disappointed that I could only see the tip of the needle in the far distance. A zoom lens helped me get a little closer look.
Path to Weaver’s Needle falls short of a good view.
There is a legend that the shadow of Weaver’s Needle points to the Lost Dutchman’s Mine at a particular time of year.
Even with a zoom lens, Weaver’s Needle is barely visible.
Apache Junction sits at the foot of the beautiful Superstition Mountains. The mountain faces west, so as the sun sets, the mountain reflects the colors of the sunset. There’s a state park there now—Lost Dutchman State Park—with hiking trails. One day I hiked on one of the trails to get some photos of the mountain and the desert.
But my favorite time of day was in the evening when the cacti were silhouetted against a flaming sky of color.
Arizona sunsets are the best!
It was time to head to California to spend the holidays with family.
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.
Zion National Park is bigger than I thought! We drove into Kolob Canyon little realizing it was a part of Zion NP. However, there is no road to the main part of Zion through Kolob Canyon. It’s a dead end road. But the beautiful red rocks cliffs are just as stunning.
This was a nice short trip to the backside of Zion to see more of these amazing rocks.
Two more nearby sites we saw while camping in Hurricane, Utah, were the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) Camp in Leeds, Utah, and an old ghost town that was a former mining town called Silver Reef.
The CCC was an organization started from 1933 to 1942. It was a work relief program for young men between 17 and 28 years old. It provided manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by the federal, state and local governments. It provided them with food, clothing and shelter plus a wage, part of which was sent home to their families.
Silver Reef was once the site of a silver mine in 1866. Geologists were at first uncertain about the claim since silver is not normally found in sandstone.
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.
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.
While staying in Hurricane, Utah, near St. George, we took day trips to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, Cedar Breaks National Monument and Pink Sands State park. The day we went to Zion was a Friday. Big mistake! The parking lots were full, so we decided to just drive through the park. None of the turnouts were available, so the first photo I got was while waiting in line for 15 or 20 minutes to drive through the tunnel. The above photo is the shot I got from the car. The park regulates the tunnel traffic to one lane, and thus the wait.
As we drove through the park, we eventually found a few turnouts where I could get some photos. The huge red rock canyon walls are just as beautiful as ever. I even managed to see a big horn sheep, though he was too far away to get a good photo.
This was our last stop in Zion. It is called Checkerboard mountain.
On the way out of the park, we drove through the town of Kanab, Utah, where we once stayed for a family vacation back in the late 80’s. There’s a restaurant called “Trails End” and just a few doors away was an art gallery (not there now) where Ray bought a watercolor painting by Roland Lee, now a renown artist. Little did we know then that we’d made a good investment. We just liked the painting!
A little ways out of Kanab, we came across this interesting “cave” and lagoon. The fall colors caught my eye.
Our trip that day took us in a loop that dipped down into Arizona. We drove through the town of Colorado City, Utah, where the polygamist Fundamentalist Mormons used to have a large colony, and on to a Utah state park called Pink Sands. The sands aren’t really pink. They are more like red or orange. It cost money to drive into the park, and I didn’t plan to stay long, so I climbed up a sand dune and got a couple of shots of the “pink” sand dunes.
Our day trip took us many miles, but discovering new places is one reason we travel full time. Our great country is full of beautiful national parks, state parks and scenic beauty.
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.
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!
