Upper Uintas Meadow Dispersed

We  camped in the upper Uintas this weekend for some high elevation camping.  Since it is late in the camping season, we were able to find a spot in the coveted upper meadow area just below Bald Mountain Pass.  There were a few other hardy folks camping in the cold.  It definitely got below freezing overnight, but the days were pretty pleasant in the 60s.  We liked the camping area, but you could still hear the road noise in the distance and the road in is pretty rough.  The poor T@b got bounced around a bit (one of the shelves came off the wall).  

Ridgway State Park

We  made another trip to Colorado for the Labor Day weekend.  We couldn't get into the Amphitheater Campground in Ouray, but we managed to find some availability at the Ridgway State Park (Dutch Charlie Area).  This is a beautiful campground with large sites.  We spent two nights in Site #174 (Elk Ridge Loop E) and one night in Site #92 (Elk Ridge Loop D).  Both sites were pull-through which was great.  Site #174 was adequate, but was an internal loop site.  Site #92 was awesome and was on the outer loop overlooking the reservoir.  This campground is really well laid out and designed.  If possible, try to get a site on the outside of either Loop E (overlooking the mountains) or Loop D (overlooking the reservoir).

Lower Provo Dispersed

We  had such fun at the Lower Provo Dispersed last weekend, we came up again.  It was another very busy weekend.  The Uintas are definitely getting busier each year.  We had a great time hiking to Meadow Lake (well, mostly fun time) and exploring around Ruth Lake. 

Lower Provo Dispersed

We  camped in the Uintas for the weekend to do some high country hiking.  We drove through five campgrounds before giving up and heading to the Lower Provo where we finally found a spot.  Turned out to be a stroke of good luck as we enjoyed the quiet of dispersed camping.  We had a great time hiking out to Notch Lake and Cuberant Lake. 

Amphitheater Campground - Ouray, Colorado

We spent the long mormon holiday weekend exploring Ouray, Colorado.  We were lucky to get a campsite in the amazing Amphitheater Campground that sits high above Ouray.  Amphitheater is fantastic with a gorgeous view of the San Juan Mountains.  We had to switch campsites halfway through the weekend, but it was worth it to stay in this great campground.  We did lots of hiking, including the Blue Lakes Trail, Upper Cascades, West Lime Creek, and Ice Park Loop.  The drive to Silverton was spectacular.  Next time we may try to stay in Silverton for more hiking in the high country.

New Shurflo Water Faucet - Model # 94-009-01

We had a number of problems with the T@b on our first camping trip for the season.  We couldn't get the heat pump to work, which was a bummer since it was a really cold weekend.  And when we hooked the water up to the campsite water source, water came spewing out of the faucet in places that water shouldn't be spewing out.  The damage to the faucet was probably caused by not properly winterizing the pipes.  Luckily, Volkswagen still puts the Shurflo faucet in the Vanagon, and I was able to find a replacement faucet on the internet.  It was kind of pricey at $60, but I was glad to be able to put in the exact same faucet.  I was able to install the faucet on my own - with a bit of trial and error.  In the first round, I didn't have the electrical connections hooked up right in the butt connectors.  Make sure your wires are pushed into the metal tip of the connector before twisting.  The next test round revealed some dripping around the flexible pipe connection to the faucet.  Make sure to push the flexi pipe up as far a possible onto the end of the faucet and get the metal clasp on as tight as possible.  Third time's a charm.  The final test revealed no leaks and we now have a great new faucet.   

Millsite State Park

After exploring Huntington State Park we spent the next night at Millsite State Park which is only another 30 miles down the road.  Millsite was an unexpectedly cool place with beautiful towering cliffs surrounding the reservoir and campground.  We did a great single track hike around the northeast side of the reservoir.  Millsite is also close to the major access points for the San Rafael Swell area.  We zipped out to Rochester Rock Panel one evening to check out some really cool petroglyphs.  We would definitely come back to this campground just to explore more of the trail and as a jumping off point for the Swell.

Huntington State Park

For our first camping trip of the season we decided to explore Huntington State Park.  Huntington is located about 140 miles southeast of Salt Lake City off of Highway 10.  Huntington and Highway 10 are great jumping off points for the San Rafael Swell area.  Huntington also provides convenient access to the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry.  We finally made it out to the museum and dinosaur quarry which was really cool.  We managed to hike all the trails out at the quarry despite a brisk wind and a blanket of new snow at the campsite.  You can also do a "nature walk" around the reservoir at the campground which is really just a three mile walk along a gravel road.  Despite the weather, it was great to be out camping and exploring again.

Ready for Camping Season - 2016

I have been struggling to get the T@b back to her glory days after the vandalism and subsequent sloppy paint job on the trim.  The auto shop didn't tape off the entire trailer when they sprayed the trim so there was a line of overspray down the middle of the T@b.  I was mainly using a liquid chemical to take the spray off but the task was tedious.  I also tried the clay rub which worked on the windows but not the body.  I finally decided to go aggressive and used 2000 grit wet sandpaper.  The wet sandpaper really took the overspray off with minimal effort.  I then waxed the whole trailer to rub out the scratches and to get the shine back.  It looks pretty good.  In certain light you can still see the sandpaper scratches, but otherwise she looks pretty shiny and white.  I still need to work on the back logo, but we added a nice tag line with some rub-on vinyl lettering.