Three Peaks Recreation Area, Parowan Gap and Vermillion Cliffs,Utah

Thursday, October 12th

Driving back down Highway 12 past Bryce seemed to take no time at all. We made a quick stop in Panquitch for fuel and a few groceries, primarily a great steak for dinner. Back on the road we went north and took Highway 20 again to cut across the mountains to get back to I-15 to head south. This highway had the least amount of twists and turns and only .... a 14% grade compared to the other roads over these mountains. Again, it did not seem to take very long and we arrived at the Three Peaks County Park. Both Ray and I expected to see people here as it is only 15 minutes from Cedar City and is a well-known mountain bike park and OHV area. There is no one here except us. The fee envelope kiosk is empty and the water is shut-off (other than the spigot by the entrance) which looks like it has been recently done. Probably because of the freezing overnight temperatures. It is supposed to be $10/night but I guess it is free now. Bonus

Drive up West Midvalley Road and turn right into the "Three Peaks County Park" campsite sign just past the mountain bike marshalling area. From the kiosk the road to the right towards the large covered picnic table area is mostly for smaller rigs.  If you keep going past the kiosk (iron warden) on the main road in, then 200-300 yards later at the top of the hill, turn right at the next campsite sign. This is where the larger flatter sites are.  By not turning right at that road, the main road continues beyond the park and there are more free boondocking sites but only for the brave 4x4 vehicles with tents! The road has been severely washed out with recent rains.

Here is a picture of one of the mountain bike obstacles on the race course. Our son Garrett, would love this area to ride.

What a great place. The sites are well-spaced although the road into the sites are a little bumpy in places due to some recent rains. With a little maneuvering we ended up in a great spot for the next 5 days.

Freya's feet are getting cracked, mostly from the sharp shale-like pieces at the Hole in the Rock site, so out came her socks and boots after I slathered her feet with vasoline. Not too impressed!

Once set up we sat outside for the rest of the afternoon relaxing. We made a fire and I built us a little charcoal grill to cook our steak and baked potatoes as there is not a hibachi here. Dinner turned out fantastic, the rib steak very tender and medium rare just the way we like it. My Dad used to be able to cook on anything so I took a page out of his book.

I got a recipe on how to make Ribeye Steak like you get in a steakhouse. The trick apparently is ... (for those of you that are interested :) ) is to season the beef with salt and keep on counter for about 45 minutes. Then put in on the cool side of your grill/coals with just enough heat to give the meat some colour (tan looking). This should take about 20 to 30 minutes. Then take steak off, coat it in some oil ie veg oil, olive oil. bacon grease etc., generously season with pepper or other seasonings such as montreal steak spice and then put on screaming hot side of the grill for about 2 to 3 minutes per side to get it carmelized. Rest steak for 5 minutes and the whole steak will be medium rare ... and it was. One of the best steaks I have ever cooked. Definitely a do again.

Friday, October 13th

Woke up to 29F. Burrr. We had a very lazy morning and after the sun rose, Ray went for a walk with his camera for pics of the campsite and surrounding funky rocks. He is fascinated with all of the textures and colours of the lichen on the rocks and how whimsical the place looks (a much smaller version of Joshua Tree National Park). All I can think of is when Garrett and Kristi were small they would have loved to crawl over these rocks. This place must be over run with kids in the summer.

There's four or five more nice campsites back in there.

Today is restocking the larder day in Cedar City.  I have not been to a Walmart since we left Canada, over 3 weeks ago, so definitely need to stock up on paper supplies etc. Also Ray needs to stop at the State Liquor Store. Maybe I will buy something else to cook on my make-shift charcoal grill. We were back at home after 2 hours of shopping.  After unloading and having some lunch, spent the rest of the afternoon outside enjoying the sun.

At dinner time unfortunately the wind came up so cooking the burgers on the grill over charcoal in the firepit is a no go. Maybe tomorrow will be better. We just crawled into bed to watch some TV at 8:30 pm when we heard some vehicles arrive near us in the campsite in the pitch dark. As we are the only ones here .... I kept "peaking" out of the window to make sure they were campers not trouble makers, after all it was a Friday the 13th night! With this huge empty campsite, they ended up picking a spot very close to the back of us, geez ... clingons! Once seeing their trailer, I was relieved and we carried on watching our programs. Won't stop me putting on my generator at 6 am though!

Saturday, October 14th

Woke up at 5 am with the wind blowing quite strong so down goes the satellite dish. Cranked up the heat and crawled back into bed. Up again at 6 am and the wind slowing down. Ray and I enjoyed a lazy morning having coffee and then eggs benedict for breakfast as a special treat.

We waited for the sun to make an appearance so the air was warmer, and then decided where to go for todays adventure. It's still incredibly windy out, so we decided to take a short trip to the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs, located not far from where we are staying. Ray, Freya and I wandered around the small exhibit and then headed towards the town of Parowan on the other side of the Gap. We were somewhat out of the wind here so it was an enjoyable little walk.

Parowan Gap From Google, Ray was unable to get the shot because the sun was in the wrong spot.

Walkway along the petroglyphs.

A very informative display where they actually explain the petroglyphs.

A short driving distance from the Petroglyphs we noticed a sign for "Dinosaur Tracks" so of course we stopped there too. What interesting rock formations. The short trail around the exhibit showed several actual dinosaur tracks. Interestingly they were "outies" instead of "innie's" like we expected to see, so it took us a bit to notice them as we were looking for impressions. The first picture is missing it's third toe. Someone took it in the last couple of years as they have pictures of it in 2011 and it was still there.

I outlined the print so you can tell what it is.

This is the largest of their finds.  My hand is on top of it in the pic above this one.

Not very easy to see in the pictures however. Also along the short trail of Dino Tracks were some very interesting rock formations, mostly made from "Navajo Sandstone".

Looks like a petrified branch inside this rock.

Found a small "arch" for Freya to walk through.

The cliffs above the Dinosaur Track Exhibit.

Town of Parowan on the other side of the "Gap"

Next stop lunch. Ray'd googled for restaurants in the town of Parowan and this Chinese Food Place came up with great reviews (4.9). The Mountain Bistro is inside a motel and as we noticed when we were there, two asian bus tours stopped there for lunch as well, so it must be good. If you are every there here is the link. Mountain Bistro. The service is great, the staff friendly and the food is excellent, as reviewed. We made sure we ordered enough to have for dinner tonight, as well. Yumm.

After lunch, since we were so close to Yankee Meadows and The Vermillion Castle, we took a drive up the mountain to have a look see. Wow, totally amazing rock formations. The drive up Yankee Meadow road is stunning.

Further up the mountain the rocks start to appear.

Then the red in the rock shows up.

The "hoodoos" start to appear.

Then we came to the Vermillion Castle. OMG, the colours.

There is a 7.25 mile round trip hike to Vermillion Castle, but of course we opted for just the road trip. :)

After stopping so Ray could take a whole bunch of pictures, we carried up the mountain to look at Yankee Meadows. You used to be able to boondock here but the area is closed from a forest fire at Brian Head, near the ski resort last June,. This was human caused ... such a shame, the whole side of the mountain on both sides are black.  Over 40,000 acres burned and it even crossed Hwy 143 at least twice.

It was 5 C  colder up there than in Parowan at 12C (according to the car). Burrr.

Back at home, Freya relaxed in the sunshine on her mat and Ray and I hunkered down in the coach out of the cold wind. Ray did manage to get out to take a couple of pictures of the view from the campsite before sunset as it was very clear today. When we arrived it was very smoggy and stayed that way until this wind came up and blew it all out. We had another great day.

Sunday, October 15 - touring - 2 separate posts due to lots of pictures!

Monday, October 16

Today we will stay at home and have a lazy day. Ray needs to take a day off and rest his back after our driving trips over the past few days. He tells me it was so worth it though. We always have to balance things that we want to do with how much he can handle. He usually wants to do it anyways and certainly pays for it later, but life is short and you never know what is around the next corner health-wise.