In the northwest part of Wyoming, near the Continental Divide, the area around Brooks Lake offers expansive views of the Wind River and Absaroka Ranges, decent camping near good fishing, and both high peaks and quiet woods for hiking and exploring.
Category: Camping (Page 2 of 3)
Nature lovers cringe at the idea of a wildfire. Others walk by in a single moment of astonishment and then forget that it ever happened. The lightning bolt who is responsible for thousands of acres of land being scorched is long gone. What remains of it all is wasteland. On November 21st, 2007 the Ojo fire broke loose in the Manzano Mountains, Southwest of Albuquerque, NM at 3:00 am. By midday Ojo had eaten through over 3000 acres of beautiful forest, forcing tens of thousands of wildlife inhabitants and no less than 100 families to flee the area. Within days it had engulfed 7000 acres of once luscious forest, including homes, farms, and ranches which forced locals to move their livestock to holding areas away from danger. Families were dropped from wealthy homeowners to poor shelter inhabitants in a single day.
Camping in Goose Neck State Park, Utah was one of the greatest challenges I have faced in my outdoor experience so far. The climate was excruciating, the soil was soft and the insects and reptiles were plentiful. Alone with a close friend, a first-time camper, we attempted to pitch our tent in the soft soil, start an un-successful fire, and were continuously assaulted by an ever growing windstorm. Our first night turned into a long list of un-pleasant events including, setting up camp in the dark, being utterly and terrifyingly lost, and being bombarded by a tsunami of light seeking insects.
Sunday had finally come; we woke at 7:30 a.m. our bag’s had been packed the night before as not to waste time bagging our first fourteen. The consensus was that we would get the biggest one out of the way and the rest would be easy, ha. When we arrived at the trailhead there were several vehicles indicating that it would be a busy day. The sun was shining; not a cloud in sight and the smell of spruce and freshly melted snow lingered through the crisp mountain air. What a perfect way to start the morning. We could see that there was a significant amount of snow on the peak, but we didn’t account for the snow that was just below the tree line, so the snowshoes were left in the truck.
We reached Goblin Valley about 5:30 p.m.; The campgrounds were full which meant we saved $16 and camped just outside by the petroglyphs. Unfortunately these petroglyphs are getting graffitied over by idiots and it looked as though someone had taken souvenir pieces, some @$$%^&# used another for target practice. We did get a chance to walk around the goblins, I had never been there before so it was quite interesting. Not really what I expected, the pictures actually make this place look better. I would not suggest going here. You’ve seen one desert formation you have seen them all. A wise man named Edward Abbey once had something similar to say about the desert; there is nothing to see, so stay out!, it’s a desert! There is no water and hardly any shade. We were very fortunate to be there on a full moon. We climbed a plateau and could see all the way to Colorado that was pretty amazing.
Double checking his GPS coordinates, my husband Robert crawls behind a bush and peers under the rim of a transformer box. We are off the pathway and drawing unwanted attention. The nearby museums and zoo are popular tourist destinations and the area is swarming with “muggles” (geocachers term for nosey non-geocachers). Out-of-towners wearing flip flops and toting cameras, cast curious glances our way. We try to appear inconspicuous, but it isn’t working, especially when Robert suddenly shouts, “Found it!” and pulls a small matchbook case from under the transformer box. Normally, a grown man crawling through the bushes is cause for alarm, but there is nothing to be worried about today. We are geocaching.