Grand Teton National Park part I - Headwaters Campground

If you love nature - being outside surrounded by mountains, lakes, trees, wildflowers, and wildlife, then there are a lot of worse places you could be than Grand Teton National Park. For the past week we got to have the majestic Teton mountain range and the Snake River as our backyard. Regardless of sun (like the first half of our visit) or rain (like the second half), I felt like we were living in a postcard. absolutely breathtaking and peaceful. Of course, that peacefulness also means that we were without cell or internet service, but that actually just lent itself to getting lost in the beauty of the park.  

Grand Teton North Entrance

Last year we went to Yellowstone (you can read about it here, here, and here), but we did not go to the adjacent Grand Teton N.P.  When we left, we made a sort of circuitous route through Idaho and around the mountains.  The view was staggering even from the outside loop we made, so we knew that we really needed to visit this national park.

The kitties LOVED this campsite!!!

So, we centered our entire summer trip around this park - filling in other places to see before and after - and after staying 7 nights I can definitely say that we made the right decision to come here. It would have been very easy to stay the two full weeks you are allowed to stay.  

Full on Jr. Ranger mode! Even got a nifty shirt to complete the look in Canyonlands! 

Once we made the decision to come here this summer, we started our search for the perfect place to camp.  There are only 2 campgrounds that take reservations (the rest of are first come first serve), and out of those two, we picked Headwaters campground at Flagg Ranch because this park seemed more private, but also because it is only 2 miles south of the Yellowstone south entrance - and I REALLY wanted to see Yellowstone one more time. 

This campground is sorta a cross between an RV park and an actual out in nature campground. We had full hook ups and access to 24 hour laundry and a nice (free) shower house.  But we were also surrounded by trees and we had an AMAZING view out the back of our camp. 

Our campsite. You can see the screen shelter and the mountains in the distance. 

There were no campsites behind us so we got a nice view of a large meadow next to the Snake river and of course beautiful snow capped mountains in the distance. 

The lush mountain view

Our spot was pretty big. We were able to easily put up our screened shelter tent (we put it toward the back of our site to take advantage of the gorgeous views) which was really necessary due to the crazy amount of mosquitoes - and rain later in the week.  Several other campers commented on how jealous they were that we had it - one lady even "offered" $1,000 for it!

Looking back towards our campsite. 

A little tapas before dinner

On our first night we tried to find the amphitheater, but accidentally found ourselves on a short path that led down to the snake river. It was a little overcast so we waited to the next day to head down to try and capture sunset over the river.(We did later discover the amphitheater and watched a presentation on wolves).

Nearly sunset on the Snake river

We came close to sunset, but the mosquitoes were out in force that night, so we had to retreat before too long. Got some nice "almost" sunset pictures and got to see the wildflowers all bathed in a warm orange. 

Wildflowers all aglow in the evening setting sun 

Besides the campground, Flagg Ranch is also a Lodge with a restaurant, a bar, a visitor's center/gift shop, and a convenience store. On our first night, we were so excited to be there that we decided to go out for a "fancy" dinner at our local restaurant. We got there 5 minutes after opening for dinner, so we got a nice seat right next to the windows.

Cheers to Headwaters Lodge!

Best damn onion rings on the planet!

We both felt that the food was overpriced for the quality (although it may have been what we ordered?).  However.....we got onion rings for an appetizer and I am telling you that they were by FAR the best onion rings either one of us have ever had. 

All in all, we are putting this on a short list of places that we MUST come back to soon. I would highly recommend the Headwaters campground for tents or RVs (they have both spaces).   

Sunset view of the mountains on our last night in camp 

In the land of dinosaurs

I, like most kids, went through a dinosaur phase. I can vividly remember 8 or 9 year old me reading a small, colorful book (it was almost like a guide book) about dinosaurs and another animals that went extinct over the different ages. I was fascinated by the size, spikes, armor, claws - the whole package deal. I had so many questions: Why did they exist? Why did they go extinct? What was the world like when they were ruling the earth?  Early thoughts like these is what made me so interested in science and eventually wanting to become a science teacher.

Camarasaurus skull and articulated cervical vertebrae at the fossil quarry 

So, when we were planning our trip and we had decided to go a little farther west to Moab, I noticed that Dinosaur National Monument was directly in our path towards Grand Teton National Park - and I literally jumped up and down and told Jason "we are going there!"  And that is how we have come to find ourselves in Vernal, Utah just outside of Dinosaur National Monument. 

Welcome to Vernal!!  

We clearly don't know much about the area so we chose to stay in an RV park in the middle of town to spend our few days.

Our nice shaded spot complete with actual GRASS!!

We explored the nearby Utah Field House of Natural History on our first day.

CHEESE!

I can pretty much safely say that we give the museum a resounding "meh."  It seems like it has a lot of potential, but while we were there I noticed that several areas were "under construction" - as in I saw a skull being held up with a rolled up paper towel and the outdoor area was full of weeds.  Plus, this is apparently the place to take your kids and tell them to run and scream as much as they want cause no matter where we were in the museum, we seemed to be surrounded by them.  I am glad they had fun, but it made it hard for me to read all the interesting (to me) signs about the geology of the area and the different fossils found in each of the areas. 

The skeleton of some large dinosaur. I honestly don't remember what it is. Diplodocus maybe?

The museum has a lot of potential, though, so I wouldn't cross it off of your list. It might have just been the time that we were there - maybe they do a lot of improvements over the summer or something. We DID manage to get plenty of great pictures with dinosaur pals in the outdoor garden area, though, so that sorta made up for what we felt the museum lacked on the inside. 

Time for a stare down!

On our second day, we drove out to Dinosaur National Monument.  The park is split between Utah and Colorado.  It has a fascinating geological history - but the main attraction for most people is the dinosaur quarry, which is luckily on the Utah side. (But, I, of course, loved all the geology stuff as well!!)

The almost complete skeletal remains of stegosaurus. Can you see the plates?

At the monument, you start off by parking at the visitors center. Then, a tram drives you up the protected quarry. There is an upper level to the quarry where you get a great eye level view of a cliff side that has been chipped back to expose the fossils of hundreds of different animals.  The most common dinosaur fossils belong to sauropods which are the large, long necked herbivores.  However, there are also fossil remains of stegosaurus (you know the plated herbivore with the spiked tail) and also a small number of theropods (the upright meat eaters, like Allosaurus below).  

Allosaur cast skeleton

In the lower level they have more of a small museum of sorts with complete skeletons of dinosaurs, areas where you can actually touch the real fossils, and some smaller exhibits of other fossils they have found (like seeds).  And, you can still see the fossil wall, but you have to look up to see them. 

Jason touching a real fossil in the quarry

I, of course, thought the whole thing was amazing. I was totally draping myself over this sign staring at the fossils trying to identify each of the bones (I got a lot right! Thanks anatomy classes!) until I realized that this lady was trying to actually read the display.  Oops.

Femur bone of a Camarasaurus.  That is one big leg bone! 

After the quarry there is fossil discovery hike you can do back down to the visitors center (and I really wish we would have been prepared so we could have done it - based on the guided tour brochure I picked up you get to see a lot more fossils from different time eras plus seen more of how the uplifting of the layers has effected the geology of the area. YAY!), or you can take the tram back down to the parking lot, which is what we did.

After the visitors center you can take a guided auto tour through the rest of the Utah side of the monument. It was all really fascinating to me - but at the end of the road there is a large area filled with petroglyphs made by the Fremont people about 1,000 years ago.  I was really enamored  with the lizards - especially this really large (maybe 4 feet long) pristine lizard. I haven't seen a ton of petroglyphs in my life, but I don't recall ever seeing lizards depicted like this before.

Petroglyphs at the end of the guided auto tour 

On the way back into town I spotted something completely unrelated to dinosaurs - a lumber yard in the middle of town selling Roseburg Forest Products lumber! What a small world to see a slice of home in Vernal, Utah!

Stack of Roseburg Lumber

I loved this area and I can definitely see myself coming back. I was blown away by the fossils and the geology - it was so interesting to me! There seems to be a ton of things to do in the region besides dinosaur stuff. Hiking, water sports, and fishing - but of course, the main draw is the DINOSAURS!!!

Fast 5 Moab Run Down

We just finished up our stay in Moab.  We spent the majority of our short time here repairing the trailer (and the wheel). Even so, the small amount of time we were in the Moab region was enough to captivate both of us - so much we are already planning another trip here in the future to see even more.  So, here is a look at how we spent our short amount time here:

1. Fixing the tire blowout and resulting damage to the trailer:

We were able to get a replacement tire fairly easily, but to put it back on, we had to completely button up the trailer, put the cats in their carrier, hitch back up, and put the tire up on boards to change it out with the spare. Then we hired a trailer repair guy to come out and help Jason work on fixing the side panel along with the underside damage.

We are both really glad that the damage has been repaired and we are reviewing our research on trailer tires and what we need to do to keep this from happening in the future. Our very latest research is telling us that trailer tires are only good for 5,000 - 12,000 miles! Huh. Somehow we missed that when we were initially doing our research. We had heard that they should last at least 10 years - and even the dealer we bought our trailer from said our tires should outlive the trailer. Apparently that is based on the idea that you don't go out on 5,000 mile summer trips every year. So, even though it was an expensive and time consuming event - at least we are all safe, no real damage occurred, and we learned something valuable from it. We are also thinking about getting some tire monitoring system to better keep track of our tires. And, of course, we will continue to monitor the tire pressure on our own.

2. Hike to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park

A large portion of all the hikes were all shut down due to a parking lot upgrade in Arches National Park. We were pretty bummed about that - but we didn't have a lot of time to explore everything anyway, so that helped us narrow things down to what we were going to do (and also let us know that everything else that was still open was going to be CRAZY busy). One thing I really wanted to do is see the Delicate Arch. So, on Tuesday, we got up early and headed into the park to try and beat the heat and crowds (and get a parking place!) so we could abuse our bodies by hiking to Delicate Arch.

I feel pretty lucky that we got there early enough to enjoy the arch with very few people around. 

The hike is only 3 miles round trip - but that 1.5 miles in were intense! Especially to us out-of-shape 30 somethings (and if you keep in mind the 4,000-5,000 feet elevation).  Anyway, the first half is all uphill and part of it is this very steep climb over a very large rock. 

Some of the images from our Delicate Arch Hike

We loved the hike - and we timed it perfectly.  There were hardly any people there when we got there so we were able to get some nice pictures and enjoy the arch for its beauty. By the time we left a ton of people had started to show up.  And by the time we got back to the parking lot, they had closed the lot we were in and people were parking on the side of the road for as far as we could see.

Although we about got blown off the cliff by the 50 mph wind gusts, the picture was totally worth it! I had no idea that the arch was as tall as it is. 

I LOVED the Delicate Arch. Even though I had seen a ton of pictures of it, it was really amazing to see it is person, and so up close as well.

3. Canyonlands National Park

We only had a few hours to explore Canyonlands, but our time there left me wanting more. Tons of hikes and things to see. We only got to see a portion of the park - but what we saw was breathtaking:

Truly an amazing view

We did go on one short 1/2 mile hike out to see the Mesa Arch.  It was a great little hike and the arch with the beautiful canyon behind it was lovely.  Plus we got to see a couple of different cactus blooms along the way.

Our Mesa Arch Hike

One great thing about Canyonlands was all the great viewpoints like this one overlooking the Green River as it cuts its way through the rock. 

One of Jason's panorama's of the green river overlook

Overall the area had a lot to offer (not to mention scaring the shit out of me when there were 50 mph gusts of wind when we were very close to edge of a major drop off!).  Can't wait to go back and see and do even more!

Some of the vistas in Canyonlands National Park

4. The rest of Arches National Park:

The rest of Arches National Park besides the Delicate Arch area was pretty fantastic as well.

We did get out and hike around some of the other arches that were still open, and they were amazing and beautiful.  However, it was so crowded due to the Devil's Garden section being closed down that it did take some of the majesty away.  If we had gone really early in the morning, we would have probably enjoyed it even more.

Clockwise from top left: double arch, the 3 gossips, some large sandstone rock, turret arch, us in front of the south window arch, north window arch, and a picture looking up at the north window arch. 

Next time we come here we want to visit the Devil's Garden area that was closed down this time. Also, maybe go at sunset to see some of these arches really lit up with that gorgeous light. 

Most definitely awe-inspiring!

5. Food and drinks:

For being such a touristy location, there was some pretty good food to be found in Moab. The first night we went to Bucks  because it was right in front of our RV park and I heard live music coming from the back patio.  Turns out that it has an amazing private patio overlooking the mountains which was made even better with live music.  We shared a couple of appetizers (Mixed Game Skewer with boar, elk and buffalo sausage and Clams Verde (clams in a garlic cilantro broth).  We also went to the Peace Tree Cafe which had a nice patio right on the main street through town and also had a ton of really good food. The Moab Brewery was also surprisingly good - my smoked salmon salad was delicious!

A small sampling of our restaurant adventures

Overall, we saw a lot of potential for fun in Moab. I think we will definitely come back some day so we can explore even more that southern Utah has to offer!

Rifle Gap State Park

Before our ridiculous Friday the 13th "fun", we journeyed from our rest stop in Goodland, KS to Rifle, Colorado.

Welcome to Colorful Colorado! 

Kora, who is truly a wonderful camp kitty, threw mini tantrums off and on throughout the day. I wish she would be a better traveler since she seems to love camping so much.  Dexter has become an excellent travel kitty since we have fixed his diet (he know eats prescription, easy to absorb, cat food) and has put on some weight.  He now will purr and relax in the car.  I keep hoping that Kora will get that way at some point.

Let me sing you the song of my people

Minus the backseat sing-a-long from Kora, the drive was amazing. Having never driven this way before, we didn't know what to expect. What we learned is that I-70 goes straight through (literally - we drove through several major tunnels) and over the lower portion of the Rocky Mountains.  

Approaching the Mountains

The scenery was just beautiful for the majority of the drive. We saw snow capped peaks (up close and personal at 12,000 feet!), and steep and narrow canyons, and tons of waterfalls from the snow run off on the side of the mountains.  

Towards the end of the canyons we drove through

After 7 hours (only 1.5 hours longer than we had planned - I am sensing a theme here. Boo), we arrived at Rifle Gap State Park, outside of the town of Rifle in western Colorado.  We chose this campground purely on the fact that it was a good midway point between Goodland, KS and Moab, UT. It was fantastic - minus the fact that we had no real internet or cell phone connection. Every once in awhile we would get a bar, but for 95% of the time, we were completely technology free. Which, I don't mind at all - if I know ahead of time that will be the case.

The reservoir - the orange arrow is pointing to us in our spot.

Rifle Gap is a state park on a fairly large reservoir.  The area is surrounded by mountains and is mostly what I would call a high desert ecosystem. 

Our primo spot

I was not really expecting much of this place since we just chose it out of necessity, but it turned out to really private and beautiful. Our spot was one of the most private with no one on any side of us.  The overall park was very quiet and isolated, which is a rare thing since we were actually only a few miles from town. 

You can really tell how private our spot is in this picture

The town of Rifle itself is also an extremely cute little town. According to wiki, it has a population of about 10,000 people.  The downtown area was really nice and they have obviously put a lot of effort into maintaining its charm. Thursday morning we ate breakfast at this pretty fantastic downtown diner called the Base Camp Cafe - complete with lots of cheery dead animals on the walls!

Part of downtown Rifle

Then we headed back towards camp - and continued for about another 10 minutes to another state park called Rifle Falls State Park to see what it was all about. I guess I have lived away from waterfalls for a long time because I was thinking that this would be just a nice little trickle or something.  But, wow - these waterfalls were absolutely AMAZING. One of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen. They are 70 feet tall and were just gushing water.

The triple falls at Rifle Falls

There is a short path that leads you to the top of the falls so you can get a great "behind the scenes" look at them.

Just gorgeous!

I could have spent hours here. There were some nice benches and picnic tables nearby that would be wonderful to have a nice lunch and enjoy the falls. However, it was a fairly small park with not a lot of parking, so I imagine that a person would want to get there early on the weekends to get a spot.

But first, we're gonna take a selfie

After we got done enjoying the waterfall, we headed back to camp where I cut up some chicken breast and marinated them in a honey mustard sauce. My mom gave us some flexible skewers as part of our anniversary gift so I decided it was about time to cook up some kabobs. These turned out amazing - the marinated chicken, plus garlic and herb seasoned mushrooms and tomatoes with a side of red beans and rice. So good!

MMMMM Kabobs!

Then, in the evening we got to watch as storms rolled by next to us. We were never rained on, but you could see where the storms were dumping rain on the mountains next to us. It was very pretty to watch!

Storm clouds rolling by

All in all our temporary rest stop turned out to be much better, more secluded, and more beautiful than we had imagined! We will be definitely keeping it in mind if we ever come back out this way in the future!