Flaming Gorge, Days Two and Three

My campsite has been so quiet until this morning that I’ve almost felt like I’m not supposed to be here. There is a gate leading down to the beach road that can be closed and locked. I hope that someone lets me know if the beach season suddenly ended without locking me inside this little corner of paradise.

I discovered a boat launch about a mile away by road walk and about one-half mile by a little-used trail. There are heated bathrooms with flush toilets here, along with a fish cleaning station with the water still on. I haven’t seen any boats launch from here, but there was a bit of boat traffic on the water late yesterday afternoon.

After our early morning hike, coffee and breakfast, blogging, and reading, the temperatures gradually rose throughout the day. I took a sirloin steak out of the freezer to defrost and decided to take Elvis to the water to cool off. Now, Elvis is 75% golden retriever and 25% poodle. You would think such a dog would be a natural swimmer., but that’s not the case. Elvis will sniff at the water like it’s some kind of trap, trying to get him. Because he was so hot, I was going to force the issue a bit. I started throwing sticks into the edge of the water, and he would tentatively go out and retrieve them—only realizing after he got back to shore that his legs were wet. How did that happen?

Finally, I started throwing the sticks out further in the water. He refused to go completely under, letting those sticks float away. But he did get in far enough to get his legs, underside and chest wet, which cooled him off and reinvigorated Elvis. He started running up and down the beach like a greyhound, shaking the water off and acting reborn.

After that excitement, I returned to the Brew Hut for my last beer (we didn’t bring much with us), reading on my Kindle, and then feeding Elvis. It was too hot to cook inside and too windy to cook outside, so I prepared a late dinner after the sun went down, cooling things off. I dined on sautéed spinach with garlic, mushrooms in butter, and one-third of a large sirloin steak. I saved the remainder for two more meals.

Early the next day, Elvis was primed to hike. We made a big circle around the area before coming back to the Brew Hut to brew coffee. As I went outside with my cup of steaming Brazilian, I walked around the other side of the Brew Hut and discovered an old, beater car parked less than 50 yards away. It was parked on a steep angle, and there was no evidence of condensation on the windows (which would mean someone was probably sleeping inside. My mind started racing. Stolen car? Hidden dead bodies? I walked closer, took a quick photo of the license plate, and then looked inside.

“What the F do you think you are looking at?” shouted a male voice. I turned around and discovered a young man fishing just below the cliff on which the Brew Hut was parked. “Oh, sorry, sorry,” I said retreating. “I didn’t notice you drive up and was surprised that someone parked so close to my camp.”
He didn’t respond or necessarily seem accepting of my explanation. The fisherman apparently caught no fish and moved on about twenty minutes later.

When your closest camping neighbor is one-half mile away, the sight of a strange car and a profane encounter leaves one a bit off-balance. Another cup of coffee and morning views of my herd of pronghorns provided the antidote.

The rest of the day went without incident, and we enjoyed a very quiet evening.  On the next morning, my original plans to drive to Moab shifted when I discovered one of the truck tires was low.  This gave me a chance to try out the new portable air compressor which attaches to the battery and reaches long enough for any of the truck’s tires.  After a some trial and error, the small machine worked the way it was supposed to, although it did heat up markedly. I decided to return to Rock Springs to resupply at Wal-Mart and do my first Wal-Mart stay-over in the parking lot.  I checked with the manager and he pointed out the proper part of the lot to park the Brew Hut.

Resupplied with beer, food, and toiletries, we are ready for the next part of the journey.  Hopefully, the truck tire cooperates.

Flaming Gorge, Days One and Two

After breaking camp above Green River, Elvis and I backtracked to Rock Springs to post blogs, download newspapers and podcasts, and gas up. Then we drove south of Interstate 80 to the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

The campgrounds in this area are quite popular and subject to reservation. I was a little bit worried that the campgrounds would be full, but I had a boondocking back-up plan. Upon arriving at Firehole Campground, I knew right away my my concern was misplaced. Not only was the campground empty of campers, it was closed for the season and gated. Hmmmm.

Time for the back-up plan. There were forest dirt/gravel roads all around the campground, and someone on the Campendium website mentioned camping without any problems at the beach close to the campground. The beach had several attributes, including beautiful views, potential swimming opportunities, and pit toilets.

The beach also had several downsides. Many of the “camping spots” were on soft, sandy ground. Getting stuck would not have been fun. The ground was sloping, and the best solid spot that I could find was not very level. I decided to make the best of it and set up camp anyway. Elvis and I hiked up and down the beach and across many of the gravel roads between the beach and the campground. In the process, I found a couple of other spots that seemed to work also. I noticed that the original beach area was extremely windy with blowing sand. In the afternoon, the trailer was already rocking and rolling, promising an interesting night.

So I bailed on the original site, prepared the Brew Hut for travel again, and moved about a half mile down a narrow, rutted road to a large turn-around circle that was gravel and appeared to be used as a campsite previously (evidence of bonfires). This was much better. Less windy, I had the Brew Hut situated so that the door was on the opposite of the direction of the wind, so that it was comfortable to sit outside and read.

I had already decided that it was going to be hamburger night, so the patties were sitting out to defrost by the sink. As I prepared dinner, I noticed that the temperature of the fridge was rising. Now I’ve had problems in the past regulating the temperature of the fridge, but it was always on the cold side, freezing food that shouldn’t be frozen. Hmmm. A half hour later, the temperature was 45, and I knew that something was wrong. Apparently, the gale-force wind had blown out the propane flame that keeps the fridge cold. At least, that was my first theory.

I followed the procedure for relighting the fridge. That process is not user-friendly. There is a tiny hole at the bottom of the fridge which is supposed to tell you if the flame is lit or not. The only problem is that flame is impossible to see during the daylight, leaving two options. The first option is to wait until it’s dark. The second option is to check a metal tube in the outside compartment to see if it’s getting hot. Either option takes time, and I was impatient to find out whether the fridge flame was out or if it was just dead. Fortunately, after about 30 minutes, the metal tube was warming up. I dialed down the fridge to colder. In the morning, it was back to normal, freezing food that it shouldn’t. I dialed the fridge back to low.

There is only one other camper within sight, and he's about half mile away. Temperatures fall into the mid 30’s at night and climb up into the 70’s during the day. Mornings are less windy, and the ample sun allows me to charge up all of my devices and top off the battery. Unless weekend partiers arrive, this spot seems like a great place to spend a few days.

The header shows a herd of pronghorn, I believe. They are frequent visitors to the nearby water but are very skittish. Unlike deer in Wisconsin, they stay tightly packed together and move as one when running. We’ve also seen lots of rabbits, birds and snake skins (but no snakes yet). The closed campground is accessible by trail. The water spigots have been turned off, but the convenient dumpsters remain. A sign indicates that the campground closed on September 15^th. I’ve not smelled any smoke here. The air is clear and clean.

That’s all the news at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area…