After spending a good long time in beautiful Wyoming, after Labor Day, Pearl finally took us to a new state (for her): Utah! We had made reservations a couple of days ahead of time at Holiday Hills RV Park, solely so that we could ride the historic Union Pacific Rail Trail, and we're so glad we did. It was amazing! But first, a little about the park. It was actually behind a motel in the small town of Coalville and nicer than I expected. The park offers full hookup sites for $29.10 per night with the Good Sam discount. We took advantage of their inexpensive laundry facilities, which at $1.25 for a wash and $1.00 for a dry were a great deal. They only have two of each machine, but the washers were huge!. The park is right off the interstate for easy in and out, but there was some road noise, which is really our only "ding" on this park. There's a small convenience store where we checked in, and the town of Coalville and the rail trail are only about 1/4 mile away, on the other side of the interstate. Someone does need Spellcheck, though! All the sites are pull-through but are basically just parking places alongside the road, We got lucky, as some sites had full sun and very small grassy areas alongside. Our site was nicely shaded and backed up to a beautiful grassy "back yard" right along Holiday Creek. With plenty of shade trees and cows in the field behind, it was serene and peaceful, just the type of rural setting that we love. Here's the view from our site. There were lots of birds around, especially the Magpies that are so common in this part of the country (but still a bit exotic to us). And this massive platform nest, which might be an Osprey nest. There is plenty of water around, so that wouldn't be too surprising, though we never saw one.
0 Comments
Although we hated to leave, we needed to be moving along, so finally bid Grand Teton National Park a fond farewell. Our next stop would be a short one, just one night, as we already had reservations for the two nights after that in a spot where we wanted to ride a particular rail-trail. For our one night, we drove south to a small but very nice national forest campground, Allred Flat. On the way, the foliage was really getting nice. This was just the day after Labor Day so quite early by our standards, coming from the east and midwest. Allred Flat Campground is in the Bridger National Forest off Highway 89, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It is a lovely spot, though, very peaceful and quiet. When we arrived, we were surprised to see that there was not another soul there. This is one of the only times we've had this experience in a campground, and we love it when it happens. Since this campground doesn't take reservations, we could choose from all the sites! This campground is rustic and has no hookups. There are vault toilets and old timey hand-crank water pumps. Driving around the gravel loop, it was fairly tight, and there were a few overhanging trees, so it wouldn't be suitable for rigs much larger than ours (32'9" Class A). Our night cost us just $5 (half price) with Barry's Senior Pass.. We chose site 28 and pulled in facing the front, rather than backing in, which put the picnic table and "patio" area on the correct side of Pearl. It was such a nice spot to sit outside, with nothing but woods and birds around us. Here I am at the very old timey water pump. It was actually hard to crank and took far more than the 25 turns the sign purports (more like 100!), so this photo was just for laughs -- Barry did the actual pumping! A bit later, another motorhome did come into the campground. They didn't even drive around the loop but took the very first site. They probably didn't want to risk the overhanging branches and tight road. There were only the two of us there for the night! Oh, but there was wildlife keeping us company as well. We saw mule deer when we first arrived, and then later in the evening. Barry actually saw a whole herd! There were also plenty of birds, of course, including this one that Barry caught crossing the road, probably a Ruffed Grouse. There wasn't much in the way of cycling here, since the campground is right off the highway, but Barry rode his mountain bike around the gravel campground road. The road is quite hilly, making for a good workout for heart, lungs, and legs.
We enjoyed our brief stay here in this hidden gem of a campground and wished we could have stayed longer. But the next morning, we were Utah bound! Here are some "extra" photos we took while visiting Grand Teton National Park and the Jackson, Wyoming area. When I reported on the park scenery and wildlife in a previous post, I forgot that we had more photos in our September files, since we camped in the park over a month boundary (late August to early September). I only included August photos in the first post. So here are a few more that I wanted to share before moving on. We saw a sign at a pond right on the way to Jackson indicating that a group of Trumpeter Swans is sometimes seen here. Barry was lucky enough to see a whole family when he stopped once on a solo bike ride. Someone he spoke to there explained that the juveniles are normally the grayish color but a small percentage are white, like the adults. I verified that this is indeed the case; the white juveniles are called leucystic (Source: The Trumpeter Swan Society). In this case, these are two adults with two juveniles, one of which is the unusual white color. What a lucky sighting! I wasn't lucky enough to see the Trumpeter family, but as we drove by in Pearl as we left the park, I did keep my eyes peeled on the pond and saw ONE of the white Trumpeters, so I too was able to add these beauties to my birding life list, much to my delight! Here are a few more shots taken from our campsite. It was so gorgeous there; we never wanted to leave. We hated to leave the gorgeous Tetons behind but hope to visit again in the future. Next up we travel south to a hidden gem of a national forest campground. Stay tuned!
|
Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
Favorite Travel Blogs |