5 STAR BEACH HOTELS

The weather during the first two days of my 8 day road trip changed quickly and forcefully. Sometimes there were blue skies filled with puffy white cumulus clouds, then a short time later, the winds would roar in and rain and/or snow would fall, from dark low storm clouds.

On day one of an 8 day, May of 2010 road trip, I found a road that to the best of my knowledge I had never traveled before.

I stopped at Mountain Home, Idaho to get some groceries and gas up the truck (while watching fighter jet pilots poking holes in the clouds with their trainer fighter jets).

From Mountain Home, Idaho I drove highway 51 south through Bruneau and Riddle, Idaho. Then the highway turned into Nevada 225. I continued south through the interesting country of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation until I reached the "Wildhorse Crossing" campground, south of Mountain City, Nevada.

It had rained heavily and the campground roads were muddy. Still I found a nice secluded campsite, next to a tumbling stream and set up "camp". I took several long hikes, east, south, and west of camp and saw a small herd of elk roaming the sagebrush covered hills.

The next morning, everything, including my pickup truck was encapsulated in a veneer of ice. It had got mighty cold that night, and I was happy to get the heater going in the pickup truck cab as I headed south through Nevada to my next destination in Utah (Snow Valley State Park by St. George, Utah).

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May 12th through May 19th - - I traveled 9 states in 8 days, camping, driving back roads, visiting scenic and historic sites, and taking some great day hikes. These are some of the photographs from this solo "road trip".

Day One: Home in Eastern Washington; Mountain Home, Idaho; Owyhee, Nevada and a very cold night camped at Wild Horse Crossing south of Mountain City, Nevada.

Day two: NEVADA - - Mountain City; Elko; Wells; Ely (through a snow storm); Panaca. UTAH - - Enterprise, Veyo, to a warm and scenic enjoyable camp and hiking at Snow Canyon.

Day three: UTAH - - Snow Canyon; St. George; Hurricane; to Fredonia, Arizona. Forest Service Road #22 and many others to places like Monument Point and Indian Hollow. Too cold to camp (got down to 19 degrees that night), so dropped down low to BLM wilderness land off 89 A and spent the night among sagebrush and juniper with curious mule deer as "neighbors".

Day four: Opening day of the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Visited the park and arriving early had many places (Cape Royal), entirely to myself. ARIZONA: Vermillion Cliffs; Page; Kaibito; and Navajo National Monument and Betatakin, where I had my nicest camp site (Canyon View at Betatakin).

Day five: Betatakin camp to Kayenta; Monument Valley to drive the 17 mile "loop road" through the monument; to Mexican Hat to recharge my camera battery (Canon G10) while eating Navajo stew and fry bread at a cafe along the San Juan River; to Comb Ridge where I took two short enjoyable "rock art and cliff dwelling" hikes (procession panel and Monarch Cave ruins; up to Blanding, Utah where I checked into a small motel for two nights.

Day six: Get up early and hike a bit over 14 miles down Kane Gulch; down Grand Gulch to Todie Canyon, with many side excursions to visit cliff dwellings, granaries, rock art sites, etc. Weather started to blow in by the time I finished my hike.

Day seven: Changed my mind with the weather. Instead of heading for the Bisti Wilderness (for the first time) and Chaco Canyon (for the third time) - - I headed north through Moab then turned east toward Grand Junction, Colorado. Stopped at Sego Canyon rock art site outside of Thompson Springs, Utah. COLORADO - - Grand Junction, Rifle, Craig. WYOMING - -Baggs, Rawlins, Lander, Dubois (where I got a real nice motel room for a reasonable rate).

Day eight: Left Dubois, Wyoming early. Cold, windy, cloudy weather with a hint of snow in the air. Drove up through Yellowstone Park and exited via Mammoth Hot Springs; then on to Livingston, Montana. On I-90; hitting sun, the clouds, the rain, then a nasty storm (between Missoula, Montana and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho). Slept in pickup camper before driving on through the early morning back to my home in Eastern Washington.

Day nine: Arrived home at 4:30 am. Another fun road trip.

The weather during the first two days of my 8 day road trip changed quickly and forcefully. Sometimes there were blue skies filled with puffy white cumulus clouds, then a short time later, the winds would roar in and rain and/or snow would fall, from dark low storm clouds.
On day one of an 8 day, May of 2010 road trip, I found a road that to the best of my knowledge I had never traveled before.

I stopped at Mountain Home, Idaho to get some groceries and gas up the truck (while watching fighter jet pilots poking holes in the clouds with their trainer fighter jets).

From Mountain Home, Idaho I drove highway 51 south through Bruneau and Riddle, Idaho. Then the highway turned into Nevada 225. I continued south through the interesting country of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation until I reached the "Wildhorse Crossing" campground, south of Mountain City, Nevada.

It had rained heavily and the campground roads were muddy. Still I found a nice secluded campsite, next to a tumbling stream and set up "camp". I took several long hikes, east, south, and west of camp and saw a small herd of elk roaming the sagebrush covered hills.

The next morning, everything, including my pickup truck was encapsulated in a veneer of ice. It had got mighty cold that night, and I was happy to get the heater going in the pickup truck cab as I headed south through Nevada to my next destination in Utah (Snow Valley State Park by St. George, Utah).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 12th through May 19th - - I traveled 9 states in 8 days, camping, driving back roads, visiting scenic and historic sites, and taking some great day hikes. These are some of the photographs from this solo "road trip".

Day One: Home in Eastern Washington; Mountain Home, Idaho; Owyhee, Nevada and a very cold night camped at Wild Horse Crossing south of Mountain City, Nevada.

Day two: NEVADA - - Mountain City; Elko; Wells; Ely (through a snow storm); Panaca. UTAH - - Enterprise, Veyo, to a warm and scenic enjoyable camp and hiking at Snow Canyon.

Day three: UTAH - - Snow Canyon; St. George; Hurricane; to Fredonia, Arizona. Forest Service Road #22 and many others to places like Monument Point and Indian Hollow. Too cold to camp (got down to 19 degrees that night), so dropped down low to BLM wilderness land off 89 A and spent the night among sagebrush and juniper with curious mule deer as "neighbors".

Day four: Opening day of the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Visited the park and arriving early had many places (Cape Royal), entirely to myself. ARIZONA: Vermillion Cliffs; Page; Kaibito; and Navajo National Monument and Betatakin, where I had my nicest camp site (Canyon View at Betatakin).

Day five: Betatakin camp to Kayenta; Monument Valley to drive the 17 mile "loop road" through the monument; to Mexican Hat to recharge my camera battery (Canon G10) while eating Navajo stew and fry bread at a cafe along the San Juan River; to Comb Ridge where I took two short enjoyable "rock art and cliff dwelling" hikes (procession panel and Monarch Cave ruins; up to Blanding, Utah where I checked into a small motel for two nights.

Day six: Get up early and hike a bit over 14 miles down Kane Gulch; down Grand Gulch to Todie Canyon, with many side excursions to visit cliff dwellings, granaries, rock art sites, etc. Weather started to blow in by the time I finished my hike.

Day seven: Changed my mind with the weather. Instead of heading for the Bisti Wilderness (for the first time) and Chaco Canyon (for the third time) - - I headed north through Moab then turned east toward Grand Junction, Colorado. Stopped at Sego Canyon rock art site outside of Thompson Springs, Utah. COLORADO - - Grand Junction, Rifle, Craig. WYOMING - -Baggs, Rawlins, Lander, Dubois (where I got a real nice motel room for a reasonable rate).

Day eight: Left Dubois, Wyoming early. Cold, windy, cloudy weather with a hint of snow in the air. Drove up through Yellowstone Park and exited via Mammoth Hot Springs; then on to Livingston, Montana. On I-90; hitting sun, the clouds, the rain, then a nasty storm (between Missoula, Montana and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho). Slept in pickup camper before driving on through the early morning back to my home in Eastern Washington.

Day nine: Arrived home at 4:30 am. Another fun road trip.