Inspired by Brooke and Dan, we decided to try living in a campervan for two weeks. We were lucky enough to have our friends, Deb and Steve, drive their camper down south to join us for the adventure. As seasoned camper-travelers, they were a wealth of information.
Jim and I flew to Las Vegas with all our car camping gear and picked up our campervan. We rented from Escape Campervans. I can’t recommend them enough. Not only were they very reasonably priced but they were fabulous to work with.
On our way out of Las Vegas, we stopped at Costco, Target, and WinCo to pick up supplies. Luckily, everything was within 5 minutes of each other. We headed out to Lake Mead for our first boondocking (camping for free) night of the trip. There is so much boondocking in the south west, if not for the need of the occasional shower, we would have never paid to camp anywhere.
Once we located a flat spot at Governor’s Point on Lake Mead, we commenced trying to organize the van. We had two weeks of food and drinks plus car camping gear and our personal items to find a home for.
On our way to meet Deb and Steve on the next day, we visited Valley of Fire State Park. Definitely a hidden gem in Nevada.
Our first stop was the Fire Wave. Brooke had reported lines of people at the Fire Wave so we wanted to get there early in the day.
After the Fire Wave, we continued onto the Seven Wonders trail. Not sure Nevada considers their rock formations one of the Seven Wonders but Jim and I certainly found them facinating.
One of my favorite things about hiking in the south west is all the slot canyons. No two are exactly the same and I can’t wait to see what is around the next corner.
Certainly one of the Seven Wonders in the Valley of Fire was this amazingly colorful sandstone dome. It truly looked fake.
As we exited the Valley of Fire, we stopped to view some petroglyphs. I am not much of a petroglyphs person but I found these fascinating.
We hooked up with Deb and Steve in Cedar City just outside the north west corner of Zion National Park. In the morning, we headed out to explore the Kolob entrance of Zion. We had all been to Zion before but none of us had visited this section of the park.
We hiked up a valley trail leading to Double Arch Alcove.
The morning light completely lite up the canyon walls.
This trail went by two homesteads built in the 1930’s. It was incredible to see how well the log cabins had stood up to the years.
The trail ended at a brilliantly colored alcove.
After our hike, we drove through Zion to the east entrance and our next boondock site. We setup our table and the four of us enjoyed star gazing as we caught up. This would become our nightly routine. What a wonderful way to spend the evening.
The next morning, we drove to the East Mesa trailhead and hiked out to Observation Point. This is the only access point since the Weeping Rock trail was permanently closed a few years back.
In the afternoon, we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park. We took advantage of being old and paid only $10 a night to camp inside the national park right next to the rim. Sweet Spot! We were able to walk to our hike and the showers.
Bryce always amazes me. It is so difficult to take in the landscape. Since Steve had never been to Zion, we decided to repeat the hike we did last year with Brooke. the hike offers great exposure to some of the most amazing land formations.
Last year, our visit to Bryce was right after a snow storm. Everything was dusted with snow. This year’s hike felt totally different.
We all headed back to camp before dark. We wanted to make sure we got to the showers before they closed. This would be our last chance to bathe for the next 5 days. We did do our share of sponge baths but it just isn’t the same as a real shower.
The next day, we were off to southern Utah and the Escalante – Grand Staircase area. Steve and I we both very excited to explore the Hole-In-The-Rock road built by the Mormons in 1879.
——– Map of Complete Two Week Adventure ——–
