This morning I woke up to some really gorgeous high desert views here where I camped last night between Price and Green River, Utah, on the third and hopefully last day of my journey from western Montana where I’ve been staying the past couple of months in the foothills of the Mission Mountains to Tijeras, New Mexico, in the Manzanita Mountains east of Albuquerque where I’ll be staying and helping at a small community there, and if all goes well, it looks like it may be just the community for me to stay longer term and help get it as sustainable as possible. So I’m really excited about that opportunity, but in the meantime I was happy to find such a nice campsite along the way in Utah, after the long drive yesterday, which started out with a scary drive through a snowstorm with whiteout conditions on the I-15 south through the Targhee Mountains of northern Idaho, then good driving conditions for the rest of the trip apart from severe crosswinds through Idaho, and landed me here in the high desert of Utah just about an hour after dark… Turned out to be one of the coolest desert camping spots I’ve stumbled upon in southern Utah so far, really nice spot with great views and plenty of trees, with no shortage of firewood around for a campfire.
I was even able to set up my camp stove using a stump with a couple rocks on one side and my foldable camp table that’s too small on its own to fit the stove, so I didn’t have to unpack my larger table, so that was pretty nice - first time I’ve done that!
Dakota was loving the opportunity to run free and explore, after being cooped up in the car all day yesterday and the afternoon before, and the sunrise lit up the snow-capped mountains above Price we drove through yesterday, making a nice start to the morning.
After making some coffee in the chilly 21 degree weather, we went for a nice little bike ride up one of the dirt tracks around, and while Dakota appreciated the run before another long day in the car, I especially appreciated the amazing views of the nearby mountains towering over our camp.
Great views to start the day, and quite a change of scenery from where we started out yesterday, camping by the Clark Canyon Reservoir south of Dillon, Montana just north of Idaho, where it was dreadfully windy the whole time I was there, despite the relatively warm temperatures.
The mountains around Salt Lake City were as scenic as ever, my first time driving through Idaho and Utah in the winter, and the drive through the big city wasn’t as bad as sometimes, as I managed to time the travel just right to make it through before rush hour…
Nothing like a long drive through 7 lane interstate after almost empty roads through the barren country most of the day. Below you can see the storm clouds, looking back over the Targhee Mountains after the slow drive through the windy pass in snowy conditions.
And just the day before that, the day before we departed, it was time for one last wintry hike in the Mission Mountains, a two mile up the snowmobile trail from St. Mary’s Lake to Twin Lakes, which I hadn’t been to yet, so it was nice for one final adventure with some new scenery before saying goodbye to beautiful Montana yet again.
One of the Twin Lakes, frozen over, is seen below.
What a change in scenery in just a day and a half of driving south! Now it’s off to continue the journey southeast from here, through Moab, Utah, then Cortez, Colorado, into New Mexico, a drive I am familiar with for the most part. So time to hit the road and continue the adventure, but hopefully some readers enjoyed the pictures of me attempting to capture the amazing scenery of the western USA.