Petrified Forest

About 40 years ago I visited the Petrified Forest National Park with my parents. I figure the park probably depends upon repeat customers like myself so I plan to return in another 40 years.

My older cousin, Chris, used to wrestle these things

Petrified tree trunk

Can you spot the old fossil in this photo

Sections of the park remind me of the Badlands in South Dakota

There is a path that allows you to hike around the these mounds

Golden Spike National Historical Park

Once again, I have the good fortune to meet up with my favorite Alpine, Utah couple, Terry & Gail. We drove over to the Golden Spike National Historical Park where my older cousin, Chris, helped drive the last spike for the First Transcontinental Railroad. We arrive just in time to see old No. 119 pull into the station...

Great day with great friends

Some supermodel photo-bombs my locomotive picture

Chinese Arch

On the way back, we stop at the Morton Thiokol (ATK) Rocket Garden...

Where I detect a suspicious noise coming from the flux capacitor in one of the rockets...

Tip of the Day: For an outstanding dining experience, visit the Maddox Restaurant in Brigham City, Utah. Delicious food and lots of it.

Dee Wright Observatory

This afternoon we drove up to the Dee Wright Observatory situated on a black lava flow at the boundary between the Willamette and Deschutes National Forests west of Sisters, Oregon. On the Cascade Range at 5,187 feet, this mountain observatory offers panoramic views of the Mount Washington and Three Sisters Wilderness areas...

Click on photos to enlarge

Boondocking With Friends

Arrived safe and sound at Keith and Jayne's site in the Deschutes National Forest northwest of Bend, Oregon. One of the advantages of boondocking is the ease of setting up your RV - put the slides out, lower the leveling jacks and open a cold beer - that's all there is to it.

Crater Lake

A massive volcanic eruption 7,700 years ago left a deep basin in the place where a mountain peak once stood. Centuries of rain and snow filled the basin, forming Crater Lake. It is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet and holds 4.9 trillion gallons of water.

I had intended to drive around the lake, but the East Rim Drive was still closed due to snow. It looks like mid-July and August would be the best months to tour the park (talk about a short season). It was overcast today, so the photos do not quite capture the brilliant deep blue color of the lake...

Juniper Lake

This area is a fisherman's paradise. There are numerous lakes, most with primitive campgrounds, that would make for a great weekend getaway. Juniper Lake is located in the southern portion of Lassen Volcanic National Park about 13 miles north of Chester, California. The drive starts out as a paved road lined with tall evergreens...

Click on photos to enlarge

It then turns into a rough dirt road that is like driving on rumble strips...

At the lake people were kayaking and enjoying the warm, sunny weather...

On the north end of the lake there are private cottages that were built before the area became a national park...

Mystery of the day: "What was this suitcase with boots on top doing out in the middle of nowhere with no one around"...

Lassen Volcanic National Park

The main reason I stopped in this part of California was to tour the Lassen Volcanic National Park where all four types of volcanoes (shield, composite, cinder cone, and plug dome) can be found here. Lassen Peak is one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the world. Its last eruptions were between 1914 and 1921, with the largest explosion on May 22, 1915. No one can say when or where the next eruption will occur, only that it will.

The other major feature of the park are the boiling mudpots created by the hydrothermic system deep underground. The sulfurous gas they give off allows you to smell them before you see them.

I have some videos that I shot in the park, but the Internet connection here is so slow I will have to post them once I get back into good 4G territory.

Update (6/18/2020): Was able to upload boiling mudpot video early this morining...

Update (6/19/2020): It took 3 hours, but I finally got the last video uploaded...

Lehman Caves

About an hour's drive east of Ely is the Great Basin National Park which features the Lehman Caves. I took the Grand Palace Tour that takes approximately 90 minutes and is 0.6 miles long. It is a constant 50 degrees F throughout the cave so you may want to take a jacket. It was too dark for me to get any good photos, so click here to see what it is like.

Afterwards, I drove up to Wheeler Peak where I would have liked to have hiked up to the Bristlecone Pine Grove to see some trees almost as old as my cousin, Chris, but ran out of time.

Beautiful drive up the mountain

Yes, that is snow

North Rim Grand Canyon

For a place that is literally out in the middle of nowhere, the north side of the canyon was quite busy today. Unfortunately, the road up to Cape Royal was closed (I'm guessing snow was the culprit as the road into the park did not open until May 15th). This was disappointing as I consider Angels Window one of the most impressive parts of the park. 

Today's photos...

Mammoth Caves & Cedar Breaks

My idea of putting together a trip itinerary is to head in the general direction I want to go and then hope to bump into something that is interesting. I call it the "pinball method". Sunny's planning, on the other hand, is so meticulous she makes German train schedules look sloppy and unorganized. Here are some of the highlights of where she took us today.

Mammoth Caves is actually a lava tube. If you have a flashlight and do not mind a little crawling, you can go from one opening to another underground...

Cedar Breaks is a National Monument similar to Bryce Canyon but without the huge crowds. Unfortunately, you cannot hike down among the "hoodoos" like Bryce. Well, you probably could hike down there but would need a helicopter to get out...

Alamogordo Attractions

White Sands National Monument - If you enjoyed playing in the sandbox when you were a kid, then this is the place for you as there are miles and miles of beautiful, gypsum sand dunes...

Click on photos to enlarge

You can even "toboggan" down some of the steeper slopes...

A few shrubs like skunkbush sumac grow dense, deep roots that form a pedestal after the dune moves on...

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New Mexico Museum of Space History - Contains exhibitions ranging from Robert Goddard's early rocket experiments near Roswell to a mock-up of the International Space Station...

If I can figure out how to keep the front wheels on the ground, I am thinking of putting this engine in my RZR...

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World's Largest Pistachio -  After six years of traveling as a full-time RVer, I finally got to see the world's largest pistachio...

Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde is huge. It protects nearly 5,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings...

Sunny & Stormy Return

One of the things I enjoy about the RV lifestyle is meeting friends in different parts of the country and sharing a common experience. Much to my good fortune, Sunny and Stormy returned from the airshow in Oshkosh to spend a week with me in Colorado.

Our first trip was to Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park...

Click on photos to enlarge

Where, I for one, felt very comfortable knowing that highly trained, professional rangers were looking out for my safety...

We ended the day with a delightful outdoor dinner consisting of baby back ribs and sides from Rib City...

Southeast Utah

In a long day's ride, Sunny, Stormy and I toured the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum...

Natural Bridges National Monument...

Goosenecks State Park...

And the Valley of the Gods...

Do you know the difference between a national monument and a national park? A monument can be designated by the president, a park has to be authorized by Congress. And you thought this blog was totally worthless and without any socially redeeming value.