Bryce National Park

Its so hard to choose a few pictures out of over a hundred that we took.  I love Bryce with its interesting rock formations.  Most of the formations are from wind erosion.  We went to the park early one morning.  We got there before anything was open but the visitor center did have fre.  e maps for the taking at an outside kiosk.  There is one main road you follow with lots of overlooks.  We went to the very end of the road first and then slowly made our way back to the entrance.  We made sure we stayed away from other people at the overlooks and footpaths.  The shuttle buses are running so you don't have to drive and if all you have is an RV to drive you have to take the shuttle because parking can be tight. 

We have been to Bryce before but it was sure nice to be there without all the tour buses full of Japanese tourists.  The hotels and campgrounds were just starting to open up and the restaurants should be open by now.  The virus has had a major impact on foreign travelers and when we were there it was mostly folks from in state that were visiting. 

Silver King Mine

Our second 4 wheeling trip on the Paiute Trail was to the Silver King Mine.  We traveled up and up and up with lots of switchbacks but the road was in good shape and fairly wide.  The ride up into the mountains was very pretty with a creek running alongside for awhile and then great mountain peak views.   When we got to the old mine site it was nicely laid out for a walking tour.  There was a lot of silver taken out of the area and it was fairly remote site.  Its hard to believe they could haul the ore out of here.  The owner of the mine lived right on site because it was so far out.   The storyboard says a rich silver vein was found after mining low grade ore for quite awhile.  Unfortunately they used dynamite to get at the rich vein but brought the mountain down into the mine instead of exposing the vein.  It is now buried deep beneath the earth.  

We have done some shorter rides along more of the Paiute Trail on the east side of the highway.  The roads are very nice and we try to stick to the easy to moderate rides.   We aren't up for the trails marked difficult.  We might start down one just to see what makes a trail difficult.  We have been on some steep winding trails that were adventurous enough for us.  Now maybe if that was the only way to get to the gold we might me more inclined to give the more difficult trails a try.

Kingston Canyon

We took a ride in the truck and checked out Kingston Canyon.  Its a short drive from where we are staying.  It turned out to have an interesting history.  We have come across the old Spanish Trail several times in our travels.  This canyon turned out to be an off shoot of the trail.  It was called the Fish Lake Cut-off.  We are also in the Fish Lake National Forest area so that seems to be the name for everything around here.  There were several people fishing in a small stream alongside the road.  We followed the road to the Otter Lake State Park and then turned around but if we had kept going we could have gone all the way to Bryce National Park.

So far we have discovered a nice little restaurant in Marysvale and try to go there when no one else is eating.  We also managed to get haircuts from a stylist that has a little shop in town.  She only comes once a week so she is very busy.  The closest big town is Richfield which is right on I-70.  They have a Walmart and just about every other store a smaller town should have.   We are looking forward to trying some ice cream at their local dairy store. 

Miners Park

One of our first rides out of the park on our 4 wheeler was to an area called Miners Park.  The Forest Service has turned an old mining town into a historic site you can visit.  They have plaques up explaining the mining operations that occurred here.  These were gold mines and they did find a good amount of gold ore.  There is a nice creek running through this area so we tried a little gold panning in it.  We did find a lot of black sand in our pan but no gold flakes.

It is nice to be able to ride right from our park onto the trails.  We are riding mostly the Paiute trail system and it is nicely maintained and pretty well marked.  Last year we had to trailer our 4wheeler outside the city limits to ride.  Here in Marysvale it is legal to ride on certain streets in town which makes it easy to get gas for our 4wheeler and get to trails on the other side of the highway from our campground.   So far the weather has been good, dry and warm and cool at night.  Our only complaint is that the wind kicks up every few days.  The locals say it happens mostly in the spring and will get better.

Our Marysvale, Utah summer home

We have a nice big site to park in for the summer.  The park is all gravel and the owner does a good job spraying for weeds.  There is a tree in which I hung my hummingbird feeder.  The little vampires drink it all in two days.  I may have to stock up on a lot of sugar to keep them fed.  Now if I don't keep the feeder full they dive bomb us to let us know they are in need of more juice.  I have had four of them at once dining on the sugar water.  There aren't many flowers blooming yet and not a lot of bugs to eat to I feel the need to feed them. 

Utah has opened most things up and the campground was full this holiday weekend.  Everyone must be more than ready to get outside and enjoy some 4wheeling.  We have seen every kind of rig come in to the campground that could haul or carry or pull 4wheelers.   Most come from the Salt Lake area and so have to come over a mountain pass with a pull up the mountain and a long 6% downhill grade.  Seeing some of these rigs and what they were pulling I'm not sure how they made it without their brakes failing or they just cruise down at whatever speed they get up to on the downgrade.  --Very glad to not be on the road during their travel times!

Beaver Canyon

After we left Quartzsite, Arizona we went to Golden Valley, AZ which is close to Kingman.  We zipped through Las Vegas on a Sunday morning and saw lots of folks hauling their boats to Lake Mead.  We spent a few days in Mesquite, Nevada waiting out some windy days.  We then headed to Beaver, Utah.  We wanted to spend a night close to our final destination so we could pull in during the morning and have plenty of time to set up.  Beaver is a nice little town with some great scenery. 

We took a drive through Beaver canyon.  You can see the road we drove up -- nice and winding but the views of the mountains were great.  The creek alongside the road was flowing pretty strongly from all the snow melt.  We did see a little snow on a few peaks.  There was a cute old cafe in town that was actually open for a sit down meal.  We couldn't resist since its been so long since we have been able to go to a restaurant.   It smelled like bleach and was very clean inside.  No one else was in the place, the waitress wore a mask, and the tables are bare.  They bring the salt and pepper, etc once you order.  Overall it was a good experience and the food was good. 

We are now in Marysvale, Utah for the summer and it is beautiful here.

Saguaro Cactus

One of the few things good about staying in Yuma until the end of April is you get to see all the cactus in bloom.  The saguaro cactus don't bloom until the end of April and into May.  All of the rain we had this winter has given all of the cactus lots of blooms.  You can see the white bloom of this cactus is full of bees enjoying the sweetness.  Even birds will enjoy the blooms sugary allure.   This picture was taken at the campground in Quartzsite but Yuma's cactus were full of blooms as well.

The heat was breath taking.  One day it hit 109 degrees in the shade.  The temp in the sum was much hotter.  Our rig only cooled down to 90 until the sun went down.  At least it cooled off at night enough for the air conditioner to catch up.   Summer in Yuma brings even more heat and the lows are in the mid 80's so one air conditioner doesn't have a chance.  If we had been stuck in Yuma for the summer we would have probably rented a house.

We are now in Golden Valley, Arizona which is east of Laughlin - west of Kingman.  Its a little higher elevation so it is cooler here only in the low 90's.  It goes down to the 60's at night so it is very nice.  We will be moving on from here timing our move so we can go through Las Vegas on a Sunday morning.  We have been watching traffic cameras of Vegas and traffic seems to be a lot less with the casinos closed.