Finally made it to the Bear River Migratory Bird Wildlife Refuge in Brigham City, Utah. They are just completing paving a 12 mile dirt road from their Visitor Center, near the I-15, to their old Visitor Center near a 12-mile unpaved loop around a freshwater impoundment. That makes a 36 mile auto tour route, counting the return trip back over the paved road. It really is an incredible refuge.

Above, a series of pictures of part of the grebe courtship ritual. Grebes carry their young under their back feathers while they swim around.

While some birds are just starting to nest, saw some young American avocets and killdeers.

A huge number of pelicans nest on an island on the Great Salt Lake. They come to the fresh water marshes at the refuge for food and water.

There was intermittent rain, along with snow in the nearby mountains my first few days at the refuge. The swallows (cliff I think) were swarming to get mud and build nests.

The rainy weather alternated with temps in the 70′s, causing concern for flooding from snow melting and adding water to the already saturated ground.

The warm weather also brought lots of bugs. After just driving the paved road during the rain, ventured out on the dirt road loop when it warmed up. Wanted to take a lot of pictures, but my truck was always surrounded by hoards of midges. Locals drove with their windows down and laughed at out-of-towners unnerved by the bugs.

Saw dozens of Western kingbirds. The kingbirds and swallows should have no shortage of food (bugs).

Muskrats are supposed to be a sign of a healthy marsh.

On an off-topic, happened to watch the movie Hereafter. While I didn’t really care for the movie, was surprised when the character played by Matt Damon was shown to like to listen to Charles Dickens’ books. I have just about gone through all of this prolific writer’s books, either listening to a free download read by my Kindle or to an Audible edition on my iPod. A lot of the same themes run through the books and they have happy endings, or at least you are told what happens to all the characters. People in England during this period seem to have drunk a lot of alcohol and eaten a lot of meat.

Above, at a ranch run by Antelope island State Park, a ranger in the white truck was herding the bison away from a group of visiting school children when one bison turned on a dime and faced the truck. The ranger backed up and turned around and the bison shortly continued walking with the other two bison. He looked like he was ready to fight the truck if it had continued.

Pronghorn elk. They were concerned about some bicyclists. They take cars more for granted, but were uncertain about people on bikes. There are some very good dirt bike paths here. Many cyclists ride over the causeway to the island. I wonder about riding a bike here on bad bug days. Every day it got warmer, the bugs got worse. Along the causeway especially, there were lots of midges like I saw in the Klamath Falls, Oregon area.

A burrowing owl. It would not cooperate to let me get a better picture. (It’s in the center of the picture).

A loggerhead shrike. Often saw it hunting in the same area as the owl.

Thought the coyote (fox?) below was a domestic dog at first, it was so fluffy and was wagging it’s tail while  pouncing on prey on the ground. Think he finally captured and ate it.

Got to stay at Antelope Island State Park in Utah. When I passed through the area last September it was full.

The second picture above is Bridger Campground where Bison sometimes roam. Opened the door of my trailer one morning to find a bison 10-15 feet away.  You just ignore them and they move along.

The bottom picture is the causeway from the suburb town of Syracuse out to Antelope Island.

There are lots of chukars on the island, but they don’t come out in the open a lot. I heard lots of them in the bushes near my campsite, but never saw any. It was just by luck when driving around, that I came upon the one above sunning itself.

A woman went walking up the hill next to my site early one morning. When she got to a ridge where she was somewhat hidden, I saw a bunch of heads bobbing up and down. Later found that it was a group of jackrabbits that had been surprised.

Meadowlarks are all over. You hear them all the time, but they, like the jackrabbits, don’t tend to stay still for pictures.

Have seen a number of coyotes. One evening was sad to see one go into the bushes where the chukars were.

Started seeing magpies as I got close to Utah. The one above is a young one.

Above, a horned lark. The first one I’ve ever seen.

Barn swallow at the Visitor Center.

The way here: Stopped a  night at a Manti-la Sal Forest campground near Blanding, Utah. Next day drove through Moab for the first time. It has to be the “Yellowstone” of Utah. It was so crowded. I had hoped to stay at a BLM campground along the Colorado River near Moab, but no such luck. All the campgrounds were full. I had been watching the weather in Salt Lake City and when I saw that good weather was forecast and there were campsites available on Antelope Island, I changed course to Salt Lake City.

Below, sunset on Antelope Island. Least I should paint the island as idyllic, it can be very buggy. Depending on the weather, time of day, location, and other factors there are varying number of nat like bugs.

Drove UT 191 through Monument Valley and Blanding, Utah. Monument Valley makes me think of Thelma and Louise. Know John Ford made a lot of western’s here too.

The village of Mexican Hat’s name is based on the rock formation on the left side of the picture. There is a rv park in town with great views and hookups.

Valley of the Gods. There is a dirt road that goes through it. Didn’t drive it this visit.

Gooseneck State Park near Mexican Hat. It is a viewpoint of the formation created by the San Juan River seen above. Morning would have been a better time to get a picture, but late afternoon had to do.

Took the time to visit Natural Bridges National Monument. It’s a beautiful park with a scenic drive that allows you to see it’s three rock bridges. The top picture above is of Sipapu Bridge. The picture below it is of Owachomo Bridge. It looks to be the most fragile one. My eyes showed my age, as it was hard for me to find Owachomo Bridge. Some young European tourists came up and found it right away.

There are trails through the park and a small campground (for small rv’s).

Utah 95, that goes by Natural Bridges National Monument, is a scenic byway. In the center of the top picture you see the where the highway goes through a long rocky ridge. The picture under it is the passage as you go through it on the way to the Monument.

Stayed at a campground in the Manti-LaSal National Forest above the town of Blanding. At 7,100 feet, in a juniper and pinyon pine forest, it was a lot cooler than Monument Valley and Mexican Hat. There were lots of birds too. Below is a scrub jay that just pulled some kind of treat from the pine tree, a pine nut? A large flock of pinyon jays flew through the campground in the late afternoon. They were too fast for me to get a picture.

The bottom picture is of a Clark’s nutcracker.

Stayed a few days at a Dixie National Forest Campground at Duck Creek. It’s along another scenic route, Highway 14, in Utah, 28 miles from Cedar City and 8,600 feet in elevation. Found it good for bird watching.

Above, a black-eyed junco subspecie. It hopped up to me while I was sitting outside as the sun was going down.

Northern flicker

A black-capped chickadee by a pine cone that a squirrel had knocked off a spruce tree that morning.

Got so many stellar jay pictures, it was hard to choose which one to show.

At times there were 6-12 least chipmunks (top picture) around my campsite. They have a nervous run and stop action. They would often stop and look at me, as if they were trying to see if I were a friend or foe. Most of the time I’d stamp my feet and shoo them away. They are so small, I was afraid they would try and get into my trailer. There was only one of the squirrels shown in the second picture. It was the one who knocked the pine cones down from the trees in the morning. It also jumped and held onto the middle of my screen door several times, I think when it smelled food.

Drove into Cedar City one day to get supplies from their Walmart. On the way, came across a huge number of sheep coming over a hill and crossing the highway. There was no sheepherder or dogs in sight. Tourists, like me, stopped to watch. Locals slowly drove through the sheep to continue on their business. After around 20 minutes, a sheepherder on a horse and his two dogs appeared and directed the sheep back across the highway and over the hill.

Below, Navajo Lake around 5 miles from Duck Creek. Utah also has trees dying from beetle damage.

I drove through Idaho quickly because of severe weather warnings, including high winds and freezing temps. Ended up in the Salt Lake City, Utah area on the Friday of the Labor Day Weekend. It was in the high 90′s. Just stayed one night and then headed to the town of Torrey, Utah, near Capitol Reef National Park and the start (or end) of Utah’s Scenic Byway 12.

Picture above, near the town of Torrey.

View of Capitol Reef National Park from Highway 12. The weather started out nice in Torrey, but it quickly turned cloudy a little way down the road.

There are dense stands of aspen trees in the first part of route.

The highway wasn’t bad to drive. Drove in 3rd gear on the steep grades. There was only a short section where the right side of the road is eroding, and the left side is a mountainside, making the highway narrow.

Above, views near Escalante. I stayed one night at the State Park there.

Stopped for two different groups of female wild turkey’s crossing the highway.

Below, one of the rock tunnels near Red Canyon at the end (or start) of Highway 12. Next time I drive the route, want to make at least three stops to explore more, on the first, middle, and end sections.

After staying in Kanab, Utah a few days I went to what is known as the Paria Movie Set around 30 miles from Kanab. I read where you could boondock there and saw pictures on a web site of where a man and his wife drove their motorhome there. There is a turnout on the highway with information about the area. You have to drive over a 5 mile washboard road, then over and down a steep hill to get to a self registration site that has a few picnic tables. About one-third of the names on the registration sheet were people from Europe. Know I have seen a lot of European tourists in Utah, many in rented rv’s.

Pahreah was established as a town in the 1800′s. It had been used by Paiute indians before that. The town had a Mormon church and schoolhouse, along with a post office. The settlers did not realize the area was on a flood plain and recurrent flooding forced them out. Movie and television crews used the area in the 50′s and 60′s. The last movie shot in the area was The Outlaw Josey Wales in 1976. The movie set was moved in 1999 to a site less likely to flood, but in 2006 vandals burned it down.

Pahreah Cemetary with plaque added by relatives of the original settlers.

On the afternoon of my second day at Paria, three trucks towing large horse carrying rigs and a LARGE tour bus drove in. Really surprised at the tour bus driving over the road. A few hours later a large group of people riding mules started arriving. Guess they started at another point and ended at Paria. Then they were all gone and it was quite again.

The road to Paria. Around 20 passenger cars drove over it both days I was there. When I was leaving I had some trouble in soft dirt going up a hill. Wondered if the large bus the previous day had contributed to it. Would not want to drive the road when there has been any rain, or camp in the rain with its history of flooding.

I camped 20 miles from Zion on Friday and Saturday, days I knew it would be crowded. But when I drove there on Sunday afternoon, it was still very crowded. The ranger said it gets more visitors because it is easier to get to than some of the other parks in Utah. Decided to just drive through it and go on to the Kanab area. Hope to come back someday, at more of an off season time.

Sunset from the rv park I have been staying at.

Capitol Gorge, a travel route that Mormon settlers used to get to the Fremont Valley area. One wall is called Pioneer Register because it has names of some of the pioneers who passed through the canyon.

Pictographs left by the Fremont Indians.

Have been visiting Capitol Reef National Park in Utah the past few days. Stayed in their campground for two days (second picture), but have retreated to a private campground to recharge my rv and all my electronics. The park campground has no hookups.

The Fremont River passes through the park and allowed Fremont Indians and then Mormon settlers to farm in the area. The Mormon’s left lots of fruit trees. The third picture above is a barn from the Mormon era.

There is a 25 mile round trip scenic drive through the park (above).

Robins are the most common bird seen in the campground. They would probably eat from your hand. Mule deer come through the campground every evening to graze.

From Bottomless Lakes State Park in New Mexico, I stayed one night at Santa Rosa Lake State Park and then three nights at Bluewater Lake State Park. At the Bluewater Park there were winds of 30-50 mph, which is why I stayed the three days till they had passed. I then went on to Canyon De Chelly National Monument for one night at their free, no hookup campground. Want to go back there sometime in the future. The route from Canyon De Chelly to Capitol Reef was incredible (pictures above). It had recently rained, so the red soil was super saturated in color. There was not much traffic, so I could go as slow as I wanted. The 178 miles took me all day. It was not till I got within 30 miles or so of Capitol Reef that I started to see more traffic. Everyone wants to go 75 mph on these two lane highways in these beautiful surroundings with gas prices what they are. Know I’m showing my age.

Picture above is from a scenic overlook of Hite City, an old mining boom town that was engulfed by Lake Powell. There is a road and a campground there now, don’t know if it is the same exact spot Hite City was at.