We said goodbye to Idaho and made our way into northeast Nevada. We set up the trailer at South Fork State Recreational Park just outside of Elko, Nevada. Elko is known for its gold mines and UFO sightings. We did see quite a few mines driving to the campground. Unfortunately, we did not see any UFOs, mysterious lights, or aliens.
The campground sits above South Fork Reservoir, a man-made reservoir for water-based recreation. Boating, fishing, and swimming are encouraged. Murphy and I spent quite a lot of time down at the water’s edge. He swam every day, and I took too many pictures of the beautiful landscape.
The campground is also close to the Ruby Mountains. They provided a gorgeous view every day, which changed with the light.
It was a quiet week for us. Aaron worked quite a bit, and Murphy and I enjoyed our surroundings.
Here are a few shots of the landscape, the ducks, and the dramatic skies. We did have some rain, which was nice.
The campground was never really crowded, but we did have neighbors with small kids for a few days. Murphy would watch them play from the windows of the camper. Once, he fell asleep watching them and gave me one of my favorite pictures of him.
After a week of enjoying our site, it was time to move west again. Next stop- back to Tahoe National Forest in California. We stayed there last year and decided it was the perfect stop on our way to Fremont, CA.
While Aaron and I were still at Juniper Campground, we decided to explore and look for our next campsite in the Targhee National Forest. This national forest is between the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park and has a beauty all of its own. We found mountain streams and admired the crystal clear water, meadows, and incredible views. We also narrowed down where we wanted to park our home for two weeks. The following pictures are from our scouting for the next site.
A few days later, we loaded up and found our next backyard. When camping in national forests during the summer, unoccupied free campsites are more of a challenge to find- especially near such tourist attractions as Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We did not get our first choice of spots, but we did find a beautiful clearing to set up the house.
During our explorations, Murphy and I came across a man-made shelter that looked like the remnants of a survival show where they show the audience how to make shelters, find food sources, and survive in the wilderness. It was pretty cool to see.
The rest of our stay was pretty quiet and uneventful. I was still nursing my sprained ankle but walking around more, so we did not do much. I was also getting prepared for my cruise to Alaska with my mom, older brother, and his wife. After almost two weeks, it was time for us to move on and get settled even closer to Yellowstone! WE had a campsite reserved at Rainbow Point Campground in West Yellowstone for 2 weeks. Aaron and Murphy would be there while I was in Alaska, and then we would all be there together when I got back from my cruise.
We got to the campground early and quickly set everything up. We then hopped back in the truck to take a quick ride through the west side of Yellowstone National Park. I was flying out the next day, so we wanted a quick drive in before I had to leave.
West Yellowstone
Those dots on the landscape in the second-to-last picture are bison. One thing people tend to forget in national parks is that all the animals there are WILD ANIMALS. They don’t like humans, and they do not want to be bothered by humans. People have been hurt because they get too close to the wild animals. Everyone wants amazing animal photos, but they are not worth injury or a life to get that perfect shot. The people in my next set of photos were lucky; no one was injured, but they very easily could have been trampled by the bison.
I want to add, that I took those pictures from the safety of our truck.
The west side of Yellowstone is OK. It is not quite as picturesque as other parts of the park but still majestic and beautiful. Hopefully, I will have another post with tons of photos of other sights and animals from Yellowstone. But next week, and probably the week after that, the blog will be all about Alaska. I have tons of pictures to edit so that I can share the awe-inspiring beauty of Alaska. I will leave you with a quick teaser picture I took with my phone.
Aaron, Murphy, and I headed north from Utah Lake State Park into Idaho. Our destination was Castle Rocks State Park. We were excited! This park had great hiking trails, biking trails, and really cool granite rock formations. This was our first time camping in Idaho, and we were looking forward to experiencing a new state, new geography, and new experiences.
Unfortunately, we arrived during peak wildfire season. There were fires in California, Utah, Idaho, and other states. The views were very hazy, and sometimes, we could not see anything but smoke in the distance. We knew there were mountains around, but we just were not able to see them very well. This picture was of one of the clearer days.
The second morning we were there, Aaron was on a work meeting, I had just woken up, and Murphy was really ready to go outside. I hurriedly slipped on my shoes put the leash on the dog, and stepped out of the door. I did not remember that when we had leveled the camper the day before, we added a temporary third step because that side of the camper was quite high. I missed the improvised step, twisted my ankle and hit the ground pretty hard. So much for enjoying the hiking and biking trails, now I was nursing a sprained ankle.
Hopefully we can visit this state park again and actually enjoy what it has to offer. The only photos I was able to get were from the truck as we were leaving and heading to our next campground a bit further north in eastern Idaho.
Next Stop…Juniper Campground
Juniper Campground was very aptly named. There were juniper trees everywhere. We had a one week stay planned at this county run campground. I was starting week two of the ankle injury and was spending almost all of my time in the camper with my foot elevated trying to use it as little as possible. I needed it to heal! I have a cruise to Alaska with my mom, my older brother, and my sister-in-law coming up in a few weeks. So minimal walking and weight bearing was my plan.
Murphy kept me company for most of the week while I was nursing and babying the ankle.
We had only planned on staying for a week, and then we had planned on spending two weeks in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. About mid-week, Aaron found out he needed to take a three day trip to Dallas, Texas for work. Since Juniper was close to Idaho Falls regional airport, we decided it would be better to stay there for a second week. We looked, and the campsite we were at was not available for the next week, so we drove around the campground looking for other available sites. They had two loops of sites that were first come first serve only. We spotted a couple that we really liked and decided that on moving day, we would claim one of them.
Shortest moving day we have ever had! The site was better than the one we had the week before. We were closer to the Snake River, had more room for the dog to play, and more privacy. My ankle was healing some, and I started to slowly walk on it a bit more each day.
While Aaron was gone, the dog and I took short walks exploring the cliff overlooking the river. It was good to get my ankle moving, and the pup needed to run and sniff and explore. The pup and I found an almost complete deer skeleton. The skull was missing. We saw a partial rainbow during a sunrise on a stormy morning. We really had some beautiful views!
Murphy also found out that he really like playing in sprinklers! There were two of them in front of our camper, and when they came on he would run back and forth between them playing in the streams of water.
Aaron got back from Dallas, and we enjoyed the rest of the week at Juniper Campground.
Our two week, two campsite stay at Juniper came to an end. We assured the camp host that we would return, and headed northeast into the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.
We continued north after leaving the Grand Canyon. We stopped in Kanab, Utah for gas and lunch, and this car just caught my eye. We had an overnight stay planned at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, and after filling the truck and ourselves we headed there.
This was a great campground, and an overnight stay was probably not enough. They offer ATV and UTV guided tours of the dunes. The scenery was outstanding. My pictures of the dunes do not do the size of them justice.
In the following picture, you can judge the size a little bit by looking at the tiny dots that are people walking on the dunes.
The colors were beautiful, we enjoyed our stay, but we needed to keep moving north. Aaron had a flight out of Salt Lake City coming up, so we need to get closer to the city. Our next stop was Soldier Creek Campground on the Strawberry Reservoir.
About ten minutes after we got on the highway, we were stopped due to a head-on collision on a curve on the mountain road. It was a stark reminder to be cautious and careful as we pull our home behind us. We saw two Life Flight helicopters land, load the crash victims, and take off again. Those pilots were incredible.
After the people were taken care of and the crash scene was cleared, we mindfully continued to Soldier Creek Campground. It was still a desert environment, but with a large body of water. I think all three of us were happy to see a body of water again.
There were boats out fishing every day. Murphy got to swim every day. Every day there were prairie dogs running all over the place. Murphy really wanted to catch one, but those guys were just to fast and had too many hiding places for him to succeed. For that, I am grateful, even if the dog is not. I was really thrilled to catch these two pictures!
Murphy and I held down the fort (Airstream) while Aaron had to go out of town for work for a few days. We spent the time walking down to Murphy’s swimming spot and just enjoying the water and the boat watching. The water was cool and so clear, until the dog got in and it clouded it up.
I saw some beautiful flowers, and even a thistle bloom with a bee, a ladybug, and two other bugs that I do not know what they are. One of my favorite things I love to spot is the moon in the sky during the day. I got to see that as well. The skies looked like rain quite a few times, but we never did get any rain while we were there.
On Friday, the dog and I headed to the airport to pick up Aaron. When we got back, it was time for me to pack my bags. I had a flight out of Salt Lake City to go visit my family in Iowa again. Aaron had a solo moving day coming up, and I had family time. I packed my bags, got the Airstream as ready as I could to make Aaron’s moving day easier on him.
Aaron and I said another “see you later” at the airport. He headed towards Utah Lake State Park in Provo, Utah; I headed east to Iowa.
We said goodbye to Lost Dutchman State Park and headed closer to Phoenix. Gage was flying out to Florida to spend the week of the 4th of July with our other two kids, Mason and Jenna, and I was going to dog sit Lola and house sit for Gage. Aaron dropped me off, and he headed back to Pinal Park to battle the desert heat with Murphy while enjoyed the air-condition and sweet Lola. She was very excited to see me again so soon. Lola and I had a nice quiet week. Aaron and Murphy enjoyed having the entire campground to themselves, except for the bees. Aaron learned that bees in the desert are highly attracted to water. Every time he ran the AC, the bees would flock to the condensation run-off. He battled them, battled keeping them out of the camper, and trying his best to not harm them at the same time.
He bought some mesh material (like mosquito netting) and covered the AC unit to keep them from getting inside the camper. This is a screen shot from the video he sent me of them swarming the AC unit trying to get in.
Besides the bees, we had a quiet week. Gage came home, we had a quick visit, and then it was time for us to head north. We had one more stop in Arizona, the Grand Canyon. We found a great spot about five miles from the south rim entrance in the Kaibab National Forest. It was at a nice elevation, the temperatures were cooler, relatively anyway.
We were ;lucky to have the area to ourselves. We could tell that it was used quite often for camping and hunting. Murphy kept jumping at a tree trunk, and I could not figure out why until I looked up. There was the bottom part of an elk’s leg up in the branches. After exploring, we found more elk leg pieces, but no other part of the elk. Our best guess is that hunters dressed the kills, and left the legs. We also found a memorial bird house in one of the trees.
We were hoping to see some deer, elk, and other wild life while we spent the week here, but we only had one wild animal visit us, and it was most unexpected. I took Aaron to Flagstaff so he could catch a flight for an overnight trip to California. As soon as we left, our security cameras went off. There was motion all around the camper. It was a wild horse. We figured it would be gone by the time I got back, but nope, it was waiting for me and Murphy.
She was beautiful. Murphy was not happy about her invading his space, but she seemed not to care about his barking. I got him in the camper, and then took some pictures from the safety of just inside the door. I did not want to go one on one with a wild horse. She hung around the camper for another half an hour before she wandered off.
I picked Aaron up the next day, and we spent a few more quiet days before it was time to head north into Utah. Our route took us directly through the Grand Canyon National Park. Once again our National Park Pass (this year’s pass was the perfect Christmas gift from my mom) paid for itself.
Here are some photos of our stops around the south rim of the Grand Canyon. There was a smokey haze, so the views were partially obstructed. But is was breath taking and majestic regardless.
On the picture above, you can see just a bit of the Colorado River, which is what formed this beautiful place over millions and millions of years.
After a few hours spent admiring this natural wonder, we started into southern Utah. The Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park was our next destination, and hopefully our last desert camp site for a while. I am sure we will be revisiting Arizona in the cooler weather months. So, it is not a good bye to Arizona, but a fond farewell and a promise to return.
Wandering Cindi 