my travels in pixels

We loved photographing the mustangs in Cody, so when Charlene invited us to her neck of the woods to the west of Salt Lake City to photograph the wild mustangs there we jumped at the chance. She showed us of a campsite up in the canyon not far out of Tooele which I still can't pronounce - there's a w in there somewhere! Even though it was quite warm, our campsite was under trees and lovely and cool. Charlene played local guide on our first day taking us way out into the desert for about 90 minutes to her secret place. Sometime during the day the horses normally make their way to a couple of water holes. We checked both but there weren't any horses to be seen. At the second one we could see a huge herd off in the distance. Unfortunately there were some people on trail buggies and the horses bolted and ran further off into the distance. The horses associate the trail buggies with the rangers who come out to sterilise them, so they don't stick around. After a ...

We have been to Canyonlands before and stayed at Horsethielf campground as it's the only one near the park that we can fit our trailer in. Lindsay hadn’t photographed Mesa Arch and he really wanted to, so this was an absolute must stop on this trip. Yes, I know it’s landscape, even men can change their minds - it's the challenge of getting a good sunrise, hopefully with the sun peeping through and the rock being lit up. Mesa Arch which you need to get to an hour or so before sunrise to get a spot as it's a very popular site. We tried a sunset at Green River but were disappointed again as the clouds covered what would have been a nice sunset. We were rewarded with a double rainbow though.We have been to Green River twice now and both times there have been storms. Three 4am early starts for sunrises wears you down. I went twice to Mesa Arch and the third time I went to Dead Horse Point in the state park right next to Canyonlands. Lindsay dropped m...

Goblin Valley State Park, Utah While this is the third visit to the area, this is the first time we have actually gone through the gate. The first time the campground was closed because of faulty plumbing and we weren't prepared to sit in the soaring heat outside in our Dodge Van (it was our first year). The second time the rangers said that the three day forecast was for heavy rain and we didn't fancy getting stuck in the mud.  We nearly didn't come this time but the rain wasn't supposed to be bad and there were a couple of campsites available - we got the second last one. The campground is actually quite good, with a shelter and concrete driveway, so when it does rain you don't get covered in red mud. There is a free BLM campground about 7 miles away which is where we stayed last time but we knew that it's just too easy to look out the window at 6am and decide that it's too cloudy to get up for sunrise. Cowboys found the area while l...

Canyonlands National Park, Utah We moved north onto the other part of Canyonlands passing through Moab and picking up some groceries and fuel along the way. It rained most of the trip. Mesa Arch The Island in the sky is a high mesa about 2,000 feet above the junction of the two rivers. The trees here are resilient as the rainfall is low, the junipers are twisted and stunted, and they shed their limbs when water is scarce. Canyonlands National Park was created in 1964 to preserve the colourful landscape showcasing cayons, buttes and mesas. Thousands of years ago, the Puebloans lived here, though any items or tools are long gone, newspaper rock shows some petroglyphs and some of their dwellings still remain. Winter is back! There was one BLM campground Horsethief just outside the park that allowed trailers up to 35’ so that was where we headed. Being Friday, I was hoping there would be spaces available. The campground is half a mile off the bitumen and while there are...

Horsethief BLM Campground On the road into the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands Site 25 Why we chose here? The closest campground to Island in the Sky (Canyonlands) that allows RV’s over 28’ Location: Just outside the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands and just before the road to Dead Horse State Park Sites: 56 sites of various sizes, up to 35’ RV allowed. Nicely spaced out. Facilities: Vault toilets and rubbish dump, Fire pits with BBQ grill, metal slotted table/bench seats Groceries: Nearest town is Moab (60 miles) and there is a City Market grocery store there Reservations:  No, first come first served Cell Coverage / WiFi: Yes we were able to access Verizon at the campsite, but not on the road in Price Paid: $15 Date of visit: April 2015 Other: Nearest dump station is at the Maverick Gas station in Moab or RV parks Would we come here again? Yes Looking down the campground road to other sites Site 25 from the b...

Canyonlands National Park, Utah - The Needles There are four parts to Canyonlands divided by the Green and Colorado Rivers, so it's not possible to drive from one part to the other. The most visited areas are the Island in the Sky and The Needles. There is also the Maze and the rivers themselves. We decided to concentrate on the first two. Coming from Monument Valley we ignored Tom Tom’s suggestion and came up the 191 and apart from a few bumps which made most of our clothes come off their coat hangers, all was fine. We had left behind 40 mph winds from the night before and traded it for lower temperatures. It feels like winter again. The campgrounds in both parts of the park we wanted to go to have a campground but they won’t allow anything larger than 28’, and we are 35’. So the next closest campground in the Needles was the Needles Outpost, which for $20 a night gave us a nice spot but no hook ups, just outside the National Park. All water is carted in, so they would not ha...

We are on a time limit as we need to have some warranty work on our trailer before the 12 months is up, so have booked it in at Draper, UT for the 1 st May. We have devised a quick trip into New Mexico just to see what it’s like – mainly Santa Fe and Taos, with Colorado Springs tacked on the end. We will only stay in Albuquerque for a short time. We arrived at the High Desert RV Park without a reservation and someone was leaving early, so we just got a spot.  It's a fairly nice park and we would stay here again. We transferred our AT&T contract phone over to a Verizon prepaid, having already got a Verizon jetpack (wifi) for our data when we were in CA. Even though using a smartphone as a personal hotspot was easier, it locked us into a $40 mobile plan that we just didn’t use. Lindsay found a guy who makes up rubber hoses and sends them all around the country.  We will now be able to use our smaller gas heater in places like Ye...

The only reason we visited this park was because it was on the way and as it was up high we thought it would be cool, not so. While we were cooking dinner, a white tail deer came through our campsite and started eating a few metres away from us, which was pretty special.  The campground was pretty full as a touring/camping group of motorcyclists were on their way for a monthly reunion, they come from all around the country. We did one of the drive loops the next morning, but the scenery wasn't very photogenic. The canyon walls are black/grey of course which makes it very boring. Back down to normal altitudes and it's 40ºC at 7pm. It's too hot for us. We had heard that there was a balloon festival in Panguich, so we headed over there. Unfortunately though, it was too windy and they weren't able to fly. Apparently, the best balloon festival is in Albuquerque, New Mexico in early October where there are hundreds of balloons of all shapes and sizes. We camped i...

We got in quite late and the sign at the front gate said “Campground full”. We enquired and were told that there might be a few spots left but we better go straight there. The campground is right at the end of the park, some 17 miles in. Luck was on our side and there was one spot left. Arches for me is all about the photography at the right time of day and the park brochure actually lists what is good in the morning and what is good in the late afternoon. So after marking my map with AM’s and PM’s we headed off to the Devil’s Garden. Lindsay didn’t want to come, in fact he went back to sleep, so I went by myself. It was a fair walk in to Landscape Arch which has the longest span in the park and is quite thin, it will probably break soon. I started to walk to the next one Double O arch, but the trail seemed to disappear up some rocks, so I turned around. I came across a sign that I hadn’t noticed before that said – primitive trail – difficult! Back along the trail are Tunnel and Pine T...