johnboystravelblog

After leaving the Colorado National Monument outside of Grand Junction I headed north and then west on some scenic roads to get to my next stop.  Here are some of the things I saw along the way.

Not long after I got north of I-70 it became apparent I would be spending some time in scenery which was different from the mountains I have grown accustomed to being in.

When I got up near the town of Rangely, CO things started looking a little more habitable.  These were some interesting rock formations near the road I was on.

Just before crossing in to Utah I came to the town of Dinosaur, Colorado.  It is just south of the Dinosaur National Monument, which spans east to west in both Utah (to the west) and Colorado (to the east).  Since I had spent so much time in the Colorado National Monument earlier in the day I didn’t have time to go to this one, or to the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area even further north.  Some pictures in the Visitor Center looked nice, though, so I will be coming back in May of next year on my way to California.

After crossing in to Utah I came across this scenic overlook.  There was already a car parked there and a gentleman was standing near the wall, admiring the view while his wife waited in the car.  It was becoming evident that wildfire smoke was going to be obscuring the view the further north I went.  I commented to the man that we had to take the bad with the good, but that there was way more good in this part of the country.

I would have to keep telling myself that throughout the day today after I learned a few hours after taking this photo that my Airbnb in Orem would not be available to me and I’d have to spend several hours making other arrangements.

When I got close to Provo I saw that a wildfire was burning between where I was and town.

This is the Tank Hollow fire.  When I looked to the left towards the sun (which would be setting in about an hour and a half) I noticed that the smoke made it appear as a large orange disk.  It looked even more dramatic, and a deeper orange, when viewed through the tinted glass at the top of the car windshield.

As I proceeded north on Route 6 I went around a turn and saw several wind turbines, slowly turning in the breeze.

I went back today and got some other photos.

They have lights nearby which apparently illuminate them at night.  Given their proximity to the road that would be a pretty cool sight, but I don’t like to drive at night on unfamiliar roads so I’ll just have to find some photos online.

 

My original plan once I got to Orem was to go further north, past Salt Lake City, and make a scenic loop around Bear Lake.  That loop would have taken me from northeast Utah, through a small portion of western Wyoming, the southeast corner of Idaho, and back to Utah.

This morning I drove north (in rush hour traffic due to a late start on my part (late to bed, late to rise…) until I reached Brigham City.  After exiting the dreaded interstate I entered the closest town on the southwest side of Bear Lake into my GPS unit.  When I discovered I wouldn’t get there until after 11am local time I did some quick calculating and decided to abandon the loop idea because I’d end up back in SLC just in time for evening rush hour (plus the visibility was so poor, due largely to wildfire smoke, that I wouldn’t have seen much anyway).

I headed back south, went around SLC to the east on I-84 and I-80, giving the city a wide berth, and did a small scenic drive near Park City, ultimately taking me to Heber City.  There I had my car serviced (oil & filter, tire rotation), had lunch, and stopped at the library to use their computer to book another Airbnb for tonight (I’m writing tonight’s posts from Eagle Mountain, UT, northwest of Provo).

Here are some of the things I saw throughout the day.

There are more mountains out there, you just can’t see them due to the smoke.  This is Deer Creek Reservoir, southwest of Heber City.

Next I traveled further south to Provo and stopped at the LDS Temple there.

I went inside and found two gentlemen, dressed in white from head to toe, who greeted me soon after I entered the building.  I asked if I was allowed inside the Temple and they politely informed me this was a far as I would get.  They said I could go downstairs to a small reception area but that no photos were allowed anywhere inside the building.  One of the gentlemen followed me downstairs to be sure I complied with their rules (I actually think he was tempted to ask me if he could try on my Safety Sam vest once he got away from the other guy but low and behold, here were two more gentlemen dressed all in white downstairs, so he never got the chance).  I don’t think I would have made out any better if I were dressed all in white as they were scanning ID’s of some folks who were then allowed inside the Temple.  I doubt if they had flashed their AAA cards….

I’m posting another photo of the Temple to show some of the gorgeous flower beds and landscaping they had all around the property.  I had been to the Temple up in Salt Lake City years ago when visiting my youngest brother and his wife, who lived up there for many years.  On one visit I went and heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform there.  It was quite impressive.

Further down the road I found Utah’s version of Bridal Veil Falls.

I then went further south and did a scenic loop near where the Tank Hollow fire was still burning (it increased from 5,097 acres to 7,696 acres overnight and is still only 44% contained.  As I got back to Route 6 I saw this shrine on the hillside across the road at the T-intersection where I was to turn left.  Someone had painted lots of rocks various colors and placed them in this pattern.  There were 3 wooden crosses at the top with names of various people.

Tomorrow morning I hop on the dreaded interstate and go all the way south, almost as far as Las Vegas.  Before crossing the state line, however, I’ll exit the highway and go through Zion National Park.  I’ll be staying in the little town of Kanab, just east of the Park for the next 4 nights.

My Airbnb host in Orem, Utah wasn’t home and never sent me information with the code to get in to the house. Airbnb was useless in trying to resolve the situation and find me a replacement property. It took me two tries but I finally checked in at a Holiday Inn Express. They have WiFi but I don’t trust how secure it is and won’t connect my computer to it. I am making this entry from my phone.

Not sure yet where I will stay Wednesday night. I may go somewhere today which has a secure wifi connection and book another Airbnb near here. Tomorrow (Thursday) I go back to southern Utah and things should return to normal.

Wildfire smoke has returned (well, I am far enough north to be back in it) so where I will be going today (NE Utah, SW Oregon and Western Wyoming) will likely have poor visibility. I will be making a big loop on scenic roads around Bear Lake. I also need to have my oil changed again and probably buy new tires for the car, or at least have them rotated one last time.

I will be back in southern Utah Thursday afternoon in time to go through Zion National Park, which I was in briefly a few years ago (another amusing JohnBoy story).

Here are some of the things I saw in Cedar Breaks National Monument, near Parowan, Utah a few days ago.

Here are some of the things I saw in Cedar Breaks National Monument, near Parowan, Utah a few days ago.

Today I made a big clockwise loop on scenic roads.  I headed east from where I was staying in Grand Junction, Colorado to Route 65 which took me south past Mesa to the town of Delta.  From there I proceeded further south to Montrose, where I stopped briefly at a National Park.  I got back on the road and headed even further south to Ridgway (with a quick side trip to Ouray for a photo op), went west to Placerville and north on Route 141, back to Grand Junction.

I’ll post the Mesa Scenic Drive pictures separately, probably tomorrow.  Here are other things I saw today.

Before even getting out of Grand Junction I saw this formation along Interstate 70.  It still boggles my mind that stuff like this is found right along the highway.

I stopped to take a picture of this lake and found a woman who had her three dogs out to enjoy the day.

Clockwise from the top, meet Gemstone (brown), Dancer (black) and Kilo (gray and white).  I didn’t write down the nice woman’s name and don’t recall what it was.  I believe she said she’s from nearby Delta.

This was an unusual find in the little town of Delta.

And these were two corn fields which straddled Route 50 near Delta.

After leaving Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park I saw this little recreated village on the way back to Montrose.  What caught my attention was the Bull Durham sign (I live in Durham, NC, where the movie Bull Durham was filmed.  It was also a cigarette brand, manufactured in Durham).

This was taken after my little side trip to Ouray.  I am now heading west towards Placerville, CO.

And these were taken late in the day as I proceeded north on Route 141.

In a field below this mountain is all that remains of the Driggs Mansion.

 

Black Canyon is a National Park located about 10 miles east of Montrose, Colorado, along the Gunnison River.

Or is it Black Cow of the Gunnison??  This was what greeted me on the way in to the Park.

I didn’t get a chance to visit the entire Park but it definitely whet my appetite for a return trip next May on my way out to California to start my 2018 road trip.

And to give you some idea how deep this canyon is, here is a photo of the view from an overlook.  Then I’ve zoomed in on the Visitor Center which is at the top of the right (darker green) mountain.

Here are some photos from two of the overlooks along the Rim Drive.  I didn’t have time to stop at all of them.

You couldn’t pay me enough to go down a few steps down to this unshielded viewing spot.  The light brown rock is on my side of the canyon.  The dark brown rock beyond (directly above) it is on the other side of the abyss.

I swear to God this actually happened today exactly as I’m about to tell it.

While at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park I went to the overlook area outside the Visitor Center.  At one of the wooden railings (shown below) I leaned out a little to take a picture with my smartphone while commenting to the people standing near me that one of these days I’m going to drop it while doing such foolish things, given my clumsiness.

I proceeded further out the observation deck which, interestingly, slopes downward as it goes further away from the Visitor Center, giving an added sense of impending calamity to Mr. Smiley Pants I’m Afraid of Heights JohnBoy.

I recruited this volunteer (who was visiting the Park from New Jersey with his girlfriend) to show that from my vantage point I was looking downward.  I also learned, as we were walking back to our vehicles, that they both attended East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania (I used to live in Stroudsburg).

This is a popular place for visitors to have their pictures taken and, sure enough, a woman asked if I’d mind taking a group photo of her and her friends.  I said of course I wouldn’t mind, put my phone in my pocket and took the two devices she gave me, one a digital camera which appeared to be more complex and expensive than mine, and her iPhone.  I took two pictures with her digital camera.  I then transferred it to my left hand and in doing so became JohnBoy the Juggler.

(Photo credit: circusberzerous.co.uk)

When she had given me the phone I observed and commented out loud that just about every other iPhone I have used to take other people’s pictures with during this trip had a cracked screen (not a fake screen cover, which you can buy, but an actual cracked screen) and I said “guess you never dropped it, eh?”.   I even joked about being afraid of dropping my own phone over the edge earlier.

As I was swapping the two cameras the iPhone slipped out of my right hand.  I was able to keep hitting it from below to keep it in the air until I finally grabbed it.

Disaster was averted.

 

My travels today took me close enough to Ouray, CO that I had to go back and cheat death once more in order to get photographic evidence of my claim that you would drop straight down off the road if you should drive over the edge.

As you can see, these were taken from the relative safety of the northbound side of the road.  I still couldn’t bring myself to release my death grip of the steering wheel going the other way, although there was an even better spot to make my point.

From this vantage point you can see three spots where the drop off is straight.  One near the top, where the highway department has reinforced the bank underneath the road (thanks, guys!) and also left of the Jeep and below the Jeep.  I have zoomed in to that area to further illustrate my point, and to show Shawn that I STOPPED IN THE ROAD to take these pictures, even though the signs clearly told drivers not to stop.

I also found this photo online which, according to an anonymous Facebook source, was taken by a local and is on display in an Ouray micro-brewery.  In it you can see the river far below the road’s edge.  The photographer clearly has a sense of humor, as well as no apparent fear of heights.

(Photo credit: Unidentified source)

 

Here are some of the things I saw while driving through Arches National Park in Utah.

I should mention that crews are prepping the roads and pullouts in the Park for re-paving so there are orange barrels all through the property.  In fact, from Sunday through Thursday they kick everyone out at 7 PM so they can get their work done without totally disrupting the flow of traffic during the day.

If you look closely at the bottom right corner of the photo above you’ll see the tops of vehicles driving through the Park.  This gives you some idea how big these rock formations are.  There is also a brown road sign in the lower left corner.

Again, look at the road at the bottom of the photo above to gauge the size of what you are seeing.