Day 3 - Sun Valley, ID, to Park City, UT

​Day 3 - Sun Valley, ID, to Park City, UT

We had hitched up the trailer the night before, anticipating an early departure. That made morning preparations fast but, when we turned the key in the truck, the battery was dead. 
The refrigerator had alarmed at 2 am, complaining that it had no gas. We determined that we had plenty of propane. After fiddling with the fridge controls for a bit, the machine was inexplicably satisfied. We returned to bed.  

In retrospect, we think the fridge switched from running on propane to electric when we swapped an empty propane tank for a full one earlier in the day. The fridge draws a lot of current. It drained the trailer battery AND the truck battery, since we had connected the wiring harness the night before. We didn't know the trailer would draw current from the truck when the engine was off! 

Luckily, Angie's mom gave her a Bolt portable jump start battery several years ago and it worked like a charm. So we were soon on our way. If she had not packed that device, we would have had to hitchhike or walk a few miles to get a cell signal so we could call for help. It pays to date a smart woman!

Another 300-mile day of driving seemed much more pleasant after having a day off. The weather was great and we got 30% better gas mileage by draining our holding tanks before starting the trip. We arrived at our Wasatch State Park campground around 3 pm.

What a difference in weather! It was 71 degrees when we arrived. We were able to open the windows, enjoy happy hour on the patio and lounge by a campfire. We have a view of snow-capped peaks in the southwest and a field of sagebrush and scrub stretching 100-yards to the northeast to the entry road and mountain bike trails on the other side.

I wish we had such well-equipped, sparsely-populated campgrounds in Washington. The sites are large and level. The roads and driveways are paved, even if a bit worn. The tent sites are large enough to park two cars. They each have two flat, sandy tent pads, running water and 20-amp electric circuits. Someone has even raked the trails and the dirt around the driveways!

The mountain bike trails behind us climb about 1,500 feet to a ridge crowned by sprawling homes that look out over the valley that slopes down over three miles to the Jordanelle Reservoir. We saw a couple riders descending the switchbacks after dark under headlights.

This was the first campsite of the trip with a working water hookup. That gave us a chance to figure out how to properly connect the water regulator and filter. It was  harder than it sounds. There are four components to arrange in proper sequence - the regulator, a short connecting hose, the filter cartridge and the hose itself. Then you have to assure each joint does not leak.

After happy hour and a delicous dinner of beef brisket we took a hike around an unoccupied loop in the campground. We saw piles of fallen branches someone had cleared and stacked, which gave Angie the idea to build a campfire. This was starting to feel more like the camping we had in mind! We carried armfuls of wood back to our campsite.

Hank eagerly began to erect a pyramid of tinder and kindling that was intended to start with one match without the use of paper. He had to scold Angie for haphazardly dumping wood on top of the carefully crafted structure, which he then had to reconstruct. There is an abundance of dry, dead wood - some of it hardwood - in this high desert climate. We quickly had a blazing fire in the oversize ring.  

Previous visitors had left behind a stuffed mallard dog toy that Streak and Charlie played fetch with for hours. They had a blast!  We saw a white tail deer within 40-yards of our pad climbing through the brush toward the road. While playing with the dogs, Angie found a deer skeleton.

​Today we're going to explore Park City.