Lake Powell

We are really loving this area and the camping is just $5 a day with our 50% off pricing with our national pass. It is amazing that the places we stay that are the cheapest are often the ones with the most
"it" factor. Of course no hookups or other conveniences but we are all about the views. It is pretty warm, up in the high 80's but the way we are situated, parallel to the shore with shade on our water side all day and so is very comfortable to sit outside which I took advantage of, doing a lot of reading and taking in the action on the water with kayaks, jet skiers and other boats going by.

Lone Rock

                                                 

                                              




Lake Powell is a reservoir on the Colorado River,  straddling the border between Utah and Arizona.  It is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States behind Lake Mead. It is part of the Glen Canyon Recreation area. Glen Canyon Dam is very impressive and has a great tour, which we took the last time we were here.  This area has been in drought conditions up until this last winter. Their water level had gone way down but they gained some back with all the rains during the winter.

We have had some nice sunsets and sunrises to enjoy. Below are some sunrise views on one of the few mornings we were up early enough to take some pictures.

                                               

Natural Bridges of Utah

We left the beautiful Moab area and stopped for a night at a BLM overflow campground near Natural Bridges National Momument. We had to drive down a gravel road which was carved out in spots due to rains but we made it through. It is really a nice spot, especially being free. There were a half dozen other motorhomes or tenters there.. Nice view and very quiet.

     We are only about 7 miles from the National Monument and so once we got set up, we headed over to it. We stopped in the Visitor Center and when we got out it was raining pretty good. However, by the time we made our first stop on the loop, it had stopped. There are three magnificent bridges in this area. The Momument was established in 1908 and was Utah's first National Park System area. The difference between arches and bridges is that bridges are formed by the erosive action of moving water. Arches are formed by other erosional forces, mainly frost action and seeping moisture. We followed on the 9 mile one way loop, stopping to take some short hikes to the overlooks. There are also some longer hikes up to around 8 miles for those so iinclined. 

      Tuesday, we left and made our way to Lake Powell. We drove through part of Monument Valley, which we had visited a number of years ago.

We have stayed at Lake Powell before and stayed at the Wahweap Marina RV Campground, which is a very nice place with great views of the water and hills from most of the sites if not all sites. This time we decided to stay at Lone Rock Beach which we had checked out the last time we were in the area. It is dry camping but you are right on the water with incredible views. There were actually quite a few people here but we did get a spot by the water with just a small hill to walk done to get to the water.
We will be able to launch our boats from our site, which is always nice.

                                                                                                                                                                                         

More Views in Canyonlands

Spent some time just enjoying sitting outside under our tree doing some reading and relaxing Also did another drive to Canyonlands for some more gorgeous views.

Grand View Point is an overlook with views of the La Sal Mountains as well as the carved out area by the Green and Colorado Rivers.             We originally had only planned a few days at Moab but ended up staying for about 10 days. We loved this area and its desert beauty We'll be back next April for a 4 wheel drive rally. For now we say adieu and on towards Lake Powell on   Monday.                                

Horsethief Campground

We signed up for one more day but really didn't need to. Joe called a repair place in town and then a tow company who took the Jeep to it to be fixed. Joe took his bike but had barely gotten back when we call a call that the Jeep was fixed It just turned out to be a bushing on the drive shaft that came out. Moab 4x4 Outlaw, the repair shop, only charged us a small amount.  We would definitely recommend them to anyone that is in this area. We just took it easy the rest of the day, only leaving the campground for supplies.
The next morning we left for Horsethief Campground, which is 4 miles before the entry to the Island of the Sky District of the Canyonlands National Park They have about 60 sites and many that are big enough for large RVs We picked a nice spot that was quite large

We got set up and had lunch We then decided to take a drive into the Park. Canyonlands just celebrated its 47th birthday as a national park about 10 days ago. There are many overlooks with great views. One is Green River Overlook, where you can see the Green River, which along with the Colorado River, carved out the landscape.

We also drove to the Upheaval Dome, which can be reached by a short 1 and 1/2 mile walk. It was uphill and a good work out.      Upheaval Dome contains rock layers unlike any in the surrounding area. Scientists still debate whether this oddity is the remnant of a meteorite impact or a salt dome.

We got back and had dinner, followed by a beautiful sunset Even more beautiful  was the dark sky later that night. The campground is far from any lights and the sky was filled with stars and the milky way was clearly visable as well.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of that