August Road Day 4 Torry to Monticello
August Road Trip Day 4 Torrey to Monticello
Blog #30 of 47
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August 5th, 2020 - 07:18 AM
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Man today was long, but man the drive was freaking awesome, as I covered about 300 miles in distance and no that is not in a straight line...
Today started out at about 545am getting up and dressed and the truck packed up for the day. Finally left Torrey, Utah at about 6am and proceeded towards the Capitol Reef National Park.
The first stop this morning as at the Panorama Point, I arrived just as day break was hitting and the sun was slowly coming up around the mountains. I walked around this area for about 15 minutes or so and even did a Facebook Live video to show people where I was at.
Once I left there, I proceeded to the park entrance.
Sorry I'm tired and I'm going to sleep. I will finish this in the morning before getting on the road.
It's 3am and I can't sleep so here I am trying to complete this blog.
Okay back to the trip.
On the drive to the Capitol Reef entrance, I came across 3 Buck's (Deer) along side the road. I was really excited, as they didn't run off and I was able to stop my truck and get out to snap a few pictures of them. They didn't seem to care that I was there, as they continued to graze at the grass along side the road. They eventually crossed the road and just moved on. And then I moved on.
Eventually I came up to the park entrance and turned in.
As you come into the park you will see a hiking path on the right side of the road and on the left a few fenced off area's that have different types of tress, and I think an area where you can actually pick apples too. On both sides of the road you will see historical buildings that were built years ago and eventually the camp ground.
If you continue past the camp ground on the right hand side is an area where there are three horses, they were there grazing and I did stop to get a few pictures of them. Driving on from there you will begin the 8 mile scenic tour of the park. Honestly this is a must drive. Make sure you stop and review the information about the entrance fee's and pay them to help the park.
I think I arrived at the best time of the day, as the sun was coming up and the sun ray's were only beginning to bounce off the walls and valley's of the mountains within the Capitol Reef. The scenic drive rolls through many small hills and you can see some of the most beautiful valley's as well.
The end of the road comes when you come up to the beginning of the Capitol Gorge area. This area is an off road area and it is highly recommended that you drive this route when a. it's not going to rain out as the area is known for flash floods, and b. that you have a pick-up truck with a high clearance and or a 4x4 (all wheel) type vehicle. I did go down this dirt road for about three (3) miles and the views were just magnificent. The high walls on the mountain sides, the number of valley's and it is just honestly very hard to describe. I did stop a lot through the gorge and take pictures that I have yet to even look at and process. During the drive back to the main road I did pass a gentlemen that was on a road-touring bicycle going down the dirt road (I don't recommend that, if you do that, use a proper mountain bike) I couldn't help but shake my head in disbelief. But oh well.
Back on the main road of the scenic drive, I took my time driving back towards the park entrance and stopped so many times to take in the scenery and to take many pictures, the sun's rays were finally breaking over the mountains and beginning to reach the many rolling hills in the park. Outside of my constant stopping I did see a few Doe's (Female Deer), they took off when I tried to stop and get pictures but oh well.
As I drove back to the main entrance you pass the Camping ground and people were beginning to get ready for their day, and even some of the historical buildings had opened up and you could stop and look inside and such. But I decided to get moving.
Exiting the park I turned right on to route 24 and begin moving east towards the town of Hanksville. It was early enough in the day that I left both windows open, turned up the music and just proceeded down the road. Along the route as you leave Capitol Reef National Park, you will come across many little places, such as hiking paths and some historical buildings. There are also a lot of places to just pull over at so you can take in the scenery. As you drive along Route 24 you will also be driving along the Fremont River, it is a really pretty site to see the river as it flows and to just be able to listen to it.
The drive out gives the opportunity to see the many different types of landscape here in Utah, and not just that but the different colors too. As you drive along route 24 you pass through many small towns and past various homestead's many of them have been around for years and have an interesting collection of goods in their yards. Not saying anything bad here, just an interesting observation.
The drive from Torrey to Hanksville is about 83 miles in all and the road is pretty empty of people especially first thing in the morning. I pulled into Hanksville at around 930am or so and decided to get something to eat and just get off the road for a few. I stopped at Duke's Slickrock Grill and I wasn't disappointed.
The food at Duke's was very good, I had the Chicken Fried Steak breakfast, the food came out nice and hot and the service was top notch. As to be expected with this Covid thing, the place was pretty empty and they observed social distancing. After talking to my wife (love you baby) and my Marine Brothers (Brigt/ JC) I got back in the truck (aka "Sarge Mobile") and proceeded down the road.
The drive out of Hanksville towards the town of Hite is very pretty too, you have the mountains and hills on both sides of the road, with the right side (east bound route 95) being the best side to look at as you can see the many different types of hills and in the far distance, the mountains of the Capitol Reef National Park. You eventually pass (on the right side) and abandoned camper out in the middle of the desert, and then you begin to wind your way towards Lake Powell. At one point in the drive, you can turn off onto route 276 south and this will take you down to the town of Bullfrog and the southern part of Lake Powell. There is a ferry there ( you have to pay, don't ask me how much I don't know) that will take you across and allow you to continue to drive along route 276. I chose not to go this way and continued on to the hit area.
Route 95 is a very long and very lonely road to drive on, there is nothing to see but these mountains and valley's of rock and the remains of ancient river beds that only fill with water during the fall, winter and during the spring melt. You eventually come to the Lake Powell area and there are many scenic view points to check out and they are magnificent to see. What is heart breaking is that when you look out at what is supposed to be Lake Powell you come to realize that it is not what it once was. The level of the lake is so low and it is pretty obvious when you stop at the "Hite Overlook" that it is pretty disappointing. At one part of the lake you can see what is obviously the boat ramp and how far down it goes and the fact that none of it even touches water.. The "Colorado River" flows through this area too, and there is an off shoot called the "Dirty Devil River." You proceed down towards the town of Hite and you will end up crossing two bridges, the first one is the "Dirty Devil Bridge" this obviously crosses over the same named river and eventually you will cross one more bridge that puts you over the "Colorado River". I stopped at the "Dirty Devil Bridge" (actually, pulled off to the side of the road) and took some pictures of the bridge and the river below it. The bridge just intrigued me so I stopped, the one that crosses over the "Colorado River" I could have cared less about.
Once your over these two bridges you proceed East on State Route 95 and that is the last you will see of any significant civilization until you reach the small town of Blanding. Now this drive is only about 80 miles but seems like it's a lot longer, as you drive along a lot of winding roads, with nothing but mountains, hills and great big valley's on all sides. The colors of most of the mountains are red in color but when the sun bounces off of them they just seem to jump out.
The route that I had put together would take me out towards Blanding but it would also take me back to the Natural Bridges National Park. I eventually passed the turn off for the Natural Bridges National Park, and continued on, there seemed to be a lot more trees along side of the road, and they just seemed to go on forever. My next stop was the "Butler Wash Ruins", this is a nice spot to stop and the hike out the ruins is about 1/2 mile out and back. Make sure you take water especially if you go during this time of year as it is hot. The hike out was pleasant enough and the path wasn't hard to figure out as it is well designated, there are a few steep grades to navigate but nothing that most people couldn't handle. Upon reaching the ruins you will walk up to a fenced in area, and there is a little signage that explains about the ruins and the people that once lived there. The ruins themselves are built into the hill side and are very easy to pick out and are just neat to see. I eventually hiked back to the truck and got back on the road and proceeded towards Blanding.
From "Butler Wash Ruins" to the turn off to Route 191 is about 20 miles or so, and again the drive is through a lot of rolling hills with lots and lots of tree's on both sides of the road. Upon reaching route 191, I turned right and proceeded south and headed towards the town of Bluff, Utah.
Once on Route 191 I finally had a strong cell phone signal and was able to contact my wife to let her know I was alive (sorry babe, no insurance money for you). There isn't much to see out here, as it is mainly just open plains fields and the town of Bluff is very small and you end up driving pretty quickly through it. I did stop and get some gas here as I wasn't sure where I would get some if I needed it (I have four (4) fuel can's in the bed of the truck I know, but still). I then continued my way out of town and proceeded down Route 191 until that went to the left and I proceeded to go down what was now Route 162. If you keep going on this route you will end up in the town of Mexican Hat and then Monument Valley. However my GPS and the route I picked took me along a very different path, I ended up driving back towards the Natural Bridges National Monument via route 261. Along this drive as you start out on Route 261 you will pass more red hills and such but you need to pay close attention to the "Road Warnings" at the start of this road and I'm not kidding. So from this turn off back to Route 95 is about 32 miles, but here is the catch, you will eventually come to the end of the hardball road and end up on a dirt road. this road take you up a mountain road that is about 9 miles long, all up hill and with very very few turn outs, lots of switch backs and where your average speed will be about 15 miles an hour and maybe as slow as 5 miles an hour. If you want to see pictures of this, check out my Instagram Page (fssellin) and you will see what I am talking about, there is really not much room for two way traffic and if you are going down hill all you have on the right hand side is a lot of steep drops (for my wife, you would have beat the hell out of me for taking this way). I will concede a couple of things here, A. the drive up was beautiful, B. there was no way in hell I was going to drive down that hill.
At the top of this hill on Route 261, there was a construction worker stopping traffic and I waited for about 15 minutes for a guide care to take me down the road, as they were doing some construction. The remainder of this drive took me through a lot of rolling hills and eventually past the local Park Ranger station for the area. Then came Route 95, where I turned right and made my way to the Natural Bridges National Monument.
From Route 95 west you will proceed to Route 275 and this will take you into the park after about 11 miles. Once in the park the first place you will come upon is the Visitor Center. I suggest you stop here and read the notices that are posted on the door. My original plan of staying out there after sunset and into the night to get some pictures of the "Natural Bridges" want in the dump as the park was due to close and that all over night camping at the camp ground and within the park was forbidden. Oh well back to the drawing board.
There is a scenic drive (I know another one really "You're killing me Larry") through the park, and it offers up some great places to stop and get pictures of the various "Natural Bridges". The first one that I stopped at was the "Sipapu Bridge", there is an observation area here, and the view was great, but the sunlight was killing my picture taking. But little did I know there was another spot and an opportunity to get more pictures of the "Sipapu Bridge". There was a spot called the "Sipapu Trail" that allows you to hike down a little ways and to get a different perspective of the bridge. As you stop at these locations, it is a good idea to read over the information about the hike especially the path that you will take and how far it is. Now the hike down to the backside of the "Sipapu Bridge" drops you down about 200 feet in total, the path is very clearly marked and at one point there is two flights of metal stairs, a ladder made of of tree limbs (don't worry it's stable and held into the rock) and then some more steps and eventually you get down to the area where you can see the "Natural Bridge". Once I did make it down there, the first thing I noticed was a sign that gave you three choices, choice number 1. was the "Sipapu Parking Area" , Choice number 2 was the "Sipapu Observation Area" and Choice number 3, well that was the path that took you all the way down to the bottom. I chose number 2 (get your minds out of the gutter) and proceeded to the area that overlooked the "Sipapu Bridge" and took my pictures. It was really neat to see something like this and I recommend that you at least check it out if you can.
The hike back up wasn't too bad and I just took my time, sipping on water from my camel back as I went up.
From the "Sipapu Bridge" I proceeded down the road towards the "Kachina Bridge" overlook and the "Owachomo Bridge" overlook. I hiked down to the overlook areas for both of these bridges and just look and snapped a few pictures, the hikes down to the bottoms were a little more strenuous than I wanted to deal with. After the last stop I proceed to leave the park and realized how early in the day it was. Okay it was like 530pm but who is keeping track of time right?
At this point, I headed out of the park and decided to head towards "Blanding" and see how much further I would push myself.
After making it back out to Route 191, and turning left you slowly make your way into the town of Blanding, Utah. This isn't a huge town, but it did have many mom and pop owned hotels and even had an A&W Root Beer Stand, the stand was closed but the drive-up was open and the line of cars backed out on to the main street (reminds me of Starbucks, except people here were being nice). It reminded me of driving through some of the small mid-west towns down in southern Illinois when I was a kid.
Once leaving Blanding, the road heads north towards Moab, Utah (about 80 miles away) and goes through a lot of rolling hills again, with lots of pine trees and such, and I passed another lake too.
Eventually I reached my limit and I decided to find a place to stay, and came across this Bed and Breakfast place called the Grist Mill Inn, it is really a nice place owned and run by a local family. It is located in the town of Monticello, Utah and what used to be a grain silo. I checked into the my room and walked over to the Granary Bar & Grill and had a beer and some dinner. I did have a great conversation with a couple that is riding their motorcycle up to the Sturgis Ride-in. They had been riding from the Phoenix area and pretty much came up the same way I had, must have passed one another at some point.
Done with dinner and the beer, I proceeded back to my room and tried (see top) to write this blog out and work on a few pictures of the day, but just go too tired and then my "Surface Pro" kept locking up, so I backed everything up on my portable hard drive and re-set the computer. Just before this, I hit the wrong switch in the room and blew out the circuit breaker, yeah I'm that knuckle head.
Well that is enough for now. It is now 5am here locally and I've been up for about 2 1/2 hours writing this and getting my "Surface Pro" working again. Time to get myself together and get on the road for the day.
Thanks to all of you for reading this and the other blogs and looking at my pictures. Let me know what you thiink.
To my wife, have fun this weekend with K-Bug, you deserve the break...
Be safe out there until later tonight or tomorrow.
Semper Fi,
Frank
1/9 Everywhere.