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| Campsite at the base of Manti-La Sal National Forest |
We continue driving north on SR29 through Orangeville, Castle Dale and Huntington. We took scenic SR31 as it sliced across Manti-La Sal National Forest. Abundant livestock and wild inhabitants made their appearance- muskrat, elk, deer, cows and sheep were along this paved and scenic stretch At Fairview we took Hwy 89 north and headed to Jordanella Res State Park about 100 miles away.
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| Weekend traffic heading to Jordanelle State Park |
Our plan was to camp outside of Salt Lake City, find a hotel room close by the airport, the night before Trixie's 9am flight to Seattle. Don't panic everyone.... it's just temporary as her best friend's wedding was a huge "go-to" event for the Trix and I was without my editor for 2 weeks. Me on the other hand planned to hang outside of SLC for a couple of days camping while I waited for my grade school buddy to fly in from Texas. The two of us traveled the rest of the way on the TAT to the Oregon Coast. But first back to our story....
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| Distant Wodoos, Hoytsville UT |
Hitting Spanish Fork and Springville we passed through Provo on Hwy 189 crossing over Lindon National Forest past Deer Creek State Park and Heber City, Jordanella State Park was ahead. Hold-on!!The sign suggested that there are two Jordanella State Parks, we took the right turn off 3 miles away. We arrived at the entrance only to read a sign- "Park closed for the next two days for a local marathon." Shnikes!!!
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| Old rock shelter |
We chatted with a 14 year old looking chap manning the gate. We then realized there must be two Jordanella State Parks, turning around we followed the young man's suggestion. Seeing a sign for camping we took a right on the old hwy as we continued to look for camping. Upon reaching the end of the road we saw a lush beautiful fly fishing river, marked with anglers giving it a cast. Turning around we pulled in to the RV campsite, $45 bucks a night, no showers, park on an overflow parking lot...No Thank you!!! We headed out to the main Hwy to the real
Jordanella State Park. Turning in to the park entrance you feel as if you are going to an
up-scale Mall more than a State Park. "Sorry Full No Camping", read the
sign. This place was huge and completely full. Now we felt the
pinch of securing our site for the night.
Its Friday, 5pm and we back-tracked into
Heber City looking for another state park,
Wasatch Mountain State Park, driving west. Trixie made the phone call after finding the number on Google. Two sites left, first come first serve and we are 13mins away. Pulling up to the camp ground entrance there were 4 cars ahead of us,.... Yikes!!
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| Salt Lake City, UT |
Two rangers worked the line of campers and after 10mins we are relieved to find out we have a camp site and a choice at that. Returning to our chosen site after going to register and pay back at the entrance, we found other campers on our site. Trixie, bolts from the rig just as it stopped, as if she was saving the game point in a pickle-ball tourney. "Hello there..... seems to be a mix-up...... you will need to see the ranger" Whew, before we returned to register and pay we laid out our table cloth and a few items to mark our site...The campers, graciously, jumped in their camper and vacated the site. That evening with hook-ups we relaxed watched a movie on the computer before turning in for the night. Tomorrow SLC in search of a hotel close to the airport.
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| Old school restaurant Salt Lake |
Coffee in the morning before taking Hwy 40 over to I-80, we entered SLC. Even with a mountain back drop the smoke from the California and Oregon wild fires choked the metropolis looking more smog laden SoCal in the 1970-80's. Driving around doing errands we spied an "In-n-Out" burger. I made a severe right turn and screeched to a halt to park. Double-double, protein, animal style, no tomato, oh yeah!! Trixie had one too.
Checking hotel rates we got the best deal with Ramada, free breaky, free airport shuttle for Trixie in the am, a super plus for yours truly. Our last night before Trixie's trip in our room we feasted on BBQ pork and Super deluxe garden rolls from a Asian Market we stumbled upon previously. Celebrating we went to the hotel bar and had a few drinks before Trixie packed. Missing her friends Trixie is sure excited to visit and participate in her friend's wedding.
Three days camping out side of SLC before returning to pick-up my new temporary navigator from the airport.
See you on the Trail!!
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