Here’s an animated GIF showing our RV travel routes: the Yellowstone rental trailer trip last year, adding travel in our coach last year, travel so far this year, and finally the planned route for much of the remainder of the year.
Month: May 2022
Thousand Lakes RV Park
We stayed at Thousand Lakes RV Park in Torrey, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-05-08
- Check out: 2022-05-11
- 3 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging around 60°F, lows around 30°F
- Sub-freezing overnight some nights
- Very windy most afternoons, with gusts up to 60 MPH
- We kept our slides in most of the time
Noise:
- No road noise, no train noise
- Quiet neighbors
Site:
- #31, pull-through, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked next to coach
- Smallish site: 55 feet long by about 25 feet wide
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power conveniently located
- Low water pressure, 30 PSI, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located
- Didn’t connect water or sewer other than to fill and dump, since it got below freezing
- Picnic table and fire pit
Internet:
- Campground Wi-Fi: available, not used
- T-Mobile: 20 Mbps down, 27 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
- AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- Verizon: 16 Mbps down, 28 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
- Starlink: not used, since short stay
Amenities:
- Garbage bins and dumpster
- Small pool, not used
- Nice store and BBQ restaurant
Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:
Good base camp for Capitol Reef
Nice park with trees between each site and views of the surrounding red cliffs. Sites were a little on the small side for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle; we had to park the truck next to the rig, and the door hit our slide when getting in or out. Very conveniently located to Capitol Reef National Park, which is the main draw. Torrey has some good restaurants, and the onsite bbq was just so nice and close after a long day in the park. The shop had a great selection of souvenirs and basic necessities, as well. We camped at Thousand Lakes RV Park in a Motorhome.
The RV park map:
Satellite map:
A couple of GIFs of our coach leveling itself, captured by the truck dashcam:
Our site; it was so windy that we kept our slides in for most of the time:
A nice view of red cliffs beyond the park:
This is what our coach looks like inside with the slide-outs in; a bit cramped:
Paladin sitting on the back of the driver chair:
He was interested in jumping up to the top of the slide-out, though didn’t actually do so:
As mentioned above, one nice thing about this park is that it has an on-site BBQ; here’s the menu:
BBQ info:
The restaurant:
BBQ dining room:
BBQ food:
They also have a nice gift shop and general store on site:
Let’s walk around. Here’s the entrance sign:
Play area:
RV park store and gift shop:
Even a hair salon, apparently:
Some tent sites, populated by a group (who regretted their choices, being so windy):
RVs:
A small pool; we didn’t use it, since it wasn’t very warm:
Cabins:
A nice view:
More RVs:
Cows:
Those sites along the back would have a great view, though were very small:
More cabins:
A hall with seating:
Our site again, after we put out three of the four slides:
Video: timelapse of motorhome coach driving from Hatch, UT to Torrey, UT
A timelapse of driving our Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome 124 miles from Hatch, Utah to Torrey, Utah.
Travel from Hatch to Torrey, UT
We drove our coach 124 miles, about 3 hours, from Hatch, Utah to Torrey, Utah.
Here’s the map, heading northeast:
Heading down the highway:
Paladin spent much of the time in his safe space next to my chair, as usual:
Some nice old buildings in Panguitch (I’m going to try to take more pictures of interesting towns we pass through):
Nice houses:
I worked on my laptop while Jenn drove:
Butch Cassidy’s childhood home:
An old building:
Junction, our turn:
Mountains:
Interesting rocks:
The Otter Creek Reservoir:
Lots of straight portions of the highway:
Which are a convenient and fairly safe time for me to get up and grab a snack from the fridge:
Mountains:
Never Rip Overalls:
Some horses crossing the highway:
More road and mountains:
Up and down:
Interesting rocks:
Arriving at our destination for a few nights:
Paladin on the dash while Jenn is checking in:
Olympic National Park bonus pictures
Back in October last year we took a day trip to Olympic National Park in Washington state. Here are some recently processed bonus pictures taken by Jenn:
Video: truck driving through Red Canyon and around Kodachrome Basin State Park
A short timelapse video of driving through Red Canyon, then around Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah, including a dirt road portion.
Kodachrome Basin State Park
While we concentrate on National Parks, we also like to visit other interesting parks as we explore. One such was Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah:
Like much of Utah, it features lots of interesting rock formations:
We had a picnic lunch in a nice sheltered picnic area:
Then strolled along a nature trail:
I liked how this cloud lined up with the rock tower, to make it look like smoke from a chimney:
Finally, we went for a drive on a dirt road to see some more rocks:
Stay tuned for a timelapse video.
Mossy Cave Trail hike, Bryce Canyon
Within the Bryce Canyon National Park boundary, but separated from the main part of the park, is a short hike called Mossy Cave Trail. This hike is 0.8 miles (1.3 km) out-and-back, with an elevation change of 300 feet (91m).
Here’s the trailhead:
Jenn with hiking poles; the first time we used them, very useful on the steep and rough path:
Some nice views from the trail:
A waterfall:
Another path leads to the Mossy Cave:
Really more of an overhang than a cave:
Still some ice lingering in the shade:
Bryce Canyon National Park at sunset
We visited Bryce Canyon National Park again around sunset, on two consecutive nights.
On the first night, we had a fancy dinner at Stone Hearth Grille in Tropic, Utah, in the “canyon” of Bryce (it’s not really a canyon):
Then into Bryce Canyon:
As you may have noticed, those pictures didn’t have much alpenglow, as the sun was already too low to reach the canyon. So we decided to go again the next night, a bit earlier.
This time, we had dinner at Bryce Canyon Pines, a more casual traditional American restaurant (with very tasty food):
And into Bryce Canyon once again:
Much better alpenglow this time:
We enjoyed having a viewpoint to ourselves:
A more popular viewpoint:
Another quiet viewpoint:
Video: timelapse of truck driving through Zion National Park
We drove our truck through Zion National Park (a second time). This is a timelapse from the dashcam of driving all the way through and back again, with some nice alpenglow.