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Burr Trail Road, starting at Boulder, Utah. This red rock canyon begins about nine miles from town. Go shortly after sunrise when the light is great and most tourists are still having breakfast.

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Calf Creek is a small, popular campground off highway 12 in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. I was very lucky. I got that last available site.

The canyon walls soar above the campground. Calf Creek is fed by a spring and flows year-round. A 6-mile roundtrip hike leads to a waterfall.

I thought I'd be all limbered up from my Bryce Canyon hikes, but, yow, I was stiff and achy. So I didn't make the trek to the falls. Next time.

The creek creates a riparian zone thick with oaks and other vegetation. Too bad the leaves hadn't changed yet. You also need to ford the creek in order to get to some of the campsites. There's a pedestrian suspension bridge and the day use area has steps down to wading/swimming area. The water is rather cold, though.

It's a beautiful campground. I'd still be there if it weren't for total lack of cell signal. Hey, can't have everything.

A moment of reflection

Sunrise at the camp

How to see Bryce Canyon for free

If you don't already have an America the Beautiful interagency pass, and you don't want to pay $30 at the entrance station, you can still see Bryce Canyon free.

One of the first things you see when driving into the park, after the gas-food-lodging-shuttle-souvenirs area, is the big stone park sign where people stop to take selfies. About a tenth of a mile past that, before reaching the entry station, there's a road on the left. (There's no sign in this direction, but there is in the other, leaving the park. I think the Park Service is being sneaky.) This road goes to Fairyland Point.

Fairyland Point not only gives you a good hoodoo viewing experience from the rim (see photo), it's also a trailhead. If you enjoy hiking, you can connect to the rest of the trail system and see as much of the park as your legs and lungs will allow you to.

The parking lot at Fairyland Point is very small. It's best to get there before 9:00—even if you entered the park legitimately.

Oh, and another way to see Bryce Canyon free? Get a job there, like I did 40 years ago.

Twisted

To the end of the road

This morning I headed off to the south end of Bryce Canyon, to Yovimpa Point. I got a head start on most of the traffic, particularly the tour buses. I walked the Bristlecone Loop, at 9,100 feet. On the way back I stopped at Natural Bridge and Paria View.

Moving camp

When I got back from my hike in Bryce Canyon, someone had moved into last night's campsite. No big deal. I expected it. It's a Saturday, after all. I just continued up the track until I found another place. This one is better. It's on the edge of a bluff, overlooking a canyon. Nice.

Hiking down was the easy part

Even though I whined a little about Bryce Canyon the last time I was in the area, I decided to go for it this time. And rather than be one of those who just take photos from the rim, I hiked down Navajo Loop Trail, through Queens Garden and up to Sunrise point. Naturally, I took photos along the way.

A choice made

A) The boondocking spot at the base of a dramatic red rock cliff but with no cell signal

B) An unexceptional boondocking spot among in pines and junipers, but with four bars of 4G

The fact I'm able to post this tells you which spot I picked. So does this photo.

I'm north of Utah Highway 12, a few miles west of the road into Bryce Canyon National Park.

I started from Richfield UT this morning, where I'd Wallydocked, took care of some banking, bought a 1,500 lumen flashlight and gassed up. Rather than taking I-15 to US89 to Highway 12, I took the less traveled route. East out of Richfield then south through Koosharem, Antimony and Black Canyon. A more relaxing drive. Except the part where I came around a blind curve and a couple of black-faced sheep were in the middle of the road, looking at me like I was the one in the wrong place. They might have been right.

Y-e-e-e-a-h, it was what I'd suspected

WARNING: ICKY PHOTO BELOW

My heater/defroster/AC fan developed a buzzy vibration, like it was rubbing against something. Leaves? A twig? A critter? Or maybe the fan was worn and wobbling on the motor shaft. Or maybe the fan was stuck and the motor shaft was just spinning inside it, because I wasn't getting much wind out of the vents. I kept the fan on the low setting, where the vibration wasn't so bad, and hoped it would somehow fix itself.

Fast forward a year or so and the fan hadn't graciously repaired itself. So, thanks to YouTube, I learned how to remove and replace the fan. Oh, I can do that. And in case the fan was worn or broken, I looked up salvage yards and found one nearby with an Express van that might have a good fan in it.

I got my 10mm and 7/32" sockets (come on, GM, pick a standard and stick with it) and small screw driver, removed the screws, yadda yadda yaddaa, and...

Yup. One spin-dried, desert-desiccated mouse, dead on the hamster wheel.

I tossed him, cleaned the fan and housing, and put it back together. Everything works as it should.

I'm glad (knock on wood) that I haven't been invaded by any wire-gnawing rodents. That could leave me stranded instead of merely without much ventilation.

What's the opposite of Indian summer?

Sometimes, when you no longer hear the rain on the roof, it's not because the rain has stopped. I woke up to about a quarter inch of snow/sleet/slush.

I'm not mentally prepared for this kind of weather. luckily, I can go somewhere else. I'm out of here.

Chill, dude

Or 16.5°  Celsius. Yay metric system!

Rain and wind have me cooped up in the Rolling Steel Tent today. Rain and wind have also leeched heat from the interior of the van. At least it's warmer and drier than outside.

My options are:

1. Crawl back under the covers
2. Wear warmer clothing
3. Fire up the propane heater
4. Go somewhere warmer and drier

If I were to get under the covers I'd fall asleep and then not be able to sleep tonight. Wearing outerwear indoors makes me feel weird. Looking at the weather reports, there's not really a warmer, drier location within a couple hundred miles. So I went with option three.

It took a while for the propane to make its way through the heater to the pilot light, and for it to stay lit. The first use of the season can be like that. But the van warmed up quickly.

Even when it's seriously cold, I don't run the heater constantly. I warm the van to about 70/21 degrees (which takes only a few minutes), turn it off, then turn it on again when I feel cold. It's off right now.

I don't know if it's necessary, but when I finish with the heater, I first turn off the valve on the propane tank and let all the propane burn out of the heater and hose. It might be an unnecessary safety measure but, if nothing else, it means there won't be pressure in the hose, making it easier to disconnect and reconnect. Of course, that means the next time I use the heater, I'll have to wait for the hose and heater to refill with propane before the heater will light. Oh well.

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Angel Lake is in a bowl about 8,500 feet up and twelve miles southwest of Wells, Nevada. It's breathtaking, even though the weather today is a bit gloomy.

I got here just under the wire. The campground closes for the season at the end of the week.

The peaks forming the bowl are taller than they look in these photos, so here's a screen capture from Google Earth to give a better idea.

The big surprise, though, is that I can get a 4G signal here. Excellent.

Local humor

Flowers then sky. Can't get much softer than that.

Down the hole

I took the tour through Lehman Cave, Great Basin National Park. It was good once the terrified toddler was escorted out. I didn't bump my head even once.