Finding our Space

We left Moab after an amazing three weeks and hit the road south towards Blanding, UT and Bear’s Ears National Monument. Bob had found us a place through freecapsites.net and it sounded ideal. We were only moving about 70 miles this trip so it was definitely going to be one of our shortest moves ever, but it would put us right in the heart of the monument.

Bear’s Ears is massive, covering over 1,351,849 acres of public land. There is quite a bit of controversy surrounding the designation of this area, and I am not going to get into the pros and cons and politics here. What I will say is that after spending a month in this area, we have changed some views….in both directions. Do some research, visit and spend time here. Get to know some of the local people and listen to their thoughts. You will be rewarded in many ways.

We knew that we would need a more centralized location to be able to visit many parts of the monument over the next couple weeks. The directions to get to our spot were a little vague, and we took the wrong road into Recapture Reservoir. Luckily, we had room on the dirt road to unhook the jeep and turn the motorhome around. Drove up to the south end of the lake and I went down in the jeep to check it out while Bob stayed up top. GOOD THING! The dirt and large rock filled road was sketchy even in the jeep, and the straight drop off down the side of a cliff didn’t help. I found a place to turn around and came back up and met Bob at the top, so thankful that he hadn’t made a decision to follow me. We went on into the town of Blanding and stopped at the visitor center and had a great chat with the volunteer. He got us headed in the right direction and we found the wide paved road that led down to the lake. (directions below). Set up camp right near the water, cottonwoods gently blowing in the breeze and the signs of deer prints all around us. We were the only ones there and we watched as the sun set over the lake through the bright yellow leaves of the trees.

The next morning, we decided that we would go ahead and leave the bus there and go exploring. Quickly we realized that it was at least a 75-mile round trip sort of day each time we ventured anywhere. Blanding put us central to what we wanted to see, and the only other boondock area we came across would have put us close to one area, but 125 miles from others.

Over the next week we ventured to Natural Bridges National Monument, Newspaper Rock, Canyonlands, Elephant Hill, Mule Canyon, House on Fire and more. Pics and posts on those to follow.

Hints: The reservoir is great for any size rig.

Directions: If coming from the north on Hwy 191, GO PAST the actual lake and then take the first right after you go around a small mountain. The road is “Radio Hill”. Follow the paved road to camping area. There is a dumpster there, and also a pit style toilet.

From the south, go approx. 5 miles north of Blanding, watch for the Napa on the right, then look for the brown sign that says “Recapture Reservoir Recreation Area“.  Turn left on Radio Hill road. Follow the paved road down to the camping area.

Blanding: The museum was lovely, and the volunteers extremely helpful. Once we explained what type of hiking we were looking for, and our ability levels, they got out all kinds of hand drawn maps that they had made themselves and gave us great descriptions and ideas for hikes. They also have a fast free wireless, and a small room where you can plug in and charge and work if needed.