From Moab we moved on to Green River State park to ride out a cold spell. Overnight lows got down to 8 degrees F one night. Most of the leaves fell off the trees while we were there. We kept Hilda’s (the name of our trailer) thermostat around 45 F at night to keep the plumbing/tanks from freezing and I took a couple trips to the local hardware store to fill propane tanks. We took walks around the Park but mainly stayed warm inside . I went to see the John Wesley Powell Museum which chronicle’s Powell’s trip down the Green River, starting in present-day Wyoming and finishing near St. George, Utah. It is also a hall of fame for local river rafting guides. A very nice museum in a small town in the middle of nowhere.
This great state park is nested in a small canyon, complete with hoodoos. We only spent two night there but enjoyed several hikes among the hoodoos. I rode part of the mountain bike trail system. I found myself all alone on the trails, which was a bit eerie. We also hiked nearby Little Wild Horse slot canyon. With no electrical hookups, we used the solar panels and the generator to keep the battery charged and the furnace running at night.
Escalante, Utah
More cold weather, into the 20’s at night. I moved some wiring so I could move the Lithium battery out of the battery bay and into Hilda’s basement to keep the battery warmer. Lithium batteries cannot be charged when they are below freezing, so this got us ready for our next location. We hiked Lower Calf Creek Canyon trail (but didn’t have time to get to the falls at the end), and saw some beautiful sights, including large pictographs that were painted hundreds of years ago by Native Americans (look closely at the picture of the cliff face to see them).
Bryce Canyon National Park
No electricity here, but a very nice campground. Cool days (good for hiking) and cold nights (good for staying warm in Hilda and watching movies). Without electrical hookups, we used our solar panels and generator to charge the battery, and ran the propane-powered furnace from evening to morning. We took a hike into the canyon and several hikes along the rim.
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
Since snow and even colder weather was forecast, and we had done what we wanted to at Bryce, we came down from Bryce (8000+ feet elevation and no electrical hookups) and backtracked to Escalante Petrified Forest state park (~5000 ft elevation and full hookups). We weathered our first snowstorm, which dropped about 3” of snow. We hiked the Petrified Forest trail, which was awesome. 150 million year old petrified wood was scattered throughout the hike. Thick logs and small pieces of petrified wood were everywhere.
This gem of a state park is located just east of Bryce Canyon National Park. We hiked 4 different trails while there. Strange looking columns stand in stark contrast to the surrounding red rock. We have learned a lot about the geology of southern Utah over the past few weeks. Each place we have stayed has looked different than the other. We’ll move on to Zion National Park next.
Next up: Zion National Park where we spent time with our friend, Stacy Harmon, and on to the St. George area!
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