The Sequel

Is anyone out there still reading this thing?  It’s been nearly two years since we embarked on our last big roadtrip. And what a difference two years makes!  Since we landed, we moved to Minneapolis, MN, Sam landed a really cool job, we got married, grieved the loss of my father, bought a house, grieved the loss of our fellow travel companion Kiwi, and adopted a new pup.  Oh yeah, and theres that pesky pandemic that seems to be lingering.

Sadly, that has left little room for us to take the Aluminum Falcon (the name we settled on for our teardrop camper, based on popular vote).  We had taken her out on a few occasions, mostly weekend trips up north and a long weekend bopping around a few state parks, but home renovations and family obligations had limited our ability to find a decent chunk of time to go much further than that.

Having been away from my family since Christmas, I was really missing them and so badly wanted to make a road trip to New York work.  However, New York State has implemented a mandatory 14-day quarantine for people coming in from other states with high infection rates.  We made these plans back in August but it seems that as soon as we did, Minnesota found itself on that mandatory quarantine list.  And while we popped on and off that list, by mid-September it was pretty obvious that we weren’t going to make it off anytime soon  (we didn’t, and still haven’t).  After consulting with the rest of my family, we were convinced that maybe trying to go back to New York right now wasn’t such a good idea.

Sam and I were left to decide how we should spend this week that he had already requested time off for.  Should we just cancel and go back to work?  Nah, if anything, we needed a break from life.  Should we power through the bathroom renovation project that we’ve been chipping away at since February?  Ehhh – renovation fatigue is a thing and usually hits us hard after three days of non-stop manual labor.  So we probably wouldn’t get much done that way in theory.

Then it came to us.  Lets hit the road and hit up some places we missed on our first lap around the United States!  Colorado and Utah were two that we regretted that we couldn’t make time for, or for that matter, tolerate in our un-insulated camper in early December.  By going there in early October, the weather would be PERFECT.

We wouldn’t be taking our new dog, Murphy.  While he is a Frenchie and a rescue just like Kiwi was, they are like night and day.  Murphy is a young soul with lots of energy and needs plenty of stimulation.  For that reason, long car rides would be tough for him, but also – he gets anxious in the car.  He really doesn’t like it, though we’re working on getting him used to it.  We’re learning it’s not something he’ll begin to love overnight.  But perhaps the biggest reason we decided not to bring him was because of something we learned on our last trip with Kiwi: you really can’t hike the trails with dogs in tow at National Parks, and you end up missing out on so much.

Our journey officially began on Saturday, October 3rd.  Just before the crack of dawn, we hit the road for Badlands National Park in South Dakota.  If this feels like deja vu for thse of you who have followed this blog, you’re absolutely right.  We did hit the Badlands on our last trip, but we had driven through it in a matter of hours.  This time we were hoping to get a hike in, and camp within the park.

We arrived at around 1:30pm.  I had called the day before and learned that the campground was booked for reservations, but that they still had first-come, first-serve sites available on a rolling basis.  The person I spoke to suggested I arrive right at noon when they open up, because they usually go pretty quick.  So, of course I was nervous we wouldn’t get there in time to snag one.  I started to remember how difficult those times were – trying to find a place to camp late in the day.  It wasn’t my favorite part of the roadtrip, and I wondered if I was ready to hop back into it again or be able to find my stride.

I wondered if I was ready to hop back into it again or be able to find my stride.

When we pulled into the Cedar Pass campground, we were overjoyed to learn that there were in fact, several sites available for us to choose from.  For those familiar, we settled on site #50 because it was perfectly nestled along the camp’s outer perimeter.  We were quickly reminded of how much we love our camper and the reason for buying it: we were able to unhitch her quickly and run off to squeeze a hike in before the sun set.   The Saddle Pass trail was the perfect way to close out our afternoon before heading back to camp for dinner and an early lights-out.

Because of the pandemic, we were careful to plan out our travels so that we would be taking minimal risks.  We shopped and bought all of our food for our entire trip in advance.  This meant bringing an additional cooler than the one we traveled with last time, but it was worth the added space.  We packed more than enough clothes for extremes in weather to avoid laundromats.  Our only stops would be for gas and restrooms.

The next morning, we rose early and made our way to Boulder, CO.  Sam spent his freshman year of college at the University of Colorado at Boulder and wanted to pop in for a visit but unfortunately, our travels took us a bit longer than expected so we weren’t able to make it in to pass through the city.  Leaving South Dakota, we came upon a checkpoint along the border of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home of the Ogala Lakota.  It was there they redirected us in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 by tourists. We were totally supportive and understood their kind requests to go a little out of our way to get our destination.  Our detour led us down a long dirt road with a 45mph speed limit, but we knew we would still make it before sundown.

Sam was in charge of our campsite this night since he knew the area better than me.  I really had no idea what to expect until we arrived at Gordon’s Gulch, a dispersed camping area nestled in the Rocky Mountains.  I was quickly reminded of the long and winding dirt road drive we took between the Grand Tetons and Idaho last time.  It was an uneasy ride until we happened upon what seemed like the only site left.  Site #12 was everything we hoped for: spacious and somewhat private, but close enough to civilization in case of emergency (that last part is ALL me).  By then, the sun was already on its way down, so we quickly made dinner and curled up in the camper for a game of Scrabble before bed.

This felt like second nature.  But it woudn’t always be that way…

We were patting ourselves on the back for how well things seemed to be falling into place.  Road tripping for us was like riding a bicycle. Our habits and our instincts were quickly coming back to us.  This felt like second nature.  But it woudn’t always be that way…

Our next stop was Moab, UT. I had the foresight to consult with a friend we met in Yellowstone last time who resided in the area.  She let us know that there was plenty of first-come, first-serve camping along the river but that we would have to go looking for it.  As we arrived we first made our way down 279 looking for camping, but came up empty.  So we turned around and headed up 191 for about 10 miles, but those efforts quickly became fruitless.  After several hours of searching, we started calling around to RV parks, which are always less than ideal because they are expensive and usually resemble parking lots. Again, we were turned away because it was apparently one of the busiest times of year.  Add a pandemic with many people either out of work or working remotely, and you have yourself a highly desired place where people to want to “ride it out”.  Clearly, we weren’t as unique or clever as we thought we were by taking this trip.

Clearly, we weren’t as unique or clever as we thought we were by taking this trip.

After another panicked call to our friend, we learned there was dispersed camping along Willow Springs Road. It was not our intent to dry camp this whole trip, but we were willing to figure it out if it meant we would be settled somewhere.  Plus, we were saving a bunch of money since these campsites are free.  They don’t typically have any facilities but Willow Springs did have portable toilets scattered throughout the area, which were actually very clean and decent.  Still, we’d have to figure out our water situation since we were running low.  And we hadn’t showered since the night before we left.  By the time we got set up and fed ourselves, we were ready to call it a night and would figure it out in the morning.  We were just happy to be settled and able to relax.  There was fun to be had after a stressful welcome to Moab.

The first place we decided to check out was Arches National Park.  Since it was a Tuesday, we hoped the crowds would be lighter than if it were later in the week.  It was a relief to fly through the main entrance of the park at dawn.  Our debut hike was a quick mile trek in and back out of the Park Avenue Trail. It offered us the most beautiful and intimate canyon trails with a view of the Courthouse Towers.  Things were starting to turn around!

Next, we made our way all the way to the end of the park to visit Devil’s Garden.  The weather was quickly heating up and we figured if we were going to do a big hike, we better get it in sooner rather than later.  But much like our campsite search, the trailhead was packed with like-minded tourists.  We found ourselves circling the lot before deciding to park at the Skyline Arch trailhead, then walking back to the Devil’s Garden.  This easily added another mile to our hike, but it would be worth it.

We were able to see the Partition Arch, the Navajo Arch, the Double O, and many others.  It was nothing short of extraordinary.  The trail was a bit more challenging than I anticipated!  Scrambling up and down steep rocks with smooth surfaces, with huge drops on either side.  I was honestly impressed with all who attempted and succeeded at it.  My balance is admittedly terrible, and I am also not a huge fan of heights.  Still, my husband was a great partner and support (both physically and mentally) and we completed the trail, including the primitive loop.  There were many times when we got turned around because the truth is, the primitive trail is somewhat poorly marked, but I’m grateful that Sam has a keen sense of direction and was able to navigate our way through.

After 25,000 steps and the temps continuing to rise, we were pretty exhausted after that.  So, we decided to leave the park and grab a few groceries we forgot to take with us.  But first, we saw there was a water bottle filling station at the Welcome Center, so we filled up our water supply there for dishes and drinking.  Then, we ventured into the city of Moab to run our few errands and admired what a cute area it was.  If it weren’t for COVID, we would have probably lingered a bit.  But with contruction also an obstacle, we got out of there quickly.

Later, we drove back up 191 to the Sandy Beach River Access to bath in the Colorado River.  The water was brisk at best, but it felt so good to wash the sweat and sunscreen off from the last several days.

That night, two women camped near our set up.  They had the same frustrations with finding a site that we did the day prior.  We welcomed them to our little corner of the desert and got to know them a little bit.  They were both in the 60’s, headed to the Green River to meet up with some friends, and were fellow Minnesotans from Ely.  We had no idea they were about to show us up by “cowboy camping” – sleeping on the bare rock without a tent.  Sam and I were feeling like “wusses” as we retreated to our cosy teardrop camper that night!

The next day we made our way into Canyonlands National Park.  We first visted the Mesa Arch before moving onto the Murphy Point Trail.  While we wanted to complete the full loop, we really didn’t have it in us.  Our bodies were still recovering from the big hike we took the day before (I’m not as young as I used to be!), and our hips and knees just weren’t cooperating.  Paired with the increasing heat, we decided to not push ourselves too hard.  Canyonlands was utterly breathtaking though, and the views were a stark contrast to those we saw at Arches.  So we agreed to visit the Green River Overlook and  take on one more hike up the Whale Rock Trail which was a bit of a climb, but at least it wasn’t a very long one.  The view was worth it to end on a high note.

We went back to our campsite that day and took the time to relax, read, listen to music, and nap a little.  We rigged up our tarps and canopy’s for extra shade since we didn’t have any, and were feeling good about what we had accomplished that day.

Thursday was our last day in Moab, and we had heard good things about Dead Horse Point State Park which offers alternate views of Canyonlands National Park and the Colorado River.   Upon arriving, we headed straight to Dead Horse Point before embarking on the West Rim Trail, which was phenomenal.  Maybe we didn’t see enough at Canyonlands, but these views were even better than I expected!  And they were consistent throughout our 5-mile hike.

Arches was still calling our name as there were plenty of attractions we didn’t get to when we were there.  So we popped into Moab for a quick oil change, and headed back into the park to see a few more views.  We had enough time and energy to hike the full Windows loop trail, but decided to avoid the Delicate Arch due to it being a heavily visited area (remember, COVID), and the alternate trails sounded a bit intense for what we were able to endure at that point in the day.

Before we closed out the day, we were sure to fill up our water jug again at the Welcome Center, and take one more dip in the Colorado before we headed back North in the morning.

We didn’t intend to rush out of Utah, but life is different than it was two years ago.  We had a house, jobs, and a dog we love to get back to.  With better planning, maybe we could have taken a jaunt out to Lake Powell or Bryce Canyon, but it was also nice to get home a day early to unpack, unwind, and overwinter our camper uninterrupted by our day-to-day responsiblities.  We really pushed two full days of driving, stopping over at the Country View Campground in Ogallala, Nebraska.  The folks there were incredibly kind, welcoming us with fresh tomatoes from the garden and tips about the area.  We ordered pizza delivery for dinner that to our campsite which I think is a first in our book!  And after our last night of camping, we made it home just after the sun set on Saturday and it felt so good.

At the close of this trip, we’ve been getting the camper cleared out for overwintering.  Our Aluminum Falcon is starting to show it’s wear.  The wheel wells are rusting out, the doors/windows are a little testy.  And we also broke off the support for the galley kitchen door more than a few times.  There are all kinds of scuffs and scrapes that need a little touching up.  One day we’ll fix her up real nice again.  But for now, we appreciate how much our camper has been loved.

Until next time, stay warm!