August Road Trip West
Second night on an eight night journey from Wyoming to Texas and back to Michigan. I am in Utah now, and on this day I drove south from Salt Lake City to Moab.
Saturday, August 18, 2007 I wrote:
Now I'm at a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campground at site number 7 - right on the Colorado River. Not too bad, but I'm feeling very much alone. Minus one family (?) hidden in the trees at the site two away from mine. Ants on the picnic table.
I had a very veggie salad and Hidden Valley ranch dressing for dinner again. The ice in the cooler melted so I thought I should eat up the salad. Still there is some salsa left and cheese. Not sure if it will last. The crickets are very loud here. There is a generator going 3-4 spaces down which I can hear but cannot see. Hopefully they will turn it off at 10pm..? It's 9 now and pitch dark. I am writing by head lamp magnified by a glass of wine. I must drink it up for there is no more ice. Tomorrow I will buy more - ice. My eyes are adjusted to the light of this page so when I turn the headlamp off I see only blackness. If anyone bothers me, I will blind them with this headlamp. I think there is a toilet somewhere here, but I have not ventured that way yet.
Arches National Park was amazing today. It is quite something to come upon acreage as huge and awe inspiring as an American National Park - and even more so by oneself. I don't mean to press the point, but it is satisfying to have "been there done that" alone. Of course there is always more one could do, so I'm not sure I have actually 'done that'. However, a few short treks from the road and parking lots later, after watching other tourists and standing among them - from all corners of the world, one is put in her place ultimately to give mother nature the credit she deserves for coming up with such possibilities. The landscape behind the gates of the ticket booths is like another planet.
Now I see (when the light is off, it takes a few minutes for eyes to adjust) there is a large rock cliff behind me. The wall must have been carved by the river. It doesn't look like loose rock. If it were this might not be a good place to sit. And above are many many stars filling the black void of the night sky. How nice.
Some bugs seem to be attracted to my light. They are not biting me (I hope). The BLM campground is along a highway so an occasional car whizzes by at 50+ mph. Otherwise it is very quiet - only crickets and that generator.
The two foreign girls at the site across from mine were part of the reason I stopped here. At least I wouldn't be totally alone -- I thought. However before it got dark, they left because of the generator which they told me was too loud. I stopped them to ask why they were leaving as they drove away. My tent was already set up...so I guess I was staying. I probably wouldn't have even noticed the sound of the generator had they not mentioned it. But I didn't want them to leave because then I'd be more alone. I was hoping they would return (since it is dark and it might be hard for them to find another place at this hour), but I guess they are gone. They must have found another place.
Seems lots of foreign travelers are around these parts of the USA - probably every summer. There are so many nationalities and so few Americans everywhere I go here. I don't hear much English when I am at the major attractions like at Arches National Park today. German and other languages, maybe Eastern European and Japanese are abundant.
The BLM campgrounds are cheap - $7 - only! Which also means there is no host (usually an elderly couple in a camper) maintaining/managing things. Here there is a metal box - honor system - and some envelopes. Put your $7 cash inside the envelope, mark site #7 with name, car and plate information on the outside of the envelope and slip it into the slot in the metal box. Beware - seven dollars in quarters might be hard to squeeze through the slot...
Now I am getting comfortable. I love this new glass I found at a thrift store. The Colorado River does not smell like the great Salt Lake did. This campground was mentioned by the national park man at the gate at Arches. That campground was full. He said - if he were me - he'd camp here. So here I am.
So this morning there was some sort of marathon happening on Antelope Island. I woke up at 7 and saw flashing lights on the road and some other car activity. Seemed strange at that hour. I managed to put away the tent and get myself ready to go and started driving around the loop of the campground where - to my great surprise - I found TWO buffalo roaming very close - just over a low hill from site number 5. I stopped the car to watch them. They were beautiful, silhouetted on the horizon, grazing in the tall grasses.
I drove down to the "day use" area where I thought I had read there were showers - and there were! I had that entire parking lot to myself -- paid $1.50 in quarters for a 4 and 2/3's(?!) minute shower. The water was not too hot but manageable.
The stars are amazing here. I have to turn off my light to get the bugs to go away.
I was clean! Hooray! On my way down by the shore of the Great Salt Lake, I crossed a barricade where there were several people milling around. A man stopped me and told me I could drive onward, but I should be careful of the wheelchair racers. It was a half-marathon, and I was near the finish line!
At a different perspective than the usual spectator, I saw the first wheelchairs coming toward me on the two lane highway. I passed them slowly while they worked their way to the finish line in the oncoming lane. Then the FIRST runner - miles from the next it seemed - he was way ahead. "Go" - I didn't yell from my car window - but I thought about it. For the next several miles I passed many many more runners of all shapes and sizes, abilities and disabilities, and speeds, all along the causeway which was at least seven miles long - half the race.
Soon I was speeding along Interstate 15 heading south on my triple-A map. The world was much larger than I had expected. Highways on maps are one thing but when hours are attached to the mileage - it's different. I am still not as far as Moab although really close now - maybe 3-4 miles away on this highway at this BLM campground. I suppose I could potentially walk from here! That's how close I am.
I drove most of today, but at one point I did find myself inside Canyonlands National Park. Actually, Dead Horse Point State Park nearby is even more definitely worth a visit. Way more spectacular than the Grand Canyon the guide book said!! Really! Incredible views. Definitely worth a stop if in the area. This whole place is full of amazing geologic wonders and rock formations that are quite indescribable. Mother nature has a way of eroding earthworks over a billion-million years which ends up being a single second's snapshot in time for the visitor. Utah is a Mecca for people who like to be outside.
The temperature is SO perfect right now. Many stars still. Not like at Salt Lake where I could see thunder storm clouds miles away in the sky that could be watched and studied for hours before they conspired against solo campers like me. Here I only see the sky between some low but tall-for-this-area trees (along the banks of the Colorado River) and the rock wall behind me. NO wildlife has disturbed my happy home here nor any people - not yet at least. Many bugs are attracted to my headlamp still but not enough to stop me from writing. I'll turn the light off again and check out the scene.
Sincerely,
Heather O'Neal
Of Global Interest Adventure Travel
The Eighth Street Trekkers' Lodge B&B
Ann Arbor, Michigan
(734) 369-3107
ofglobal@aol.com
http://www.ofglobalinterest.com
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