Great Basin, and Great Scenery

2019-10-06 (Sunday)

We woke up to blue skies again, and another cold morning. But after getting ourselves all ready to leave Great Basin National Park, we went on a walk first. And that changed our whole perspective of the park! I was just about to take a photo of our truly beautifully located campsite (inconvenient though it was to get into last night), when Joe and Cassie noticed a small herd of deer in the site next to us. They slowly came into sight behind us, and until Cassie barked, they were just going about their business. That was a nice scene.

There's a deer to the right of the big tree

 

Then Joey pointed out the pinyon pine nuts on the trees growing next to us. The park's newspaper specifically says that these nuts can be gathered during their season. Well, it seems this is the season! I gathered two pocketsful of nuts--they will have to be shelled, but still, we got them fresh on the ground right under the tree. There were zillions--the park allows 25 lbs per family per year. I guess there must be millions going to waste, but we will take some home.

Then we followed the sound of a rushing brook, and it was lovely too! Really, it's an inconvenient campground in some ways, but the location is absolutely gorgeous. On our way out, the view of the valley ahead of us was fantastic also.

Valley view

 I was feeling fine, and able to drive the RV down the mountain to the visitor center, while Joe drove the Jeep. We were aggravated to find the center was closed until Wednesday, so we couldn't look at the displays, or pick up my pin! However, Joe discovered a small item which needed repair on one of the RV wheels, so he took care of that. We then got some gas, and headed for Utah-- we were only about 10 miles from the border.

The Loneliest Highway continues into Utah--but the mountains come sooner, and are very cool. I have to save my greatest superlatives for later in the day, but I didn't remember that, so I took some photos of the mountains as we went through them. Joe said, "Didn't we drive this road before? I remember this scenery!" And then I remembered, we did-- we drove this same route in 2007!

Western Utah, US-50

Remembering that helped when US 50 finally merged with I-70 in Salina, Utah. The stretch from there to Green River, a bit over 100 miles, has no services at all-- but it is the most spectacular road I've ever driven. I didn't even try to take many photos, because I remembered I took dozens with my good camera in 2007. So I am going to revisit those for this  blog and save time, LOL!  We even stopped at the same scenic pullout, and took some of the same exact photos (I couldn't resist, after all.) There was an Indian woman with her jewelry and pottery spread out at the pullout, as well, and I bought myself a necklace. It will make me think of that location when I wear it!

  Suffice to say that the road was beyond exquisite-- there are not enough superlatives to describe the incredible rock formations and colors that you pass in those 100 miles. Not to mention all the steep climbs and scary descents you have to drive down!

Teaser: Moon over the Rafael Swell on I-70, Utah

 I drove the last hour of the trip, as Joe finally admitted to being a bit weary (no wonder! He'd been the only driver for the past two days, on some pretty difficult mountain roads.) We were headed for Green River, where we stopped over in 2007. But this time, we decided to go to the Green River State Park. As usual lately, we got here a bit later than planned, and it was dark. We were very happy to see there was a ranger in the welcome booth, who could send us to the only empty site in the park--a group site. As such, it had plenty of room for us, although we did unhook the Jeep to back in.

Eastern Utah

We came over a rise in the road, and an incredible vista spread out before us, as far as the eye could see. Joe's comment was, "What planet IS this??"

And then, the conversation in the car went something like this:
“Look to your right!” “Oh my gosh!!” “Look to your left” “WOW!!!!” “Holy cow!” “Oh my gosh!!” “OH WOW!!” “This is INCREDIBLE!” “Oh, look over THERE!!!” “Take a picture, take a picture!” “This is UNBELIEVABLE!!” “Oh wow…. Oh wow…. OH WOW!!!” “THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!”

Also: “There’s a “view” coming up!” “Pull over! Pull over!” “OH MY GOSH!!” “There’s another view coming up!” “OH MY GOSH!” “We are NEVER going to get to a campground, here comes ANOTHER view” “Pull over! Pull over!!” “JUST LOOK AT THIS PLACE!!!”

And after the sun went down: “Oh my gosh, just look ahead!” “Thank goodness, it’s too dark to take any more pictures!!” “LOOK AT THIS CANYON!!” “Oh my GOSH!!!”

We ended up stopping for the night in Green River. We are still an hour or more from Moab. What can I say? It’s the fault of the people who built Interstate 70. They put it in a terrible spot. Instead of being delayed by traffic, you get delayed by scenery! I warn everyone who travels this road, add at least an hour to your estimated drive time.

These photos are awful. It was already getting dark. The exposures aren’t great. There’s no WAY to do the road justice. But here is the really amazing thing: this area is evidently “nothing special”! It is not a national park. It isn’t a state park. It is “only” the roadside scenery along the Interstate highway! Can you believe it is even going to get better than this??? I am so excited.