Camping Close to Home

 Last weekend the weather was still nice and warm so we decided to fit in one more camping trip.  Usually when we go camping we head off somewhere that's at least a few hours from home, but this time we decided to see what was close by.  We got on the road and decided to see what was up in Monte Cristo.  What we found was a nice relaxing spot almost to ourselves with perfect weather and beautiful fall colors.

We were slowly looking for a camp spot, just taking random dirt roads to see where they went.  We were driving Jezebel the Jeep with Oliver the trailer following behind with all our gear.  We ended up on a smaller trail - one that I think is mostly used by ATVs.  It wasn't a problem until we took one turn that lead to a dead end.  We had to back up a ways to find a spot to turn around, and then the only spot we could find wasn't really big enough to turn the trailer around in.  We ended up very crooked and had to unhook Oliver and cut down a tree in order to get Jezebel turned around, then hook back up facing the other direction.  It took a little while, but wasn't really a problem.

We finally found a great place to set up camp.  It was almost to the end of a dead end road so it wasn't busy, and had plenty of shade.  It was big enough that we could have fit several more people with us.

We had a very relaxing afternoon, then took one more drive around the area.  We came to a trail that took us up to the top of a peak.  There were beautiful views in every direction.  You could even see Bear Lake!

Later, just as dusk was falling, we heard a large animal making some noises.  There was a small pond just down the hill from us so we thought that's where the noise was coming from.  Then Pat turned around to see a bull moose walking up the road next to our camp.  We got the dogs in the Jeep (I can just see Zoe trying to heard a moose...) and broke out the cameras.  It was too dark to get any great pictures, but you can at least tell what it is.

The next day we packed up camp and hit the road again.  We didn't want to go straight back home, so we decided to take the long way so that we could see Logan Canyon, which usually has spectacular fall color.  We circled around through Woodruff and Randolph, and entered Laketown at the south end of Bear Lake where we stopped to eat lunch  From there we took more dirt roads through the mountains.  On our way up Temple Canyon, Pat spotted this old snowmobile that had been abandoned in a pond.

And here's a section of road we drove through that just makes me feel all warm & fuzzy.  It was another beautiful day!

We drove past Old Ephraim's Grave, which was hopping busy.  For those who don't know, Old Ephraim is a local legend of a grizzly bear, both huge and intelligent, who harried the sheep farmers in the area for many years.

We continued down to Logan Canyon, where we stopped to play in the river for a while before heading home from our adventure.