April 2003 |
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On this 400+ mile trip we passed through Alabama en route to Hugh White State Park in Mississippi. The terrain was quite flat agricultural land with quite a lot of cotton fields and in Mississippi, Catfish farms. We arrived at Hugh White State Park (used to be a Dunfermline goalkeeper by that name who was a doctor at the West Fife hospital and admitted Linda for her Appendix operation) late afternoon giving us enough time to take a stroll around the park. The State Park is located alongside the spillway from the dam at Grenada Lake. The spillway is a very popular fishing spot for campers and non campers. There were a few Red Headed woodpeckers in the woods around the site. These brightly coloured birds are noisy and showy. The only state we have ever seen these birds is in Mississippi. We could have stayed here another day exploring the park but we are heading for a NWR in Arkansas.
Crossed over the great Mississippi river into Arkansas and collected some brochures at the friendliest tourist information office we have ever visited - they made us feel really good about being in Arkansas. The White River NWR is situated alongside many miles of the White river before it joins with the Mississippi. We had chosen to stay at a Corp. of Engineers park adjacent to the NWR, alongside a lake, miles from anywhere.
Merrisach Park - This is the first Corp. of Engineers campsite we have visited and we were very impressed by the location, size of pitch and layout of the park. With a choice of pitches we chose one that gave us a good view of the lake, which is actually part of the floodplain of the Arkansas river just before it too joins the Mississippi. The main attraction of this campsite is the good angling opportunities and we spoke to some of the successful anglers as we walked around the lake. The Arkansas river and the White river feed into the Mississippi and have a lot of barges transporting freight along the river. A connector canal has been constructed to connect the Arkansas river to the White river and after dark one evening we thought a passenger boat was passing by our campsite but it was in fact a tugboat with several barges in tow, well lit up.
Bass fishing is very big in the south and here in Arkansas, Walmart (this is their home) sponsor a Bass fishing competition where the first prize is $200,000?
The National Wildlife Refuge is very spread out and doesn't seem to have a dedicated footpath or driving trail setup like most others we have visited. The visitor information center is in town whereas they are normally on the refuge. We drove some of the roads in the refuge but kept encountering dead ends and didn't really see much wildlife at all. As predicted Sunday was wet and tornado's were forecast to be coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. We kept the TV on to see if they were heading our way. Luckily they were south and east of us and never came our way only some heavy rain.
Hot Springs National Park - This is an unusual National Park in that it is part of the town of Hot Springs, where incidentally Bill Clinton attended school. The local people fill large water containers from public springs around the town. 
Wullie wanted to stock up large quantities of the water to see if it had the same effect as it had on the ex president but Linda was not too keen on that idea. As the name suggests people came from all over to sample the curative powers of the hot springs in the various "bath houses" that sprung up over the years. Many of these "bath houses" have have been preserved from the 1900's era including the Fordyce bath house which also serves as the National Park headquarters. Very little has been changed since the 1920's, the restoration is very good. Some of the "gadgets" used seemed somewhat dangerous e.g. electric lights were used in some tubs as a heat source but apparently nobody got electrocuted. We hiked part of the extensive trail system to the lookout tower but as the visibility was not good did not pay to go to the top. When we were in the information office some fellow visitors directed us to a free car park which allowed us to eat out due to the savings made? We ate in a German themed restaurant called "Brau Haus" where the beer was good and the food was excellent.
Lake Ouachita State Park - During our time in the Hot Springs area we camped at yet another state park situated on the shores of a lake. At the weekend the park filled up with locals boating, fishing, waterskiing and BBQ'ing. We hiked the Caddo Bend trail in the state park. It meandered around one of the arms of this huge lake with occasional views of the lake and surrounding mountains. Stopped at the point for lunch in brilliant sunshine looking across the lake towards the Ouachita (Wach-it-aw) mountains. Spring flowers were popping their heads up on many sections of the trail - we saw our first wild Iris of the year. The largest Pileated Woodpecker we have ever seen was trying to obtain lunch from a felled tree just off the trail and seemed unconcerned at having us as an audience.
Although this was a 400+ mile trip it passed fairly quickly as it was Interstate for most of the way. The attraction here was Salt Plains NWR in northwestern Oklahoma. Since there was a State Park adjacent to the refuge that seemed a sensible place to stay. You just park, set up your campsite and the ranger arrives in the early evening to collect the site fees. This is another state park alongside the spillway from the dam on the Salt fork of the Arkansas river and yet again was very popular with the angling fraternity (whatever happened to my bent pin and bit of string?).
Salt Plains NWR - The walking trail and scenic drive are the best we have encountered on a refuge for quite some time. The 1.5 mile walking trail took us about two hours to complete. We wandered slowly through trees looking for birds, adding the Red breasted Nuthatch to our spotted list. The drive through the refuge was also good, seeing a few birds that were listed as rare or occasional for this refuge - Hooded Merganser and Tri colored Heron. A very hot day but the strong winds (forerunner of more storms) made it seem cooler.
We had gusty cross winds all the way to Dodge City, Kansas but thankfully arrived and were set up before the really strong winds arrived, accompanied by electrical storms. The trailer was rocking & rolling that night and the next day. Thankfully the big thunderstorms/tornado's had missed us once again. We watched the local weather reports of hail, 2" in diameter, falling west & north of us - think what damage that could do. In northern Texas winds had reached 98 MPH.
Boot Hill Museum Dodge City - Wullie has been Marshall of Dodge City many times in street games in Crosshill, Fife, Scotland so it only seems fitting we should visit the actual site of childhood fantasies.
The museum is very good, well worth a visit if you are a western fan. We gathered lots of useful information - Marshall was a State (or Region) title whereas a Sheriff was a town title although many Sheriffs were Deputy Marshalls. Wyatt Earp was never a Sheriff or a Marshall but is now more famous than anybody of that era. Many of these officers of the law had outstanding warrants in other states, owned saloons or houses of ill repute and reverted to old habits if not re-elected. Boot Hill cemetery in Dodge is reputed to be the original Boot Hill. During it's wild heyday (just over a year) less than 30 people were buried there. Nobody famous ended up in Boot Hill, it was the destination for drifters, people with no relations to pay for a funeral and other vagrants. The only thing they had in common was they were dead. The dead who had money or friends to pay for their funeral were buried at Fort Dodge. The Boot hill museum is very good but we visited Tombstone, Arizona previously and that feels more like the wild, wild west!
The Kansas wind was still blowing at a fair rate but at least it was with us as we headed for Colorado. The tumbleweed's were racing across the road in front of us and we decimated quite a few. Shortly after entering Colorado we had our first glimpse of the snow covered peaks of the Rocky mountains. We had elected to stay at Pueblo in Lake Pueblo State Park. We arrived in the early afternoon to clear blue skies. The lake, backdropped by the mountains, provided a very picturesque scene viewed from our RV situated above the lake. We had been watching the weather forecast closely as we did not want to cross the Rockies during snowy weather and so decided on a two night stay here. Tomorrows weather was to be wet and windy for the Pueblo area, but heavy snow in the mountains. We certainly had heavy rain for most of that day and when it finally cleared early evening we could see that the mountains had received their fair share of snow.
This was by far the most scenic move we have had for many months. Highway 50 follows the the Arkansas River as it winds through the canyon - fishermen were out on the very cold but sunny morning trying their luck. 
The road then drifts away from the river as it ascends to Monarch Pass at 11,312 feet. Snow had fallen on all the mountain ranges in Colorado the previous day, making this drive even more spectacular. Snow clung to the trees, large drifts were hanging over the road. We stopped at the pass for the photo opportunities. Forgetting just how high we were we started walking briskly which soon stopped when we both became light headed and breathless. Since it was kind of cold the Photo's were soon taken and it was back to the warmth of the truck. The downhill journey from the mountain passes are the less enjoyable part and this descent was 8 miles of 6.5% grade towards Gunnison. The truck brakes and us were ready for a rest when we reached the Curecanti reservoir, so lunch was taken before heading for a two night stay south of.............
Montrose.
During our 2 night stay we drove along highway 82 from Ridgway up to the Dallas Divide. We travelled this scenic road in August 2001 but with the snow covered peaks at this time of year it was even more scenic. Drove through Ouray as far as Red Mountain Pass. Snow lined this winding road and icicles hung from the rocks making it look a lot narrower than we remembered on our last visit. The scenery was spectacular but on our return snow started to drift across the mountains following us down into Ouray and thankfully stopped there.
Another very pleasant move with good scenery all the way. Arrived in Moab to high winds so we delayed setting up until the sandstorm subsided although Wullie kept tasting sand for a few hours later. It's tough sometimes but we soldier on! The temperatures are forecast to be in the 70's, there are miles of hiking, scenery to blow your mind, 2 Microbreweries in town for Linda so we will stay 8 days before going Curling in Ogden, Utah.
Hidden Valley Trail - A fairly steep switchback trail took us up into Hidden Valley. It's so good to be back in Utah hiking. Bright red sandstone formations against clear blue skies. Views across the snow covered peaks of the San Rafael mountain range, Moab Rim and Spanish Valley. This hike had it all even our first bright red Indian Paintbrush, Wullie's favorite flower, which we had not seen for quite some time. We walked part way along the Moab Rim 4x4 road and settled on a good spot with all round views for lunch. This was a very enjoyable 4 hour stroll with great scenery.
Needles area of Canyonlands NP - The drive to Needles on US 191/Utah 211 is a scenic delight in it's own. We visited all the scenic viewpoints and hiked one of the many trails in the park. This was mainly over slickrock and provided more stunning views in all directions. Towards the end of the hike we encountered our first cactus in bloom this year. We visited Newspaper Rock (Utah 211) and Wilson Arch (US 191) on our return journey.
Fisher Towers Trail -
Even if the hike had turned out to be disappointing, the 21 mile drive along Utah Scenic Byway 128 to the trailhead certainly was not. With the high walls of bright red rock and the Colorado River this is one of the most scenic roads we have travelled for quite some time. As we neared the trailhead we speculated that the spires in the distance were Fisher Towers and it seemed that this was going to be an enjoyable hike.
This 4.4 mile trip around & underneath these huge sandstone towers had everything to make it a WOW hike from start to finish. The slickrock ridge at the start of the trail offered clear views of the valley, enhanced by the VERY blue sky. The trail descends into a ravine underneath the towers and there were quite a few climbers conquering one of the towers. We were asked by a couple of young men if we wanted to join them in their climb but we declined saying we didn't have the correct gear? The trail swings around the largest tower (Titan - 900 feet) and ascends to a ridge giving panoramic views, an excellent spot for meditation & lunch. The return journey was rather hot due to the trails western exposure (take lots of water).
Dead Horse Point State Park - Most of this park (5,250 acres) is located on the Mesa top giving stunning views in all directions. According to one local legend, at the turn of the century the point was used as a horse corral. Cowboys rounded up wild mustangs (Wullie thinks he seen the movie in the Star in Crosshill?) and fenced of the neck, which is only 30 yards wide. We leisurely hiked around the Mesa rim which provides wonderful views of the Colorado river as it goosenecks through the gorge and Canyonlands NP. Ate lunch at yet another million dollar viewpoint.
Corona Arch - Yet another scenic hike but then thats Utah! This 3 mile hike had an abundance of spring flowers including a flowering Barrel cactus - our first. The trail crosses a railway track which slowly winds around the mesa rim. The cutting followed by the railway is cut out of bright red sandstone and is a sight to behold, considering it was created by man? although nature provided the setting. The first part of the trail is over a wash and a sandy pass (wildflower sightings) to the base of some cliffs. Later the trail ascends partway up the cliffs with the aid of a pair of safety cables in the slickrock. Corona Arch (140 by 105 foot is visible from here) but the trail continues past Bowtie Arch and underneath Corona Arch which provides some shade for lunch. Since the trailhead is located alongside the Colorado river some nice views of the river are available on the return journey. Yet another lovely sunny, if somewhat windy, day.
Our last 240+ mile move for this month was quiet until the outskirts of Salt Lake City when heavy traffic was with us until our arrival at Ogden. Now to another curling bonspiel............................
We travelled 3,453 miles this month - our highest in one month. Visited three new states and seen more wonderful places.
RV Insurance -Our RV insurance was due for renewal in early May and our insurer had informed us they couldn't renew our insurance as they no longer dealt with the agent in Oregon who arranged the original insurance 4 years ago. Wullie called the insurance company and asked if we could insure directly with them or could they suggest another agent? Now the fun started - they wouldn't insure us because we had made too many claims in the past four years. This turned out to be effectively a "black ball" situation as virtually nobody else would insure the RV either because of the number of claims. We eventually obtained insurance for 6 months at a rather high premium. During our four years here everything has run very smoothly and we patted ourselves on the back at how well we had planned. So what went wrong in this instance? Fulltimer RV Insurance includes many facets of house Insurance such as Loss of property. We lost a camera in 1999 and discovered we could claim on the RV Insurance, so we did. Our awning got ripped off by a strong wind and had to be replaced. We had a $500 excess and the repair cost $598 so we claimed effectively $98. If we had known this would contribute to our present predicament we would not have claimed. We have had two tyre blowouts in the past 2 years which resulted in damage to the RV and insurance claims. We have since replaced all the tyres, which perhaps we should have done after the first blowout. Our insurance provided as a benefit/feature a recovery service. When we experienced our second blowout we availed ourself of that service in Florida and two guys arrived and changed the tyre for us. The blowout caused over $1500 of damage but the insurance company said this constituted two claims. A $200 claim for recovery & a $1500 damage claim? Fulltimer RV insurance includes provision for hotel/motel accommodation if your RV is off the road for some time. We had our RV repaired whilst we were on a trip up north to play Curling. If we had got it repaired immediately, the repairs took 2/3 days and we claimed for a Motel room - would that have been 3 claims?
Conclusions:
Next month - Ogden curling Bonspeil. Sierra Nevada area of East California, La Pine & Mount Hood - Central Oregon.
Miles travelled this month: 3,453
Total miles travelled since May 1999: 89,400
Interesting Hyperlinks:
May Curling in Ogden. Sierra Nevada area of East California. La Pine & Mount Hood - Central Oregon.
