This year we (Jan, Doug, Don, Mickie, and us) decided to
check out some National Parks we hadn't been to before.
We stopped in Hagerman, ID and Mel and Gary
came out to see us.
Then we headed down to Nevada to see
the Great Basin National Park on it's Eastern Border
Nevada is beautiful
Definitely a great basin
We took a hike up to see the
Bristlecone Tree forest
We knew it was only 1.7 miles in to it
But we didn't know that 1.7 miles climbed 1,200 ft
to a whopping 11,000 ft. Kind of takes
your breath away!!
But it was worth it
Cones still on the tree. You can see the sap dripping
from them
Very prickley
The sky got darker and darker. We could hear the thunder.
Time to head down
We got rained on and the temps dropped
about 30 degrees
Hail!
We left Ely, NV and headed
East thru half of Utah
and all different kinds of scenery
until we got to Torrey, UT
Sunset in our campground
and some of the sites from our campground
It was very pretty
Setting up camp for cards after dinner
Named for it's white rocks that look like the capitol building
and the Waterpocket Fold that makes the rugged impassable
landscape that locals called a 'reef'
Fruita Historic District
The Fremont People settled here first then
the Mormon's came in in the 19th century
But not more than 10 families ever lived in Fruita at one time
Gifford Farmhouse
The farm contained almost 3,000 fruit trees:
cherry, apple, apricot, peach, and pear
Wildlife
Waterpockets
About 100 degrees
White domes of sandstone
We knew what they were going to do
Lots of trails for these guys
Moving on to Grand Junction
Colorado
Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a black canyon among all
the red ones we've seen
Wow!!
Painted Walls with the Gunnison River at the bottom
Smoky sunset
Grand Mesa is the largest flattop mountain in the world
The leaves are starting to change
One of the 300 lakes on the mesa
Vic and Cecil came up from Moab, UT to visit
Then we moved on to Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park
The scenery along the way was beautiful too
There is a bike path below the freeway at
the top of that rocky bank along the river
Vale, CO
Alpine Visitor Center in Rocky Mtn NP
The highest visitor center at 11,800ft
Then, of course, we had to walk up to the highest point
The view was incredible
Estes Park, CO
Bear Lake
Moose along the road going back into our RV park
The next morning Walt and I hiked to Adams Falls
near Grand Lake
It reminded me of the Olympics
Grand Lake
Camp...we got thunder clouds every afternoon
and some rainbows
Very faint second one on the right
This one was so wide it started over in colors
Our campground near Rocky Mtn NP
All our campgrounds had beautiful views
We headed north from the park into Wyoming
All these dead trees have been killed by the pine beetle
They need a big fire to kill the pine beetle
We saw this Tiny House at the campground in WY
The guy said he built it for his family to go camping
but with the loft it's top heavy and he can only drive at
60 mph and his wife drives behind him in another vehicle
I guess cause he has so much stuff in his truck
Then into the upper corner of Utah
To Idaho
We went to see the Japanese Internment Camp just a
ways from Mel and Gary's
Barracks that housed more than 9,000 Japanese
Then spent the rest of the day with Mel and Gary at their house
We ate, drank, and visited
Some veterans put up 3,000 flags the day before
9/11 and leave them up for a week
Looked pretty cool
Then on to Baker City for the night
Snake River
Baker City campground
The next day over the Columbia River
into Washington
Prosser, WA smoky sunset
Tom and Sherry came over to see us
and enjoy some wine tasting
Fun times!!
We had a great time and good weather on the
most part. Ate dinner outside every night except one
and played cards outside in the evenings.
Good Trip, Thanks everyone
