Mostly healed - off to Utah Canyon Country
After an month of RICE, I was getting a bit stir crazy, so it was off on a solo trip to Utah Canyon country (Donna's still working - way too hard, dedicated OT, lover of the kids and families) in mid March. Five national parks (Arches, Canyonlands - Needles District, Zion, Bryce and Capital Reef), one national monument (Natural Bridges), and a drive through Monument Valley all in ten days, about 2,000 miles - finishing up with a two day visit with Anna in SLC. I had been to Zion and Bryce before, but hard to believe (at least hard for me to believe) I had never been to the other parks.
I "Derrick camped" the whole time. "Derrick camping" is named after our Canadian and British friend Derrick Woodcock (and his lovely wife Pip - now that's British - Pip and Derrick). Pip and Derrick were owners of a B&B and cabin on Saturna Island about twelve years ago, where our family stayed on a very memorable two week vacation ( a week on Saturna, and a week on Vancouver Island). Here's a more recent picture of Pip and Derrick at Yellowstone a few years ago.
So what is "Derrick camping"? Derrick never (or almost never) camps in a campground, but he and Pip just pull off the road (usually a backroad - why travel the main roads when you are retired), levels out his trailer and whoila!, a great private place for the night. Well. my version of "Derrick camping" was sleeping in the back of our Honda Pilot. So every night I would pull down a BLM or other track off of the road a ways, and park for the night. Being a backpacker, I just laid out my sleeping bag and pad in the back of the Pilot, and a great private and quiet night's place to stay was mine for free. I had my backpacker stove and a cooler and had some great meals. Took my sun shower too, and I would just fill it up, and put it on top of the car when I'd take off on my day hike, and I would come back to nice warm water at the end of the hike - took a sunshower every day. Worked like a charm.
So it was a great trip and I highly recommend all of the parks - particularly liked the less visited ones, Capital Reef, Natural Bridges, and Needles District of Canyonlands - but they all are great, particularly in the spring before it gets real hot.
So here's some pics from that trip - I'll tell a story or two about the trip in the next blog.
I "Derrick camped" the whole time. "Derrick camping" is named after our Canadian and British friend Derrick Woodcock (and his lovely wife Pip - now that's British - Pip and Derrick). Pip and Derrick were owners of a B&B and cabin on Saturna Island about twelve years ago, where our family stayed on a very memorable two week vacation ( a week on Saturna, and a week on Vancouver Island). Here's a more recent picture of Pip and Derrick at Yellowstone a few years ago.
So what is "Derrick camping"? Derrick never (or almost never) camps in a campground, but he and Pip just pull off the road (usually a backroad - why travel the main roads when you are retired), levels out his trailer and whoila!, a great private place for the night. Well. my version of "Derrick camping" was sleeping in the back of our Honda Pilot. So every night I would pull down a BLM or other track off of the road a ways, and park for the night. Being a backpacker, I just laid out my sleeping bag and pad in the back of the Pilot, and a great private and quiet night's place to stay was mine for free. I had my backpacker stove and a cooler and had some great meals. Took my sun shower too, and I would just fill it up, and put it on top of the car when I'd take off on my day hike, and I would come back to nice warm water at the end of the hike - took a sunshower every day. Worked like a charm.
So it was a great trip and I highly recommend all of the parks - particularly liked the less visited ones, Capital Reef, Natural Bridges, and Needles District of Canyonlands - but they all are great, particularly in the spring before it gets real hot.
So here's some pics from that trip - I'll tell a story or two about the trip in the next blog.
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