Camping at Goosenecks - RV Boondocking Spring '23

welcome campers to part 4 of our spring 2023 Utah and Southern Arizona trip while we start on a chilly note we quickly Head East towards the four corners area and warmer ground we'll explore some enormous and beautiful Canyons cook some great meals and discover a freakishly Balanced Rock that defies gravity grab your stuff and let's go we depart a camp spot at soap Creek dispersed heading up into Kanab Utah on 89A then travel east to gooseneck State Park and then take a short shot over to Mexican hat Rock the drive up through the Kaibab Plateau was pretty and uneventful just like we like them after many days of dry camping we were excited to pull into Kanab Utah we had heard great things about the Kanab RV Corral which is right on the Main Street in town the park has full hookups so we were able to relax and enjoy all the amenities after our long period of boondocking thank you [Music] this is a very clean and well-run park and the folks that work here are very friendly check in as right as you pull in on the left and the sights are decently spaced apart we went out to see what the town had to offer and maybe grab some dinner [Music] Kanab has a surprisingly good selection of restaurants and we settled on a little Cuban restaurant known as The Havana Cabana it was really good we don't normally think of Cuban food in a small American town like this and it was a fun experience [Music] thank you the next morning we were in for a bit of a surprise it had snowed overnight and it was still snowing although lightly fortunately the spots in the RV park are all very well drained gravel so we didn't have any problems with mud [Music] we decided to head out and see if we could get some aerial footage of the region Kanab is a small town with a big reputation located in the heart of the Grand Circle it is a gateway to some of the most spectacular natural wonders in the world from The Towering Vermilion Cliffs to The Majestic Landscapes of Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks Kanab is a must visit for any nature lover not to our destination a small reservoir on the edge of town but had to wait for a break in the storm [Music] eventually it cleared enough to lift off and we were able to get some footage of the surrounding area Zion is off behind that Ridge I believe and somewhere over to our left are the coral pink sand dunes we visited them last time we were in Zion one of the reasons we stopped here was to get our laundry done it had been over a week and we had quite a backup fortunately they have a very nice laundry facility here thank you there's no accounting for the weather though our time here was brief but it was perfect for us to get some chores done relax and take advantage of those full hookups now it's time for us to Head East to our next destination Mexican Hat Utah the Drive East on 89 is a Scenic One and takes you through the grand staircase Escalante National Monument towards Page Arizona [Music] it's about a 70 mile drive to page going this route but it goes by pretty quickly because the landscape is so varied and pretty [Music] we decided to stop off at the big water Visitor Center which is one of four BLM run visitor centers in the grand staircase Escalante National Monument this is situated on a big loop making it easy to get an RV of almost any size in here [Music] cared for Visitor Center that explains a lot of the history of the grand staircase Escalante area [Music] thank you we asked permission to put the Drone up and they didn't mind as long as we didn't fly over Campers or people [Music] ahead of us lies part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and eventually Lake Powell [Music] the city of big water has a population of about 500 people and used to be named Glen Canyon City it housed the people that built the Glen Canyon Dam back in the 1950s foreign [Music] deserves more time than we spent on it we'll come back someday and give it the attention it merits [Music] we grabbed some quick footage of the Glen Canyon Dam since it was right on our path [Music] the water looks low right now but this is destined to change over the coming months it's really quite a structure [Music] after we pass through Page we took the 98 East towards the Navajo Trail and Monument Valley this is a very beautiful drive and the road was in decent shape [Music] you'll come to a Shell station where the 98 intersects the 160 and we decided to fuel up there because fuel is far and few between around these parts I found it odd the pumps were covered with such a tall ceiling but I think this is probably to prevent snow buildup during the winter months this area sits at 6 500 feet out in the middle of nowhere we find this tall building apparently it was part of the Peabody conveyor belt Bridge which transported coal over the us-160 the conveyor was demolished back in 2019 and it no longer crosses the highway [Music] finally we approach Monument Valley it's always fun to drive through here though we are not stopping this time we've done photo tours in the past so we're going to bypass on this trip [Music] foreign we make it into the town of Mexican hat this little town was named in 1908 after the nearby Mexican hat Rock and was a Boom Town during the early 20th century when oil and uranium were discovered the population of the Town peaked at about 1 000 people but it has since declined to only around 200 now our destination of gooseneck state park is just a few miles further and accessed via a decent paved Road Utah 316. it cost ten dollars a night to Camp here and we like to camp out on the BLM land overlooking the canyon that's actually past the park boundaries [Music] it's a bit of a rough road but we think it's worth it to get to the sites out there call for input on a plan to develop a more structured Campground here outside the state Park's boundaries the request went out in early 2020 and we have not heard any further developments if you're in the know of anything about this please leave us a comment below I believe some aspects of the plan might limit camping to designated spots away from the cliff Edge [Music] as this Google Earth flyover illustrates goosenecks gets its name from the way that the San Juan River meanders about having cut deep Canyons over millions of years through the Sandstone Rock the river flows about six miles but it only travels one and a half miles west as you can see it looks like a series of goosenecks here is very level but there are lots of rocks around elevation is about 4 500 feet and it can get quite windy [Music] [Applause] gooseneck State Park was established in 1964 but the area has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years the first people to live in the area were the Anasazi who built Cliff Dwellings and other structures in the canyons Anasazi were followed by the Navajo Empire peoples who also lived in the area one thousand feet above the San Juan River the views from Camp are just amazing [Music] in 2021 the international dark sky Association designated gooseneck State Park a dark sky Park if you are interested in astronomy or astrophotography this is the place for you [Music] thank you [Music] many people don't realize just how big this Canyon is later that day we decided to Head East towards Hanukkah Trail we did not attempt the trail but rather drove along the cliff Edge the roads here are not in terrible shape but it was comforting to have four-wheel drive [Music] encountered a few calves and they seemed surprised to see us I don't think there's much traffic out here though we were completely stopped and quiet they eventually spooked the San Juan River below us originates high in the San Juan mountains in Colorado making its way 355 miles to join the Colorado at Lake Powell [Music] sites out along the rim here though it's quite a drive to get here on a dirt road that's rough we won't be pulling our trailer up there it would be great for a van or tent camping we've come to the end of the road it's about as close as you can get to goosenecks itself which is probably a mile away or so [Music] well it's getting late so we're gonna head back to camp and cook up some dinner [Music] [Music] funny when we left here there was almost nobody around but when we came back just a few hours later we have all sorts of neighbors this was Friday night after all [Music] for dinner we tried something new and cooked a pork loin roast in our air fryer it worked amazingly well I served with simple boiled vegetables it was a really good dinner foreign [Music] the next morning it was completely clear the skies above are well traveled by Jets but we didn't hear them [Music] campers all along the canyon were enjoying their coffee and the way the Morning Light had transformed the Canyons into works of art [Music] we headed out to explore the Canyons east of where we were camped it was only about a mile or so and the train was easy with light scrambling in a few places there's a pretty large campsite down here which would have been fun to stay at it has the advantage of a bluff directly west of it which provides a windshield it's big enough you could easily get a few rigs in there foreign view of the park and the road that extends out towards the end of the ridge [Music] this guy is headed for that campsite we just looked at the only person we've seen down here we went back to camp and rested up a bit before heading out to Mexican hat Rock the land around Mexican hat Rock has some dispersed camping available on it however it's not public land and requires a usage fee to be paid we'll drop a link in the description in case you're interested foreign there's lots of places for Rigs of just about any size down on the lower portion [Music] the road to the right is marked no trespassing so we're going to stay to the left [Music] we head further up the road gets a little rougher but you're rewarded with some excellent views Vans or tents could really like this place as you might guess Mexican hat Rock gets its name for its resemblance to a sombrero balancing upside down on a rock pedestal except this Sombrero is 60 feet across 12 feet thick and made of rock I'm not sure if anyone really understands how this thing stays balanced like this it's an enigma in addition to the Rock itself you have the San Juan River also passing through here it's much more accessible here than at gooseneck State Park you can drive right down to it [Music] thank you river rafting seems to be popular for this stretch of the San Juan it looks like a lot of fun [Music] [Music] those mountains in the background are known as comb Ridge and are composed of sandstone that was deposited about 200 million years ago the Sandstone was then uplifted and folded during the laramite erogeny which occurred about 70 million years ago making for the almost painted look of the mountains [Music] as beautiful as this footage is it doesn't even come close to capturing the true magic of this place you really need to come out here and see it for yourself to believe it [Music] we're going to make our way back now and break Camp so we can head on to our next destination Valley of the Gods which is just 20 or so miles from here we're really happy you chose to come along with us on this excursion we had a great time and highly recommend visiting this area in person if you're able to if you enjoyed this video please consider subscribing to our Channel and hitting the like button this helps us know we are connecting with our audience and guides our future content creation thanks for watching we'll see you in the Valley of the Gods [Music]

Channel: Bob and Dang's Journey

Views: 1,362

Keywords: rv, rv life, rv living, rving, rv couple, rv solar panels, rv travel vlog, rv boondocking, rv solar, boondocking, #droneview, boondocking rv, camping, rv travel, dry camping, rv boondocking tips, boondocking tips, dispersed camping, boondocking camping, rv camping, boondocking travel trailer, cheap rv living, goosenecks state park utah, monument valley, how to boondock, utah state park, blm land, national forest camping, grand design rv

Id: l6bqfzNt7tY

Length: 19min 57sec (1197 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 06 2023