day 06.

I woke up eager to get going in hopes of service, but it never came. Although, I did my morning routine, thankful for the actual facilities the campground provided. I used those to brush my teeth and look in the mirror. No showers, but I made do.

On this particular morning, I was approached by a ranger, asking for my slip (receipt of payment for the campground from the previous night). Yall know what the night before was like, and I knew I hadn’t paid, so I lied. She questioned it, but ultimately said whatever. Needless to say, this had me wanting to get going and be on my way. So instead of driving back out to the front of the park for service to let my peoples know I made it through the night, I had the brilliant thought of, “let me just go through the park and I’m sure there’s service once I go a little further.”

W R O N G !

No service. AT ALL. Throughout the ENTIRETY of the park. I never wanted to let anyone else know I didn’t have service so I didn’t ask if anyone else was experiencing the same. So it could be that it’s just AT&T that had no towers, but I truly had nothingggggggg. Per usual, the park took longer than I thought, and tbh it was hard to enjoy it because I knew my mom, in particular, would be stressing about not having heard from me.

Capitol Reef was insane though. The sandstones literally look like reefs, and there are so many signs once you get to the unpaved turnouts about flash floods. They are so windy and deep, if water were to come through, high chance you wouldn’t make it out alive. That really frightened me at this park. The eerie constant reminder of being small, and unreachable. Whew. I still did everything I wanted, except for one unpaved road. In the camper it just didn’t feel safe after traveling 20 minutes down one prior. It was also incredibly windy at Capitol Reef. The park is so large, one section of it is named after a legendary criminal who was rumored to have a hideout in the reef that was never found.

Another unique characteristic of this park was the petroglyphs! Literal drawings left behind by ancestors that lived there centuries ago. Really fascinating stuff if you ask me.

By the time I made it out it was about 1230 pm MST. And I was getting floods of texts wondering where I was, and warnings of how long I had before the search party kicked off. I am grateful to have my loved ones on it, and I know everyone doesn’t have over-protective loved ones looking out for them, but please please please be cognizant going into this park!! THERE IS NO SERVICE. And in December it was very UNpopulated. Have a specific time you plan on arriving and leaving, and make sure to communicate that to people before you even get close to driving into the park.

After this stressful ass night/morning, I was ready to hit the road and venture to my next stop, Fishlake National Forest.

Followed my GPS to Fishlake National Forest, and end up at a sketchy unpaved road with a weird half open gate. Thankfully my common sense kicked in, and I just couldn’t take another stressful journey on this day. I decided to call (legit whatever number was on google for the forest), for information on a paved road, and someone actually answered! V kind girl that directed me on how to drive through the forest on paved roads on my way to my next stop. Best case scenario if you asked me. Also the first time I could actually be on time/early in my itinerary.

Thank goodness I made this pivot, because I arrived at the lava tubes and it was obscure af, okay?! Probably 30 minutes of me going 15 mph in the middle of nowhere. It was spooky. Cool, but spooky.

Something didn’t feel right, cause it was the first time I even thought to check the weather, and I’m so glad I did. Literal winter storm warning approaching. And I mean coming quickly, like within the hour. I walked around the lava tubes and by now, the sun had begun setting. It’s getting dark. I can’t imagine driving on those roads in the dark, or the snow. Disaster. I was eager to sleep at the lava tubes because its flat and it would’ve been gorgeous at sunrise, and it was FREE. After all these full tanks, and park fees, I was looking forward to staying on some BLM lands. But the pros didn’t outweigh the cons, and I left. I had looked up a KOA Journey nearby and pulled up there well after the sun had set.

This was the most expensive campground, and had the most annoying management. BUT, it had the nicest showers, and that saved me. The property manager did the most tracking me down once I got there, she was kinda rude, and really the only unpleasant interactions I had with anyone on the whole trip, happened there with her. The details don’t matter, but I tried to get a firepit going, and that was a bust because of the wind + storm coming. I was hungry for actual meat, and got some Mexican from down the street (it was pretty good too lol) and then, I just parked that camper and fell asleep to the snow coming down. It was kinda perfect. Whew, end to the most aggy day of the trip.

day 05.

day 07.