Just returned from a 9 day trip to the canyons of southern Utah and WOW! We broke the 575 miles from Tucson to Moab into two legs stopping in Tuba City both coming and going. Spent 3 days and nights in Moab at the Spanish Trails RV park {3 miles south of Moab on 191}, nice park, good amenities and friendly folks with a great location.
I towed my Harley Davidson Super Glide behind our 24'Nexus Class C not because we needed a Toad {we don't}, but so that we could see and enjoy this magnificent country from the back of the bike. We rode through Arches the first Day and did Canyonlands the next. We then headed north, west, south and west again to reach Capitol Reef NP. This was taken about half way between Torrey and capitol Reef NP:
The drive to Capitol Reef was incredible, highway 24, to and through Hanksville is gorgeous and as much as we enjoyed Arches and Canyonlands they cannot hold a candle to the beauty of Capitol Reef. We stayed at the 1,000 Lakes RV Park on 24, 3 miles west of Torrey. Again another nice park that we would be happy to return to. Spent half a day exploring all that CR had to offer taking lots of photos.
This was taken about 6 miles south of the visitor center at CR NP:
Yes, it really is that gorgeous everywhere you look.
On Friday we left early to ride "The 12" as the locals refer to it, being SR {State Route}, 12 which originates in Torrey and heads south over the high pass dropping down to Boulder before turning west through Escalante and ultimately bringing you to Bryce Canyon NP.
The summit at the top of the pass was 9,600', 38 degrees with 4 feet of snow as far as the eye could see. The views were incredible but 100 per cent of my concentration was on keeping the bike upright and in the lane {which despite all of the snow was dry,} so we did not stop until we got to Boulder. Breakfast {or any meal for that matter}, at the Hell's Backbone Cafe is highly recommended.
We left Boulder and headed west through Escalante and SR12 continued to impress. Narrow and twisty with no shoulder and sheer 1,000'+ drop offs on both sides of the road, yep that would be "Hell's Backbone". Did I mention the 4 miles of 18 per cent grade that drops you down to Escalante SP? We are talking a serious motorcyclist road but don't think it would be much fun in anything but the smallest of RV's.
We continued west through Cannonville, the jumping off town for Kodachrome Basin SP which sadly we lacked the time to visit but is reported to be on a par with Capitol Reef. We came into Bryce Canyon from the east and as we had been there before and the weather was deteriorating rapidly we turned north for the long {2.5 hour}, ride back to Torrey.
Saturday we started the journey home exiting CR NP back to the east on 24 to Hanksville where we picked up 95 which took us the rest of the 166 miles to 191 just south of Blanding. If there is a more beautiful, spectacular road on earth than 95 I sure would like to find it. Take your time and just about any RV can handle it but if you opt to go south off of 95 onto 276 be certain the ferry is running as that is the only way to get across the Colorado River {and you will have a very long ride retracing your path back to 95}.
The rest of the trip included more than a little inclement weather with high winds and blowing sand most of the way to Kayenta and {think 45 to 50 right on the nose to Tuba City}. We avoided all but a mere 5 miles of I-40 and all of I-25 in Flagstaff by electing to cruise down through the mountains passing through Happy Jack, Strawberry and Pine before reaching Payson. We finally stopped and enjoyed a relaxing evening at Roosevelt Lake at the Windy Hill cg before returning home completing the last 125 miles to reach home.
All total we logged 1,500 miles on the coach and another 500 miles on the bike. Utah was our best trip ever but be warned that the summers can be very hot, often triple digits and usually very, very crowded.
Early April brought us lots of cool weather, 4 hours of heavy rain and a even a bit of light snow. We missed a serious blizzard by a mere 2 hours at Monticello 40 miles southeast of Moab which covered the La Sal mountains. The 35,000 BTU furnace {thank you Nexus}, got quite a workout every night and I even ran the tank heaters once. We will return in late September and can't wait to contue thoroughly exploring southern Utah.
I towed my Harley Davidson Super Glide behind our 24'Nexus Class C not because we needed a Toad {we don't}, but so that we could see and enjoy this magnificent country from the back of the bike. We rode through Arches the first Day and did Canyonlands the next. We then headed north, west, south and west again to reach Capitol Reef NP. This was taken about half way between Torrey and capitol Reef NP:
The drive to Capitol Reef was incredible, highway 24, to and through Hanksville is gorgeous and as much as we enjoyed Arches and Canyonlands they cannot hold a candle to the beauty of Capitol Reef. We stayed at the 1,000 Lakes RV Park on 24, 3 miles west of Torrey. Again another nice park that we would be happy to return to. Spent half a day exploring all that CR had to offer taking lots of photos.
This was taken about 6 miles south of the visitor center at CR NP:
Yes, it really is that gorgeous everywhere you look.
On Friday we left early to ride "The 12" as the locals refer to it, being SR {State Route}, 12 which originates in Torrey and heads south over the high pass dropping down to Boulder before turning west through Escalante and ultimately bringing you to Bryce Canyon NP.
The summit at the top of the pass was 9,600', 38 degrees with 4 feet of snow as far as the eye could see. The views were incredible but 100 per cent of my concentration was on keeping the bike upright and in the lane {which despite all of the snow was dry,} so we did not stop until we got to Boulder. Breakfast {or any meal for that matter}, at the Hell's Backbone Cafe is highly recommended.
We left Boulder and headed west through Escalante and SR12 continued to impress. Narrow and twisty with no shoulder and sheer 1,000'+ drop offs on both sides of the road, yep that would be "Hell's Backbone". Did I mention the 4 miles of 18 per cent grade that drops you down to Escalante SP? We are talking a serious motorcyclist road but don't think it would be much fun in anything but the smallest of RV's.
We continued west through Cannonville, the jumping off town for Kodachrome Basin SP which sadly we lacked the time to visit but is reported to be on a par with Capitol Reef. We came into Bryce Canyon from the east and as we had been there before and the weather was deteriorating rapidly we turned north for the long {2.5 hour}, ride back to Torrey.
Saturday we started the journey home exiting CR NP back to the east on 24 to Hanksville where we picked up 95 which took us the rest of the 166 miles to 191 just south of Blanding. If there is a more beautiful, spectacular road on earth than 95 I sure would like to find it. Take your time and just about any RV can handle it but if you opt to go south off of 95 onto 276 be certain the ferry is running as that is the only way to get across the Colorado River {and you will have a very long ride retracing your path back to 95}.
The rest of the trip included more than a little inclement weather with high winds and blowing sand most of the way to Kayenta and {think 45 to 50 right on the nose to Tuba City}. We avoided all but a mere 5 miles of I-40 and all of I-25 in Flagstaff by electing to cruise down through the mountains passing through Happy Jack, Strawberry and Pine before reaching Payson. We finally stopped and enjoyed a relaxing evening at Roosevelt Lake at the Windy Hill cg before returning home completing the last 125 miles to reach home.
All total we logged 1,500 miles on the coach and another 500 miles on the bike. Utah was our best trip ever but be warned that the summers can be very hot, often triple digits and usually very, very crowded.
Early April brought us lots of cool weather, 4 hours of heavy rain and a even a bit of light snow. We missed a serious blizzard by a mere 2 hours at Monticello 40 miles southeast of Moab which covered the La Sal mountains. The 35,000 BTU furnace {thank you Nexus}, got quite a workout every night and I even ran the tank heaters once. We will return in late September and can't wait to contue thoroughly exploring southern Utah.
pnichols wrote:
Desert Captain,
I'm curious ... did you travel those terrific grades you mention in your E350 Class C, or on your Harley?
We've traveled up some steep roads in our E450 Class C, but those climbs were for very short distances and we have a different differential ratio to help with transmission heating.
Phil, the 18 and 14 per cent grades were done on my Harley in the middle of a 225 mile 6 hour ride. We routinely run into 10 per cent grades in our travels in the E-350/4:10 rear end but since I always run in Tow Haul it has never been a problem. Most 6 to 8 percenters don't even require much, if any use of the brakes.
On the long climbs my trusty Scan Gauge keeps me apprised of the transmission and coolant temps. Even the eastbound climb up and out of Panamint Springs in Death Vally on a triple digit day in September did no harm but 224 and 230 were the highest readings I have ever seen and hopefully won't occur again. Once we cleared the summit they both immediately dropped back to normal {195/197}.
Just for fun here is a shot I took up in northern California just outside of grass Vally/Nevada City. It's not a long grade but what it lacks in length it sure makes up for in the steepness:
:C
