Boondocking in Utah - Near Rabbit Valley Overlook

Sunday, April 14

Martha and I left the overcrowded cesspool that is the I-25 Corridor of the Colorado Front Range at 8:30 AM, heading west on the I-70 super slab.

We made good time, had good weather, and though quite slow on the uphill portions of the mountain areas, the VRRV did just fine.  It even reported almost 9 MPG when we refueled in Rifle, CO.

Here's some shots by Martha with her iPhone as we went through the Glenwood Canyon portion of I-70.  A very scenic portion of the interstate!

We refueled at Rifle, CO.  Had to wait a bit while the below hunters did their weekly grocery shopping while tying up a gas lane.  How do you like the guy's "camie jammies"?

We made it to our camp spot, near the Rabbit Valley Overlook area off of exit 227 once you cross the border into Utah on I-70.

We missed the first turn but that worked out OK because the next spot had a nice and wide spot for the rig with Honda CR-V in tow.

The cell signal is weak, we had to use the weBoost, but the area is quite nice and has several dispersed camping spots well distanced from each other.  

The CR-V guards the entrance to the camp site

Spent a lot of the afternoon troubleshooting an intermittent running of the water pump.  It would cut on without any visible leaks anywhere, run for a second or two, then cut off.  Rather annoying.

Tried the spare water pump (which I had refurbed but not really tested) and it turned out to have a leak.  So I put the existing pump back on and noticed that there was a 15 degree tilt or so of the tubing leading to the intake line.  

So I leveled the lines back up, confirmed it still drew water and now there's a small box supporting the lines near where the draw tube is located.  This seemed to solve the intermittent on/off issue.  Weird.

Monday, April 15

Happy Tax Day?

Under windy and blustery skies, we did a short ride in the CR-V down to the Westwater BLM Campground and Boat Ramp.  It provides a few dry campsites for $20/night but mainly boat access to the Colorado River.

Returning to camp, the sun broke through finally and the rest of the day was sunny though cool.  After a late lunch, I went out riding on Yagi, my TW200 while Martha read inside the VRRV.

I found the nearby Kokopelli trail and wandered about looking for views.  I missed the turn at first and ended up in some gnarly technical bits of the trail, lots of loose rocks and ruts.

Here's a view of distant rocks and mesas from the furthest point I rode to before turning back:

Finding the right trail, I rode to the junction of Arches Loop and Overlook Trail.  The terrain got quite steep on the Arches loop and the Overlook Trail wasn't much better so I turned around after getting these pics:

Coming down off the hills, I spotted the campsite:

Can you see Uma?

I made it back to camp with no issues.  The weather was moving in as you can see and we're expecting a bit more sprinkles of rain this evening.  Tomorrow: Moab.

Tonight's sunset: