May Trip P7 - Tour through Capital Reef and Overnight at Hite Campground

After leaving Mystic Hot Springs, we headed to Denny's in Salina, Utah and had a great breakfast. We then drove to and through Capital Reef National Park. It's a pretty cool drive. There was an impressive lightning show when we arrived at Capital Reef so we only drove through.

We drove south from Capital Reef and ended up at Hite Overlook and decided to stay overnight at Hite Marina Campground in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The overlook area was spectacular.

Lake Powell is very low so there wasn't much lake left. There is the Colorado river flowing by but it was nearly impossible to hike down to it from the Hite Marina Campground.

Our camp spot location: 37.873085, -110.395425

Without the lake, Hite is extremely quiet. We had a great time there with much solitude. We saw maybe four other campers the whole time we were there.  There is a little store just up the road where you can get expensive gas and some ice and other essential camping and boating supplies. But no one is buying boating supplies these days.

There is a fee to camp of about $14 a night (plus a National Park pass). This is without the senior discount.

Headed to Capital Reef National Park.

It was raining so we didn't stop to hike. But it was beautiful all the same.

Spectacular views.

We always enjoy Capital Reef National Park.

Greg and the view from Hite Overlook.

The view at Hite Overlook.

Karen and the view at Hite Overlook.

Going over the Colorado River.

Our picnic table at Hite Marina Campground.

Our camp spot at Hite Campground.

The view from our camp spot.

It's a pretty big risk to launch here these days. There is no lake anymore.
Will it ever return?

The views were amazing.

Our spot. Beautiful solitude

The bathroom with scooby-doo rock behind.

Scooby-Doo !!!!!

Sunset approaches.

Breakfast time.

The Monkeys with our solar lights.

Monkeys with our Renology solar panel.

A very lonely buoy.

Hite is a place you want to avoid in the hot summer months, but otherwise it's a really pleasant place with amazing views in every direction.

If your looking for peace and quiet, this is definitely the place. Don't tell anyone! We really enjoyed out stay and will certainly return!

May Trip P3 - Lone Rock on Lake Powell - Utah

After the Overland Expo, we headed to Lake Powell.  There is a "Lone Rock" boondocking section of Lake Powell not far from Page, AZ where you can boondock on a beautiful sandy beach area for about $14 a night. It's a great spot. We stopped at the Walmart in Page to restock before hitting Lone Rock Beach.

There were a lot of other RVs on the beach during our stay. We caught an incredible full moon rise coming up over the lake. This was a really relaxing spot. It probably would be a little too hot in the middle of summer, but late May was wonderful.

Lone Rock to the left.

Enjoying our portable campfire and the moon rise.

Houseboat Hotel

We spotted this houseboat that never left the beach. Apparently they we using the houseboat as a hotel in addition to their travel trailers.

Enjoying the beach while recharging our battery with our portable solar panel.

The Monkeys liked this place!

The incredible full-moon rise.

Karen reading on the beach.

A model and gaggle of photographers suddenly show up.

Photographers trying to get the perfect shot.

In the middle of the day about five vans pulled up right next to our spot and out jumped a bunch of photographers and a couple of young models. They surrounded our camp.

It was entertaining to watch the models and photographers flitting about trying to get some great shots with Lone Rock. At one point one of the models swam in her drip dry fancy dress through a small cove and over to where she could climb out on a point for the perfect shot for the photographers with Lone Rock behind her. She was earning her money that day.

We had a great stay at Lone Rock. There are unique portable flush bathrooms interspersed along the beach. There is also a large bathroom with trash containers further away from the beach. There are no other facilities so bring everything you need including a lot of water.

We shall return!

Colorado River Trip - Part 4 - Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Valley of Fire, Snowbird Mesa

After my overnight in Vegas it was nice to be headed back out into the wilderness.  I drove southeast to Boulder City and then dropped down into the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

(I have a link to a place I stayed overnight at the bottom of this blog.)

Map of Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Boulder Beach Campground. 

Las Vegas Bay Area.

Las Vegas Bay area.

Pointing at Map.

The Lake Mead National Recreation area is huge and has a bunch of great camping areas with hookups and they are relatively cheap!  Ten bucks at some places like Boulder Beach. Five with a golden age pass.  I was impressed.  Karen and I will definitely spend time here in the future.

A primitive boondocking access road. Bumpy!

Designated Primative boondocking sites.

There are many designated boondocking sites in the vast recreation area.  I'm not exactly sure how they work but it appeared they were free to use after paying your park entry fee.  This little orange house symbol designates a primitive camping area.  Some of the areas had one site basically, some had wide areas where many RVs could fit.

Callville Bay Campground Area

Callville Bay Marina Area

Callville Bay Marina Area

Callville Bay was a pleasant area with some nice RV campgrounds.

Echo Bay area campground

Forever Resort company runs an RV Village at Echo Bay.  The best sites cost $30 a night (plus county tax) for full-hookups.  Forever also rents houseboats out of Callville Bay.  It would be fun to park an RV and take a houseboat out on Lake Mead for a few days.  They aren't cheap to rent. It looks like about $500 a day in May, $600-700 in mid-summer.  Split with some friends, it might be doable.

Echo Bay area.

Stewart's Point boondocking area. 

I drove down a bumpy dirt road to Stewart's Point, which is a boondocking area with a pit toilet. Stewart's Point can hold a lot of RVs.  It's right along the shoreline and seemed like it would make a great RV boondocking spot.  I plan to find out one day.

Somehow I passed popular Government Wash on my drive.  I wanted to see this boondocking area. I've read a lot about many RVers staying here.  You can stay 14 days by just purchasing a $10 weekly pass, it appears. What a sweet deal!  So close to "civilization" and yet so far!

Valley of Fire State Park view.

Valley of Fire State Park view.

Atlatl Rock Campground in Valley of Fire State Park.

Next, I cruised on up to the Valley of Fire Nevada State Park.  It's amazing and stunning. If Nevada hadn't made it a state park, I am sure it would be a National Park.  It's $20 to drive in and well worth it.  The park has a spectacular campground - the Atlatl Rock Campground - that I will definitely return to with Karen.  She will love it. She loves red rocks!

View towards Overton, Nevada from Snowbird Mesa.

Camping at the edge of Snowbird Mesa.

Towards sunset I headed to Snowbird Mesa (a.k.a. Poverty Flats) just south of Overton, Nevada. It's a popular boondocking site where I have read that many folk stay all winter long.  I can see why. It's a great spot with fantastic views.  I parked on the edge of the mesa facing the road to Overton below. After setting up my chair and fire ring, I was set and greatly enjoyed the evening.  I heated up a hot dog (soy dog) over my fire and enjoyed it.  What a fantastic view.

There were fellow boondockers all over the mesa area around me, but still no one was too close to anyone else, which made it nice.

A nice looking history museum in Overton Nevada.

The next morning I headed into Overton.  It's a really cute little town. They have a nice grocery store. I spotted this history museum from the road and pulled in to take a close look at the building.  The site was once an Indian village.  I plan to return and take a tour with Karen.

It's was time to return to Las Vegas and meet Karen at the Flamingo Hotel. I parked the van behind Bally's again and left it there for a few days while we were at the Flamingo.

I was happy that I had the chance to take a quick tour of so many cool boondocking spots along the Colorado river corridor.  It gave me confidence that a full-time RV lifestyle was not only possible, but really practical and totally enjoyable.  I will return!

Karen plans to write a post about the Vegas visit and then our return home via the Grand Canyon where we were trapped for a couple nights due to snow.

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Snowbird Mesa (a.k.a Poverty Flats) near Overton, Nevada MAP:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/36°29'07.0"N+114°26'48.2"W