United States
September 13 until October 19 2002
On this page and the previous/following pages you will find a travelogue of the five week trip we made to Dallas and San Francisco, then we toured along a number of national parks in the southwest of the US with an RV and we ended our trip in Las Vegas. A this report is too long for one page it is split up into multiple pages. On this page you will find the third part.
- Part 1: September 13 until September 23.
- Part 2: September 24 until October 2.
- Part 3: October 2 until October 8.
- Part 4: October 9 until October 19.
Bryce Canyon National Park
Next we came at the entrance of Bryce Canyon NP.
First we went to the visitors centre to inform about the campgrounds. There are no campgrounds with hook-ups
in the park. In the visitors centre there was also a film running about Bryce Canyon. We watched it,
and after the film was finished we noticed that it was snowing. So we decided
to go to a campground outside of the park as we wanted to have electricity
so we could turn on the heater. As it would be freezing the coming night.
The RV-park, Ruby's Inn,
is just outside the park. There was a lot of snow falling when we arrived
at the campground. After we had checked in we first went to the supermarket
to do some shopping. Then we went to look for our campsite. Not easy to
find as all roads on the campground were covered with fresh snow. We only
hooked up to the electricity and not to the water. We remembered us all
the problems we had in Canada two years ago with a frozen water hose. And
because we had filled up the water tank this morning we should have enough
water for the coming night and day. Ciska went outside to play in the snow
and Hilleke made a small snow-man. We decided that we want to stay here
for two nights, so we have the whole day tomorrow to visit Bryce Canyon,
weather permitting. Friday we will move on then to Capitol Reef NP.





The next morning after breakfast, it is now Thursday 3rd of October, we went to Bryce Canyon NP. It was snowing again, hopefully we are able to see something of Bryce Canyon, next to the snow it is also heavily clouded. At first we drove to 'Bryce Point' from which you should have a tremendous view over the canyon and the hoodoos. But when we arrived there it was completely covered in clouds, it was snowing, it was storming and it was freezing cold. Brrrr. Ciska started to cry that she wanted to go back into the RV. After some photo and video-ing we left in a hurry, this was no fun. Our next stop was 'Inspiration Point'. Here we were somewhat shielded from the wind, so it wasn't that freezing cold and it also had stopped snowing. A few minutes later we even saw that the sun was trying to break through the clouds and not long after that most of the clouds had disappeared and we were facing a bright blue sky with some friendly white clouds. It still was rather cold, but the weather change that had occurred within less than 15 minutes was really incredible! Bryce Canyon NP snow showed its amazing beauty right before our eyes. It's beauty is really incredible, especially with all those snow capped hoodoos. From 'Inspiration Point' we went on to 'Sunset Point'. There we walked the 1.3 mile long 'Navajo Trail'. On this trail you descent down into the canyon. The path was rather slippery from the melting snow, the snow started to melt quite fast in the warm autumn sun. It even started to get warm so deep into the canyon, imagine that not more than an hour ago we were almost freezing! So now and then we had some 'rain' as we walked under some trees from the melting snow on those trees. During the descent you walk in between the towering hoodoos, very impressive. Although you have to take care, because erosion in these rock formations goes quite fast, especially after snow or rain. Just in front of us a women was almost hit by a falling rock of about 10 * 20 cm. Also further along the trail we could hear rocks falling. The descent went quite well, but what goes down must also go up again. Ciska performed quite well, she had to take a rest only once. When we were again at the top, we decide to go back to 'Bryce Point' so see it in the sunlight. Most of the snow now had already melted. So we see Bryce with, as well as without snow. The wind was still blowing hard, but without the snow it wasn't that cold anymore. From 'Bryce Point' we went to the endpoint of the road, 'Rainbow Point'. But on the way we stopped at the 'Natural Bridge'. This is an arch and it will collapse at some point in the future and two hoodoos will arise then. The road to 'Rainbow Point' was again open, yesterday is was closed because of all the snow. As 'Rainbow Point' is much higher, above 9100 feet, there was still a lot of snow on the ground. From 'Rainbow Point' we drove back again and stopped at a number of viewpoints: 'Ponderosa Canyon' and 'Agua Canyon'. At the latter one, a lot of chipmunks were walking around, they were quite tame, and they dare to approach us very near. They even climbed up into the trousers of one women. Ciska was, as usual, frightened of them as they approached her. Afraid that these tiny, 15 cm, animals would eat her. The next stop, 'Farview Point', indeed gave us with a magnificent view over the canyon and its far surroundings. At 'Sunrise Point' we also stopped, at the shop we bought something to eat and from there we went back to our campsite. Back at the campground we decided to go for dinner in the restaurant that is also part of this large complex.
From Bryce to Capitol Reef National Park
The next morning we woke up very late, we had bacon 'n eggs for breakfast.
After breakfast we left for 'Escalante Petrified Forest'.
When we arrived there, we walked a trail. Before the actual trail started,
we had to climb a hill first. The trail went along several very brightly
coloured pieces of petrified wood in all colours of the rainbow and more.
Red, green, blue, white, black, purple etc. This all happened millions
of years ago, the trees that grew here then where covered with mud put
here by, for example, a flood. The trees were covered immediately by the
mud and they were not exposed to air, so they didn't decay. After that,
volcanic ashes covered the area. And because of this, silicon dioxide and
other chemicals were able to penetrate the buried trees. And then, some
chemical process slowly turned the wood into stone.
This process takes millions of years. Colours like red, brown and yellow are caused by iron,
while manganese and other minerals are responsible for the purple and blue
colours. This petrified forest is quite different from the one we visited
in the Sonoma Valley. In that forest all the petrified trees were grey
and a lot of them could easily be identified as trees, some even over 30 meters long.
While here they all have those different colours and most pieces were very
small, not larger than one meter, and it was difficult to recognize them
as a part of a tree. When we had finished the trail, we moved on again.
Our next stop was the Anasazi State Park Museum in Boulder.
Here one can find the excavations of the so-called Coombs Site.
They also reconstructed a house so one can see what a house looked like in those days (1050 - 1200 AC).
The museum shows for instance all kinds of excavated
objects and it also tells something about life in those days. It is a small
but very interesting park, a cultural one next to all the nature parks
we had visited in the past weeks. From the museum we drove on to Capitol Reef NP via Hwy. 12. The road climbs
a lot, at one moment we were above 9000 feet. There was still some snow
next to the road. It also became very cloudy and it started to drizzle
and there was also a little snow falling. But when we went over a pass
and started to descent again, that was all over soon. In the town of Torrey,
close to Capitol Reef NP, we did some shopping. And as there are no campgrounds
in the park suitable to camp with an RV we stayed at an RV park in Torrey,
so tomorrow we don't have to drive that far to get to the park.
Camper repair, part 1
After a freezing night we got up, it was quite windy and as we are at an open space it wasn't very warm. But in contrast with the previous days we were facing a bright blue sky, instead of a heavily clouded one. But it certainly wasn't warm, we still had to put on our long trousers and a sweater. After breakfast we went to the intersection of Hwy. 24 and 12. There is a coffee shop with some internet PCs and we also wanted to contact Cruise America about all the problems we had with the RV in the past 1½ week. At the coffee shop, while enjoying a cup of coffee (well, for as far one can enjoy American coffee) we handled our email and also uploaded our travel page to our holiday web site. After half an hour our internet activities were done and Hilleke got on the phone to contact Cruise America. The problems we had in the past time were the following:
- The generator was not working.
- 12V power failure in the coach as soon as we turned off the car engine.
- Cabin roof was leaking above the passengers seat.
- Leaking roof window above the upper bed.
- Leaking hose between the toilet sewer tank and the valve.
- Coach door didn't close completely.
After a long telephone conversation the man on the other end of the line concluded that the first two problems were most likely caused by a malfunctioning coach battery. He advised us to have it checked at a garage. But the nearest garage was 10 miles away in Bicknell. So we first want to give it a try at the Texaco gas station across the road. There they didn't have any equipment, but the shop assistant, Tracy, directed us to the owner of an RV park nearby. This man had a voltmeter and it turned out that it measured only 9V, although the battery had been charged for the whole night. So we concluded that the battery indeed was the cause of the problems. Again we phoned Cruise America and we got permission to buy another battery. The money would be refunded to us when we hand in the RV in Las Vegas. Tracy was able to arrange a new battery for us and he was also capable of installing it. We had to wait for half an hour before the battery was delivered, so in the mean time we went to the Subway, next to the coffee shop, to get something to eat. After the battery was replaced we phoned Cruise America again, for all other problems we have to contact them next Monday morning, as now on a Saturday afternoon all garages are closed. After that we went to Capitol Reef NP.
Capitol Reef National Park
When we arrived at Capitol Reef NP we first went to the visitors centre
for some information about the park. Next we drove the Scenic Drive through
the park. On the way we stopped several times to make pictures of the colourful
rock formations. The indians used to call these rocks the Sleeping Rainbow.
Capitol Reef NP is a long and narrow park around the so-called Waterpocket
Fold. All the different colours were formed over a period of hundreds of
millions of years when different layers of sediments were deposited here
in seas, plains, deserts etc. Around 65 million years ago the land started
to raise and because of this the layers bended into a giant fold. At the
end of the Scenic Drive we stopped for a walk over the Capitol Gorge Road.
With out RV we can not go onto this Capitol Gorge Road as it is unpaved
and very bumpy, an ordinary car however can go. We walked for about an
hour to the end of the road. At the end there was another trail we could
walk, but we didn't do it. Ciska already had walked quite a lot now. She
walks quite well for as she is only 3 and a half years of age. Distances
of about 1 to 2 miles over unpaved roads goes quite well. Sometimes she
says she wants to take a rest, but in general she walks very well. At the
end of the Capitol Gorge Road we didn't feel like walking the whole way
back again. So Hilleke arranged that we could drive back with two women
in a car. they dropped us off at the parking lot were we had parked the
RV. On the way back we stopped at an orchard. In former days, the Mormons
planted these orchards in these regions. And although the Mormons are already
long gone, the orchards are still part of the cultural heritage and they are also kept like that.
At these orchards you may pick your own fruit and take them for a small
amount of money. We picked some apples as that was the only fruit that
grows in this seasons. In other seasons you may pick apricots, cherries,
peaches etc. There are also deer walking through the orchards and Ciska
saw a Bambi in each of them. When we were finished in the orchard we went
back to the campground at the intersection of Hwy. 12 and 24. Hilleke didn't
feel like cooking this evening so we went for dinner in the Wonderland
Inn restaurant, not far from the campground. Unfortunately the food there
was not very good.
After another cold night, temperature just above zero, we stood up very
late. The weather however was again as we were used to. The sun was shining
on a clear blue sky. And although the morning was quite cold, during the
day, the temperature rose to about 25°C. After breakfast we went back
to Capitol Reef NP. Only we didn't go for the Scenic Drive but we stayed on Hwy. 24.
The first stop was at the old Fruita school. It was still in use until
1941. The desks are still there and on each of them there is a slate with
a piece of chalk. The next stop was at the Fremont petroglyps. The Fremont
indians lived in these regions from about 700 to 1300 AC. After that no
one ever heard of them again.
On the rocks there were some human and animal figures. There weren't as
many as we had expected. Then we went to the natural bridge. There we walked
the Hickman trail, 1 mile each way. On the way there we had to climb a
lot, but at the end all our efforts were rewarded with a magnificent view on the natural bridge.
Such a bridge is formed during a period of millions of years due to the
force of running water and erosion. This erosion process sill continues
and once, in the far future, the bridge will collapse because of this.
Back at the RV it had become that warm that we exchanged our long trousers
for shorter ones. It had been more than a week ago that we had worn them.
Then we moved on to the town of Hanksville were we refuelled as the coming
44 miles we had to drive through the San Rafael desert and there are no
gas stations in the desert. We also had lunch there. From Hanksville we
moved on on Hwy. 24, a boring straight road through a very desolate landscape,
to Interstate 70. On the Interstate we refilled our propane tank in Green
River and from there we moved on to Arches NP. Unfortunately the campground
in the park was already full so we had to stay at an RV park in Moab, about
5 miles from Arches NP.
Camper repair, part 2
The alarm went off very early the next morning as we had to phone Cruise America at eight to make an appointment to fix the other problems we had with the RV. At eight thirty Hilleke called them and the guy at Cruise America would try to find a garage in the neighbourhood of Moab that could do the repair. We had to call back after half an hour. In the mean time we had breakfast. After breakfast we phoned Cruise America again, they had found an RV repair centre in Moab. We arranged to stay another night at the campground and then we went to the repair centre and then we left for the repair centre. There they repaired our leaking cabin roof and roof window. They also checked why the sewer tank was leaking, there was a small crack in the tank at the place were the sewer pipe was mounted. Normally they would have replaced the tank with a new one, but they didn't have one in stock and it would also have taken too much time. So they fixed it with a patch kit. They also fixed the side of one of the benches as that also had fallen off a few times. Cruise America had for sure given us a bad car. Finally after about 1½ hour they were ready. They were not able to fix the coach door. After we had paid them we went to Arches NP.
Arches National Park




Our first stop in Arches NP was at the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint. From there you have a splendid view over the La Sal Mountains, but they are so high that you can see them from everywhere in the park. Even yesterday, when we were driving on Hwy. 24 through the San Rafael desert, we saw them. From the viewpoint you can also see the Three Gossips, The Sheeprock, The Organ and far away also the Balanced Rock. The latter one was also our next stop. This is a very large rock which stands on a very small area on top of another rock. When you look at it, you expect it to fall off any moment. There is also a small trail around the Balanced Rock that we walked. From the Balanced Rock we went to the Windows (has nothing to do with Bill Gates :-). There you have the North Window, the South Window and also the Turret Arch. There are also two trails, an easy one and a difficult one. We did the easy one. From Turret Arch you can then see both of the Windows. On this trail we also met another Dutch couple. They told us that prince Claus, the husband of our Dutch queen Beatrix, had died. They had heard it on the radio. By accident the had heard it this morning as they, just like us, hardly ever listened to a radio, never watched television and never read a newspaper. From the Windows we went to the Delicate Arch. We didn't feel like walking the whole 3 mile trail to the arch itself, so we only went to a viewpoint from which you have a distant view onto the Delicate Arch, one of the most beautiful arches in the park. But for that viewpoint you also have to walk a steep trail. From Delicate Arch we went for the last and longest trail of this day, the trail to Landscape Arch. This trail is 2.1 mile in total, including the side trails to Tunnel Arch and Pinetree Arch. You can't get very close to Landscape Arch as that is too dangerous because the arch might collapse. This also happened in 1991 when a very large piece of rock fall off the arch. The visitors that were at the rock at that time all had a narrow escape. The Landscape Arch was our last visit for this day. In total we had walked more than 3.7 mile or over 6 kilometres. As we didn't have time to do any shopping today we went for dinner in a restaurant in Moab with an adjoining beer brewery. Arjan had one of their beers. After dinner we went back to our campsite and connected the RV to water and electricity in complete darkness. The end of a warm and tiring day.
From Moab to Mesa Verde National Park
The next day, Tuesday 8th of October, we left around half past ten. Via
Hwy. 191 and 211 we drove to our first stop: Newspaper Rock.
This is a stone that has more than 300 petroglyps carved in it by several
indian tribes over a period of more than 3000 years. The images depict
mostly animals or humans. There are also a number of abstract art images.
As it is only one large stone we returned after a quarter of an hour and
we went to the town of Monticello. Here we had lunch. After lunch we took
Hwy. 666 to Colorado. What strokes us was that as soon we crossed the border
between Utah and Colorado the condition of the road was much better. More
smooth, all things that stood loose in the RV suddenly stopped rattling.
What a relief. We drove on to the intersection with Hwy. 184. The latter
one we took as we wanted to pay a visit to the Anasazi Heritage Centre
near Dolores. In this museum there is a lot of information
about the archaeological excavations in this area.
The objects of arts on display in the museum dates back from 1 to 1300
AC. For children this is also an interesting museum as they are allowed
to touch a number of things on display and they may also try to use a weaving
loom as well as try to grind some corn between two stones. There is also
a short trail to the Escalante Pueblo. This one was discovered in 1776
by father Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and father Silvestre Vélez
Escalante. After about 1½ hour we move on to Mesa Verde, not far
from Dolores. We had to climb a lot before we reached the campgrounds.
We were lucky, there was only one site left with full hook-up. When we
arrived there it turned out that we now had driven exactly 2000 miles.
The day we picked up the RV it was 48084 miles and now it had 50084 on
the counter. If we continue like this we will end up far beyond the 2500
miles that we had pre-paid for. In the evening we also made a planning
for the coming days. Within a week from now we have to arrive in Las Vegas
and there are a few more things we need to visit, like Four Corners, Monument
Valley and the Grand Canyon.