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.
map
Maps of travel routes and campgrounds.
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:
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:
Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument including Singing Canyon
We took a day trip along Scenic Byway 12 and Burr Trail Road to Singing Canyon, a small slot canyon in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
The monument is a massive area, almost two million acres, administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
The drive we went on was just a tiny fraction of it; inspired by this article.
The Grand Staircase is a massive series of cliffs, going from Cedar Breaks National Park to the Grand Canyon; here’s an image from the Wikipedia article:
Heading along Scenic Byway 12:
Lots of interesting rocks along the road:
Monument sign:
One of the visitor centers for the monument, in Cannonville, Utah:
Back on the road:
Another visitor center in Escalante, Utah:
Trying a prickly pear cactus candy snack from the first visitor center (pretty tasty):
Singing canyon, so named due to its amazing acoustics, which we can confirm; we had it all to ourselves, too:
Interesting rocks outside the canyon — actually it’s still in a canyon, Long Canyon:
Looking down into Long Canyon:
We encountered a couple of free-range cows on the road:
An enjoyable drive, and impressive slot canyon.
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:
And the second week:
The campground map. We stayed in the upper area, as the lower (riverside) area doesn’t have sewer hookups:
Satellite view:
They gave us a bunch of tourist info for the area:
Once we spent a night here, we could add Utah to the map on the side of our coach:
Our site:
100 PSI water pressure; a regulator is definitely required (I have mine set to 60 PSI):
Dinner outside:
Paladin looking out a window:
It was too windy to work outside most days, but I did a few times:
Setting sun:
We were visited by Jenn’s Uncle Todd; our first visitors at a campsite:
An interesting window in a coach next to us for a few days:
Let’s walk around the park, starting with the sign out front:
There’s a Mexican restaurant and country store out front, but unfortunately they were closed; not sure if just for the season, or permanently:
The Riverside Ranch also includes a motel:
Downhill to the RV park:
RVs (with a glimpse of ours):
The river (more of a stream, but still):
RVs by the river:
They have some tent sites, too:
A nice corner for religious services (this is Utah, after all):
The RV office:
Group fire pit:
Bathroom:
BBQ area and RV office:
Finally, the sign lit up at night:
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:
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:
Turning onto 319 East:
An interesting house in Panaca, and fellow RV traveler:
A curvy highway:
The GPS mirrored on the TV, approaching the Utah border, represented by the horizontal dotted line:
Entering Utah:
Interesting rocks:
Train:
The clouds looked fake:
Utah highway:
Hey there Paladin:
Snowy mountains:
Getting on to I-15:
Where the speed limit was 80 MPH, not that we go that fast in our coach:
Paladin sleeping in his safe spot next to my chair:
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:
We topped up the DEF, too:
A first for us, we parked with the trucks:
And headed in to Subway for lunch:
A couple more Paladin pics:
I noticed a bunch of these interesting ramps along the freeway; presumably to let animals escape the road:
Our exit:
Cattle guard:
Curvy road:
Highway leading to snowy hills:
Snow by the side of the road:
7,920 feet summit, with more curves and steep downhill ahead:
Sharp curve and mountain vista:
Interesting rocks:
“River”:
Arriving at our next destination:
Paladin watching birds while Jenn checks in:
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:
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:
The satellite view:
Our site:
A tumbleweed blowing in the wind:
Conveniently located utilities:
55 PSI water pressure:
It was very windy on our first day; here’s a GIF of the slide topper flapping in the wind:
Our site and neighbors:
Other RVs:
The office:
Bathroom and laundry:
More tumbleweeds:
It rained on our second day; the first time we’ve had real rain in about a month:
A side-by-side on the back of a pickup; an interesting arrangement:
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:
Decorations in Boulder City:
More freeway decorations:
Paladin was contented in his safe space:
A trike:
Las Vegas in the distance:
Overpass art:
Wall art:
Passing by Las Vegas:
Exit:
Overpass art:
We stopped at Love’s for fuel:
We were interested to see that this Love’s has RV and boat storage:
Fuel time:
Spendy for less than half a tank:
I used my laptop while traveling:
Motorcycles:
A lake:
Curvy road:
Interesting rocks:
A long straight road, heading for the hills:
A bunch of Joshua trees:
Downgrade sign:
The exaust heat warning light came on, with all the hill climbing; went off again shortly thereafter:
Rocks and curves:
Our destination:
Lake Mead and Hoover Dam
Since we were staying with a view of Lake Mead, of course we had to go down to the lake edge. Plus, we visited the nearby Hoover Dam, which created and feeds from the lake.
The Lake Mead National Recreation Area is “America’s first and largest national recreation area”.
We drove to the lake:
The lake is at a record low level due to the ongoing drought, so much of the road is actually below where the water level should be:
A life jacket loaner station:
A long walk to the lake edge:
The current lake edge:
Not entirely sure what this structure is; seems to be pipes. There is a sewage treatment plant nearby, so probably related to that:
Blowing dust:
Then we drove along the road that should be just above the water level:
A glimpse of our RV in the campground:
The boat ramp, which has been extended several times as the water receded:
On the way back up, we noticed signs indicating the water line over the years. I’m including a picture of each sign, and the metadata map indicating where it is. Note that the water line indicated by the map isn’t current; it’s lower than shown. Here’s 2018:
2008:
2002:
2000, about where the water should be at capacity:
We stopped by the Lake Mead visitor center:
Visitor center store:
Lake model:
Then we continued on to Hoover Dam.
On the way to the RV park, we went over this bridge in our coach, the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. When Jenn saw it from below, she said she was very glad she hadn’t realized how high it was at the time. That Wikipedia article says it “incorporates the widest concrete arch in the Western Hemisphere. At 890 feet (270 m) above the Colorado River, it is the second highest bridge in the United States”:
Leaning towers hold the electrical cables away from the canyon wall:
We drove over Hoover Dam:
One of two spillways, that haven’t been used in decades:
After driving across and back over the dam, we parked, had a snack in the cafe, went to the gift store, then the visitor center. Which wasn’t worth it; I’d recommend skipping it unless you’re really interested. There were few displays, and about half were out of order. And they charged $10 each to get in… plus you have to go through a security checkpoint (that made me remove my fabric belt, for some reason).
But one exhibit that was somewhat interesting was a video showing the dam being built, which I recorded and made into an animated GIF:
Another display:
The visitor center also had an observation deck with a good view of the dam:
Wide angle:
Top of the dam:
Power house:
Valve house:
Bridge:
Power houses:
Oh dam:
Dam selfie:
Bridge and river:
Then we walked over the dam:
Power houses:
Bridge and visitor center:
Dam:
Plaque:
Bridge and river:
Wide angle:
The parking garage and visitor center:
A high-and-dry spillway:
Back of the dam:
Lake Mead, and one of four intake towers:
Wide angle:
Back of the dam:
Arizona-side intake towers:
Lake Mead:
A plaque halfway across:
And the divider between Nevada and Arizona:
Windy selfie:
Nevada-side intake towers:
Lake Mead:
Exhibits building (which was closed):
Spillway house:
Back of the dam:
Wide angle:
Lake Mead RV Village
We stayed at the Lake Mead RV Village in Boulder City, Nevada. (Campground Reviews listing.)
We considered staying at the Thousand Trails in Las Vegas, but the reviews weren’t very favorable. So we opted for a nicer park with a view of Lake Mead instead.
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-04-10
- Check out: 2022-04-21
- 11 nights
Weather:
- Sunny, some clouds
- High temps ranging between 66 and 91°F, lows around 35-57°F
- Some days of gale-force winds (gusts up to 64 MPH!); did not enjoy those
Noise:
- No road or train noise
- Initially noisy neighbors, until they left
Site:
- #LV21, pull-in, cement pad surrounded by gravel
- Unusual in that pull coach in front-first — so get a lake view out the windscreen
- Initially had a fiver next to us, backed in, so their door was facing us; didn’t like that — but the site remained empty after they left
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked on gravel beside coach
- Medium site: about 55 feet long by 30 feet wide, with 40 by 15 cement pad for RV
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power conveniently located
- Good water pressure, 60+ PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located
- All utilities on both sides, to accommodate front-in motorhomes and back-in trailers
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
Internet:
- Campground Wi-Fi: 26 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 25 ms ping; not used
- T-Mobile: 25-30 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
- AT&T: 7 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 38 ms ping
- Verizon: 32-37 Mbps down, 15-17 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
Amenities:
- Garbage and recycling dumpsters, not particularly close
- No pool
- Nice camp store; we bought groceries there
- The usual other stuff we didn’t use
Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:
Gorgeous lake and mountain views
We had a pull-in Lake View site and it was sooooo worth it. Best view ever, even if the lake isn’t as high as it used to be. The only drawback is that while we were front-in with our motorhome, our neighbor was backed in with a 5er, which means it was basically a buddy site, so privacy was lacking. If they could keep motorhomes and trailers/5ers separate that would be even better. Utilities are available on either side of the site because of the front or back-in arrangement.
Our site was so level, our automatic levelers pretty much just went down and called it good without any fiddling. That never happens. Very convenient to Hoover Dam and Las Vegas for some sightseeing and touristy fun, but it was so nice to come back to this quiet spot when the day was done. Some basic necessities in the camp store. Groceries in Boulder City or Henderson weren’t too far away, but you might want to put a cooler in the car just in case. We camped at Lake Mead RV Village in a Motorhome.
The weather forecast for our stay:
It was quite windy, with gusts up to 64 miles per hour, though I think we were a little sheltered from the worst of that:
Here’s the campground map, which only shows the RV sites; most of the park is mobile homes:
The satellite view shows all the mobile homes; our approximate location is circled:
Zooming out, you can see the lake edge. Though these satellite images are out-of-date; the water is actually a bit further now, as the lake continues to drain due to the ongoing drought:
This last image shows the Nevada/Arizona border line, and Hoover Dam:
Our lake view site; notice that we fronted in, to have a nice view out our windscreen, while trailers back in:
The downside of this arrangement is that a trailer next to us has their door facing us, so a “buddy” situation. Not great for privacy:
Fortunately the sites are fairly wide, so we weren’t on top of each other. And they left after a few days, which was a relief, since they had their TV blaring with the door open most of the time.
Looking down the side of the coach to the utilities:
Pretty convenient location; to accommodate motorhomes and trailers, all of the utilities are available on both sides of the site:
Good water pressure:
Once we spent a night here, we were able to fill in a hole on our states map, adding Nevada:
Utah will be added soon, too.
Here’s the picturesque view out our windscreen; we didn’t put up the Magne Shade, so we could enjoy the view:
A dust storm:
Paladin relaxing:
Let’s take a walk around the campground, and look at other RVs and the mobile homes:
The entrance:
The office:
We enjoyed the blooming cacti out front:
The office also included a decent camp store, where we got some groceries:
Village hall:
I worked outside on several days (when not too hot or breezy), in the shade in front of our coach, enjoying the view:
Jenn had some meetings outside, too:
Paladin looking outside:
Paladin watching taunty quail:
An interesting plane / copter thing:
Dinner with a view:
Surprisingly, there were several empty sites for much of our stay. We had several trailers come and go on our driver side, but I would have expected the park to be more packed. Sure, it’s early Spring, but we were here around Easter weekend:
Sunrise over the lake:
The moon over our coach:
Sunset alpenglow:
A good park, with the nicest view we’ve experienced (so far). We’ll definitely stay here again.