We left Fruita, CO intially heading for a brief stop in Moab, UT but decided to bypass there as the headwinds on the road that day we quite strong. Our final destination that day was Capital Reef NP in southwestern UT. We stayed there for a couple of nights had a great day hike and drove around a bit to see the sights. Unfortunately the winds were still quite strong which prevented us from doing some of the things we were hoping to do. The park itself is (mostly) located in a beautiful valley that was settled long ago by the early Mormons. The valley is quite lush with a small river feeding the fields and orchards that had been planted by those early settlers. The surrounding red rock formations remind you that you are still in the desert SW. Stunning cliffs, beautiful river valleys and hugh cloud formations. Here are some photos from the area.
View from campground, Capital Reef NP
Hike through Capital Gorge
Campground Capital Reef NP
View of the valley
From here our next stop was Great Basin NP in far eastern NV. Considered a sky island, the lanscape turns from the barren loooking desert floor to the surrounding mountain of which Wheeler Peak dominates at ~13,000ft. Our campground here was located close to 7,500ft with a stunning view of the peak. The main attraction at this park is the Lehman cave, of which we took the ranger led tour. The formations inside are incredible with all the usual cave suspects: bats (very few at this time of year), stalagtites, stalagmites, columns, pools of water. This is considered a "living" cave as the water seeps coming through the limestone continue to add to the growing formations.
A fun sighting on the way back to the campsite involed and tom turkey slowly chasing the hen-must be mating season here. I was able to get the 300mm lens on the Nikon and get "somewhat" close, enough to get him in all his feathered glory.
Photos from Great Basin NP:
This is the "money" shot from the cave which is on all the postcards.
We continued westward from here crossing NV on Hwy 50, named the "Loneliest Road in America" a name which is quite fitting. Beautiful landscapes dotted with several (almost ghost) towns including Ely, Eureka, Austin and Fallon (home of top gun fame). A long day ended with a night of "casino camping" in Reno.This was a much needed stop to hook up and recharge the electronics and a nice hot shower after 5 days off grid. The next morning was spent in Reno before a short afternoon drive to the Lake Tahoe area for a weekend visit with my niece Dana and her husband Kevin. Their area of Kings Beach is a small but very friendly community of locals that don't mind us parking the trailer out front. A neighbor's 40th B-day party last night brought everyone out and along excellent food, good bluuegrass(ish) picking and plenty of libations proved to be a great combination. We felt very welcome here!
Tomorrow we roll again with an expected route through CA, OR then to WA for a visit with a former photo workshop friend next weekend.
Until the next wifi signal....
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