Chapter 78 - To St. George, Utah, Via Southern Colorado and The Four Corners
10/7/05 to 10/17/05
Click Photo Album for additional photos from this trip.
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Dave needed to be in St. George, Utah October 12-15, to compete with his volleyball team in the Huntsman World Senior Games. This provided an opportunity to take a few extra days and travel through some new country on the way there.
Friday 10/7/05: We left home about 10:30 A.M., somewhat later than we'd hoped. Dave was the bottle neck this time: I assumed that Helen would have a lot of last-minute things to do on Friday morning, so I also left quite a few things for morning. Wrong! She was ready early, and I still had to get the computers ready (synchronize files between laptop and desk top machines), and then check and adjust air pressure in toad and motorhome tires, hitch up the toad, etc. It was cold and my fingers were getting numb doing the outdoor stuff.
Within half a mile of leaving home, a buzzer sounded and the "low water" light appeared on the dashboard. So we turned around and returned home. The water level in the radiator reservoir is a bit hard to read, and I thought it was possible that I didn't notice it was low the last couple of times I checked. Anyway, I looked all around the rear of the rig under the engine, and saw no hint of a leak. So I topped it off the reservoir with half a gallon or so of water, and we got on the road again. About 20 miles later, on I-470 just before the US-85 interchange, the low water indicator and buzzer came on again. We exited at US-85 and pulled into a gas station with a large parking area. Again, I could see no sign of a leak under the engine.
But then, in walking around the rig, I noticed a puddle under the front. Opening the outside access door to the utility compartment showed that water was dripping from the dashboard heat and air conditioning box. Apparently the heater core had sprung a leak. After scratching my head for a while, I found that I could bypass the heater by removing the short hoses from the hot water control valve, using one short hose to connect the water outlet and return ports together, and the other to connect the inlet and outlet of the heater core together. All these water connections were easily accessible, and the hose clamps were the re-usable type which required only a screwdriver or small adjustable wrench to remove or install - fortunate, since my toolbox is quite limited on these short trips. After re-routing the hoses and re-filling the radiator reservoir with more water (one nice thing about an RV is that we never have to go looking for water - just turn on the kitchen tap), we got underway again. The two "water stops" probably added up to an hour of delay. Other than having no dashboard heat available, everything seemed normal after the repair.
Since we had turned off on US-85, we stayed on it, rejoining I-25 southbound at Castle Rock. This is actually a shortcut, although a somewhat slower road than the Interstate. Our route for this trip takes us south almost to the New Mexico border, then west through Colorado and northern Arizona.
We turned off I-25 at US-160 near Walsenburg, Colorado and headed west, continuing for several hours through attractive scenery - small mountain ranges, rolling grasslands in high-altitude "parks", and occasional little towns.
At dusk, we pulled into South Fork Campground, just east of the town of South Fork and on the bank of the Rio Grande River. Since we didn't expect to spend any significant time here, we chose a pullthough site away from the river rather than the more expensive back-in sites on the river. It's a low-key rustic place, with lots of large trees helping to provide a pleasant ambience. At this time of year, it's nearly empty. This campground turned out to have free WiFi, which we used successfully, and also had a strong 1X Verizon cellphone signal.
In Texas, we've seen the Rio Grande nearly dry, but here, it has lots of water, flowing swiftly at this point, and is nearly out of its banks. There must have been some recent rain up in the San Juan Mountains. I was surprised to read that it is the third-longest river in the U.S., after the Missouri and Mississippi.
South Fork Campground
looking toward our campsite.
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
Rio Grande River
viewed from South Fork Campground
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
Saturday, 10/9: We checked out of the
campground and left the motorhome parked on the railroad
right-of-way across the street from the RV Park (which the park owner
recommended), planning to drive the jeep along the "Silver Thread"
Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway to Creede and Lake City and return.
We expected to get back in time to connect the jeep to the motorhome
and drive another few hours toward St. George.
The first
part of the route follows the Rio Grande river,
from South Fork up an attractive valley between steep mountain
escarpments. In the valley, the autumn color was at its peak.
Along the Upper Rio Grande
River
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
Creede is an interesting old mining town
which has been somewhat restored and is now advertising itself as a
"cultural and recreational center". At its peak in 1893, it had a
population of about 10,000 and was briefly home for colorful
Western characters such as Bat Masterson, Soapy Smith, and Calamity
Jane. Today, the permanent population is about 400. It is the only
incorporated town in Mineral County. Both the Mining Museum and the
town Fire Department are underground, using old mining tunnels.
Creede Volunteer Fire
Department
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
From Creede, we continued along SR-149, which follows the Rio Grande west a bit further, then turns north along tributary creeks. We stopped to take the short
hike to North Clear Creek Falls, a very photogenic spot.
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
We crossed the county line and the Continental Divide at Spring
Creek Pass and continued to Slumgullion Pass (11,361 ft. above sea
level). Just west of the pass, we stopped to read about and
photograph the Slumgullion Earthflow, a National Natural Landmark
which still attracts geologists from around the world. Seven
hundred years ago, millions of tons of rock and mud, supersaturated
from heavy rains, broke loose from the mountainside and flowed four
miles down a valley, blocking the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River
to form Lake San Cristobal, Colorado's second largest natural
lake.
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
Lake City, just below Lake Christobal, is
another mining town, which housed 5000 people during its boom years
in the 1880's. Today, it is a summer vacation destination, with an
attractively restored historic district and about 500 permanent
residents. Surrounding the historic district or tucked into
mountain valleys is housing for a large number of summer tourists.
Many of these facilities closed at the end of September, and the
town seemed very quiet while we were there.
At this point, we were only about 20 miles (as the crow flies - considerably further along the 4-wheel-drive roads which are the only connection) from the area of the San Juan Mountains described in our previous trip report. Also, we're running out of time, so it's time to retrace our route.
On the way back, we admired the profile of Bristol Head, a large mountain just east of our route, and then saw a 4-wheel-drive road with a name that suggested it might go to the summit. We started up the road, which like most mountain roads got steadily worse as we climbed, and drove for over an hour, climbing fairly steeply, dodging deep ruts, rocks, and potholes. As we reached timberline at about 11,000 feet,the terrain leveled out somewhat, and we began to get great views out over the surrounding valleys. But we also got great views of a big black wall of storm clouds approaching from the west. Some areas of the road we just traversed looked like rain could turn them into a sea of greasy mud. We were still quite a distance from Bristol Head, but it seemed wise to turn around and try to get off the mountain before the storm. We did indeed make it back down to the highway just as the rain started, and retraced our route back to the campground. We got back to the motorhome much later than expected - just about dark, in the rain. There was no point in traveling further at this late hour, so we checked back into the campground. The rain continued off and on all night.
Sunday 10/9/05: During a brief break in the continuing cold rain, I got the jeep hooked up to the motorhome and we got underway. There's no traffic and driving in the rain isn't too bad. Things got a little exciting at Wolf Creek Pass. As we began the climb, we began seeing signs warning of road closures and long construction delays. Fortunately, they weren't working on Sunday. But we crawled through some very rough narrow stretches of gravel road in the contstuction area. Then, about half way up the grade, the rain gradually turned to snow. As the snow thickened and the temperature dropped, snow began to accumulate on the windshield and the inside of the windshield began to fog up. The outside temperature was hovering just above freezing.
That's when I discovered that the defroster doesn't work very well without a functioning heater (which we had disconnected because of the water leak at the beginning of the trip). Fortunately, with the furnace running to keep the rest of the interior comfortable, the inside air was quite dry and there was just enough heat on the windshield to keep the area swept by the wipers clear of fog. We also found that the heater/defroster motor would only run on its highest speed. Apparently, the leaking water inside the heater had shorted out the electrical stuff that controls motor speed.
Near the summit (10,850 feet), the snow began to accumulate on the road and shoulders, and slush was piling up in the center of the driving lanes. But wide tracks where the wheels of preceding vehicles had slightly warmed the road remained clear of snow, although very wet, and we had no problems. Traffic was almost non-existent, and we could drive as slowly as we liked. As we went down the west side of the pass, the snow gradually diminished, the temperature rose slightly, and we were soon back to a "normal" drive in the rain.
Later, we read that the Wolf Creek Ski Area, which we passed near the summit, got 14" of new snow in this storm. We felt fortunate to have gotten through the area in the very early stages of the storm. We discovered later, reading a newspaper, that we also avoided a major storm that hit eastern Colorado. Had our departure date been a day later, we probably would have been snowed in for a couple of days at home.
We had planned to drive our usual 250 miles and five hours. But by the time we were thinking about stopping, we were deep in the Navaho Nation, in northern Arizona, and there was nowhere to stop. There was an occasional wide spot on the shoulder of the road where we could have pulled off and spent the night, but it didn't look very attractive, and we didn't have any idea what the rules for overnighting were on the Reservation. This Reservation seems to go on forever - many miles of nothing, punctuated occasionally by small clusters of Indian homes.
We finally found ourselves in Page, Arizona at dusk. So we headed to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, just west of Page, and drove to the Wahweap Campground, remembering the route from when we were there several years ago. We found the campground deserted and looking abandoned, except for some staff residences at the edge of the campground. After we puzzled about this for a few minutes, a truck drove through and stopped to inform us that the campground was indeed closed, and directed us to a new campground a mile or so away. The new Wahweap Campground office was closed for the night, with a sign on the door listing available campsites. We chose a nice one and set up camp in the dark. The full hookup loops in this government campground are indeed new, and built to modern standards. The RV pads appear to be around 70 feet long and are level, with full 50-amp hookups. A few are pull-through. We're on a hillside, with a panoramic view of a bay of Lake Powell and the spectacular cliffs beyond. Lake Powell has re-filled somewhat from it's extreme low levels of last year, but is still very low with huge areas of exposed lakebed everywhere we look.
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
Monday, 10/10: We're ahead of schedule, so we'll
just hang out, relax, and enjoy the beauty of this spot.
Surprisingly, there are quite a few blooms in the desert at this
season. We saw evening primrose, datura, apache plume, and several
others. The surrounding desert is teeming with jack rabbits,
cottontails, ground squirrels, cute little lizards, and we heard
coyotes nearby during the night. Star watching was not successful.
The moon and light clouds made only a few stars visible at any one
time, but an evening campfire was pleasant anyway. We were
entertained by a gentle acoustic guitarist singing old western
songs ("Night Riders in the Sky", "They Call the Wind Mariah",
etc.) for a small group several sites away. Our cat, on a leash,
took Dave for a long walk down a desert wash in the dusky
moonlight.
Tuesday, 10/11: The drive from Page to St. George is quite scenic - endless variety in the mesas and canyons that we passed. We particulary enjoy the cross-bedded sandstone - remains of sand dunes from various periods millions of years ago.
We had let our computer (using Street Atlas 2005) do the routing from Page to St George and hadn't carefully examined the details. So it was a surprise to discover we were on SH-9, commited to a twisty path with steep grades and many switchbacks through the southern edge of Zion National Park. This includes two tunnels, one with limited vertical clearance which requires large vehicles (including ours) to pay a $15 fee and make special arrangements for one-way traffic through the tunnel. The ranger at the park entrance called ahead to the tunnel, where a ranger at the far end stoped traffic. We were advised to unhitch our Jeep and drive it through separately, which we did. A ranger at our end waited until the traffic had cleared out, then waved us through. We drove down the centerline of the tunnel, with a posted minimum of 15 mph and maximum of 25 mph. I didn't measure the distance, but is seemed like a couple of miles. The tunnel is dark rock and completely unlighted except by our own headlights - an interesting experience. The road, both before and after the tunnel, is narrow, often with no shoulder and vertical rock cliffs rising very close to the edge of the road on both sides. I had an exciting moment when I met a huge tour bus in one of these narrow spots, but we passed without incident.
The scenery through this part of the park is spectacular - huge rock formations, including fascinating cliffs of crossbedded sandstone. We may go back there next Sunday, with the jeep only, so we can stop and hike back to some of the rock formations, and generally enjoy the scenery more leisurely.
We arrived at Temple View RV Resort in St. George in mid-afternoon. This is the closest RV park to the Dixie Center, where Dave will be much of the next four days.
Wednesday 10/12: While Dave played Volleyball, Helen set out to explore the western shore of Lake Mead. The road goes through bleak desert, and is generally not very interesting, except for three or four places where there is a side road giving access to a marina on the deep blue lake. The five year drought in the southwest has caused a severe drop in the level of all the reservoirs. Lake Mead was so low that many of the bays were high and dry and there was not much activity.
Valley of Fire State Park, in Nevada on SR-169 was an interesting stop. Geological interest and great scenery was provided by varied rock formations along an ancient fault line, all explained in the visitors center with a giant diorama labelled with explanatory features and located directly in front of a huge window opening onto the scene of the diorama. Anthropological interest is provided by the numerous petroglyphs, with the oldest image of an atlatl in history. An atlatl is an ancient sling device to increase the throwing distance of a spear, and was used to hunt antelope, also displayed in petroglyphs. The campground there is among large rounded rocks and felt similar to the Jumbo Rocks campground in Joshua Tree National Monument. The scenic drive through the park was through both volcanic and sedimentary rocks and provided many opportunities for short hikes and great photography.
The Lake Mead Visitors Center on SR-166 near US-93 has an attractive entry garden of desert plants, but none were labelled. On the way to Lake Mead, I-15 goes from Utah through a tiny corner of Arizona and into Nevada. In that tiny corner of Arizona, it crosses low mountains in the Paiute Primitive Area where the Virgin River has cut deeply into upheaved blocks of rock. The speed limit for the five miles through this dramatic landscape is reduced from 75 to 55 mph.
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
Thursday, 10/13: More volleyball for Dave
and a browsing day for Helen as she poked into the dozen or so
antique and thrift shops in St. George. A few minor purchases
provided mementos of the trip. One consignment store on Tabernacle
Street near Ancestor Square had tons of wild west stuff such as
antler candelabras, old looking branding irons, leather covered
chests with rusty locks, hairy hides draped over wooden benches,
all affordable if you need stuff to decorate a western style
home.
Dinner at The Claim Jumper Steak House completed the day and spared Helen's tired feet.
Friday, 10/14: Helen drove to Kayenta for a big art fair and to a fair in a park in St George. In the evening, we had inner at Scaldoni's: This is a very good and moderately priced place, family owned for several generations. They have an interesting menu and a good chef, and we'll plan to eat here again next year.
Saturday, 10/15: Helen went to some garage sales, and back to the Kayenta art fair to look again at some of the sculpture pieces. This is the last day of volleyball for Dave
Sunday, 10/16: We woke to an overcast day, threatening rain. So we aborted our plan to spend the day hiking in Zion National Park, packed up, and headed home. We've lots of things waiting for us to do at home, so we drove the shortest and fastest route - up I-15 to I-70 and following I-70 all the way home. We stopped for the night at a rest area near the high point of the eastern escarpment the San Rafael Swell at about 6 pm (N38° 55.972' W110° 28.348'). We overnighted here last year too. It's a lovely place on a high spot well back from the highway, with long views of the interesting cliffs and canyons of the region. We had time to wander the desert for a while and then to take a bunch of photos in the interesting light just before sunset. Later, we tried some pictures of the full moon after dark. Our tripod fell over and broke, so the pictures had to be hand-held with long exposure. Perhaps one or two will be usable. The rest area was quiet - we had a peaceful undisturbed night. A couple of big trucks were there when we arrived, but they left before dark and we weren't aware of any others during the night. One car spent the night, at the other end of the parking area.
Overnight Stop at San Rafael Swell
(Click the photo or
the above
link for a larger image.)
Monday, 10/17: Underway around 9 am. We intended to
drive straight home, but pulled in at each of the several viewing
areas on the San Rafael Swell, stopped for fuel at a Conoco truck
stop in Grand Junction ($3.38/gallon - the highest price we saw
during the trip), and then stopped for a late lunch and nap in a
rest area in Glenwood Canyon. So we didn't get home until 5:45
pm.