From Pipe Springs National Monument, I drove west towards
Hurricane, Utah. My plan was to disperse camp in the Hurricane, Utah
area near Zion National Park. That didn’t work out. As I drove, I was
checking out the access roads out to federal land. I didn’t see any
roads that I wanted to drive out on, especially without knowing whether
or not I could get turned around. Then I saw Sheep Bridge Road, a
well-known boondocking spot that I had read about on Campendium and
freecampsites.net.
I did a U-turn at the pull-off spot just past Sheep Bridge and pulled
down into the road and past the bridge. So far, so good. The road was
hard packed gravel. As I approached the first pull-off, I observed a van
covered in red mud and deep tire ruts where they had pulled in. I
wasn’t sure how they were going to get out again, but it didn’t look
good. I passed several other better turn-outs, but those were already
occupied by campers, and a few not-so-good turnoffs were also occupied,
even though driving through mud and water was necessary to get to the
spots.
I continued driving on the washboard roads at about 5 mph until I saw
a left turn that didn’t look promising. I continued on, but didn’t see
any more spots or places to turn around. I ended up backing up the Brew
Hut several hundred yards to get turned around again. Then I drove back
out with my tail between my legs (Elvis understood) and got back on the
main road. Sheep Bridge Road wasn’t happening.
I had another dispersed camping spot on my possibles list, but it
required driving to the Virgin Dam—about an hour away. There were only a
few campsites reported at that location, and I just wasn’t in the mood
to drive that far to find out that they were occupied too. More rain was
forecast for that night, and conditions weren’t going to improve. I did
a little more research in St. George, and found a couple of possible
free sites towards Nevada.
Just as I crossed from Utah to a narrow strip of Arizona, I saw a
brown sign proclaiming Virgin River Recreational area just off I-15. It
seemed worth a stop and look. Sure enough, it was a BLM campground for
only $8/night, beautiful mountains all around (despite the dark sky),
flush toilets, running water, no hookups, but beautiful views. I pulled
into a site overlooking the Virgin River and settled in.
I was more than a little surprised that this campground was over
half-full when I arrived and completely filled by evening to the point
that people were illegally camped in the picnic area below the next
morning. Elvis and I hiked the campground loops several times, hung out
at our picnic table overlooking the muddy river and mountains, hiked
down to the river from the campground, and then tried to hike a trail
leading from the picnic area below.
The
trail was supposed to be 16 miles long, but we were stopped after less
than a mile by a muddy river and fast-moving current. I don’t know if
there are times of the year where the trail crosses a shallow or dry
riverbed, but this wasn’t one of those times.
Elvis
and I went back to the Brew Hut, where I cooked a thin sirloin steak to
medium rare with mushrooms, onions, and toasted sourdough bread. I
drank a bottle or two of Elysian Space Dust IPA (one of my new
favorites), while Elvis ate dog food and licked my dinner plate as
dessert (and pre-rinse before doing dishes). It rained for most of the
evening and while I slept, but in the morning the sun was breaking apart
the clouds. After granola with yogurt, I made coffee for the road. We
were headed for Valley of Fire State Park.
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