Monday, 5/17/21: The Perfect Move
At my dining room table back in February, while I was pouring over my maps, books, apps, and atlases, I spotted the perfect BLM dispersed campsite, called Rock Springs Bend. Located near Cannonville, just a couple of miles from Kodachrome State Park. It is the perfect jumping off spot for a ton of explorations. Let’s see, we could hit Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park, the slot canyons along Skutumpah Road, Grosvenor Arch and trails along Cottonwood Road, Kodachrome Basin State Park, the slot canyons along Hole-In-The-Wall Road, Calf Creek Falls and Escalante River Trails, the incredible highway 12 (the Million Dollar Road), the Burr Trail Byway, etc.
What are the odds of finding a spot in such a wonderfully placed free campsite? There are a handful of alternatives, but they are all far less conveniently placed. It was time to apply my strategy. It is Monday. We left our Old 89 BML campsite at 7:30 am. It was only 77 miles to Rock Springs Bend, so we expected to reach the site around 9:00 to 9:30 am.
Although free, we still had to get a permit to camp from the Cannonville BLM Visitor’s Center, which is conveniently placed on our way to Rock Springs. We also hit a lot of road construction, so we didn’t drive into Rock Spring until 10:00 am.
Well, did we find a spot in this perfect spot that I have been eyeing up for months? You bet we did. In fact, there was only one other camper, well away from our site.
We went into the town of Tropic to find a laundromat. We found a small one with only three washers and three dryers. The weather was odd. Black cells gathered overhead. My weather app told me that lightening struck within 5 miles of us and we’d better take cover. I did hear some thunder several times. I checked my radar app and cells were popping up just to the West of us. To reach our new campsite we have just a 3/4 mile stretch of sandy washboard road to navigate. However, rain could easily turn that into a quagmire so we were a little apprehensive about these ominous looking clouds overhead. My Dark Skies app warned that precipitation would start in 10 minutes and last for an hour.
But....., not a drop hit the ground. The cells kind of dissipated right over the town of Tropic. No quagmire today, I guess.
We met a world-traveling couple in the laundromat. The husband was French but born and raised in South Africa. His wife was from Switzerland. Like the world traveling couple we met at Big Bend National Park, they put our 13-country travels to shame. Jeez, we should have started at 18 years old.
Anyway, that was about all we accomplished today. We have big plans for the rest of the week.
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