Being Flexible, Southern Utah

Time to be flexible!!!! There was a huge tropical storm in the pacific that dumped a ton of rain on the southwest. Lots of flooding. We had been watching it and the amount of rain. Why? Because we had planned to boondock at Goosenecks State Park in southern Utah right above the Colorado River. The area has slick rock. Kevin and I were concerned about the wet mud and getting stuck. We made the decision to stay on roads and in a campground. HA We decided to go south to the St George, Utah, area. We have been around there and camped numerous times back in 2020-2021. Just a few years ago someone I knew from work moved down to Apple Valley and built a campground from the ground up. It is called Range RV. They have made a most excellent campground and it is at the top tied with our most favorite ones.

The views here at the campground are mountains, some with flat tops, with cedar trees on them and red rocks in places. One place we can see part of Zion National Park. Sometimes there are white fluffy clouds around it, other times true-blue desert sky, and then later dark and storm clouds. The sunshine and shadows made moving, intense and fabulous views of the mountains and rocks around us. Just stunning.

Zion National Park. We are continued to be in awe of the beauty around here. Kevin said he wondered, after visiting so much of the USA (49 states), if Zion was still his favorite national park. Barely into our drive and he said, yes, still his favorite. It is in the top of my favorite, too.

The USA government has been shut down due to funding but the state of Utah has kept Zion NP open. Good thing because the place is packed! Not sure if the visitor center is open or not (we have been there numerous times and didn’t need to go this time). We even saw the shuttle buses moving people.

We stopped when there was an open spot to pull over along the way and took pictures. As we left, it was golden hour and I just have no words to describe the beauty. There were quite a few vehicles heading in to the park and we are sure they are going to catch the sunset. 

On Saturday we headed to Cedar City for Find A Grave (Footnote 1). Southern Utah National Cemetery is brand new. I found that none of the 14 headstones at this cemetery had been photographed. We quickly were able to get all photographed except for a few that are recently deceased. (Find A Grave waits 3 months so that the family can add to the memorial if they want. I think that is good and respectful.)

Next we headed to Frontier Homestead State Park Museum. I had seen the signs along the freeway for this place every time we have passed. But we usually pass on Sunday and it is closed. Earlier in the week as I looked for things to do in the area I saw Sagebrush Fiber Artisans had something here and is the month of October. That sounded interesting. As we pulled up, we didn’t see signs of a fiber show. Hum, well, let’s go in an ask. I knew the entrance fee was $4.00. The person told us the fiber displays were inside, over there. We got our tickets and went in. First we saw a lot of historic wagons and buggies. One large quilt was hanging from the ceiling and there was a large area fenced off with wool stuff and lots of different kinds of looms. No one was there but I saw a water bottle so we assumed maybe they have demonstrations sometimes. Kevin and I liked how the wagons and buggies weren’t all restored; we like to see  the wear and tear. One of the Wells Fargo wagons even showed a hole where a bullet had been removed right below where the driver sat! Yikes!! A huge sign showed the advertisement to travel with the Iron Mission Overland Stage Company.

And then, oh did we laugh, the “rules of the road.” There is a replica of one of the Wells Fargo & Co Overland Stage and US Mail that you can actual get in. It wobbles when you step up just as it did back then. Fun photo opportunity. Kevin went out and got our picnic basket of our lunch and we ate outside at a picnic table. We sat in the sun and it felt so good. The temps couldn’t have been better. After our picnic, we watched a great captioned video of people who used to work for Utah Parks Company. It was incorporated in 1923 “by Union Pacific and developed transportation, lodging and other amenities in Zion Park, Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.”

Snow Tank. It was used here in the 1940s and would tow a “companion sled, the tank hauled skiers, horses, and during the brutal blizzard of 1938-49 carried hay to the starving cattle in the Cedar Valley.” It was used also on Cedar Mountain. It has a gasoline engine and one large track. Kevin’s question, and mine, how did it steer? It isn’t two tracks where you stop one to turn. We looked and looked all around and underneath and saw no way to turn it. 

In a sheep shearing barn I read about how people would stand in the wool bag and stomp it down. Then, did I know this before…Kevin said he was the stomper! What? Yes, that was his job as his dad did the shearing of their sheep. Oh my gosh, I got such a thrill out of watching him use American Sign Language and tell me all about it and his memories. He sure didn’t like the job- hot, sweaty, and dirty. Ha.  As we headed out and I was buying a few postcards, Kevin asked the guy how the Snow Tank turned. He didn’t know. (I googled it about the snow thank and found this: https://homesteadtelegraph.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/the-snow-tank/ Ah, the sled was the way it turned. Very cool! This place turned out to be very enjoyable and we spent 3 hours there. So glad we stopped. 

Next we decided to head to Hurricane, Utah, to the Fall Fest. It didn’t start until 4:00 p.m. and this was 2:00 p.m. So we stopped at Kolob Canyon.  We stopped here back in 2020 and think most people just drive on past. It is part of Zion National Park. The visitor center is closed due to the government shutdown but the bathrooms were open and clean. We were also able to drive up the 5 mile road. The steep red and white rocks with surrounding forest of evergreens and cedar trees, bright blue desert sky…what a sight! There were a lot of people around but we could always find a spot to pull over and look…and take more pictures. HA On the way back down, Kevin pulled into one of the pullouts. Then, he got out our camp chairs! Just like we saw the couple do in Zion yesterday. I loved it! My cute new colored and very comfy camp chair was the perfect place to sit, stare, wonder, imagine. Kevin had his new blue chair, too. We got a lot of thumbs up from people. We sat there about 40 minutes. 

I wanted a white board on our fridge door. Here you can see my writing in red where I have made a list of things to grab for our Travel Day, when we move our 5th wheel to a new place. “Someone” added his ideas to my list! HAHA

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. Find A Grave – https://www.findagrave.com/about