Lakes, mountains, and deserts. Since our last update, we have made a big move through Utah. We were worried about the onset of winter, but not anymore. We are now in the desert, and it is plenty warm (hot).
Winter can come at any time in the higher elevations in Utah. For the last two weeks, winter has been our expectation, and it is the reason we departed Heber City and made a one-day dash to Saint George. If it was earlier in the fall, we would have stopped at least once or maybe two or three times to visit different areas. We escaped the cold weather threatening the northern Rocky Mountain states starting tomorrow. Now, we are at the very north edge of the desert.
As anyone can see, lakes,, mountains, and deserts have been a running theme in our travels. Our last two travel posts have been about lakes and mountains. Here are quick links: Stunning Big Sky and Quiet at the Lake. It is also true that for the last three years, our travels have started and ended in the desert.
Hyrum Lake
Two weeks ago, we spent the week at Hyrum Lake State Park in a small town south of Logan, Utah. This was the second time we stopped at Hyrum in the last three years. This time the water level was much lower than it was in the spring. We love parking with our windshield facing the water. We did the same thing at our previous stop in Idaho.
Bill and Kathy met us in Idaho, and we traveled together for three stops. They got matching reservations at Hyrum with us, and then we coordinated our stop at Heber City, leaving on the same day for Saint George.
After much encouragement from Tami, Kathy drove their RV (the second time ever). Bill and Kathy departed the Saint George area two days before we did. Kathy was at the wheel when they drove through the Virgin River Gorge area on Interstate 15. This area is at the bottom of the canyon, steep, and very windy. She must be getting good, as it is not an easy road.
Here is our Campsite Review for Hyrum Lake State Park and the state park website.
Bear Lake
While at Hyrum, we made a day trip to Bear Lake, which is in the northeast corner of Utah. While driving, we saw some of the results of hurricane-force winds that ripped through Utah only a week before our arrival. Bear Lake is another place with beautiful water. The lake is huge, half in Utah and half in Idaho. Utah has turned its half of Bear Lake into a state park; the Idaho half is just another Idaho lake (or so I think). The weather turned cold as we crossed the pass at Bear Lake Summit. It was still cold when we ate lunch in Garden City at the lake’s edge. It was mild when we left Hyrum Lake and very pleasant by the time we got back to Hyrum Lake.
During our visit, we decided that we would not need to return to Bear Lake to camp anytime soon. (I write this partially so that I will remember my thoughts.) The water was beautiful, but the lake’s mountains needed some trees.
Tami and Kathy also made a day trip to Logan, which is about ten miles north of Hyrum, and while there, they took some nice pictures of the LDS temple. This is Utah, after all, and the LDS temples are pretty. This one looks like a castle in England.
Heber City
So we went from Idaho, relaxing at Jefferson Lake — to Utah, relaxing at Hyrum Lake, and then to a mountain Valley south of Park City, Utah. Each morning for the last two weeks was a little colder. First, it was just a little chillier in Idaho, then at Hyrum Lake, it was a little colder, but the temperature changes each day became evident at our next stop in Heber Cite. As we were staying in Heber City, the temperature at sunrise was nearly freezing. Thankfully, it was still above freezing. Heber City is at a higher elevation than both of our stops at lakes. Winter usually arrives about Halloween in these parts.
We had a good week there and took Bill and Kathy to Park City. We also went down Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls. After that, we drove the Alpine Loop, which starts in Provo Canyon, follows the north fork of the Provo River, past Sundance, and then over the mountain back to the Heber Valley. We turned east at Forest Road 114, stopped at Cascade Springs, and then down a freshly paved road to Soldier Hollow.
We also made family visits in Provo. It was very good to see the family. Our Utah plan was to go to Tami’s high school reunion, which was postponed due to the virus problem gripping the country. Hopefully, we can put all of this behind us, and maybe they will reschedule before another ten years pass.
Here is our Campsite Review for Mountain Valley RV Resort and the RV Park website. Mountain Valley RV Resort.
Saint George
There would have been so many lovely places to stop between Heber City and Saint George, but as I said before, we skipped them to ensure we didn’t get caught by an early winter day. During our stay in Montana, we already had one winter day, on Labor Day. The cold wind, as does hot weather, takes some of the fun out of this kind of travel.
We stopped north of Saint George for three nights at Quail Creek State Park, right on the edge of Quail Creek Reservoir. I was trying to keep up our theme of lakes even though we broke the string in Heber. We knew about Quail Creek Reservoir from our previous stop at Sand Hollow early in 2018. We visited Zion and Bryce National Parks the last time we were here. Here is a link. (Camping at Sand Hollow).
So,, the terrain at Quail Creek wasn’t a surprise to us. What was a surprise was the heat, the lack of water, and the campground. Pictures taken during our 2018 visit show snow on the mountains. There was nothing like that during this visit. While there, we decided we like spring in Saint George, with a threat of snow—more than the fall.
We knew enough to expect that heat was a real possibility. We didn’t anticipate the lack of water in the reservoir, but this falls, and this, too, should not surprise anyone.
Hard Parking
The campground was very difficult to park in (unlike Sand Hollow). The campground was designed for campers in the 1960s, not in 2020. We had more than one hundred feet of asphalt in our campsite, and no section was level. This made parking our RV a real challenge. After Tami and I looked at it while our RV was still in the boat parking lot, I asked the park staff if there were any options. There were none. So we made the best of it, parked on the crest of the hill, and used every trick we had learned in the last two years to level our RV. This included stacking blocks on the downhill side and digging a hole under our stairs on the uphill side.
Here is our Campsite Review for Quail Creek State Park for the RV Park website for the state park website Quail Creek State Park.
We left Quail Creek State Park on Friday and made a quick hundred-mile drive to Nellis Air Force Base, where we spent the entire spring due to the virus lockdown. The day we left Nellis, the temperature peaked at one hundred degrees. We got back, and the temperature is only in the low nineties. I think we arrived in the desert a week too early.
Here is a link to our departure post from Nellis. Ground Hog Day, we leave tomorrow.
Loop complete
You could say we made a loop, but that would be a simplification. Our path was almost to Canada and included Glacier National Park. Unfortunately, visiting Canada this time wasn’t an option due to the virus containment efforts. We saw lots of new territory in the states we had already visited. Did we see it all? Not even close.
Lakes, mountains, and deserts always seem to be the theme of our travels. This year our focus paid off big, we had a great time seeing great places in the Rockies. The remainder of the year won’t include lakes, and we will only cross the mountains, but we will get a taste of more deserts.
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About our links
As you know, our blog income is zero, which allows us to be independent and tell the truth. We do not get income or commissions. No, we don’t make paid endorsements. We don’t make recommendations; instead, we will tell you what we like (or dislike). The links are only provided as a quick reference to help our readers.
Links
Links
Campsite Review Hyrum Lake State Park
Campsite Review Mountain Valley RV Resort
Campsite Review Quail Creek State Park
Ground Hog Day, we leave tomorrow
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So I guess you departed the mountains about two weeks too early this time. Of course, had you waited you could have seen the first snowfall.
It is hard to get the timing right. When you schedule in advance. The good part is that we didn’t get to see the snowfall.
Pretty!!! Thanks
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