Joan and I occasionally try boondocking, that is, camping someplace without hookups. Awhile back we were traveling from Yellowstone to Grand Junction, CO and decided to spend a night just outside of the Arches National Park in a parking lot used for mountain biking. It was the Klondike Bluffs North Parking lot and sounded like a nice place to spend the night. We had the mile marker so we proceeded to the location and, although the road didn’t fit the description and the map preceding the entrance indicated the road was for 4 X 4 vehicles, we proceeded up the hill. After all, we did have four wheel drive, it’s just that they’re all on the same axle. The trip up the hill was uneventful, fortunately there was no oncoming traffic. We saw a nice spot at the top of the hill with a beautiful view:

But of course we kept going, the grass is always greener. Unfortunately the road conditions deteriorated with the road washed out in several places, but with no room to turn around we had to keep going. Eventually we came to an intersection with a helpful sign indicating that camping was not allowed beyond this point and we unhooked the car and turned around. We went back to the first spot we saw and moved in.

The next morning, as usual, Joan was up well before me and went out for a walk at about 6:30. Because we had no phone service she woke me up and handed me a walkie talkie indicating she would call me if she needed help. I went back to sleep. About 45 minutes later I was awoken by Joan on the walkie talkie asking me if I was awake. Since I now was, I asked her what she needed. She asked me to take a picture of her up on the hill behind the motorhome. I grabbed my camera opened a window and leaned out. I saw nobody. Joan explained where she was and I took a couple of pictures. I put a box around her and put her name above it so you can find her (you may need to click on the photo a couple of times to enlarge it enough to see her):

Being wide awake now I decided to join her. When I found her I took her picture:

When we looked back toward the motorhome, I took this picture (you may need to click on the photo a couple of times to enlarge it enough to see the motorhome, it’s in the center of the picture):

Later that morning we drove slowly back down the hill and onto the main road. As we headed up the main road we noticed a sign for the North Klondike Bluffs mountain biking area with a road that matched the description we had. We had to find a truck wash on the way to our next campsite to clean off all the mud and muck that has splashed up on the motorhome while off-roading, but it was a great adventure. I’m kind of glad we didn’t find the right place.