May 5 – To Torrey, Utah

Today we did the 3 1/2 hours drive west to explore the area around one of the lesser known parks, Capital Reef National Park.

Click to see a large map

It was not the best day to be travelling in an RV. It was very windy but it was going to be the same for the next several days and we had reservations at the next campground.

The drive from Moab up to I-70 was easy because we had a tail wind.

We travelled across a part of I-70 that we had driven to get to Moab. There is not much in this section. The sign says “No services for 106 miles”.

When we turned south on Highway 24 we were still in wide open country following a ridge to the west of us.

The wind was now from the left front. With the open country it wasn’t gusty. It just slowed us down. We could only do about 50 mph without having to constantly downshift. It is a very empty highway. We didn’t slow anyone down because we only had about 5 cars catch and pass us.

One weird short section was covered in sand dunes which were encroaching on the highway.

Once we made the turn west at Hanksville, Utah, the drive got more shall we say “interesting”. Actually I had a death grip on the steering wheel.

We lost any semblance of a shoulder, the road became very twisty and the wind became VERY gusty as we moved from protected to open areas and back. I am seeing a lot of this for the first time in the pictures because I didn’t want to take my eyes off the road.

There were also some huge bugs here. They made a very loud bang when they hit the windshield. I have had to Photoshop most of the pictures to remove the splats.

We started out following this wash.

Then we climbed out to go along side this cliff that seemed to be made of gravel. I don’t know how it stays together.

I love these curvy highway pictures.

The rocks started to get a lot more colourful.

The rocks changed again as we drove through the eastern section of the National Park. The highway got even more twisty here.

On the western side we are back to the red rocks.

We are at a campground about 10 miles west of the park. It seems very nice.

The sites are just gravel but level. They have a big store, basketball court, horseshoe pitch and a pool. The pool is being filled now and if the weather gets warmer we might be able to use it.

The tent sites are in these tiny slots, with the fences acting as wind breaks.

As to the weather, whereas Moab was at about 4500 feet in elevation, we are now at 6800 feet. It is much cooler. I don’t think we will get any 30C days here. On checkin they even warned us to disconnect our water hookup because it could freeze tonight.  

There is a chance of rain for the next few days with the forecast looking much better after that. If it does rain we will take a few well deserved days off.

We are here for 11 days.