Boondocking just outside Dinosaur National Monument

Back in 2018, Dwayne and I found this boondocking spot through the Escapees Days End Directory. We were coming across Colorado, and the description of this spot sounded good, so we headed there. It is not possible to boondock on National Park (or National Monument) land unless you are within an organized campground, but, for Dinosaur National Monument - Canyons, the only part of the land that is national monument is the road into the canyons for about 19 miles -- then it extends out to views of the canyons. The land on either side of the road is managed by BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and is used for grazing cattle and boondocking is allowed. The particular spot that Dwayne and I found is about 12 miles in along the National Monument road, going just a short distance off, across a cattle guard on a county road:

Harper's Corner Road is the National Monument road leading back to the canyons. Blue Mountain Road is the county road that intersects with Harper's Corner. Google maps access here

On Friday, in my Facebook memories, it just so happened that a post that Dwayne made in 2018 came up...

Dwayne's post and pictures from 2018

I had wanted to share this special place with Carl, and that's the spot that Carl and I got to on Thursday afternoon (I didn't realize until Friday that we were going to be there on the same days as those that Dwayne and I were there seven years previously)...

View off toward the southwest from the plateau boondocking location

Sun setting in the west

Gracie and the Jee-rage in the boondocking spot

Gracie and the Jee-rage with the sun setting

Carl got a picture of me coming towards him - if you click on the picture, you might see that my hair is very bushy -- it was quite windy when we got there.

Sunset

Sunset view

Gracie with me beside the rig

When we got to the boondocking spot, it was quite warm (high 80s) and very windy -- so we ran the generator for a few hours to be able to cool the rig down, not wanting to open the windows with all the dust blowing. By sunset, the wind had moderated some, and once the sun went down, the temperature cooled considerably and we were able to enjoy a cool breeze coming through our bedroom window for a good night's sleep.

Continuing on our way east...

On Thursday, after extending our stay at Strawberry Bay Campground a few extra days (and considering extending even more!), we pulled up stakes and continued on our journey east...

First -- another picture in the area near Strawberry Reservoir. It is so green and pretty -- and there are a number of areas around the reservoir where boondocking is free in the National Forest land.

As we were driving through Roosevelt, Utah, we saw this American flag and soldier silhouette, up on a bluff next to US40. It turns out that, although the flag was raised in 2023, the silhouette was just installed in May of this year, just before Memorial Day (https://www.basinnow.com/soldier-silhouette-installed-by-large-flag-above-cemetery-in-roosevelt-city/).

As we continued east, it appeared to be much drier and the ground a lot browner.

We stopped in Vernal, Utah, for groceries, a free birthday breakfast at Denny's for Carl, and fuel. 

At the fuel stop, we saw this interesting "toy hauler" trailer. Often, we see toy hauler 5th wheels, and the back of the trailer opens as a ramp so the "toys" can be disgorged -- and then the "garage" area becomes a living area (office, kid's room with bunks folding down from the wall, etc). In this design, the living area is only in the front section (https://genesissupremerv.com/overnighter-toyhauler-trailers-new/).

As we continued east, we eventually crossed into....

... Colorado!!! This is a big event for us -- faithful readers (especially if you use the web to look up the blog entries) may have noticed that on our "North America Visited" image on the right frame that we have had only two states remaining that we have not visited as a couple (each of us have individually visited all 50 states) -- Colorado and Kentucky. If you consider what a map of the US looks like, it would seem that maybe we've been doing figure-8s for the past 5 years! At any rate, our plan this summer was to "collect" those last two states -- and on Thursday, we collected Colorado (and the North America Visited image has been appropriately updated!).

Note that in that picture, it is hard to justify being welcomed to "colorful" Colorado... 

We continued on to the Canyon side of Dinosaur National Monument, in northwest Colorado... 

... heading up into the national monument -- Colorado's colors are starting to show!

As we climbed, we could see way off into the distance -- even though blowing dust and possibly some smoke is making it look hazy.

It is a big day to collect one of our last states!

Some final pictures around Strawberry Bay Campground

Some more pictures from bike riding around Strawberry Bay Campground.

We rode up to the group camping area -- the spot is further away from the lake and has 6 different group camping areas, each able to accommodate 10 camping units (of up to 8 people each). (It is about $250/night for each of the group camping areas.) This area has 6 different group areas designated -- so you may be camping with up to 5 other groups in that area.

When we were biking through that group area, we saw these pretty flowers...

... beautiful yellow flowers...

... they were quite prolific!

The campground was spread over a large area... we would stop at different places and try to find where Gracie was. The arrow points to her location...

... and from another place, across part of the reservoir -- Gracie is *waay* over there!

We really liked Strawberry Bay Campground, and hope to return at some point in the future (some summer in the future).

Bike riding around Strawberry Reservoir

There is quite a large recreational area here at Strawberry Reservoir, so we decided to get the bikes out and ride around...

Bikes stowed in the Jee-rage

We were riding around the various camping loops -- I was pointing at holes that were dug out near the roadway -- they looked like groundhog holes. It looks like I'm riding off in the middle of nowhere, but right over the top of the hill...

... we came down to a neighboring camping loop.

Many of the camping loops are nearer the water than where we are located.

We decided to ride over to the part of the reservoir where the marina is located -- also a restaurant and gift shop.

Looking back across the reservoir to where Gracie is parked

Beautiful views of the reservoir all around!

We are enjoying this beautiful spot! 

Neighbors in the campground

We are seeing a lot of certain neighbors at the campground...

When we first saw them, we thought they were some kind of chipmunk -- the way they moved, though the coloring was wrong.

The small ones are the size of a mouse, but with a slightly fuzzy tail.

You may be able to get a better idea of the size next to the fire pit/grill on our patio.

With the tail up like this, it really looks like the mannerisms of a chipmunk.

This is a smaller one -- they seem to be of two different sizes -- we think that this smaller size are this spring's offspring, and the larger ones are adults born in a previous year.

We asked the camp host, and they indicated that these are ground squirrels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uinta_ground_squirrel). 

We are hoping that none of them get into our bays or into the house area of Gracie!

Beautiful campground!

We stopped at Strawberry Bay campground, on Strawberry Reservoir, for a week...

View from our patio, located at the back of Gracie

There are very few trees, which gives us great views out across the reservoir.

We liked it so much our first few days that we decided to extend two more nights! (There was a site available, so we booked it!)

From Welcome Station, heading east

We got back to Welcome Station RV Park on Monday afternoon (reuniting with Miss Kitty and Gracie -- Miss Kitty was ably taken care of by our friend Gayle). We then packed up to leave on Tuesday morning...

Many friends bidding us goodbye as we prepared to leave...

Coming over the last hills in eastern Nevada, we could see the salt flats near Wendover, Utah.

I-80 across the salt flats area

We made it through Salt Lake City with no problem, and then I-80 was climbing on its way to Park City...

Steep climbs...

... beautiful hills.

Very green

It was really a beautiful drive -- we stopped for fuel and lunch, and then headed south on US-40 on our way to Heber City. After a brief stop for groceries at Walmart, we headed on to Strawberry Bay campground, on Strawberry Reservoir, to our campsite for a week.

Flowers in the hotel atrium

We had enjoyed looking at the flowers in the hotel atrium at the Margaritaville Resort. On Sunday, we had talked with a lady who was cleaning/watering the plants and she told us that her company had the contract to keep the plants looking nice in this and a few other hotels and businesses in the Lake Tahoe area.

The planting near the elevators in the main atrium (the lady was spraying the leaves of the tall plant on the right to prevent mealybugs).

Google Lens tells me that this is Guzmania ligulata, also known as the scarlet star or vase plant.

Google Lens identifies this as Phalaenopsis amabilis, also known as a moth orchid.

Also identified as moth orchid

moth orchid

moth orchid

Another scarlet star

moth orchid

moth orchid

moth orchid

moth orchid

moth orchid

moth orchid

Google Lens also says this is a scarlet star

scarlet star with peace lily behind

This is also indicated as an orange Guzmania bromeliad.

When we were talking with the lady who was spraying the plants, she mentioned that they replace the flowering plants once a month, and if you happen to be there when they are replacing them, you can get the previous month's plants for free, as they just throw them away! Unfortunately, we were there in the middle of the life of these particular plants so we didn't bring any home (and it is just as well as I am famous for killing any plants on my watch!).

More flowers than you probably wanted to see, but they were so pretty and we enjoyed seeing them every time we walked by!