There's really no way across Idaho and Utah except the Interstates. At least it wasn't miserably hot. Warm, even a bit unpleasantly warm, but I've been here when it was a whole lot hotter than that.

Traffic through Salt Lake City wasn't that bad either, though seeing traffic again after all these miles is disconcerting. Other drivers, Oh No! What's she thinking of? Pulling out in front of me, or her cell phone? I'd gotten used to dodging moose, deer, bears and the occasional bunny rabbit, but cars are spooky.

Better is coming. Utah is a good place for empty roads, if you get off the Interstate. I did that at Nephi, taking Utah 28 and then 24 towards the Capitol Reef National Monument as it got late enough to quit for the night. As I was watching for my turn to get to the start of Hwy 12 I spotted campers parked alongside a small lake. Time to camp. This is a bit different from the perfectly landscaped park I camped in last night in Idaho. It's not a campsite at all; just a place that you can camp if you have a mind to. Amenities consist of an outhouse at one end of the lake by the boat ramp, and semi-roads plowed in the dirt along the lakeside for a ways, making it easy to back your RV right up to the water. Find a spot you like and set up.

 

Yet another night at a lovely mountain lake. I could get used to this if I had another pair of clean socks.  The mountains here are sagebrush suede, not spruce and fir and the water was a bit muddy from spring runoff. It wasn't as cold as some of those gorgeous arctic spots either. Lakes in Utah that aren't salt are to be savored and I did, enjoying a lovely cool night in the desert with the sound of water lapping nearby and a wonderful tomorrow to dream about.

 

 I've got fun planned for tomorrow. On a familiar road. I can't pass up the most unique ride in Utah just because of a Ride Plan, can I?

Hwy 12 runs through the Escalante State Park and then ends at 24 fifty miles beyond where I turned off it this morning early. Direct it's not. Gorgeous it is. You have to want to drive this road pretty bad to get here, because it doesn't connect anything with anything else in particular. Except scenery. A unique scenery, designed by Disney and PIXAR for an upcoming space/cowboy/love story epic. Hwy 12 has a particular fondness for canyons. It carries you up lovely sweeping esses past jawdropping stone formations on both sides for miles, makes a few see-your-own-taillights hairpins, then dives into another COMPLETELY DIFFERENT color and type of eerie rock formations. Then it climbs up onto a ridge and whooooEEEEEE, rollercoasters through space from one mesa to the next. You can either ride, or photograph. I tried to alternate.

Alarming road sign

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a number of others who wanted to drive this road too. A lot of them were in motorhomes. How can one DO SUCH A THING? This road deserves nothing larger than a Porsche. They were noticeably fewer than on past rides, though even one plugging up a tight twisty is too many for me. Hooray for high gas prices, says I.

About halfway around one of those magnificent esses running up a canyon a deer burst out of the streamside greenery and crossed the road in front of me. Thanks to those sweet brakes and the fact that I actually saw it before I hit it we both survived unscathed. At least the deer tried to get out of the way. Later in the afternoon a dog did the same, except he charged AT me and nearly killed both of us. No time for brakes this time. A quick flip of the hips and I was around him, cursing his owner. Light and nimble have advantages too.

Shortly after I rejoined Hwy 24 I passed through the Capitol Reef National park, and scenery that manages to eclipse even the Escalante Staircase I just rode through. The vistas open up to a very, very distant horizon filled with stone confections of increasingly impossible shape and color. It's almost impossible to photograph. It just comes out as blotchy color fields unless you can get the light just right. Evening was best, I got a couple of shadow shots I'm particularly proud of.

 

 

 

But, there are more mundane matters to deal with by this time. The MZ badly needs an oil change, and I have no unfunky socks. I motelled it in Blanding UT and spent the morning washing and changing the oil. How the hell do you drain the remote tank? Like a dummy I'd left the owner's manual at home. I finally pulled a hose fitting loose, making a terrible mess all over the swingarm. Then I had to figure out what to do with the used oil. I finally paid a gas station guy $2 to take it.

I made it all the way to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, not much of a ride for a whole day. A good bit of the time was spent getting past Telluride.

The road down to the campground on the river is one that every motorcyclist should ride at least once in their life, even if they obey the speed limit. One of these days I intend to do it, at least one direction, on a bicycle!

 

 

Since it was a weekday the campground was nearly empty and I got my very favorite spot, up the hill where you can pretend to be out in the wilds with nobody nearby. Dinner was in the ice chest, a steak, corn and potatoes. There already a couple of half burnt hardwood logs in the firepit! Ah. And I even have plenty of clean socks. This is the way to spend a Wednesday. I don't even have to hang my food in the trees!