Drove well-maintained freeways most of the way from Lubbock to Solado. We were surprised to find rolling green hills, reminiscent of Pennsylvania. And it was only 96 degrees! Stayed at an Army Corps of Engineers campsite on the shores of Lake Belton - a flood control lake on the Lampassas River.

The campground was only five minutes away from the home of my oldest brother Douglas' oldest son, Doug. Doug and his lovely wife, Jamie, were gracious hosts in their new home. We enjoyed margaritas and a bottle of the blanc de noirs from Phesant Ridge Winery where we stayed the previous night. We watched the Kentucky Derby on a big screen on their patio. What an exciting race! Then we drove to charming downtown Temple for a Sushi dinner. Jamie flew out early the next day for a business trip to New York to meet with prospective buyers of her company's business.

The gates to the park opened at 8 am and we were the second vehicle through. Very sparse traffic. Learned how the petrified stumps are formed.

• The process of petrification happens underground, when wood is buried by sediment and deprived of oxygen, thereby preserving it. Then, water containing minerals flows through the sediment, depositing minerals in the cells. As the cells the decay, the remaining minerals form a mold made of stone.

                - deeproot.com
The stumps were everywhere, with way cool colors in the rings.

But the coolest part of the park is the ruins and petroglyphs left behind by native peoples who lived there for 13,000 years. The ruins of Puerco Pueblo (named after the adjacent river) are a square, 100-unit complex of small apartments around a large central plaza. Underground sweat rooms dotted the plaza.

Among the petroglyphs, archaeologists discovered a slit cut through rocks that, when aligned with the sun at the summer solstice, illuminates a spiral mark on the underlying rock. The natives studied the heavens - which is appropriate in a spot that has been designated as one of the top "dark sky" locations in the US.

Back on the road, we wasted an hour and a half finding a place refuel and eat in Gallup, NM, then discovered a rare, green lawn dog park in Grants, NM. The dogs loved playing fetch on the soft, cool surface for about 40 minutes. Tonic for their souls!

We camped at Kirtland Air Force Base, which is open to retired vets, with full hook-ups. Happy to report that the air conditioner works as well as the furnace in the trailer! It cooled down quickly overnight, though, so we didn't need it long. 

​Woke up at 2:30 to the smell of dog poo. Charlie got diarrhea. Not too big of a mess in the trailer. Caught it early enough to let her out - an exercise we repeated about every hour until we left and even during the 250-mile drive. Her thick, coarse fur made clean-up a chore every time.

The roads were not crowded but the drive was sad through the desolate, Navajo reservation. There was a 24-mile section where the road surface was wavy, causing excessive bounce in our rig. I had to slow to 50 or 55 mph for a while. Some of the scenes were reminiscent of Hollywood road trips. What vast space, punctuated by tall mesas and deep canyons. Such an alien landscape for a Northwesterner.

Between the dog hygiene and the drive, it was no wonder that Angie and I were a bit on edge when we arrived at Mather Campground. It was the most snappy we had been with each other. Luckily there is a laundry to clean up dog blankets and nine days of human laundry. Our campsite is large and level, with some good shade. There is a shared water pump right next to it. 

Angie's luck continues on a hot streak. After winning a permit for Angels Landing yesterday, she was able to secure a rare, first-come, first-served campsite here. There are only two of the 300 sites that are available on this basis, the others having been booked many months ago.
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Plan B was dispersed camping in the desert outside the park. We may still have to move there tomorrow. We find out at 9 am, whether we get to keep the site for another night.

We won a lottery permit to hike Angel's Landing! It's a 5.5-mile round trip hike with about 1,500 foot elevation gain to the top. The last 500 feet and 3/4 mile is very steep - There are heavy, chain-link hand rails. Foot holds are worn into the sandstone. Some of the pitches are so steep that I used the chain as a climbing rope while pushing with my feet on the side of the slope for resistance. There was one part where you hold the chain chest high while traversing a steep slope. There are parts so steep that you don't want to pass someone without the security of a hand hold on the chain. At those spots, traffic uphill and downhill has to yield in turn.

The Park Service paved the first third or so of the trail, where it is two lanes wide. On the steeper slopes they poured the concrete over a matrix of steel rectangles. Imagine filling an ice tray at an angle. I can't help but wonder about the timing of it all. How long of a section can you pour at a time? How long do you wait for the bottom concrete section to setup so it can hold the weight from above?

They widened and leveled some turnarounds by building stacked stone retaining walls and filling in the space. The views of the narrow canyon got better and better as you climbed. At the top, you feIt like you were on the top of the world. It was the best hiking trail ever - by light years!

The trail switches back and forth across a sheer face that has numerous climbing routes. We saw several groups working their way up the sheer face. Angie was eye-level with one group today. They say it is a two-day climb, so climbers tie themselves off in hammocks for the night at some point. 
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By 1:00 pm,  we were back in camp. We decided to ride our bikes 1.5 miles into town for a cold beer in an air conditioned sports bar-. Grabbed some lunch while we were there. Then we rode home and climbed in the truck to drive 30 minutes to the dog boarder's home. We had a joyful reunion with the dogs, who wanted to snuggle a lot and hang out in the campsite with us. We finished with a 1.5 mile walk on a level river walk with the dogs. Tomorrow it's off to the Grand Canyon!

​Today is the end of our first week on the road. The fun is just beginning!

Got the valley shuttle at the Visitor Center around 8. Hiked 7.4 miles by noon. Hiked Lower, Middle and Upper Emerald Pools from Zion Lodge. Returned via Kayenta trail to the Grotto. Rode the shuttle further up the canyon to the last stop. Hiked along the Virgin River to the Narrows. Couldn't go any further without waders and walking sticks, which you can rent in Springdale - right outside the South Gate, where all the hotels are.

Saw two Condors - one near the Narrows gliding just above the tree tops and one at The Big Bend soaring a couple thousand feet in the air. Angie learned that at one time there were only 50 of them left in the world. Now there are more than 200. There have been two births in Zion in the last few years. Mostly lead poisoning was killing them, when the scavenge carcuses of animals wounded by hunters.
There are tame black-tail deer around the campgrounds and trails. It's clear why they don't allow dogs on all but one trail. The trails are narrow in spots. Some of the trails are paved. The trails can get quite busy by mid-day, even this early in the season.

We entered the lottery for a permit to Hike Angel's Landing, but didn't win a spot today. We are trying again tomorrow. Plan B is to hike the Narrows and the River - in waders.

It's dangerous to look up when you are hiking, because you want to photograph everything you look at. We need a GoPro, so we can re-live this day, which is easily top 5 ever for both Hank and Angie. But we're just guessing. We will have to enumerate them to be sure, which sounds like a really good exercise to do.

What would really be cool is to have two cameras mounted on a headset so you could create a 3D movie to record and relive the breathtaking scenery. That headgear would cause quite a stir on the trail. You'd look like an alien, or perhaps a human with antlers.

Hank felt like he had enough sun for the day, so we skipped a couple of the shuttle stops on the way down the canyon to enjoy some cool drinks by the Virgin River which runs steady and clear, within 100 yards of our trailer. Angie has a different relationship with the sun. She chose to nap on the sandy riverbank in full sun.

Gonna break out the table top, propane Weber to cook up turkey sausage and grilled brussels sprouts for dinner. Not bad camping food. Have to wait for more shade in our camp site, or erect a dining fly over the picnic table. Forecast was 86 degrees today. Feels like we got all of that and more. The sun is strong here at about 5,000 feet. We find out in an hour whether we won a chance to hike Angels Landing trail tomorrow.
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I'm just looking at a great Gray Heron standing on a rock in the Virgin River in front of us. I didn't know they had those here. 

It was really windy our last night in the Wasatch State Park near Park City. Gusts to maybe 50 mph! We woke up in freezing rain. Packed up and hit the road by 9 a.m.

Scenic drive along a large lake and a narrow canyon to I-15 South. Steady traffic on the highway. It was the thickest traffic we have seen on the trip - perhaps because it's Friday? People didn't exit at Zion, so maybe they were headed to Vegas.

Stopped in Kolob Canyon for a two-mile hike to a lookout. This was the spot where the Colorado plate was thrust up and began to erode, creating the amazing cliffs and canyons that Zion has today.
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Dropped the dogs off in Toquerville, 30 miles from the south entrance to Zion National Park, where we are boarding them for two nights, so we are free to hike anywhere in the Park. Dogs are only allowed on one, 3-mile river walk.

We decided, after a sunset and a sunrise, that we had seen enough of the Grand Canyon. We hiked about three miles along the Rim Trail after sunrise. That's the only trail that dogs are allowed on.

Besides the giant, multi-colored and sculpted canyon, the remarkable thing about this park to me is that there are more elk than birds or squirrels. They were everywhere!

This morning we also saw a half dozen horses roaming free on the perimeter of the campground. There were two foals who were obviously born a few weeks ago, at most. Angie got a great video.

The primitive campsites were large, level and mostly shaded. There was a well equipped general store and a lame deli with poor food and slow service. 

Someday, I would like to visit Havasu Falls. Also, there are quite a few hiking and backpacking trails that would be good to explore. We saw one hike-in cabin situated on top of narrow, almost razor-sharp edged finger about a 1,000 feet below the rim.

During the drive, we again stopped frequently for Charlie. We had only a three-hour drive to a dry camping site just outside the gates of the Petrified Forest National Park. A really barren spot, but it was free.

I learned that the dogs really don't like the desert. Streak keeps getting burrs in his paw. And they both seem confused about the vegetation and they seem skittish about the wind, smells and sounds.

​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.