Camping in Utah: Novice Point of View
Jun 10th, 2002, 04:18 PM
#1
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Camping in Utah: Novice Point of View
We are camping novices from So. Cal. who got the idea to rent an RV and visit Utah. Our grown son decided to join us and help drive and we have three dogs who came along too, Kody, a malamute mix, Darva, a jack russell terrior named after the famous Darva Conger and Grandpa Eddie, a little terrior mix.
We rented a 26 foot mobile home camper and set off on a Friday night about 8 pm for as far as we could get into Nevada. We got exhausted at Mesquite Nevada and pulled in at about 3am to a 90 degree hot, godforsaken RV park. I opened the door for Eddie to go outside and he took one look at the treeless, gravel covered lot and looked at me as if to say “you’ve got to be kidding”. We had a restless night and left early for Zion National Park.
We had reservations at Watchman Campground and when we drove up the attendant handed us a pass with our assigned camping slot, we found it easily and were grateful that it was a shaded lot. It is a nice campground with tall trees and all you could ask for in a campground, the sites were fairly close together. We stayed a few days and took the shuttle bus to get into the car-restricted area. We had wire cages to keep the dogs in the camper, which was nice and cool from our air conditioning. Dogs are not allowed on any trails, but can go in the campgrounds and other areas, but not by the public buildings. We hiked to Upper Emerald Springs and the Riverside Walk in the Narrows.The Zion Canyon Visitor is very informative too and very well laid out At night we went to Ranger Programs and really learned a lot about fires, geology of the area, etc as we sat under the stars. Stars were beautiful, hard to believe they are there all the time and not just when you are in the mountains or desert.
The other campers really go to bed early, so after the Ranger Programs, when we walked back to the camper with our flashlights we practically tiptoed. I walked the dogs and it was so dark outside of the campground I couldn’t even see them at the end of the leashes. We never got to bed before 11 or 12 pm and read books in the camper.
I am writing this because I would have liked to have read about camping before I left from an inexperienced camper. Tomorrow I will write about Bryce and Capitol Reef and some ideas on what I learned the “hard” way, if you want. Is this too detailed?
We rented a 26 foot mobile home camper and set off on a Friday night about 8 pm for as far as we could get into Nevada. We got exhausted at Mesquite Nevada and pulled in at about 3am to a 90 degree hot, godforsaken RV park. I opened the door for Eddie to go outside and he took one look at the treeless, gravel covered lot and looked at me as if to say “you’ve got to be kidding”. We had a restless night and left early for Zion National Park.
We had reservations at Watchman Campground and when we drove up the attendant handed us a pass with our assigned camping slot, we found it easily and were grateful that it was a shaded lot. It is a nice campground with tall trees and all you could ask for in a campground, the sites were fairly close together. We stayed a few days and took the shuttle bus to get into the car-restricted area. We had wire cages to keep the dogs in the camper, which was nice and cool from our air conditioning. Dogs are not allowed on any trails, but can go in the campgrounds and other areas, but not by the public buildings. We hiked to Upper Emerald Springs and the Riverside Walk in the Narrows.The Zion Canyon Visitor is very informative too and very well laid out At night we went to Ranger Programs and really learned a lot about fires, geology of the area, etc as we sat under the stars. Stars were beautiful, hard to believe they are there all the time and not just when you are in the mountains or desert.
The other campers really go to bed early, so after the Ranger Programs, when we walked back to the camper with our flashlights we practically tiptoed. I walked the dogs and it was so dark outside of the campground I couldn’t even see them at the end of the leashes. We never got to bed before 11 or 12 pm and read books in the camper.
I am writing this because I would have liked to have read about camping before I left from an inexperienced camper. Tomorrow I will write about Bryce and Capitol Reef and some ideas on what I learned the “hard” way, if you want. Is this too detailed?
Jun 10th, 2002, 09:54 PM
#5
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Posts: n/a
Faye,
If you posted your request about information on camping in Utah, I must have missed it because I would have loved to answer any questions you might have had.
Now, I'm looking forward to your second installment. I also love to hear about other's adventures in camping.
Utahtea...camper since 1976
If you posted your request about information on camping in Utah, I must have missed it because I would have loved to answer any questions you might have had.
Now, I'm looking forward to your second installment. I also love to hear about other's adventures in camping.
Utahtea...camper since 1976
Jun 11th, 2002, 05:41 PM
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
Great info---
I wish I had more "first hand" information when we took off in our small RV...
We learned by trial and error ===mostly error!!!
Now are experienced travelers except health problems limit us..
Moral to this story===travel all you can by what ever means you can, just travel..
I wish I had more "first hand" information when we took off in our small RV...
We learned by trial and error ===mostly error!!!
Now are experienced travelers except health problems limit us..
Moral to this story===travel all you can by what ever means you can, just travel..
