June 25, 2018

Travel Day to Fish Lake

Monday, June 25, 2018

 

Yesterday (Sunday) was a travel day. No, it didn’t rain, but a couple with a huge trailer and huge OHV came and took over the boy scouts site not 15 minutes haver the boy scouts left. We went back to CRNP to dump and get more water. Got groceries in Torrey. We stopped at the Visitors Center in Torrey, and the man there recommended camping in the Fish Lake National Forest area. The instructions he gave us were wrong, but the Google Maps on Bob’s cell phone helped us find it. Nothing useful on our GPS. We needed to refill one propane tank, and stopped at several gas stations along the way to FL to get propane, but all were closed – I supposed because it was Sunday. 

 

There are several small campgrounds at Fish Lake. The sites are mostly very small and a lot were already reserved, but there were walk-up sites available and we (site 55) have a nice view of the lake but very close to the loop road. With Senior discount, the price is $7.50/night. It’s been in the 70s during the day and upper 40s or lower 50s at night – much more like mountain/forest temperatures than at SR12.

 

We’ve paid for two nights here, not sure if we’ll stay any longer or not. Might depend on how noisy it gets when all the reserved sites are actually occupied. The loop to the south of us is full and noisy. Glad we’re not in that one. There are some small kids at the other end of this loop that were doing some screaming earlier today, but it’s quiet now. 

 

Round-up Time at Base Camp

Well, we had some excitement at SR12 on Saturday. A big semi-cattle hauler truck and a pickup pulling a large animal trailer pulled into the meadow across from us about 1 pm. They hooked up a chute to the cattle trailer and proceeded to unload about 40 or 50 head of cattle! They had three horses and cowboys plus a youngster who shared a horse with his dad. It was fascinating to watch the men on horseback keep all the cows together and chase back any that started to wander off. One guy would chase them out of the trailer, and the three on horseback would herd them together and keep them under control. They were really good riders and horses and knew what they were doing! They also had two dogs with them that seemed to help a bit with the herding, or at least they didn’t get in the way. One looked something like Baby Girl. After they unloaded all the cattle, they herded them across the highway to meadows on the other side of the highway. Then they came back and tied up the horses to some trees and got in the trucks and left. About four hours later they came back with another load of cattle – this time both in the semi trailer and the animal trailer – at least 50 head. They did the same thing – unloaded them all and herded them across the highway to the meadow over there. It took probably 45 minutes to do the unloading and herding. By the time they finished, it was about 7 pm. I heard them come back about 11 pm and drive away the trucks and trailers. But the left the chute behind. Perhaps they had yet more to herd on Monday. It was there when we left on Sunday morning.

 

Today is Gary’s birthday – his 73rd I believe! I feel bad that we can’t call him. No cell service whatsoever. I tried to send him a text on Sunday, but realized I didn’t have his cell number. Doh! Should have called him. 

 

We took the dogs for a walk along the lake edge this morning. It’s very pretty here. The forest on the other side of the lake seems to be mostly all evergreen trees. The forest on this side (the west side) seems to be mostly aspen. I’m thinking it may have been clear cut as some time. There are a few boats of various types on the water, even kayaks. 

 

Oddly, the house batteries didn’t seem to recharge during our drive here yesterday. I think we were driving about 2 hours. The batter gauge said 2/3 when we left and 2/3 when we got here. The digital reading was 12.2 – not that great.