The Riverside Ranch

We stayed at The Riverside Ranch in Hatch, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-04-24
  • Check out: 2022-05-08
  • 14 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny, a little drizzle
  • High temps ranging between 51 and 72°F, lows around 20-40°F
  • Sub-freezing overnight several nights
  • Windy most afternoons

Noise:

  • Minimal road noise, no train noise
  • Quiet neighbors

Site:

  • #5, pull-through, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Somewhat large site: 55 feet long by about 45 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power conveniently located
    • High water pressure, 100 PSI (need a regulator), 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

Internet:

  • Campground Wi-Fi: 27-32 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 15 ms ping; not used
  • T-Mobile: 93 Mbps down, 10-35 Mbps up, 70-80 ms ping
  • AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
  • Verizon: 75-85 Mbps down, 30 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
  • Starlink: 12-23 Mbps down, 2-14 Mbps up, 34-54 ms ping

Amenities:

  • Package delivery right to each site
  • Garbage dumpster
  • No pool

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Great home base for exploring southern Utah

We stayed here for two weeks, and it was a great base camp to see Bryce, Zion, several state parks (that were just as good as the national parks), national monuments, and scenic drives. Very quiet and scenic spot, right off the highway. We would have liked to stay in one of the riverside spots, but they don’t have sewer hookups and we can’t go that long without dumping the tanks, alas. Still, the pull-through sites in the upper part of the park had a lovely view over the valley and the pink cliffs in the distance. We had several packages delivered and the camp hosts brought them right to our site, which was very convenient. The staff were all very helpful and friendly, beginning with check-in where we were given a lot of tourism info about the area. It does get windy, but that’s been our experience everywhere in the southwest at this time of year, so we didn’t get to spend as much time outside as we would’ve liked, but that’s offset by how much exploring we got to do in the area. We’d definitely stay here again. We camped at The Riverside Ranch in a Motorhome.

The weather forecast for our stay:

Weather forecast

And the second week:

Weather

The campground map. We stayed in the upper area, as the lower (riverside) area doesn’t have sewer hookups:

Campground map

Satellite view:

Satellite view

They gave us a bunch of tourist info for the area:

Tourist info

Once we spent a night here, we could add Utah to the map on the side of our coach:

States map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

100 PSI water pressure; a regulator is definitely required (I have mine set to 60 PSI):

100 PSI water pressure

Dinner outside:

Dinner outside

Paladin looking out a window:

Paladin looking out a window

It was too windy to work outside most days, but I did a few times:

David working outside

Setting sun:

Setting sun

We were visited by Jenn’s Uncle Todd; our first visitors at a campsite:

David, Jenn, Uncle Todd

An interesting window in a coach next to us for a few days:

Interesting window

Let’s walk around the park, starting with the sign out front:

Sign

There’s a Mexican restaurant and country store out front, but unfortunately they were closed; not sure if just for the season, or permanently:

Closed Mexican restaurant

The Riverside Ranch also includes a motel:

Hotel

Downhill to the RV park:

Downhill to RV park

RVs (with a glimpse of ours):

RVs

The river (more of a stream, but still):

River

River

RVs by the river:

RVs and river

RVs

They have some tent sites, too:

Tent

River and tent

Tent site

A nice corner for religious services (this is Utah, after all):

Religious area

The RV office:

Office and RVs

Group fire pit:

Group fire pit

Bathroom:

Bathroom

BBQ area and RV office:

Office

Finally, the sign lit up at night:

Sign at night

Yellowstone National Park bonus pictures

Last September we visited Yellowstone National Park in a rental travel trailer, shortly after buying our coach (as our 40 foot motorhome was too big to fit in Yellowstone). I did several blog posts about our trip, but Jenn recently processed the photos she took with her big camera, a Nikon D7200. So here’s a bonus post with some really nice pics of a very special place. (The photos are also on her Flickr page.) Enjoy!

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

DSC 1513

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

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Yellowstone

Yellowstone

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Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Travel from Caliente, NV to Hatch, UT

We drove our coach 177 miles, 4.5 hours, from Caliente, Nevada to Hatch, Utah. Yay, another state!

Here’s the map, heading east:

Map route

An interesting point about this route is it isn’t the most direct route — that would be highway 14. However, as the map indicates, there is a portion with a too low clearance for our coach, plus that route is very twisty and across a mountaintop. We did drive that route in our truck later, and were very glad we didn’t try to take our coach that way. This is an important part of route planning; making sure it is feasible for our RV. The RV Life Trip Wizard really helps with this.

Anyway, on with the travel pics. Caliente is a fairly cute small town; here’s Company Row:

Caliente Company Row

Turning onto 319 East:

Turning onto 319 East

An interesting house in Panaca, and fellow RV traveler:

An interesting house in Panaca

A curvy highway:

Curvy highway

More curves

More curves

The GPS mirrored on the TV, approaching the Utah border, represented by the horizontal dotted line:

GPS approaching Utah border

Entering Utah:

Entering Utah

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Train:

Train

The clouds looked fake:

The clouds look fake

Utah highway:

Utah highway

Hey there Paladin:

Paladin

Snowy mountains:

Snowy mountains

Getting on to I-15:

Getting on to I-15

Where the speed limit was 80 MPH, not that we go that fast in our coach:

Speed limit 80 MPH

Paladin sleeping in his safe spot next to my chair:

Paladin

We didn’t really need fuel, but were concerned that truck stops would be less common out in the wilds of Utah, so stopped at T/A to top up:

Fuel stop at T/A

At the pump

We topped up the DEF, too:

DEF

A first for us, we parked with the trucks:

Parked with the trucks

And headed in to Subway for lunch:

Subway for lunch

A couple more Paladin pics:

Paladin

Paladin

I noticed a bunch of these interesting ramps along the freeway; presumably to let animals escape the road:

Ramp

Our exit:

Our exit

Cattle guard:

Cattle guard

Curvy road:

Curvy road

Highway leading to snowy hills:

Highway

Snow by the side of the road:

Snow

7,920 feet summit, with more curves and steep downhill ahead:

7920 feet summit

Sharp curve and mountain vista:

Sharp curve and mountain

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

“River”:

River

Arriving at our next destination:

Arriving

Paladin watching birds while Jenn checks in:

Paladin

Cellular internet

We are both still working as we travel the country in our motorhome, so having reliable internet access is essential.

To that end, we have six internet options: two cellular plans (AT&T and Verizon) in a cellular modem, one cell plan (T-Mobile) via a Wi-Fi hotspot device, two iPhones (AT&T), and (very recently) Starlink satellite internet.

And sometimes we connect to campground Wi-Fi, when available, though our various options are usually faster and more reliable.

Having four different networks and a variety of devices ensures that almost anywhere we are, we can connect to the internet.

Some details about the plans:

  • T-Mobile (via 5G Wi-Fi hotspot): unlimited data; plan provided by the Calyx Institute. This is what we’ve used the most, being truly unlimited.
  • AT&T (LTE SIM in cellular modem): 800 GB data; plan provided by Mobile Must Have. A good backup option, though often not very fast.
  • Verizon (5G SIM in cellular modem): 150 GB data; pre-paid plan from Verizon. Often the fastest cellular option, but very limited data, so we don’t use it much.
  • AT&T (iPhones): unlimited data; plans and phones provided by Apple Upgrade Program. We use these a lot as standalone devices. They only have 40 GB data as a personal hotspot, so we don’t tether other than emergencies.
  • Starlink (satellite): unlimited data; plan and dish provided by Starlink. We’ll probably use this the most going forward, if it proves to be reliable enough (and if our campsites can see enough of the sky).

I’ll cover Starlink in a separate post later, once we’ve spent more time with it — as of this post, we’ve only had it for a few days.

This is the T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspot; we can connect to it directly, but most of the time we go via the modem, which also connects to it:

MiFi

The modem has a roof-mounted antenna (the white fin in the following picture), which we got from Mobile Must Have, and installed by NIRVC; a Poynting 7-in-1 Roof Antenna. It contains 4 cell antennas, 2 WiFi antennas, and a GPS antenna:

Roof antenna

Zoomed out a bit:

Roof antenna

The antenna connects to the Pepwave MAX Transit modem (also from MMH), which contains the AT&T and Verizon SIMs (and can support two more). NIRVC mounted it in a cupboard above our entry door:

Pepwave modem:

See a later post about some further modifications to this cupboard.

Great Basin National Park

We visited Great Basin National Park in Nevada, and did a Lehman Caves tour.

The road to the park:

Road

Wheeler Peak:

Wheeler Peak

Great Basin National Park entrance:

Great Basin National Park entrance

The visitor center:

Visitor center

Visitor center

We had a picnic lunch behind the visitor center:

Picnic lunch

Rhodes Cabin:

Rhodes Cabin

Rhodes Cabin

Lehman Caves diagram:

Lehman Caves diagram

Lehman Caves 3D model:

Lehman Caves model

Info sign:

Info sign

Our ranger guide at the cave entrance. Actually, it’s the exit; they are still doing a COVID-era abbreviated tour, in and out the exit tunnel, a one hour tour instead of 1.5 hours:

Ranger at cave entrance

The tunnel, heading down into the caves:

Tunnel

A bunch of pictures within the caves:

Cave

Cave

Cave

Jenn

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Cave

Jenn & David

Cave

Cave

Jenn & David

Young’s RV Park

We stayed at Young’s RV Park in Caliente, Nevada. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-04-21
  • Check out: 2022-04-24
  • 3 nights

Weather:

  • Windy, rainy, cloudy
  • High temps ranging between 60 and 72°F, lows around 32-44°F
  • Very windy the first day (wind is common in Spring)

Noise:

  • No road noise, occasional train noise
  • Quiet and noisy neighbors on different days

Site:

  • #38, pull-through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Medium site: no marked edges, but about 60 feet long by about 25 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power conveniently located
    • Good water pressure, 55 PSI water, conveniently located
    • Good sewer connection, conveniently located
  • Picnic table

Internet:

  • Campground Wi-Fi: 0.5 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 45-145 ms ping; not used
  • T-Mobile: no service
  • AT&T: 3-8 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
  • Verizon: 3-9 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 80-128 ms ping

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpster
  • No pool

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Good basic campground

We stayed for a few nights on our way to Great Basin National Park. Our site was level and easy to get in and out of. Seems like a very popular spot for gatherings as I got the impression everyone else staying there knew each other, but at least everyone obeyed the quiet hours. We camped at Young’s RV Park in a Motorhome.

The weather forecast for our stay:

Weather

This park was unusual in that there was no paper map or other information provided, just a credit card receipt (that had the Wi-Fi password on it). Here’s the map from their website:

Map

The satellite view:

Young s RV Park

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

A tumbleweed blowing in the wind:

Tumbleweed

Conveniently located utilities:

Utilities

55 PSI water pressure:

55 PSI

It was very windy on our first day; here’s a GIF of the slide topper flapping in the wind:

Flapping GIF

Our site and neighbors:

Our site and neighbors

Other RVs:

Other RVs

Other RVs

The office:

Office

Bathroom and laundry:

Bathroom and laundry

More tumbleweeds:

Tumbleweed

Tumbleweed

It rained on our second day; the first time we’ve had real rain in about a month:

Rain

A side-by-side on the back of a pickup; an interesting arrangement:

Side-by-side on truck

Travel from Boulder City to Caliente, NV

We drove our coach 181 miles, four hours, from Lake Mead, Boulder City, Nevada to Caliente, Nevada.

Here’s the map, heading north:

Map route

Decorations in Boulder City:

Decorations in Boulder City

More freeway decorations:

Freeway decorations

Paladin was contented in his safe space:

Paladin in his safe space

A trike:

Trike

Las Vegas in the distance:

Las Vegas

Overpass art:

Overpass art

Wall art:

Wall art

Passing by Las Vegas:

Las Vegas

Exit:

Exit

Overpass art:

Overpass art

We stopped at Love’s for fuel:

Love's

We were interested to see that this Love’s has RV and boat storage:

Love's RV and boat storage

Fuel time:

Love's

Spendy for less than half a tank:

Fuel pump

I used my laptop while traveling:

Using laptop

Motorcycles:

Motorcycles

A lake:

Lake

Curvy road:

Curvy road

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

A long straight road, heading for the hills:

Long straight road

A bunch of Joshua trees:

Joshua trees

Downgrade sign:

Downgrade sign

The exaust heat warning light came on, with all the hill climbing; went off again shortly thereafter:

Exaust heat warning

Rocks and curves:

Rocks and curves

Rocks and curves

Our destination:

Our destination