Spring 23-April

This is the daily log for our Spring 2023 trip. It was written during our trip so people could find us if they need to. (If we got lost or for family emergencies) It was written with the most recent day at the top for easy reading at the time. If you are reading it now, scroll to the bottom to start reading. (watch the dates)

Hike from Zabriskie Point, Death Valley

TRIP NOTES

4 - 30 Sunday - Our goal for today is Round Valley Draw. It’s another slot canyon. It’s a bit harder than the one we did yesterday as there are a few boulders we need to scramble over. It should be fun.

4 - 29 Saturday - We hiked at Bull Valley Gorge and Willis Creek. Willis was worth driving by but not much of a hike. Bull Valley Gorge was an easy hike in a pretty slot canyon.

Bill Valley Gorge

At Willis Creek the first thing we noticed was this car! They didn’t use their parking brake!

Vehicle Stuck in Slot Canyon

4 - 28 Friday - After our long hike yesterday, we took the day off and hung around camp.

4 - 27 Thursday - Today we finish hiking in Kodachrome Basin. It was long day the hike was supposed to be 6 miles but somehow we turned onto a trail that was not on the map. That trail had a great view but added another 3 or so miles.

On the way back to camp we stopped at Grosvenor Arch. It’s an impressive double arch.

Jeep News: I forgot to mention we got ducked a few days ago! It’s our first one.

4 - 26 Wednesday - Today we hiked at Kodachrome Basin. There are still more trails we want to hike there.

Kodachrome Basin

At home: Two skunks! The second one looks like the tail of the one closest to the camera. But it’s two! I guess we have a healthy environment to support so many critters.

Two Skunks on the Patio

Campsite 14, 4 - 25 Tuesday - We moved on to Escalante. And explored by vehicle, checking out trails in the area. We found several nearby we want to hike.

4 - 24 Monday - Today we hiked in Bryce. I’m not sure why they call it a canyon as it seems to be (beautiful and interesting) erosion but only on one side of a mountain. There is no other side.

Anyway, fun day that started as the third muddiest day of our lives. We dress for mud and ice and found an abundance of both.

Check out my Footwear

We laughed at in appropriate footwear we saw along the trail.

At least neither of us fell down in it. We saw someone fall - not pretty!

Campsite 13, 4 - 23 Sunday - Bryce Canyon. They have a nice BLM campground with excellent spacing between campsites. Having lunch, then off to see what we can in the canyon.

Cool tunnel on SR 12

4 - 22 Saturday - Camped at the Holiday in Express in Cedar City. Clean clothes: clean people! Ready for the next place.

4 - 21 Friday - We hiked a trail close to our camp.. It was nice but not spectacular. I’m not sure what we are doing tomorrow.

Sitting in camp after our hike, we had a visitor. Clearly someone has been feeding him. He is very disappointed with us. He is cute.

4 - 20 Thursday - Today we traveled to the pearly gates of Zion (NP). We showed them our pass and they waved us through. Unfortunately, there was no parking place prepared for us so we kept driving. Desert Disneyland :( We won’t be going back.

The Jeep: It got a bath so now people don’t stare at the Jeep while talking to us. We wonder what they’re thinking. It’s either, ‘You’re lazy. Wash your vehicle.’ or ‘These guys went somewhere fun!’ But it’s still filthy.

Jeep-Jeep after its Bath

Campsite 12, 4 - 19 Wednesday - Moved to Kolob Reservoir Road camp site. I have no idea what we are doing tomorrow. But it’s pretty here!

View from Our Camp

4 - 18 Tuesday - We hiked Taylor Creek Trail (TCT) at Zion NP. Busy trail. The road into the park was washed out and a large Boulder fell in the middle of the road during winter, so the road is closed indefinitely beyond the TCT trail head. But we had a nice hike to this falls!

Taylor Creek Falls

4 - 17 Monday - Today we explored Spring Creek Canyon. Scores high marks for many reasons.

Campsite 11, 4 - 16 Sunday - We ate breakfast to music from this little guy.

We moved today. We ended up at Spring Creek Wilderness area outside of Kanarra, UT. Here is our new view.

Campsite 10, 4 - 15 Saturday - We hiked the Padre trail today. It was a nice trail with only a few other groups. In the evening we worked on astro photography and we’re learning to identify things in the sky.

View of St. George, Utah

From Padre Canyon Trail

Here is the view from our campsite.

4-14 Friday - We hiked to The Vortex today. Very interesting site. The rock slopes down steeply like a drain or vortex. This particular formation had water in it, others in the area were dryer.

Rock Formation

at Red Mountain Wilderness Area

At home: Snow

4-13 Thursday - Back to Snow Canyon for another day of hiking. We ran low on water and had to turn back early on a great but long trail. We are planning to come back on Saturday. We are planning a lite day oh hiking tomorrow at Vortex.

Working on sunset photograph in the park late.

We discovered a falls yesterday. Water in the desert!

There was a great sunset at camp.

At home: A dusting of snow last night but significant melting in the last few days i. e. muddy! I’m glad to be here.

4-12 Wednesday - We loved Snow Canyon! It’s a small State Park that feels like a city park. We spent the day there taking photos of amazing rock formations and we are headed back for more tomorrow.

Snow Canyon

Campsite 10, 4 - 11 Tuesday - We missed the one-year anniversary of Ephemeral Landscape! That was back on April 4th.

Our current campsite is nice but nothing special. We’ll use it as a base for day trips. We can tell it is a popular site for OHVs. There are trails everywhere. A volcano a few hills away! I had no idea North America had so many extinct volcanoes. We’ll have to go over and check it out up close.

I think the destination for the day is Snow Valley.

Campsite 9, 4 - 10 Monday - Back in Utah! The weather (today) is perfect at 70F, little wind, and we have a tree for shade in our camp. We picked a central location to many of the places we want to visit near St George. We’ll be here for a few days.

4 - 9 Sunday - When we left the house it was supposed to be a southern Utah trip but we went to CA is search of warmth or at least less wind. After three weeks in CA, we are headed back to Utah to try again. The order of places we plan to visit has changed since we are coming from the opposite direction. We might spend a night or two in Nevada. We found a good place to camp. After that, we will be off to Snow Valley, UT. (I hope there is no snow!)

4-8 Saturday - We were joined for dinner by a cute little mammal! Then stayed up late for astro. Today we are headed to Bishop, CA for showers and laundry. We might even wash the Jeep!

4-7 Friday - We drove to a more remote part of the dunes for photos. The shapes were really nice. I might have to do a photo series on dunes and sand ripples.

Eureka Dunes

At home: Another fox sighting! We have a magpie that visits every morning. Smoke detector chirping is unchanged.

4-6 Thursday - Last night we did a little night photography. Just practice as there was a full moon. Then we went for a hike in the dunes and discovered that the air force uses the valley for low altitude flight training. It’s like have your own private air show multiple times a day as long as they don’t get the elevation wrong and crash into us.

Astro Photography

Sand Ripples

Flight Training

Campsite 8, 4-5 Wednesday - We traveled to the northern end of the Park. A sign, 20 miles before our turn, said the road was closed but there was no barrier or sign at the road, so we went anyway. Along the way, we discovered it had washed out in places making a nimble surefooted vehicle a requirement. We made a trail friend along the way conferring on alternate roads. We ended up at the Eureka Dunes. A great place for photography. We will stay here for at least two nights.

Eureka Dunes, Death Valley NP

4-4 Tuesday - The wind has died down I suspect wind is normal for this location, we drove south to explore Warm Springs Canyon Road. Saw a lot of abandoned mines. We also saw some burros. They are probably wild but one was very curious and gave us a show at scratching his back on the side of a deep wash.

At home: Four to Six inches of snow forecasted.

Burro on His Way into a Wash

4-3 Monday - Windy! We went in search of shelter and found some in Titus Canyon. After our hike we emerged into a sandstorm.

Sandstorm at our Camp in Death Valley

4-2 Sunday - We will be exploring around camp again today. Weekends are busy in National Parks and it’s good to take the time to rest, clean around camp and and hike around camp.

Campsite 7, 4-1 Saturday - We moved our camp to Hanaupah Canyon Trail. Great view! Since we moved we would have had a late start on any day trip so we are exploring near camp.

View of Mountains Behind Camp

View in Front of Camp, Across Valley at Badwater