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| Riverside Campground Rockport Res. State Park |
Life is kinda quiet without Trixie in the navigator seat, thinking, as I drove east from the Ramada. A quick stop at the "In N Out" before heading to the hills. Couple of nights camping solo while I waited for my grade school friend to fly in from TX. After breaky from "In N Out" I fueled up, no ice needed as I snagged a full cooler from the Ramada before I checked out! I set the GPS to Emigration Canyon RD. Driving through Salt Lake City seemed pretty easy enough when you have a GPS to follow, and the city is laid out in wards,too. I enjoyed the small neighborhoods as I cruised through them making my way towards Utah's Hogle Zoo.
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| On the road outside of Henefer |
Passing the Zoo the canyon road started to unwind through a maze of cliffs. Emigration Canyon RD is very beautiful as I pass a hearty landscape dotted with mountain style homes. But while I looked at the scenery I made sure to watch out for the cyclists. This 21 mile road is steep, with long grades, hairpin turns and had no lack of the many cyclist going up and down the canyon road. The road T'd at Little Dell Res. I turned left on to SR65 heading for Rockport State Park the long way around as I was not in a hurry, feeling sad Trixie went away!
This turned out to be a very scenic drive with the additional wildlife elk, deer, wild turkeys and grouse as a bonus. Driving through the very scenic East Canyon Res., a very large body of water carved into the landscape with two state parks that are well equipped to take on large numbers of campers and day use boaters. Cruising through the little towns I followed the gravel roads that connected them like Henefer, Echo, Coalville and Wanship, to Rockport State Park, Riverside campground.
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| Riverside Campground, Spillway in background |
Rockport State Park is a irrigation reservoir that's dammed and is quite big with a mix use for outdoor recreation. I chose to camp on the spill side (Riverside campground). Here my primitive campsite was right on the river in a lush green setting. I was here for about 3 nights taking time to inspect the rig and fix any items that needed my attention. After all my Land Cruiser has been preforming outstandingly and I wanted to keep it that way.
Making my camp along the river's edge I leveled my rig in between two large trees almost giving my site total shade. The sun was still hot and my solar panels loved to soak in it- I had the right mix. Exploring the area on foot to scout out a fishing spot, all but seemed in vain, the water was just flowing too fast.
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| RTT with a waterfront view |
On the other hand it was a perfect spot for chillin' river side with a brew no matter how fast the river flowed. Working on the rig I found a few issues that needed my immediate attention. So far I had the tools I needed to make repairs and adjustments even when on the trail, here was no different. After breaky on the second night I had a visitor! My new best friend was a grey cattle dog who wanted some company. Promptly she sat her butt down and hung out with me for the entire day and most of the night. She behaved herself (unlike Trixie) and was back the next day. Chillin river side was hard not to do when you had a 65lbs cattle dog kicking back right at your feet. She made me feel right at home.
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| Camp buddy |
Preparing for my new navigator I started to make my way back to SLC but first I had one more night to kill and I needed a shower!! Stopping at an RV park I paid $5 bucks to use the brand new showers, pool and laundry facilities Hell, Trixie would have loved this place! ..full heated pool complex with 4 different pools. Showered up I did laundry, made lunch while I waited for my load to tumble dry! Heading back the way I came into the area I passed Echo Res and made my way back to East Canyon Res., south beach campground. I was the only person in this very large primitive campground perched on the hill with a view of the lake between the canyon walls. Except for the hawks and birds of prey riding the thermals on the canyon cliffs looking for dinner or eyeing a tasty bite to eat. Weather moved in and I witnessed two powerful storms as they collided above the lake dumping wind & rain with boisterous claps of thunder and blinding lightening. Needless to say I stayed in my rig until things calmed down. I would have left but just at the moment I dropped the self pay envelope into the iron ranger I felt the first drops of rain!
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| Chillin by the river |
No worries I still had time on my hands. I toughed it out and the weather cleared for the night exposing the stars as they made their presents through the dark clear sky. With clear skies, a bit of wind and little elevation plus the absence of Trixie, it made for a chilly night, brrrrr!. In the morning I broke camp and headed into town, SLC, then to the airport. Hungry for breaky I stopped at "Coachmans Dinner and Pancake House" one of Utah's old school restaurants. I just had to! The food was good and hearty, priced-well, delicious! Full of coffee I made my way to the SLC airport to pick up my new navigator.
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| Tool Time |
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| New friend!! |
Picking up my new navigator, Chris, we wasted no time and headed out...... to "In N Out". C'mon Hey, you get hungry when you fly also we needed to get provisions plus a quick stop at that awesome Asian BBQ Market for Super deluxe Garden rolls and BBQ Pork. We decided that the TAT could wait. Its Chris's first time here and I wanted to show him Utah. So we took a 4 day side trip and headed South!!
Utah again, Hell Yeah!!
See you on the Trail!!
.../'\../\...🚙..../\..
