Sunday, June 1
The crew and I are camped on Badger Mountain east of Ephraim in central Utah.
Bridget and Spike have been sleeping a lot since we set up camp here last Thursday.
Especially Bridget. She’s always the last one out of bed at any elevation. Since coming here, she waits until the very last moment — until breakfast is served — to crawl out from under the covers. Than she naps most of the day.
At least Spike walks around to find a good soak or climbs up the slope behind our camp. The remains of a large, furred animal that didn’t make it through the winter are up there. After I caught him once with his mouth full of fur and hide, he hasn’t made it more than half-way there before I scoop him up.
I figure it’s the altitude that has them sleeping a lot.
“Okay, enough napping, you two. We’re going to get up, have breakfast, and go for a walk. It’ll do us all good. Look at this gorgeous day!”
I drive us a short distance down the mountain. I park the Perfect Tow Vehicle at the start of a road leading through the aspen and fir forest.
The temperature of the air is perfect. I’m wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Patches of snow are all around. Numerous tiny streams make their way down slopes.
This is perfect for our walk. I saw campers down this road last year. I wonder if there’s a good campsite.
Arriving this early in the year to camp on the mountain has an advantage.
The bushes and some trees don’t yet have their leaves, giving a clear understory in the aspen groves. We come to the campsite and it is very lovely (That’s it in the first photo.) The site is grassy and it’s nearly impossible to walk off the road without stepping on tiny flowers everywhere. (Spike, below, demonstrates walking on the road, not on the flowers.)
As pretty and secluded as it is, I soon realize we won’t camp here.
Even if we traversed the ruts in the road without any problems, a heavy rain could trap us in this clearing.
Another reason not to camp here is the evidence of OHVs tearing through, even though this isn’t designated for that kind of vehicle.
Thirdly, the clearing is large enough to attract Clingers. Campsites are few on Badger Mountain.
Lastly, the internet connection likely would be intermittent and weak, due to high slopes all around.
We can come here, walk the road, and enjoy the natural beauty all around.
It’s not always necessary to camp in a place to enjoy it.
The road, muddy in places, winds through the open woods.
Up, down, around, and over make for an interesting and enjoyable walk. Bridget and Spike are having a grand time!
I hear the roar of a creek. I follow the sound and find that it cuts through a deep gorge in a series of waterfalls far below us. The crew is following right behind me.
“No, no, we don’t want to go this way. Spike, that’s too far down for you to go.”
We walk the road until it narrows and enters a dark section of forest.
“This is far enough. Let’s go back to the first clearing.”
I find a log that makes the right height chair for me.
I don’t want the crew to overdo it. They can’t tell me if the thin air is bothering them. They nose the ground around me, eat some grass (for roughage) and settle down to rest.
I want to be still and listen to the forest.
The birds are active and singing, of course, it being only about eight in the morning. A squirrel skitters up and down a tree, chit-chattering an alarm. The variety of small plants coming up through the grass indicates this clearing (There are three altogether.) will soon be dressed in delicate bouquets. I recognize the leaves of violets, one of my favorite flowers. The air smells of new grass, damp earth, springtime in the woods.
“You guys ready to head back?”
Together we cross the clearing and retrace the way we came.
Spike sees an opportunity for a soak in the mud and takes advantage of it. Bridget and I wait until he’s done. I’m so glad he’s having a good day. Both of them are having fun.
Two days of lolling around camp had Spikey-boy a little constipated. All the walking did him good, if you know what I mean. He’s perked up quite a bit!
Look at that guy go up the hill!
Gee, that toast and coffee breakfast isn’t going to hold me until lunch. Hmm . . . Let’s see . . . There’s that leftover chicken breast in the fridge . . . .
Bridget hops into the PTV. I lift Spike’s muddy body onto the old quilt on the bench seat. We’re not going inside the BLT until this guy dries out!
It’s a short drive up the mountain to our camp.
I don’t stop at the BLT though. I wonder if that camper is still in the upper campsite. I soon find out that the site is still occupied. Two campers, three pick-ups, a flatbed trailer and numerous quads sit in the site.
I’m content where we are now.
As soon as we arrive at camp, Bridget, Spike and I sit in a “snack circle” on the blue mat.
A snack circle is me in my camp chair with the precious chicken breast in my hand and the two nutcakes facing me, eagerly awaiting their pieces of chicken. I get a bite, they each get a piece, repeat, until it’s all gone.
The sun feels good. Bridget rolls onto her back and squiggles, kicking her legs in the air. “Bridget, you silly girl!” Spike lies down to bake. Good. You need to dry all that mud off of you.
I put a pot of water on the stove to boil.
I pull out the little table from the PTV and set a basin of dirty dishes on it. Soon I’m washing and drying, watching the light on the new leaves of the aspens on the facing slope. I take two dirty pots over to a stream and rinse them out clean. I don’t know if it’s because the water is hard or extremely cold, but pots clean very easily in the tiny stream.
I tidy up the BLT and work on the January money report.
I cook up some Mexican rice. In a fry pan I brown two chicken sausages, sliced in medallions. I add a can of Rotel’s “diced tomatoes with green chilies,” some garlic seasoning, and a can of red kidney beans. It makes a satisfying supper with plenty left over for tomorrow.
Throughout the day vehicles motor past our campsite, carrying people on a Sunday drive up and down the mountain. They stare at us as they pass.
I’m glad I’m me and they’re them. I love my little trailer home, my nutcakes, my life. This has been a great day!
rvsue
THANKS FOR SHOPPING AMAZON FROM MY BLOG!
My food usually looks like heck, but it does taste good!
I cheated just to be first 🙁 now, back to read and enjoy!
Hi, Susan. . . Congratulations . . . You Are The First Person to Comment!
Best pic ever of soaking Spike…so cute.
Yeah, he’s a cutie. The mud isn’t so much.
Ok, I read the whole post–I’m really first:) Love aspen patches of forest.
Well, let’s call it a tie between you and Val. Whether that’s first or second place I’ll let you decide. I’m not getting involved. 😉
I’m glad I’m me and they’re them.
We’re pretty sure that people shake their heads at us sometimes, cause we think a little differently than most. But like you, we are glad to be a little different!
It’s more fun!
I’m #9. It is my favorite number anyway.
Sue, sometime ago you included a picture of “Babybreath” wildflowers. I learned today that is definitely Fremont’s Peppergrass.
And now back to carefully reading your post.
Hmm… Where were those flowers?
http://rvsueandcrew.net/wind-cold-rain-hail-and-happy-tears/
Wow! You’re good, R. It would take my hours to find it! Thank you.
I just typed “babybreath and rvsue” and google did it for me.
I went back and put the name under each flower. Thank you, R.
Gee, looking at those photos of San Rafael Reef… What a great camp that was. ..
This is a great time to be in a higher elevation. So lucky to be where you want to be. You have a chance to see something new every day. New leaves, new wildflowers, new mud, snow melting. Fresh air of the forest can be intoxicating. Today when I sat for about one hour and watched wildhorses, breeze was blowing and brought strong scent of sage all around. I love green and forest but I also need a desert.
We have wheels. We can have it all!
You keep teasing me with wild horses. I’m gonna’ hafta’ find me some. 🙂
What a pleasant day you all had! So peaceful and beautiful! The snack circle was cute.
Ummm….you spend a ginormous amount of money and effort to provide the crew with a raw diet and Spike sinks his teeth into something that is decaying? Oh dear! Glad he didn’t roll in it! Refrain from getting kisses from him today…opps maybe I’m too late!
Have a relaxing evening desert woman!
Hi, Cinandjules,
I feed him raw meat and now he’s Big Wild Dog Eats Dead Meat. Gosh, he’s a lot of work sometimes. If I’m not cleaning up mud, I’m chasing after him, pulling old hide out of his jaws…. It’s always something!
Cuddle little AO for me.
That’s another great spot you have! If it were just me, I could see myself there in a heartbeat with a camper on the back of the truck. However, since it will be me and my wife, we’ll be in something bigger. I guess we’ll have to find something a little further down the road and take the Jeep up to that area to explore. Either way, sounds like a good plan to me!
Hi, Walt,
It is quite a climb up here. People do bring bigger trailers than the BLT, but not by much, and they haul them with trucks. Most commonly I see little trailers or truck campers.
Oh I’ve never thought of kidney beans with sausage & tomato sauce. Your dinner looks to appetizing. I’m going to try that recipe.
Hi, Rita… It’s the diced tomatoes (not sauce) with green chilies that makes it good. I put the left over rice and everything together in one container to store. Before I heat it up the next day, I add a can of kernal corn and it makes a slightly different dish.
Sue, your roadside campsite reminds me of my roadside campsite in Lone Pine back in April. I never did find your lucky spot in Lone Pine, but, I did fall in love with a great little turn-off, off of Movie Road where I was able to get a 4G signal. I sat there for two weeks save to go into town once for the culture, and another time to refill water and empty trash at Portagee Joe’s campsite. What fond memories. Seems so long ago already. I thought to myself, “Sue would never do this.” Ha ha! How wrong I was!
I’m sitting here in my first true wilderness camp. There’s NO ONE….oh, wait. I hear ATVs and it’s 9:15 pm…on a Sunday night…what the heck??? Well, despite them, I’m still more remote than I think I’ve ever been up in the middle of National Forest Road 73 about 10 miles north of Tahoe. I found only ONE campsite I could squeeze the van into after traversing this very, very lengthy (like 20 miles long) , but thankfully paved road. Well, there was another campsite, but, it was one of those long entry ways but no outlet for just one lone campsite with poor turn around space. I’d hate having to deal with people constantly driving up into my camp. I could have blocked the entry way, I suppose with brush or a long log, but, I just didn’t like the camp. Blocking the entry would have attracted rangers attention too.
I’m getting 3G up here, so, not a good spot for teaching. I’m searching Tahoe high and low looking for the best camping. It’s the toughest challenge yet. I’m coming up short, to be honest because I need to be able to get 4G at camp and all the camping they offer is out of range. Arg. I have to wonder if that’s by design so folks don’t get too comfy out here. LOL.
So, it may be back down to Mammoth for me. I’ve seriously considered going to the mountains in Utah, but, I don’t think I can afford that big of a loop to get back to the desert by winter. Sigh. Perhaps next year I’ll try it.
Does Utah get the Arizona Monsoon? I’m trying to avoid being in that. Last summer was brutal with the rains.
Hi, Gloria,
I’m glad you found a place that suits you well. It’s sounds like a good spot in the forest. Quite an accomplishment considering how close you are to Lake Tahoe.
I hate to tell you this, but I rarely get more than 3Gs, no matter where I boondock.
You’re right not to put anything across a road. Plus you never know that you might want to leave quickly. You are becoming quite skilled. You learn to evaluate a potential campsite for all sorts of possibilities… Clingers, mud or a road wash-out if it rains, OHVers, curious people, beer parties, target practice, etc.
I don’t know if Utah gets monsoon rain. I’ve never been here in mid-summer on. Go to weatherunderground or accuweather or someplace like that. Put in a town in Utah that you think you might want to camp near. Look at the average precipitation figures for the 12 months of the year. They usually have a table of that.
Yeah, I hear you about mostly 3G. I did find some 4G spots in Mammoth, so, that will probably be my best option for the rest of the summer. I must have 4G, so, I’ve really been fortunate finding it wherever I go. Basically, it means camping closer to towns, cities and main highways for me. Eventually, I hope to “graduate” to being just a writer of stories and curriculum in a few years.
I have a series of children’s nature related stories I think will be a big hit with the homeschool community once I polish them up and illustrate them with computer graphics and nature photography. Once I get these courses set, I’ll let people take them as self-paced courses. Then I don’t have to sit in front of the camera anymore, though I do enjoy it. Okay, maybe I’ll teach one class per week. LOL.
What a wonderful day. Hopefully that gave you some energy for some of the Adult stuff like tallying up the expenses. As you know I actually get a kick out of doing that stuff but one great thing about getting your expenses down on paper for all the world to see is that it CONFIRMS how well you’re doing in your chosen lifestyle. You know in your head that you’re doing fine but once you get it on paper you have the documentation to prove it. Besides, a LITTLE Adult stuff makes the kid stuff WAY more fun.
I’ve been very bad, Reine, but I’m going to be better! I’ll get caught up and then I won’t neglect my reports ever again.
I thought you’d be after me before now. I admire your restraint and patience with me. Haha! Yes, it is important to put those reports together. They help some of my readers and they certainly keep me on track.
Hope all is well with you, Paul, and family!
Wow Sue, your camp site and surrounding area looks great and so does your dish of food, Timber says hi to you all ,,,,,,,,,Rusty
Hi to you and Timber! It’s always nice to hear from you.
We eat a lot of smaller, more comfort type meals like yours. Heh, need to be more smaller for me…ah the lard doth come quickly!! Thanks for sharing your ideas.
It is surely pretty there…and of course, always love to hear what the doggies are up to now. I am affected much by high altitude too…maybe that is because I have high blood pressure? I would be laying around a lot too.
Hi, Elizabeth,
The first day here I was sleepy and took a long nap with the crew. Since then I haven’t felt any difference. I did have trouble last year when we went up to the alpine meadow which I believe is 10,000 feet.
What a beautiful spot, Sue! We’re heading up to Lake Tahoe and the eastern Sierras after school is out. 10 more days of school left, then FREEDOM! 🙂
Cheryl Ann
You know how much I’ve enjoyed the eastern side of the Sierras. Have a wonderful time, Cheryl Ann. You deserve it!
Sure sounds like a perfect day for the three of you:)
Yes, the kind of day I prefer. . . living life small and quietly with my two best friends.
A quiet life with friends is anything but “small”. The simple things in life are rich with joy. Thanks for sharing, Sue.
You’re welcome, Thor ‘n Drew. Nice to see you here. . .
Sounds like a great meal, now you’ve made me hungry. Wonder if my boss will let me leave early……..
On a Monday? I never could get away with that! Have a good day anyway, Teri.
Hi, Ed,
A table would be wonderful. If I could have put one in, I would’ve started my reports that way back in 2012. Another reader made a table for me once and I couldn’t get it to fit.
I looked at what you made for me, pasted it into a dummy page and published it privately. It didn’t fit within the margin of the text area. It extends across the sidebar. Something very weird happens to it and it is hard to read.
Right now I need to focus on getting the figures up for people to read. I am so far behind! If I start trying to figure out how to do tables on WordPress, I’ll never get that work done.
I don’t mean to sound unappreciative. I very much appreciate your interest in my blog and the effort you expended to help me do a better job of presenting my money figures. Thank you, Ed. I saved the link and will look at it again at a later date.
Yes, I can see how that would happen with how your “Theme” provides a margin on both sides but does not use them for anything. The text area is reduced by the sidebar.
What you have told me is that the Table coding is read by WordPress it is just to wide to fit within the text margins allowed by the “Theme” that you have selected (that is good to know). It was just an idea which you had previously tried and found that it did not work and now found that it did not work again.
I see no point in keeping the link and will be throwing away the page that I created. As you said, ” If I start trying to figure out how to do tables on WordPress, I’ll never get that work done.” What I prepared for you did not work so move on to something that does!
Thanks for understanding, Ed. Yes, it is the theme that causes the problem. When I started this blog, I had no idea what I would want the theme to do for me. Now that people like it the way it is, I’m hesitant to change it.
I could move it to a more flexible and more stylish and more photograph-friendly theme. I think the amateurish, unpolished look it has now matches my unpolished style of writing and photo-taking.
Thanks again, Ed.
Just gona throw out that my very good friend Tabby is a WordPress expert. She works for UC Irvine, but does WordPress training seminars all over the country. And she’s very nice, so I have a good resource if you need one.
Thanks, Ginger. I’ve decided to stick with this WordPress theme which isn’t a good one for posting tables (too narrow). I’m content with my funky little reports.
YAY! Hoping nothing changes too much, Sue! Hang in there with what has worked for you.
I can’t imagine putting together such a classy looking blog such as yours!
Have a great day!
“Classy”… That’s a description I didn’t expect. 🙂 Thanks, Diann. You have a great day, too.
The crew is giving me dirty looks because I’ve been at this computer all day. Time for walkies!
Hi Sue,, What a beautiful area,, I could really enjoy
sitting outside with my buddies, in a nice breeze, deer walking by
flowers growing , trees swaying,, would be real hard to move on
Love the pic. of Spike soaking..
Safe travels Sue,,,
Thanks, John,
I was thinking about you the other day. . . Gee, I haven’t heard from John fossildreamer in a while… Hope he’s okay.
And here you are! Great hearing from you.
This is probably one of my favorite places that you visit. It is definitely on my list. School out about a week ago–just got back from a cruise to the Caribbean. Now time to relax, read, quilt and knit.
Hi, DeAnne,
How was the cruise? I’m sure you are glad that school’s out. Nice to see you here again.
Have been home in the Yakima valley about a month now. Will admit to having been a bit conflicted as I read RV Sue everyday and feel the lure of the road calling. This morning, however, I also am filled with gratitude that I also get to enjoy the beauty of spring & summer here in a glorious environment. The garden is planted; flowers are blooming and I just came in with a basket of strawberries from my patch and a sprig of fresh basil. So, for me, I guess two worlds will be on tap; 6 months or so of wandering and the rest here in the bounty of central Washington. Good thing I have the joy of reading RV Sue everyday! 🙂
Hi, Kathy and Gil,
Your home environment sounds wonderful! Ahhhh… “… the bounty of central Washington.” You are tempting me to make another mad dash westward! Thanks for stopping by.
Ahhh…..good ol’ Spike! He’s a man’s man. Or would that be a dog’s dog??
Hi, Ladybug,
Both, I guess. He’s a character, sometimes a royal pain, but I love the guy.
The meal looks like Dinty Moore stew, lol……..driving truck, me and old Dinty go way back……….but with your ingredients yours sounds better and im SURE tastes better.
I love the gravy and veggies in Dinty Moore stew….but the chunks of mystery meat never hits the pan!
Yuck, Robert!
Good afternoon,
Hope you day was good! Your package is enroute..I’ll track it and let you know when it there.
AO did okay….considering. SA’s life vest was too big. She’s pooped.
Glad I made you laugh!
Thanks again, Cinandjules. I’ll be sure to take a photo of Spike in his new collar and night lite and post it. 🙂
Isn’t it amazing how,if given the opportunity to perform it outdoors,even the task of washing dishes is such a blessing as aspen leaves quiver and sparkle in their own little happy dance?Poplar trees speak delightful things no matter what the season.
From a nearby deer enjoying fresh grass, to Spike with his mouthful of hide ,animals act so naturally. Being close to them,with the full gamut of emotions that comes with it,contributes to life in ways that make me realize I wouldn’t like the world without them.
I met a woman in LA whose condo was white-furniture,carpet,decorations and drapes.She had no pets and lived in LA hoping to become an actress.So removed from all that was natural,she couldn’t even feign a real person on stage,and was struggling
financially.The happy ending was that she let her hair down enough to be with a dog lover,was televised on The Dog Whisperer show,and one thing led to another,she made it onto a soap opera and beyond.Our wild natures often influence more than we expect.
Very interesting story, weather. Los Angeles is an extremely artificial environment, skewed from what is natural and wholesome to what some would call obscene proportions. How can one portray real and true human behaviors and emotions when living in the midst of all that? I can understand how “letting her hair down” and having contact with animals would improve her acting. I’m glad for the happy ending to your story.
You’re right about tasks performed outdoors. I’ve always hated kitchen work. In my kitchen in the BLT, I have the door open with fresh air coming in to be as near to outside as possible. It makes kitchen clean-up close to enjoyable! Washing and drying dishes outside turns a chore into an activity.
Hi RvSue,
I am getting my 2 cents in late on the cell phone issue but since I recently spent about 3 months researching cell phones, their technology, and the different companies that sell them, I thought I would offer you some fruits of my labor. I recently ran out of minutes on my incredibly old flip Motorola tracfone that I was given and I knew I needed a new one, although I am pretty happy without it, too. My boss was even nagging me to “get a phone cause its dangerous!” That sort of thing. Anyway, I began researching and learned all I never wanted to know about cell phones. I didn’t really research Straight Talk that much cause I think its too expensive. We bought one in an emergency on our Grand Canyon trip (by the way, it did work great there) and kept it a month. NO way am I paying 30.00 a month for a cell phone. I don’t even like paying 30.00 a month for our land line AND we don’t even have long distance!
I basically came back to Tracfone. They mostly offer cell phones with CDMA technology, that is, Verizon. CDMA phones have no SIM cards. Cell phones with SIM cards use mostly GSM technology-mostly AT&T and T-Mobile. The thing is, when you enter tracfones website you can put in your zip code to supposedly get the right selection of phones for your area. Tracfone does not like to offer AT&T SIM cards. They like Verizon (or CDMA) technology or they stick a T-MOBILE SIM card in. You can get AT&T at Walmart in a tracfone but you need to check the code on the box. However, the western United States seems to be the best for CDMA technology. You can basically pick any zip code you like to get the selection you want if you know what you want. But, face it, if you are in the mountains unless there is a cell tower near you won’t get anything regardless of what you have. My husband got his cell phone, pretty basic, for about 20.00 with triple minutes for life and it came with 800 minutes for a year of service I ended up paying 80.00 for a semi-smart phone (wireless capability, camera, texting, etc.) with 1200 minutes (with auto rollover-means minutes don’t disappear) and triple minutes for a year of service. We got the phones on EBAY on shopcelldeals.com I could tell you a lot more but don’t want to fry your brain! 🙂 Tracfone owns Straight Talk, by the way. Hope this helped! Now, enjoy your mountain!!
Thank you very much, Terri, for taking the time to explain all this. I have a Tracfone with SmartTalk that I renew every month for $30. I’m not going to do that anymore!
I’m a little confused about telling tracfone “the zip code for your area.” What is my area? I’m all over seven states. I’ll go to their website and see if I can find the answer to that question. Thanks again.
Hi, Sue,
I absolutely love your picture of the backlit aspen….beautiful shadows…awesome composition!
Your dinner sounds yummy! I think it looks good, too. 🙂
Enjoyed the pics of the nutcakes (as usual). Have a great evening, Sue and Crew. 🙂
Thank you for complimenting the backlit aspens photo. I didn’t think anyone noticed.
You have a great evening, too!
Hi Sue,
I thought you had Straight Talk. There is a difference between tracfone and Straight Talk, even though Tracfone “owns” Straight Talk. Go to tracfone.com
For the best coverage you should probably pick a zip code in the area you are near the most, say Arizona. You don’t HAVE to key in a zipcode, though. You can simply browse all phones. When you key in a zipcode it simply gives you a selection of phones which are supposed to have coverage in that area. Judging from the coverage map of Verizon and AT&T, it looks like CDMA technology works the best in the west where you are. Someone can jump in and correct me if I am wrong, but it looks that way to me. Remember, CDMA is Verizon and your phone would not have a SIM card. Look at this coverage map-I found it interesting. http://www.cellularmaps.com/3g_compare.shtml There are alot of such maps if you google cellular coverage. I was comparing Verizon and AT&T and Verizon still seems to be a bit better in the west than AT&T-although Utah seems to be better for AT&T coverage. I hope this is a little clearer.
What I saw today on my way to work:..South of Branson, MO on 65 heading north..my head jerked around as I saw a small white trailer being pulled..yes a Casita! Thought of you! This part of Utah is very pretty…enjoyed all the outdoor scenery photos.
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