PART 2: Western National Parks RV Caravan -- Torrey, UT to Cortez, CO

PART 1: Western National Parks RV Caravan -- Virgin (Zion), UT to Bryce Canyon, UT preceded this post if you are interested in hearing about the first third of our caravan.

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9/2 - 9/3/22: Torrey, Utah (near Capitol Reef National Park)

After the drive from Bryce Canyon City to Torrey we had enough of the afternoon left to drive over to Capitol Reef's visitor center to pick up some maps and watch the movie about the park. The Mormon's settled the valley in this area as it had an abundant water supply, so there is a small apple grove in the middle as well as restored building from their life there. Anticipating that tomorrow will be more crowded, we also drove the car down the park's roads to stop at the pullouts and see the views of the canyons. 

Our next day was one of the craziest we've had so far. Having already driven through the park, we decided to park outside of it, check out the Gooseneck and Sunset Point overlooks, and then hike the dry riverbed Grand Wash trail. It is 2.2 miles one way and you can start it from either end, but seeing the full trail meant a hike of over 4 miles (2.2 out and 2.2 back). Halfway in we ran into another couple from our caravan going the opposite direction. We both wished to see the entire trail length but doing so meant going the full distance and then turning around to walk back to our separate cars. Idea! We traded car keys and arranged to drive each other's cars back to the campground, enabling us both to only walk one way and avoid the return hike on a very hot day! They got to drive our small hybrid SUV and we drove their giant GMC Denali pickup.

Goosenecks Overlook

Sunset Point

A nice resting spot near the end of the Grand Wash

Hiking up the Grand Wash riverbed

Cute chipmunk posing for us

Returning to Max, we were greeted by a Utah Ute flag tied onto the big tree on our site. The Gators' opening season football game is against the Utah Utes this afternoon and we have been invited to watch it with 15 Utah fans! After adding a Gator flag to the same tree, we head over with our camping chairs for the game. To our surprise, the Gators win it in the final seconds with an interception in the Utah end zone! Utah was ranked #7 in the polls and we weren't ranked at all! Whew!

The Utah Utes decorating our campsite on game day

9/4 - 9/9/22: Moab, Utah

Along our drive to Moab we stopped at the John Wesley Powell Museum. He was the first explorer to raft down the Green and Colorado rivers from Wyoming down through the Grand Canyon.

We ended the day with dinner for two at a nearby family-owned Italian restaurant, came home with as pile of leftovers, and finished the evening around a campfire with some of our RV group. We weren't sitting very close to it as there is a heat wave that is putting our daytime temperatures near 100 degrees.

Our first full Moab day was a group bus trip into Arches National Park. We had a wonderful guide who regaled us with stories of the area as well as details about the surrounding geography. Our stops included Balanced Rock, North Window Arch, Double Arch, the Lower Delicate Arch viewpoint, and of course the Visitor's Center.

Balanced Rock

North Window Arch

Double Arch

Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint

We returned to the campground to rest up for the afternoon and then reboarded the bus to attend a special Dutch Oven dinner and then a sunset cruise on the Colorado River. We even saw some beaver along the shoreline watching us glide past their den.

The big surprise of the evening was being treated to the Canyonlands by Day and Night light show. By this time it is dark except for the half moon and a vehicle specially equipped vehicle proceeds to light up the canyon walls around us while we hear a dramatic program of the history of the area. 

One of the canyon walls illuminated by the light show

The Big Dipper!

Day 2 in Moab started with Jeffrey taking me to an early appt at a local dentist to try to get my problematic tooth extracted. However the dentist felt it was beyond his skills, so I'll see an oral surgeon tomorrow. With nothing to be done at the dentist, we aimed our car in the direction of where the bus is taking the group to Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse State Park. We caught up with them at the Canyonlands Islands in the Sky Visitor Center and left the car so we could join them for the park tour. Our guide was fantastic yesterday so we didn't want to miss him today. 

With our bus navigating the very curvy roads, we were treated to visits to the Green River, Grand View Point, and Shafer Canyon overlooks. 

Green River Overlook

Grand View Overlook

Shafer Overlook

On the way out, Jeffrey and I were deposited back at the Canyonlands visitor center to pick up our car, at which point we followed it to Dead Horse State Park -- so named because of the rough image of a horse laying down on the ground at Dead Horse Point. We also used this first stop to enjoy our arranged picnic lunches -- a great sandwich, chips, apple, and a Snickers candy bar 😋

Dead Horse Point

We wrapped up this park by stopping by the Basin Overlook at Visitor's Center and, due to the high heat index, most of us purchased popsicles or ice cream from the gift shop cooler. 

 

Basin Overlook

Our final stop of the day was the Potash Road petroglyphs back near Moab.

Following our tour bus to the Petroglyphs

Some of the petroglyphs made by area indians circa 600-1300 AD

Moab day 3 is a free day so no planned activities for the group. We spend our free day driving me two hours into neighboring Colorado to the city of Grand Junction for my afternoon oral surgery appointment. Three hours and $1500 later we are driving home, me with cotton in my mouth and minus a tooth, but happy the procedure is DONE 😬 Though it is a lengthy process, I'm hoping to get an implant over the next year. 

One of the beautiful views on our scenic drive home from Grand Junction

Sadly, our last day to explore Arches National Park on our own ended up being a day of laundry and Maren on painkillers and eating soft food 😒 Guess we'll have to come back here another time!

9/9 - 9/12/22: Cortez, Colorado

On the way to Cortez we stopped at a pullout to view Wilson's Arch. I'm still feeling a bit blah so I stayed in Max and Jeffrey did his mountain goat imitation and scaled up the hillside to see the arch up close. He also got a few good pictures looking down on Max and Moby (the car).

Jeffrey posing in Wilson's Arch

The artistic view of the arch

Max & Moby & Maren waiting below

Finishing today's relocation to Westview RV Park in Cortez, we got settled by early afternoon, made a quick trip to Walmart for a few supplies, and tackled a few Max projects. Getting the bugs off the front of the vehicles is always a driving day task, but we also worked on Max's outside 32" TV. Jeffrey discovered it was no longer working ahead of last week's Gator football game when we considered using it. We rarely watch it and haven't turned it on for 6 months, so it didn't die of overuse! The heat likely torched the old electronics inside and it will need to be replaced. Our efforts today didn't resolve the issue and it doesn't make sense to pay to repair a 12 year old television when the technology available now is so much better. After this caravan we'll do some research on replacement options.

Day 2 in Cortez included a bus tour through Mesa Verde National Park. It was a winding climbing drive in the car to get into the park to meet the bus, but very cool views along the way. 

After a quick lunch at the park cafe, we boarded the bus with our RV travel mates and guide and visited Park Point. In addition to housing one of the few manned fire monitoring stations, it also has a 360 degree view that includes four states (Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico). A little smoke haze from the fires in California masked a few of the distant mountains, but it was still breathtaking.

View from Park Point

Spruce Tree House Cliff Dwelling was the next stop. This is the best preserved dwelling in the park and the third largest, housing 60-80 people in the 1270's.

Spruce Tree House Cliff Dwelling

Next was the larger Cliff Palace dwelling. Guided tours can be arranged for this one, but it is a steep climb down on one end and climbing up a series of ladders to exit on the other. By year 1300, the inhabitants of all of these dwellings had migrated away in search of better resources. 

Cliff Palace

Our final stop was the House of Many Windows dwelling. Oddly enough, the remaining visible "windows" were actually doors. 

House of Many Windows

In the car ride back down to Cortez we ordered a pizza and headed home to watch the Gator football game. Halftime coincided with this lovely sunset. Unfortunately the Gators didn't pull it out at the end like they did last week 😒

Shaking off the Gator loss, we use our first free day here to take the car over to explore Telluride, Colorado. The drive itself is lovely as we slowly gain altitude during the hour and a half drive. Once there, we park and hop on the free gondola ride over to nearby Mountain Village for lunch. 

Drive to Telluride

The only lake we saw enroute

The gondola ride

Once there, we find a custom burrito restaurant and enjoy eat sitting outside in perfect weather. After taking the gondola back, we walked around the Telluride downtown area and found T-shirts  before fetching the car and driving back to Cortez. 

We (okay I) decided to spend our final Cortez day laying low. It is definitely easier to recover from a tooth extraction at age 18 instead of age 58! We closed the day with a group meeting to discuss the next destination and activities that are planned -- followed by the group watching the Robin Williams' movie, "RV". Lots of laughs as we watched him make mistakes many of us have experienced 😏

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This concludes Part 2 of our Western National Parks caravan, September 1 through 12, 2022. I will continue the story in Part 3 soon! 

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