We had another terrible night sleep with the freight trains blowing through town all night. I think 6 trains came through last night and at one point Jenn and I started laughing at how ludicrous this was.
When the morning light came Jenn and I were sure we weren’t going to stay here for another night and I started looking for places to go.
The kids were back outside today, having fun with their new friends so, we let them play all morning and didn’t leave Salt Lake City until about 3pm.
We were once again, leaving a paid campground in search of something better but, we needed to follow our instincts and Salt Lake City was bad for my health.
After doing some research, I found that Bryce Canyon National Park was almost directly on our path to the Grand Canyon. The only problem was that we couldn’t find a campsite to stay for the night. I was able to book something for tomorrow night and with that, we left Salt Lake City.
It was a 4 hour drive to Bryce and we stopped once for Diesel along the way which added about 20 minutes more.
When we finally reached Bryce around 7:30pm all the state forest campgrounds were full and there were a few shady looking campgrounds that we simply passed over.
I would rather sleep in the woods than stay in some of the campgrounds we passed. The only problem I had was that I couldn’t find a spot in the woods.
I parked the RV in a rest area that did not permit overnight camping and jumped in the Jeep with Sydney to find a campsite. It was now about 8pm and everyone was getting hungry for dinner.
Sydney and I found a dirt road that took us into Dixie National Forest and there were signs for dispersed camping sites as well as a campground 7 miles down the road.
I always loved the idea of dispersed camping but, thats kind of hard to do with a 42ft motorhome towing a 15 ft Jeep with bikes hanging off the back.
Most of the sites we found were designed for a small car and a tent. Some of the access roads were not wide enough or tall enough to take a motorhome down.
We ended up going 7 miles down the dirt road, with the Jeep vibrating as we drove the rough road, to the campground. This campgound was awesome and it was on a lake however, every site was in use so we had to turn back.
Jenn and I were a little concerned at this point. The sun was starting to set and we had no place to camp. As a final ditch effort, Sydney and I drove down a side road about 2 miles from our RV and hit the jackpot. Dispersed camping sites with fire rings made of stones, all setup a waiting for us to move in. There were about 6-7 other sites on this road and about 1/2 of them where occupied.
We drove back to the rig, hooked the Jeep back up, and drove everyone back to the campsite. We were so relieved to find a spot and we were so happy to be camping in the woods.
The stars above where absolutely incredible tonight. It was so dark in the woods that you could see millions of stars, the milky way pouring across the sky and millions of stars that you would never see without perfect conditions. I was blown away.
And it was so quiet…..no freight trains. YES!
Luke's Journey Across The USA 