April 2022 Trip CA, UT, CO, NV

Took a trip with my buddy in his 4runner in mid April. It was a fantastic trip. It was my favorite kind of trip where you just hit the road with no agenda in mind. We did a total of about 3600 miles and hit 8 National Parks. Unfortunately travelling with my dog we're not allowed to do most of the hiking so the park visits were pretty short.


Day 1: Burned road from the Bay Area out to Toquerville falls. I made the wonderful decision of waiting until Primm to fuel up...


Toquerville falls was as usual gorgeous, a rough road to get to, and full of idiots blasting around in their quads late at night.

Day 2 we hit a few nice spots:
Stuck in traffic driving through Zion. A nice white 3rd gen was behind my buddy.


Next up was Bryce


We went out into Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument that evening. There were actually quite a few people around. Someone took my favorite camp site about 10 minutes before I got there Made it out to hole in the rock then camped somewhere ~20 miles back towards Escalante. It rained for just long enough for me to wrestle with setting up an awning over my cot, then stopped when I had it setup. As per usual

Day 3:
We spent the day wandering around Utah and found this dirt "road" that went....somewhere?

I think we followed that road for ~30 miles before turning around and camping somewhere on the way out. The "road" was pretty washed out and not very confidence inspiring.



Day 4:
Capitol Reef is probably my second (maybe third) favorite National Park behind Death Valley. The 4wd trail through the south half of the park is such an amazing drive. If you haven't done it, you should!


Don't forget your geiger counter


After Capitol Reef we continued exploring with no particular destination in mind. After striking out on a couple attempts at finding dispersed camping, we stumbled upon the second best campsite of the trip somewhere on White Canyon.




Roxie approved and I caught her contemplating existence. It doesn't come across well in the photo but she's sitting on edge of a 25ft cliff.


Day 5 took us to Mesa Verde NP and a hotel stop in Cortez, CO. After a much needed shower I walked down the main drag to a pretty decent restaurant, Shiloh Steakhouse.

Mesa Verde is fascinating. There are 10000+ archeological sites within the park boundaries.



Day 6:
Colorado sure is pretty


The history of these incredibly remote areas captivates me.


That night we found the best campsite of the trip. It was awesome enough it ended up being a 2 night campsite! Somewhere outside of Gateway, CO.


Day 8:

Next stop was Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Unfortunately most of the park was still closed due to snow. I'll definitely make it back out there.


More Colorado


That night was another hotel night in Durango.

Day 9 was a pretty driving heavy day. We camped somewhere along the Green River next to an old timey cabin that was DEFINITELY not haunted.


Day 10 led to Devil's hole. Aka fishy fort knox


The original plan had been to head into death valley and hit Saline that night. The 50+ mph winds all the way across the state of Nevada convinced us otherwise.

Day 11:
After a night in Pahrump the winds were more cooperative so we headed in towards Saline from the South road.
Then I took the wrong turn I was able to warn off my buddy over the radio from following. So instead of having two stuck trucks, he just got to laugh at me.


I spent two night at Saline then finally head home on day 13, 14? Who knows at this point.
Other than the very brief rain in escalante the weather held out until the drive home over 88.

 

Looks like you and your buddy saw some great sites. Thanks for sharing.

I gotta tell you though, it bothers me to hear you can't hike a trail through a park with a well-behaved dog. I could understand telling people you need to leash your wife/husband, in-laws, kids, or dogs or if they are causing a disturbance or problems, you and whoever you are traveling with will be required to leave...

 

Yeah it sucks but I get it. People are shit heads and they don't clean up after their dogs. If I were involved with making that decision for NPS I'd not allow them either. Too much of a hassle and too much environmental impact.

 

Might be the best trip reports I've read since I'm aboard, thanks for sharing!

Love the Capitol Reef part, what's inside that cave with Radiation Area sign outside?

 

They mined uranium in the area in the 50's.

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/care/adhi/adhi15a.htm

 

Thanks for sharing, good stuff.

Silt is fun, no?

 

Its not just owner behavior but introducing a foreign predator to an ecosystem. This also is partly why the no drones in national parks, it flies over at the wrong time looks like a predator and causes a bird or rodent to flee its nest and abandon its young. Your dog and its scent can disrupt travel patterns that can be detrimental given enough domesticated animals over time.