Here we are yet again – weeks after returning from another trip, and I’m finally writing about it in-depth. This past trip was a last-minute decision, with us both getting approval to take the time off just less than a few weeks before we packed up to leave. We were too excited to try out our new camper to let that stop us, and made the most of it anyway.
Getting the motivation to write about the trip, however, has been another story. We were back for about a week before I headed out for Relay Iowa to run across the state with 11 other friends once again. I felt like I was being pulled in every other direction but writing while prepping for that – and then the same went for this past week as I recovered from the sleep deprivation and relay run across the state.
Now that I finally got a weekend “off,” I decided to put it to good use for reminiscing about our Utah trip over Memorial Day weekend. The weekend with few plans allowed me the time I needed to finish this post before heading out to another adventure in Duluth coming up in just a few days. Here’s to digging into our first camper experience.
To start, those that are interested should know that we took the plunge on an Outbound Extreme Trailer. I’ve already heard a question about it multiple times, “Why do you need a camper and a truck bed tent?” Since it’s been asked repeatedly, I figured I’d share the answer here. We had had our eyes out for an overlanding trailer specifically to haul the tent and for extra storage. Most of those ranged from $8,000 and up.
We bought our camper gently used for cheaper than what we could buy an overlanding trailer for, so we figured it was a no-brainer. Now, though, instead of just having a tent on a trailer – we have a tent and a camper (more sleep space if people want to camp with us!), extra storage space, and can drop the camper at any dispersed campsites we want to save our spot. With just the tent, we would have to load it up and take it with us every time we left a campsite. With the camper, though, we don’t have the need to do that.
The reasons we picked Utah again are simple – much like Colorado, they have plenty of dispersed camping areas and tons of BLM land options for camping. In addition, we loved it when we visited in March, but didn’t have much time to explore. Finally, we desperately wished we’d had our mountain bikes out there in March, and figured this was a good time to bring at least one of our bikes.
The Trip There
Friday before Memorial Day, we headed out, camper in tow – ready for a 15+ hour drive to Moab, Utah! We drove until neither of us could keep our eyes open anymore, and then set up camp in Kearney, Nebraska for the night.
By Saturday, we had made it to Colorado. We stopped at Highside Brewing in Frisco to meet up with our uncle, Barry, grab some delicious food, and stretch our legs. After stopping there for a short while, we were back on the road to Moab.
This is where I will note that I thought I was going to be a passenger princess the entire trip. I have never hauled anything behind a truck before, and didn’t expect to start on this vacation. However, it was only a short while into Friday evening before Zac asked to switch so I could drive some. It turns out, that we more evenly split driving on this trip than we have really ever before. Even more surprising – I successfully hauled the camper for hundreds of miles (yay, me!).
When we finally got to the Moab area, we found a dispersed camping area at the Dewey Bridge Recreation Site. With it being Memorial Day weekend, we had a heck of a time finding a spot, but were happy that we didn’t give up. Eventually, we found a place on a route called On Top of the World.
Sunday
On Sunday, we woke up and were ready for adventure. We went for a short walk and even explored the Dewey Bridge before leaving the dispersed camping area. Before anything else, though, we needed some coffee and fuel.
We found coffee and delicious breakfast at Moab Coffee Roasters right on the main street in town. The weather that morning was perfect for eating our breakfast outside, people watching, and letting Buzz say hello to all of his fellow coffee shop dogs. Then, with our stomachs full, we were off to explore some local shops around town. We found numerous T-shirt shops, souvenir stores, and even an adorable local bookstore.
After, we decided to head out to Sands Flats Recreation Area so Zac could get some mountain biking time in. He had his eye set on the Falcon Flow route, so we headed to the top and I dropped him off there. Then, Buzz and I drove down toward the bottom of the route to do some hiking while we waited for Zac. He said the route was awesome, with tons of different scenery to enjoy along the way.
Once he had biked the route – which may or may not have almost killed him – we headed back into Moab to check out The Moab Arts Festival. They had vendors of all kinds there, some renaissance fair-type reenactments on a stage, live music, and a beer tent to explore, all for free. We did buy a few cool things we found from vendors, but it was otherwise just a great way to enjoy some downtime.
Eventually, we made our way to our campsite for the evening – Ken's Lake Campground. We settled in after a short hike to Faux Falls and enjoyed the evening as things cooled down outside.
Monday
The next morning, we made our way out to Faux Falls again, straight from the campground. We took a short walk around the Faux Falls trail with Buzz. As we made our way back to the campsite, I looked up in the air and spotted a paraglider – and he was coming right for our campsite!
I probably talked to the nice paraglider for 20-30 minutes – we chatted the entire time that it took him to pack up his paraglider. He was a nice guy from the Moab area who shared that he paraglided the same place every morning. He said that he would drive up the road near our site around 6AM every day, then hike to the place where he took off for flight.
He taught me a few interesting things about the sport while chatting with him:
Paragliders look like they are going very fast, but in reality, are only going up to around 25 miles per hour.
For those that are scared of heights (like me), sometimes the feeling of security in the harness actually helps avoid being so freaked out during paragliding.
Before a paragliding session, people will sometimes check up to six different weather apps to ensure the conditions will be safe – or, at least, he did.
There are, apparently, a lot of good places to learn how to paraglide or tandem paraglide in Moab and Salt Lake City.
Starting up to learn how to paraglide solo can cost around $5,000 for classes and gear.
Learn more about paragliding here.
Thanks to my new paragliding friend, I can officially say that it is on my bucket list to try before I die. I will most likely attempt a tandem jump instead of a solo ride, but plan to do it when I get the opportunity to do so.
After chatting with my new friend, we headed out toward Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trailhead to get some activity in. Zac brought the mountain bike, and Buzz and I were on a mission to run the Third Annual Flight Run from Aptitude Fitness Des Moines virtually.
We ran from the trailhead toward the Monitor and Merrimac Loop, which was a beautiful trail loop that consisted of a mixture of slickrock, sand, single-track trails, and gravel. It was a wonderful loop that took us through sun and shade, and wrapped us around two rock formations, fittingly named Monitor and Merrimac.
When we got out to the trail, we quickly realized no one else was on the route and we had it all to ourselves. I allowed Buzz to run off leash, and he chased Zac on the bike the entire time. I could barely keep up with the two of them at times, especially when I was fighting uphill on sand. Either way, we had a blast – even though we traded flights of beer for flights of water for our virtual flight run.
Tuesday
The next morning, it was time to explore a bit further away. We were off toward Goblin Valley State Park. We spent just a short amount of time there before making our way to Capitol Reef National Park.
I want to take the opportunity to shoutout to Capitol Reef for being one of the most dog-friendly National Parks we’ve been to thus far. They had more options for dogs than just parking lots, which was huge.
From their site, pets are allowed:
on the trail from the visitor center to the Fruita Campground (roughly 1 mile)
on the Fremont River Trail from the campground to the south end of Hattie's Field (where there is a gate)
in unfenced and/or unlocked orchards
in the Chesnut and Doc Inglesby picnic areas
in campgrounds
within 50 feet of center line of roads (paved and dirt) open to public vehicle travel
parking areas open to public vehicle travel
Buzz decided to become an official B.A.R.K. Ranger while there, and got his own B.A.R.K. Ranger bandana to commemorate the occasion. In addition, we headed to Gifford Homestead to grab some of their award-winning pies and a few salsas.
Once we finished exploring what we could of Capitol Reef (there was a huge scenic route that was closed for maintenance and updates, allowing us to visit only a small portion of the park), we made our way toward our home away from home – Colorado.
We finished the day on some BLM land, where we found a good, quiet dispersed campsite for the evening. At the campsite, we cooked hotdogs, ate (part of) our pie, and enjoyed the light rain as it came down around us.
Wednesday
Somehow, the next morning, Zac was able to talk me into driving straight downhill with the truck and camper so he could mountain bike the trail right next to our campsite. When I say that the ruts on this road were bad, I mean the ruts on this road were terrible. They were the worst ruts I’d ever seen – probably measuring at least a foot deep – like someone had driven over the road repeatedly when it was completely flooded and soft. The entire drive down was about ensuring that I missed the ruts with the truck and camper. Slow and steady won the race down the hill that day, even if the trip was somewhat difficult on the brakes.
As we continued our trip back toward Frisco and then, ultimately, back toward home, we stopped at the Eagle Valley Trail to stretch our legs with a short walk.
We continued on our way before finding another short hike in Frisco, a hike to Rainbow Lake.
Already, after finding a delicious lunch at an Irish pub, it was time to really start the drive back home. We continued on our way through Denver, toward Nebraska, and all the way back home.
However, we couldn’t drive all the way home until we made a quick stop in Atlantic, Iowa at Nishna Valley Cycle. After our trip with our new camper, and watching multiple people on dirt bikes and side by sides, we wanted to check out some camper upgrades that would allow us to haul toys in them. Nishna had some awesome small toy haulers, but the salesman was also extremely helpful in letting us look at dirtbikes, electronic bikes, and pretty much anything else we were interested in checking out.
Now, at home, we are dealing with humid heat that is worse and hotter than what we saw in Utah. We (and by we, I mean I) already have an updated bucket list of new things to do in Moab the next time we decide to visit – like rock climbing, paragliding, and other excursions. This time, unfortunately, we just booked the trip too late in the game to make plans like that and plans for Buzz while out there. Neither one of us really wanted to book any half-day excursions and also pay nearly $200 for a dog-sitter.
Either way, the excursions can wait for the next trip because we had a great time, and I think our little adventure dog did as well. Now, it's time for me to pack for Duluth for a new adventure over the weekend – and for me to start planning for our next bigger adventure in August!
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