We carried on to the library where we sat and used that free WiFi and had some breakfast.
When we left Monticello, we took a scenic forest road route through the mountains.
Still some snow on these hills.
There are several free campgrounds up here.
Nice views from the top.
Coming down the other side.
Church Rock.
Back at the main road, we carried on north towards Moab...
Wilson's Arch.
Wilson's Arch.
We stopped at Wilson's Arch to take some photos, but there were quite a few cars in the parking area, and too many people around for our liking.
It was almost noon when we arrived at the Moab KOA located on the south side of Moab before you enter the town itself. No, we were not staying at the $90 USD ($125 CAD) per night campground... however we were visiting our friend Renate who is working there. We first met Renate in March of 2013 when she was traveling Mexico in her motorhome.
She made us a nice lunch and we chatted for a couple of hours. Nice to see her again and get caught up on things, but we still had some driving to do.
Renate with her motorhome.
We didn't stop in Moab, but our impressions from driving through is that it's a busy tourist town with lots of traffic. Yes, there is also lots of scenery in the area, but I don't know that I would enjoy it so much with the people and the vehicles. Seems everybody owns some kind of motorized toy that they enjoy. Not really our style. LOTS of construction going on in Moab. New condos and apartments going up. And lots of truck traffic, presumably to supply these projects.
And the two national parks in the area are still closed, so we couldn't visit them.
Not a great first impression of the area for us, although of course the area is this popular because of the scenery.
We carried on north past a few of the more popular boondocking areas to the I-70 Interstate highway where we only had to drive to the next exit to get to a BLM road that led to some more "unknown" campsites.
Yep, this will do.
GPS 38.931292, -109.931424
We stopped at the first spot that was suitable. Far enough from the highway that we heard very little noise, and we were only staying for one night. Although I had read that there are better and more scenic sites further down this road.
There was an odd rain shower that went through right at sunset.
End of another good day.
Yetserday's drive 119 miles (190 kms).
Hi temperature 91F (33C) low 68F (20C).
Slept great. Moving on further north today. There is a heat wave starting today we are headed for higher elevations.
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And in Canada...
It was even hotter here in Eastern Ontario, Canada yesterday.
ReplyDeleteAnd, you get the humidity with that heat as well. Out here it is at least just a dry heat.
DeleteWindsor was hotter but we can use our fans.
ReplyDeleteBe safe and Enjoy the view.
It's about time.
And probably humid too! We have fans that we can use if we need to but so far we are doing fine, it is just too hot to go out for a proper hike.
DeleteYou're at the perfect time for traveling through this area. Later in the summer, it's blazing hot! I'm not sure how long you're planning on staying, but Capital Reef is not far from you at present. It's one of the most overlooked parks -- a former Mormon outpost -- and quite wonderful. We liked it much better than Bryce Canyon or other better-knowns.
ReplyDeleteRight now we are having a heatwave here and it is suppose to last about a week with temperatures up in the high 90's and low 100's. That is our idea of perfect weather. We are going to head for higher ground and hopefully a bit cooler temperatures.
DeleteWe were in Capitol Reef NP back in April 2016 and did a fantastic hike there www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2016/04/another-fun-hike-with-great-views.html but we aren't headed there on this visit. Thanks for the suggestion though. :-)