Lazy Day

Friday July 15, 2011
Utah Lake State Park
Lakeside Campground Site 25

 

After such an exhausting day yesterday,
all I wanted to do was chill.
That was hard to do as it turns out.
Our weather monitor tells me it is
95 outside.  Weather.com says it is 89
at Utah Lake State Park.
No doubt the weather monitor is correct.

We put the flap straps on the awning.
David fixed a couple of things with his handy
dandy glue gun.  I put the ferns outside to
enjoy (??) the heat.

And then WE camped out inside away from the mosquitoes
and 90+ temps in air conditioned comfort.
Ahhhh.  The joys of the 21st century.

We’re still reading up on the solar thing.
And finding out what we want to get now
that Camping World told fibs about what they
have in stock.
We’re currently thinking 60 watt panel
with controller and a battery monitor or meter.
While we are here, David is going to take both
the Deep Cycle Marine batteries out and take
them over to Advance Auto to have them tested
so we know where we stand with them before investing.
We’ll keep you posted.
ALL ADVICE and EXPERIENCE
HEARTILY WELCOMED!!

I’ve started investigating where we might
head after Teton and Yellowstone in August.

I actually love to plan travels although I don’t
know that I’m so good at it.  But we do manage somehow.
Today I discovered that last August it never got out
of the 30’s for lows at night in Glacier where there
are 13 campgrounds in the National Park and no
hook ups.  SO unless we get a lot more done on
boon docking in HOT and COLD rather than only in the
middle which is where we have been,
Glacier may be one of those places that gets
visited “next time” around. 

And what a shame since we will be ONLY 400
miles away when we are in Yellowstone.

GOOD GRIEF, they sure look closer together than
that on the big US National Parks map.
  But I guess in terms of
how BIG the west is,
400 miles is close.
Don’t some folks drive that far for groceries?

Anyway, we finally did get out on the bikes
IN THE HEAT
(figuring we could peddle faster than the mosquitoes)
and went over to the visitor’s center to see
what’s up.

Turns out it isn’t a visitor’s center at all really.
It is a big building with some information in
kiosks about safe boating and the history
of the park and there is some big empty room
on one side and no one there to tell you anything.
Can’t figure out why it is call the visitors information center
on the campground map.
Although there is no sign around the building
saying “visitors center”.

BUT anyway, it’s a big nice looking building.
There really wasn’t anyone but us inside
so all the cars have to be from folks who are
somewhere else.  But other than in a boat
on the water, there really isn’t anywhere else to be.

Utah Lake is a natural lake and one of the largest
fresh water lakes west of the Mississippi.
It is 24 miles long, 13 miles wide and no more than 12 feet deep.
As a shallow lake it is very susceptible to disruption
and pollution.  Thus only 2 of the original 13 fresh water fish
still live in its waters and they are both endangered
not only from the introduction of other detrimental species of
fish such as carp but from Agricultural and Industrial pollution
and run off.   The lake should be crystal clear if all were well.
Its cloudiness is evidence of damage.

 

I didn’t see much going on today in spite of the
parking lot full of cars.  But perhaps all the boaters
were out in their boats.

I’m expecting a big influx into the campground tonight
and for a lot of the folks who own these boats to take
them out in the morning along with all the inevitable
power boats and water skiers.

 

I wouldn’t mind being in one of those sail boats
and although I haven’t water skied in probably 25 years,
I’d give it a go if someone volunteered their equipment.
But probably we’ll check out the river in our kayaks instead.
Not sure about tomorrow since it is supposed to be in
the 90’s and I suspect very crowded.  But some time before we leave.

Here’s another look at the really lovely Wasatch Mountains from
the side of the Visitors Center.

We peddled over to see the drowned picnic area
and the road the used to lead to them and their parking area.
Or is that former picnic area?

Déjà vu from earlier this summer in Arkansas and Tennessee.

 

After riding around the park we left through the gate
and went onto the Provo River Parkway which begins
in the park they say but right now that part of it is
under water.  So we started on a different section.

It runs 15 miles to an upper Canyon
but we weren’t prepared for a 30 mile trip and
found that there are several detours along the
way for repairs to bridges etc that require that
you get out on the streets and ride.  Probably not for me.

But it was a nice ride while it lasted.

Sand bags along the river side in some places.

At the entrance to one of the sections of
the trail we found this ad for
a “race” I might like to do if I could
walk about half of it.  LOL
But I’ll bet this would be just the thing
for 10 miler half marathon friend Lynda.
What do you think Lynda?
Want to come on out here on your way to Oregon?

There were many water fowl in the water and along
the path.  Since I took all of my pictures on the bike
and didn’t get off, this is really the only one that came out
decently.

The further we got away from the lake into which the
river empties, the more rapid the river was flowing.

Apparently the trail goes under the interstate
and they are repairing that bridge.
Remember all the construction on I15 that
I showed you was ruining the views of the mountains
when we came in.   Well, here’s the other side…..

So we turned around and headed back.
The water was flowing even faster.
They have an extraordinary amount of
snow melt this year.

Some guys had been hiking down the trail from the canyon
when we went biking up the “parkway” and on our way back, they
had decided to enjoy the river.

It really is a great ride through lovely scenery.

 

The white stuff on the ground and in the air is
the cotton from the Cottonwood tree.  It’s everywhere.
There’s enough to knit at least a pair of sox in every 6’
of path.  All over the park, our patio and all of Provo.

 

 

At the end of one section, rather than repeat where we had been,
we went out onto the road and found it was also scenic, quiet
and little to no traffic.

 

Great views of the mountains and local farms

 

We cut over to a section of bike/walking path that
I had run yesterday.  It runs along along the lake
and by the campground.
I knew it only went 1/2 mile
at this point because of flooding from the lake.
See the water on the left.

But the path was nice, and the pedestrians careful
looks like his mama taught him
to look both ways before crossing
:-)

When we began to see detritus on the path
we knew it wouldn’t be long until
we’d have to turn back

And sure enough,
we saw the work machines being used
to try to get the water and muck off of the
path. So we turned around to  peddle the 3/4 mile or so back
to the park.

By then it was early evening and time for dinner.
A lazy day.
And just what I needed.
SO great to have control over the pace of your life!!