Abajo Mountains, Utah

September 7, 2022

Back into the mountains we go!  After our quick packing job to escape the heat, we headed back to the road we just traveled on a few hours ago to a dispersed camping location for the next few days.  

The campsite we chose was uphill on a decent gravel road which terminated into what used to be the parking lot of a small ski slope. We situated the camper along the edge of the parking lot with our deck and door looking out onto forest. In addition to being quite a bit cooler than down in the desert, the site had the added bonus of good cell service. Additionally, we were right along our travel route to our next location, and so our next travel day would be shorter than if we had stayed at Needles Outpost.

After we finished setting up, a family parked in the lot and piled out of their minivan with kids and dog for a hike along an old trail off the parking area. An hour or two later they came back out, and we were able to chat with them for a while.  Apparently, the trail leads past an old dairy that has since been abandoned.  We also found out about the former ski slope which had closed perhaps 15 years ago (which explains the slope behind us that mysteriously has no trees on it).

Since it was in the middle of a holiday weekend, we had some ATV/UTV traffic which would just come up the road, loop around and head back down - probably just investigating all the forest service roads, or looking for future dispersed camping spots for themselves, or who knows what. And, we had a young couple come up to do a photoshoot in their car (?). Otherwise, we had the place to ourselves most of the time.

After a while, we discovered that we were not as alone as we thought. We had neighbors... of the bovine persuasion. 

At first, it was just the occasional cow that would pass by.

Then, there were more.

And then more and more would come through, occasionally mooing, but mostly keeping to themselves and moving up the old ski slope to graze.

Things did get a little out of hand, however, when we woke up one morning to a strange sound. Rick went to investigate and discovered a calf had its head under our deck. After shooing it away (sort of), we found that it had somehow removed our license plate. At least it didn't make off with it!

And then more cows came, and they did not seem to be frightened of us at all.

And they didn't leave until they ate their fill of the grass right next to our camper.  This is when we discovered that cows are very loud eaters.

Cows weren't the only wildlife we encountered.

There were turkeys...

And there were deer...

And of course there were the usual assorted forest animals as well. It was quite the fauna experience.

One of the days, we took the trail for a ways until it ran into some private property. It wasn't anything spectacular (I guess we're becoming trail snobs), but it was pleasant enough, and there were a few peeks through the trees of distant views.

All and all, we enjoyed our three days at this site--it was peaceful (more or less) and it allowed us to get caught up on our blog and other internet stuff. It also provided an opportunity for Julie to begin eradicating all of the red dust in the camper that we had collected from our recent travels.  That will be an ongoing project 😏.

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