Wednesday, September 15, 2010 The night before I had read in my "RV Boondocking In Southern Utah" book about a hike not too far from Kodachrome Basin. We got off to our usual leisurely morning and went in search of Willis Creek. To get there we had to drive on another steep, incredibly thick powdery road. In fact, when we had finished the hike and were driving back to the freeway we passed a plow that was moving the dirt to the side of the road, like a snow plow.



Anyway, this was a great 4 1/2 mile up and back hike. It wound through slot canyons and had a trickle of water going through most of it.












I knew Steve was much better; every time I turned around he was climbing on something.







After Willis Creek we headed to Boulder. Along the way we passed Calf Creek Falls Trail and decided to hike it. It was about 4:30 and it is a 6 mile hike, but we thought we would have enough time to do it before it got dark. It actually was the perfect time to hike; we met only a couple of hikers as we were heading out and no one when we were coming back and the temperature and lighting were perfect. When we got to the falls Steve decided to go skinny dipping but it was way too cold for me!





Heading back Steve spotted the one and only snake we saw on the whole trip.




One of the highlights of the trip was getting to eat at Hell's Backbone Grill. I have wanted to go there for quite some time, but Boulder isn't exactly on the way to anything. After our two hikes of the day, and looking lovely, we decided to see if we could get into the restaurant. We could, and the dinner was wonderful I highly recommend it to anyone traveling in the general area.
After our wonderful dinner, Steve decided we might as well drive up to Capitol Reef that night and see if we could get a camp spot. It was already late, but off we went. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the campgrounds were full and I pulled out my handy Boondocker's guide. They suggested a place down the highway a bit that was just past Capitol Reef boundaries, down a short dirt road. We found the area, or at least we hoped we had; it was pitch dark and we had no idea what the view would be in the morning...