Next camping trip starts Saturday.

A

againstthegrain

Senior Member
Location
Sun Valley, ID
Headed down to Zion NP and then over to Bear's Ears National Monument, Natural Bridges NM and Hovenweep NM. We'll do some hiking including one to the Moon House Ruins in Bears Ears. The Wx is supposed to be mid-50'sF down to low 20's F so it'll be nippy and not much day length. After we leave Zion (wife's never been) the payoff is exquisite dispersed camping, incredible ruins, solitude, and NO PEOPLE!!!




"The Moon House ruins are some of the best-preserved Anasazi ruins in Cedar Mesa. The ruins consist of three separate dwellings with a total of 49 rooms and features amazing pictographs on the interior surfaces of the walls. A large stone wall on the outside of the ruins creates a unique inner "courtyard" that can be entered through a small portal in the wall.

The hike to reach the ruins is moderate, but short. It includes some steep traverses across slickrock as you descend into McCloyd canyon and then climb up the opposite side to the ruins. The hike is a total of just 3.2 miles round trip unless you want to explore further down the canyon to find additional ruins. This entire area is now protected as part of the newly minted Bears Ears National Monument as of Dec. 28th, 2016."




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It’s been years. Zion is my favourite NP, though all of them are wonderful. I can’t remember which ruins we saw in NM. It was way back when we had a propane fuel F150 that decided to let us down. A cooking hot summer day and we were sitting in the head of construction for almost half an hour. Our truck wouldn’t start. We sure got a lot of dirty looks. We enjoyed seeing the ruins and everything around that area.

Wishing you a great trip.
 
I'm hoping it works out, But its getting up and down from the ground, especially if I've been laying on it all night. Looking forward to it... so long time friends from around the country some I haven't seen in years.
 
Got our camper put up for winter. Maybe in 5 months we can go camping again.
 

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Pull in to Watchman's CG at Zion National Park afternoon on Sunday and soon enough 2 does and a yearling pass by on the opposite bank of N Fork of The Virgin River. Then seconds later this mature 4 pt climbs up the bank from the river bed trailing the does. They were in the middle of the rut at the time, but these does han't come in to season yet. A couple hours later there was a 1 1/2 year old buck trailing the buck and does at a very respectful distance.



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Spent a few hours setting up, trying to avoid humans in the CG. Had an exciting moment backing into our spot as a 11-12 yo girl comes zipping by on a bike ready to eat a fender. I was saved by my wife's spotting and open windows. Anyway I despise CG's like this but it was worth it. Far different than in 1979 rolling through Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon on spring break backpacking.

These pics are all from the Watchman's CG. There are still green leaves in mid November.

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The moon rise.


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againstthegrain said:
Headed down to Zion NP and then over to Bear's Ears National Monument, Natural Bridges NM and Hovenweep NM. We'll do some hiking including one to the Moon House Ruins in Bears Ears. The Wx is supposed to be mid-50'sF down to low 20's F so it'll be nippy and not much day length. After we leave Zion (wife's never been) the payoff is exquisite dispersed camping, incredible ruins, solitude, and NO PEOPLE!!!




"The Moon House ruins are some of the best-preserved Anasazi ruins in Cedar Mesa. The ruins consist of three separate dwellings with a total of 49 rooms and features amazing pictographs on the interior surfaces of the walls. A large stone wall on the outside of the ruins creates a unique inner "courtyard" that can be entered through a small portal in the wall.

The hike to reach the ruins is moderate, but short. It includes some steep traverses across slickrock as you descend into McCloyd canyon and then climb up the opposite side to the ruins. The hike is a total of just 3.2 miles round trip unless you want to explore further down the canyon to find additional ruins. This entire area is now protected as part of the newly minted Bears Ears National Monument as of Dec. 28th, 2016."




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Such gorgeous country! …. it’s been years, but we did a lot of traveling through-out the SW every chance we could, especially while living in Arizona..
Unrivaled in natural beauty.
 


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