Santa Catalina Mountains

November 24, 2015 - Catalina State Park, Oro Valley, AZ

What a nice place for hiking.  Connie and I have been on 2 long hikes in the past two days and have been enjoying the  beautiful Santa Catalinas north of Tucson.

The night before we headed "across town" to travel from Ray Gilbert Campground (on the West Side of Tucson) north to Catalina we had our friends the Gambel quail in our campsite and, yet another, gorgeous Arizona sunset:

We've had a number of hikes (and a great guided one of the "Nature Trail" with Monty!  Lots of info on the Saguaro cactus and other desert flora.

These wonderful plants (almost like "people" especially at dusk!), are shaped by water abundance, cold/freezes and by lightning.

This area has been occupied by Native Americans for thousands of years, and if you look carefully you can find grain grinding holes (mano?) where these peoples turned mesquite seed into flour.

Our campsite under the Santa Catalina's.

Lunch break on a 10 mile desert hike.  She's a slave driver!

Made it to sunny Tucson, Arizona

November 19, 2015 - Ray Gilbert Campground, Tucson Mountain County Park, Tucson, AZ

Love this place!  It is forecast to be 80 degrees tomorrow, finally outran the snow and freeze warnings!  We're ensconced in a really nice desert campground about 10 miles west of downtown Tucson.  This park is adjacent to the Arizona Desert Museum and Saguaro National Park.  Tons of hiking trails, places to bike etc.  We even did a 10 mile hike up 4, 687 ft Wasson Peak yesterday (ouch!).

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

November19, 2015 - Tucson, Arizona -

After Zion NP in Utah we traveled south and west into Nevada (wow what a desolate landscape, after the relatively rich scenery around Zion NP!).  We were headed for Valley of Fire State Park, south of Overton, NV and were totally surprised by the immediate change of scenery we were greeted with upon entering the park boundaries.  Amazing sculpted sandstone rock and hill structures.  Another amazing site!  Went immediately to the Atalatl campground (which has electrical and water hook-ups for RVs) as this is a First Come, First Served campground.  While leveling "Chang", we were directed by fellow campers to see a full curl Desert Bighorn Sheep coming down a narrow canyon and into the campsite directly across from us!

Our campsite was just delightful, and there were 2 other R-Pods in the campground!

There were many cool hiking trails and rock structures including:

Elephant Rock!

Seven Sisters.

Petrified logs.

Tons of Petroglyphs.

Cool landscapes.

And great caves.

Zion - Wow, Again!

Zion National Park - November 14, 2015

Zion National Park - Like Wow!

Wow!

Transiting Navajo Territories from Bluff, UT to Zion National Park

Zion National Park - Watchman Campground - Site B 41 - Nov. 12, 2015

Yesterday was the second day in a row we were just floored with the scenery and the adventure of traveling on the road.  The prior day we had come down from Colorado to Bluff, UT, and passed through some "drop-dead" canyonlands along the Colorado River leading into Moab, UT.  (50 National Parks within driving distance of this spot.) The territory leading up into the La Sal Mountains is just stunning.

Bluff, UT is an interesting little town with a LONG history.

And features the Navajo Twins, looming right over "downtown".

Our Campground was situated right underneath some amazing native american (3000 year old) Petroglyphs.

Next we drove across Navajo Indian territory toward Page, AZ and Lake Powell.  Transiting the Monument Valley.

Square Butte.

And alongside Navajo Mountain.

Before entering the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument and on into Page, AZ then along to the entrance to Zion National Park where we had to have a tunnel shut down for our "wide load" R-Pod (anything wider than 74" requires one way traffic in one of their narrow tunnels (an extra $15 too! ;(

We're moving to Moab, UT!

Watchman Campground, Springdale, UT - Zion National Park, 11/11/15

Before we got here, we came a LONG WAY.  First, thanks Mark and Terri, had a great time in Lafayette, CO.  Left on Monday, having a tour of Celestial Seasonings manufacturing facility in Boulder, CO (Sleepytime Way), where we managed to fit in lunch with our daughter Sophie!

After a quick bite in their cafe, we bolted for the Western slope of Colorado, staying in  Colorado River State Park (Robb, Island Acres Campground) between I-70 and a train track (don't expect silence!). But we were rewarded with our best drive of the trip the next day, traveling through Moab, UT on the way to Bluff, UT.

Starting to see "unbelievable" scenery.  Truly neck breaking, as you scan to try to take it all in. 
Then, after a nice lunch in a Thai restaurant at Moab, we motored through a  snowstorm, and more Mule deer than I've ever seen (we probably saw 40+) migrating through Monticello, UT.  We saw Wilson Arch:

And Church Butte:

And arrived safely at a BLM campground, Sand Island, in Bluff, UT where we had a quiet, but blustery night.