The Nonsense of W&J

We really enjoyed our visit to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  Although we only stayed three days, we completed two amazing hikes and tented for the first time in a national park campground.

How We Managed Our Visit to Rocky Mountain National Park:

1. Book a campground
2. Get there early
3. See the sunrise while hiking and avoid the crowds

Our Hikes:

1. Nymph, Dream, & Emerald Lakes and Lake Haiyaha
2. Andrews Glacier & Tarn that we didn’t complete

Timed Entry Pass

2024 was our first year we had to book timed entry passes for some national parks.  Arches and Rocky Mountain National Parks both required timed entry passes to enter the park during certain times of the day.

Arches National Park was pretty straightforward.  If you were entering the park between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. between April 1 – October 31, 2024, you had to purchase a timed entry pass for $2.

We would wait until the day before we wanted to visit, get on the Recreation.gov app at 7 p.m. and book a pass for the next day.  Easy peasy.  Although you have an hour from the initial time of the pass to enter the park, we always showed up right at the beginning of our time.

However, Rocky Mountain NP is a little more confusing.  Firstly, it has two different areas with different entry pass times.  If you are visiting any area besides Bear Lake Road, you must have a timed entry pass to enter the Park between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.  You can enter the park before these hours or after these hours without a timed entry pass.

Our hikes were, unfortunately, on the Bear Lake Road, and has its own timed entry system.  Bear Lake Road reservations are required to enter the Bear Lake Road Corridor between the hours of 5 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The timed entry passes for the Rocky Mountain National Park are also valid for 2 hours.  So, if you purchase a timed entry pass for 8 a.m., you have from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. to enter the park with your pass.  However, I will say, if you are entering at the Bear Lake Road, 8 a.m. is probably too late to find a parking spot at the trailheads.  You will probably have to catch the shuttle.

Glacier Basin Campground

Because our planned hikes were in the Bear Lake Area, and we knew the trailheads would be very busy, we decided to book four nights at the Glacier Basin Campground.  Your timed entry pass is included with the booking of the campsite.  So, we could avoid purchasing timed entry passes separately.  Also, it was easier for us to wake up early to park at the trailheads.

We have the America the Beautiful Annual Pass and we should have been able to book the campsite for half price.  However, I was trying to book it on my Recreation.gov app and, for some reason, it wouldn’t accept the numbers on the back of the card.  If you intend on booking this campground, please make sure you receive the half-price discount from your card.

The campground is very noisy.  I believe quiet hours are from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.  We went to bed around 8 p.m. every evening because we knew we were getting up at 4 a.m.  However, our neighbors banged around until 9:30 p.m. every evening.  The campground is the quietest during the day when everyone is out exploring.

If you are staying at the campground, like us, to arise early for hiking, be aware it is not quiet.  We realize we are an anomaly as we go to bed really early for our morning hikes.  But, we also know we are not the only ones!

Generators can be run between the hours of 7:30-10 a.m. and 4-8:30 p.m. However, some sites do not allow generators.  When we arrived, we spoke with the ranger on duty checking us in.  We asked a lot of questions as this was our first national park campground.

There is a solar shower in the D Loop at this campground.  After smelling ourselves, we probably should have checked it out after hiking.  But, we didn’t.

Our Hikes

The two hikes we wanted to try were the Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, Emerald Lake and Lake Haiyaha trail and the Andrew Glacier and Tarn Trail.

Our first hike of the four lakes we began at the Bear Lake Parking Area & Trailhead.  We knew both of our hikes were in popular destinations and the parking lots would fill up fast.  Although there is a shuttle stop right across from the Glacier Basin Campground, we decided to get up early to find a spot.

We arrived at both parking lots around 4:30 a.m. and there were already vehicles in the lots.  I don’t know if you will be able to find a spot after 7 a.m.  Because of the timed entry system, we expected a lot of traffic before the 5 a.m. timed entry requirement and we were not disappointed.

Our Four Lake Hike

Our hike to the four lakes was gorgeous.  We didn’t start out on the trail until after the sun had risen.  However, I imagine watching the sunrise at one of the lakes would be amazing.  Although we enjoyed Dream Lake and Emerald Lake, our favorite was Lake Haiyaha.

You must do some rock scrambling when you arrive at Lake Haiyaha.  I am not going to lie, rock scrambling is not my favorite type of hiking.  But the absolute blue glacier water of the lake is worth climbing over the big boulders.

Give yourself some time to sit and really take in this lake.  We could not get over how gloriously blue it was.  A couple of young men, braver than we were, jumped in for their cold plunge.  Although one said, “how refreshing,” the other young man did not say too much but tried to put on his clothes quickly!

We took our epic lunch spot for the day at this beautiful lake.  We just enjoyed sitting, enjoying the lake, and taking in the surrounding views.  However the lake itself is the real reason to visit this area.

If you don’t want to hike the other lakes, but only see Lake Hiayaha, you can also reach the lake via the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.  Our second hike to Andrews Glacier and Tarn also begins at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.  You can also hike to Alberta Falls, Timberline Falls, and Sky Pond from this trailhead.

Andrew’s Glacier and Tarn

So, you can imagine, this parking lot also gets full quickly.  For our second hike, we decided to begin the trail in the dark and hike during the sunrise.

Wow!  We began hiking around 5:30 a.m. or a little before.  Before we reached Alberta Falls, we were already experiencing some of the amazing effects of the sunrise over the trees and on the rocks.  The sun rise was still occurring when we reached Alberta Falls.

I would not change that moment for all the world.  To witness Alberta Falls in the glowing pink of the sunrise while the rocks around you reflect that color was one of the prettiest sights we can remember.

If you are hiking this trail, and if possible, begin the hike in the dark and see the sunrise.  It will be a forever memory that you will not want to forget.  Also, there is not a crowd at this time of day.  We were by ourselves for most of the hike.  The hikers who had started before us were hiking to other areas to view the sunrise.

Alberta Falls is in and of itself gorgeous.  We were taken aback by the amount of water that flows at this waterfall.  And the large, surrounding rock makes it stunning.  We recorded it on the way back, as it was too dark for the GoPros during the sunrise.  However, by then, there were crowds everywhere.

While hiking to Andrews Glacier, you also get to hike around The Loch.  Oh, my goodness, this lake took our breath away.  When you arrive at the lake, you can see the waterfall on the far distant rock wall, with snow or ice above it.  On the day we hiked, a mist was gently rolling down the mountains towards the lake.  We had to sit and take in its beauty before continuing.

For most of our hike, we followed the same trail as the Sky Pond Trail.  In fact, we were the only ones hiking to Andrews Glacier.  Although we did meet one young woman hiking back who had watched the sunrise from there.

The trail for Andrews Glacier separates from the Sky Pond Trail after The Loch.  We had to make a right at the fork towards the Andrew Glacier Campground.  The next sign we saw on the trail only officially marked the campground.  However, someone had carved an arrow pointing to the left that said Tarn.  There is another blue arrow on the rock when you turn to the left for the Tarn.

We did not make it to the Glacier and Tarn, which is the small lake below it.  However, we hiked with views of a glorious meadow up the hill.  We had to climb over some large boulders.  But we had talked with the young lady hiking down earlier, and she had told us to stay to the right.

We followed her advice, staying to the right while climbing over the boulders up the hill.  We climbed over a beautiful stream that led down into the valley, with blooming wildflowers on the hill.  It was gorgeous.

Finally, we reached the real rock-scrambling portion of the hike.  We could see the top of the mountain where the glacier and tarn were located, but we could not see them ourselves.  The climb to the top required hiking over loose rock.  Windell was already feeling the effects of the altitude.

Although I wanted to see the Glacier, I did not want us to hurt ourselves or hike on all fours just to reach a glacier and lake.  Besides, the hike was already amazing.  We saw Alberta Falls in the sunrise, The Lock with a waterfall, and the hill and valley with a stream and wild flowers.  We were extremely content with our amazing adventure.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We really enjoyed our two hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and we are glad we visited it.  Booking the Glacier Basin Campground for a few nights made it easy for us to arrive early and park for our hikes.  Be aware that the park fills up fast!

Arriving early, hiking during the sunrise, and seeing some of the amazing features made this trip worth the cost of the campground and the drive.  Although it was not our favorite national park, we really enjoyed this short side trip.

Traveling through the Southwestern portion of Colorado, we planned a visit to the Mesa Verde National Park to view the cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people.  However, some unexpected surprises came with a visit to this national park.

Because we were pulling our travel trailer while visiting the park, we believed we would have to camp overnight in the Morefield Campground.  The Mesa Verde National Park does not allow any trailers past the campground.  After traveling through the park to Chapin Mesa, we can understand why.  The road is very curvy and narrow.

The Morefield Campground fee is $20 per night.  If you have a Senior Pass or Access Pass, the fee is $10 per night.  However, we discovered, to our delight, a drop off parking lot for trailers right before the entrance to the national park.  The trailer parking lot is free.  Park security drive through it throughout the day and we had no issues leaving our camper.

Our second surprise about the Mesa Verde National Park is that you cannot tour the cliff dwellings without a reservation, except for the Step House per the map.  However, more on the Step House area later.  We stopped at the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum to see if any tickets were available to tour the cliff dwellings.  The Ranger informed us that reservations must be made two weeks prior because they sell out quickly.  You may be fortunate to grab a ticket if there is a cancellation for the day.  But we were not that lucky.

So, if you do visit Mesa Verde National Park, and you do want to tour the cliff dwellings, be sure to register for a tour two weeks prior to when you are visiting on Recreation.gov.  Do not do what we did and just show up thinking you can tour the cliff dwellings.

Now, back to the Step House.  When we were there on July 7, 2024, the Wetherill Mesa that contains the Step House and the Long House was closed.  The Step House is the only dwelling per the national park map that you can do a self-guiding tour.  So, because we had no reservations for the cliff dwelling tours and the Wetherill Mesa was closed, we did not actually have the chance to enter any cliff dwellings.

Lomayestewa Family Dancers

One amazing thing we did get to see on our visit was the Lomayestewa Family Dancers.  The Lomayestewa Family perform traditional Hopi dances once a year in the park in July.  The cost is free.  However, the dancers do ask for donations to help with the cost of traveling.  We really enjoyed watching the young people dance while the older generations played the instruments.  Towards the end, the family encourages spectators to join the dance.  This was an opportunity Jessica could not miss, and she jumped up to join.  We gave our word we would not post any pictures or videos of the dances, as they are traditional Hopi dances.  However, if you ever find us and want to see the video, let us know.

Because we were unable to join any tours of the cliff dwellings, we drove the Mesa Top Trail and the Cliff Palace Loop.  We stopped at most of the pull-offs on these loops to see various advantage points of the cliff dwellings and tour the pit houses.  The Cliff Palace Loop was our favorite and has the best overlook for the Cliff Palace.   However, the Balcony House pull-off is a bust unless you have reservations for the tour.  You cannot see the Balcony House from this point.

The Mesa Verde National Park is worth seeing.  However, we recommend if you are physically able, reserve a tour for the cliff dwellings.  Otherwise, like us, you may only be able to see them from overlooks.  If you visit this national park, also look out for the wild horses that roam inside it.  After visiting the park, we decided to boondock overnight at the Super Walmart in Cortez, CO  with many other RVs.

We found some great spots for our dispersed camping in Colorado.  All the sites listed below we used during 2024 in our travels.

CR102 Dispersed Camping off Hwy 25 Walsenburg, CO

GPS: 37.7192, -104.8205

Campendium App

This dispersed camping spot had a small area below the hill for a couple of vehicles to sit.  We  actually went up the hill a little bit where there was a camping spot with our travel trailer in tow.  The gravel road was busy during the day with large trucks.  However it was very quiet at night.  Further up the hill, there were no camping signs.

This is a great spot for an overnight stay only.  We would not stay here for several days, though.  We used this site as our first campsite in Colorado after leaving New Mexico.  It is right off Highway 25.

Manchester Creek Road Dispersed Camping

GPS: 39.0052, -105.1632

Campendium App

We dispersed camped in the Pike-San Isabel National Forests, near Divide, CO.  While we were staying in late April, we experienced a brief snowstorm with several inches of snow.  We had to dig in our winter clothes for some sock hats and glove after being in Florida all winter.  There were a lot of campers in this area while we were there, including a couple fifth-wheels.  Large rigs can easily fit in this area.  The road is well maintained and we had no issues pulling our travel trailer in.  You can stay for fourteen days on this BLM land.

However, it is loud during the weekend.  There are many UHVs during the weekend with a lot of music and noise.  If you want peace and quiet, it is better to stay through the week.

Escalante Canyon Road Dispersed Camping

GPS: 38.7788, -108.2501

Campendium App

This dispersed camping area has designated camping sites on the west side of Colorado.  This area is about 45 minutes away from Montrose, CO.  We used this area while returning from Wyoming.  The area has designated campsites; some are larger than others.  Bigger RVs can either find a spot or park in the parking lot at the beginning of the road.  The road is maintained.  The area is used by the public for recreation.  However, it is quiet.

The sign at the parking lot says seven days of designated camping.  However, some of the campsites have signs with fourteen days of boondocking.  The parking lot is not as quiet as the designated campsites.  There is a lot of traffic in the parking lot where people will stop for an hour or two, even in the evenings.

This area is in the desert.  When it rained on us, it was extremely muddy.  We waited a day but still left tracks trying to leave.

This year (2024) we decided to change up how we RV and try truck camping for the summer months.  We have already written one article on our truck camping experience at  https://thenonsenseofwj.com/truck-camping-for-a-summer/.  As we only had one Thousand Trail Campground in the state of Colorado and none in Utah, we believed, incorrectly as it turned out, that this was the best way to experience these states.  Even Passport America and RPI in these states are few and far between.  So, instead of paying for campgrounds throughout the summer, we chose to camp in our truck.

Boondocking

Now, we know many people boondock and leave their campers while they go exploring.  However, we are not yet comfortable with this.  Also, we do not want to feel obligated to put external cameras and security alarms on our camper.  We have many friends who boondock all the time and some who boondocked when they began RVing.  Although, a few did have a few items left outside stolen, they still recommend boondocking.  As everyone tells us, simply stay where you feel comfortable and introduce yourself to your neighbors.  However, let us face it, we are glampers.  We like campgrounds and full-hookups.  Yes, sewer please!

We have boondocked in some spots this year that we would be comfortable leaving the camper during the day to go adventuring.  Tom’s Best Spring Road near Bryce Canyon is one such spot.  These are designated dispersed camping in the Dixie National Forest.  There were many other campers around and we felt very comfortable here.  The couple in the Class A beside us even introduced themselves and were very friendly.

However, many times when we are boondocking in Colorado or Utah at a site we found with Campendium or IOverlander, we are by ourselves in the middle of nowhere.  We are definitely not comfortable leaving our travel trailer fby itself in these areas while we go off exploring.

Truck Camping

So, we camped in the back our truck for 46 days.  We explored mainly Utah, a little of Arizona and Wyoming, and some of Colorado.  When we first started, we had a futon in the back of the truck.  We could lay the futon down for sleeping.  And we could sit up on the futon during the day.  However, the futon was much too large for the space.  At our age, sleeping on a futon was very uncomfortable and our backs let us know it was not working.  So, we broke down the futon with a sledge hammer and strapped it to the top of the truck.  Luckily, we found a dumpster at a rest stop with plenty of room to throw in the futon.

We replaced the futon with a mattress topper three inches thick and another smaller topper with bumps.  The mattress topper was pretty comfortable for sleeping.  During the day, when we loaded the truck back up, we just rolled the toppers to the back of the truck bed.  Sitting in the truck bed on the mattress toppers was not as comfortable as the futon.  But we made it work.

During our 46 days, we also purchased a larger 55 quart cooler and a 5 gallon drinking cooler.  The smaller cooler that we carried was too small and the ice melted too quickly.  So, we bought some new ones in Utah.  Boy, did they come in handy.  While boondocking in Utah, the state had a sudden heat wave.  The new coolers made the heat wave almost bearable.  We had cold drinking water and our new 55 quart cooler kept ice much longer.  Luckily, most gas stations and grocery stores in Utah sell block ice.  We bought block ice for the food cooler and cubed ice to add to our drinks.  We bought a lot of ice crazy amout of ice in Utah!  However, the block ice and the new coolers lasted several days in the heat wave.

The Truck Camping Diet

Our food while camping in the truck mainly consisted of tuna fish, packaged noodles and rice, instant potatoes, and oatmeal.  We both lost a lot of weight.  If you are wanting to shed some pounds, try our new and improved truck camping diet for a couple of months!  Of course, we were also very active in Utah.  We did a lot of hiking!  Sometimes we would even find hikes while traveling before we ate breakfast.  When we hiked the Grand Wash Trail in Capital Reef National Park, we had planned on eating breakfast at the Visitor’s Center.  However, we found the hiking trail first.  So, we ate granola bars to sustain us while we hiked.

Unsurprisingly, we lost a lot of weight.  We usually eat red meat pretty frequently.  However, keeping hamburger in a cooler in a heat wave was not our idea of fun.  So, we ate a lot of canned meat.  Hence, the tuna fish.  Sometimes we would throw in some canned chicken and fajita strips.  FYI, canned meat is very expensive compared to buying raw hamburger and chicken.  Especially as we usually buy our groceries  at Aldi – our favorite grocery store.  Since we are back in our RV and have our awesome refrigerator, we can eat our normal again.  We will probably gain our weight back.

Right now, though, our clothes are a lot looser.  Windell must wear a belt for his pants.  Jessica has to tie her shorts and pants even tighter.  Maybe Jessica will even wear the bikini that Windell wants her to wear in her fifties, if she can keep the weight off.  Probably not though.

So Much Dirt

Dirt is the main constant while camping in the truck in the desert.  We purchased pump sprayers before we started this journey.  Although we usually do not shower every day normally, we do like to stay clean, shave, and wash our hair.  So, we purchased three pump sprayers and a gravity camping shower for us.

The cheap, gravity camping shower did not work well.  Maybe we are a little spoiled.  However, it did not have enough pressure to even remove shampoo.  We put it up as high as we could on the truck to no avail.  So, we mainly used our pump sprayers for showering.  The naked person would stand in the poop tent while the other person hosed them down.  It took two people to shower.   By yourself, you could not get the little head at the right angle to rinse your hair.

The pump sprayers did get us cleaner, for a little bit.  However, showering outside in the desert means you are showering in the dirt.  Everything is dirty.  We bought a cheap little rubber mat to stand on while we showered in the toilet tent.  But we were so dirty.  Dirt just ran off us onto the mat and then the ground.  Even though the mat was easy to spray off where you stood, the underneath was all muddy.  At the end of the truck camping, we were so tired of trying to get the dirt off that we just counted the number of days to the campground and our travel trailer.

While returning from Wyoming to Colorado, we treated ourselves and stayed at a nice hotel.  We felt so sorry for the hotel staff.  After we finished showering, the washcloths were so dirty and we could not rinse all the dirt out.  However, we felt awesome!  Our hair was clean and not greasy.  We put on clean clothes that were not covered in red dirt.  And, we even had a huge, free breakfast with cookies!

After several more days of traveling and adding dirt to ourselves and the truck, we finally returned to our travel trailer.  We were both so filthy.  When we each had a long shower, we were several shades lighter on our skin.  What we thought was tan was dirt!  Also, being able to really scrub our toes in a shower without standing on more dirt was the best feeling.

Truck camping in non-desert states may be completely different for keeping clean.  However, in Utah, the wind blows dirt everywhere.  The pump sprayers are not going to get you clean.  And, forget about the gravity shower!  While hiking, riding the shuttles, or even bumping along in the Jeep tour, we knew we were those people whom everyone shimmies away from.  We did try to stay clean, use deodorant and shave.  However, trying to keep clean while camping is a lot harder without a pressurized shower and clean floor.

Disorganization can be Fun – Not

It does not matter how organized you try to be while truck camping.  Things become very chaotic quickly.  We thought we were so smart.  All our clothes were labeled and we put all the items we thought we would use daily in the side compartment of the camper shell.  We tried to be organized!  However, because almost everything had to be pulled out of the back of the truck to sleep every day, things became disorganized instantly.  Bathroom and shower items got mixed in with kitchen items.  Forks were placed in our hiking backpacks instead of the silverware container.

Camping in the Truck was a whole different ballgame than living in our RV.  Everything was out of place.  Although it was hard to pull things out from underneath the futon, we did have more storage area.  When we removed the futon, many items had to put on the hitch or crammed in the back of the truck bed.  So, things were easily misplaced.  Windell could not wait to return to his trailer just so he could put his stuff in its place and it would stay there.

When we were considering purchasing a pop-up truck camper for future trips, we watched You-Tubers who lived in their truck campers full-time.  They added solar, indoor toilets, sinks, etc.  However, we have decided we are not those people.  We are the type of people who do not want to try to fit all our living into the back of our truck.  We want indoor showers, a refrigerator, a flush toilet, and toys for our hobbies.  The truck camper is not large enough for us to live in full-time.  It is okay for a few days for some amazing adventuring, but then we want to return to our travel trailer with all of its comforts.

So, we will not be buying a new pop-up camper shell or slide in truck camper.  We are going to enjoy coffee programmed in the morning and everything organized and always in its place.  Our amazing little travel trailer will travel across the U.S. with us.

We did it!

Wow, we actually camped in our truck for 46 days and didn’t get divorced.  Some of the YouTubers we watch truck camp a week or two.  They live in houses and travel and adventure part-time.  We do know that there are people who live in their vehicles full-time.  We say Kudos to you!  It is not for us. A truck camper does not provide all the comforts and benefits of the travel trailer.  Oh, sure, we will still vehicle camp every once in a great while……for a couple of days…..before we return to our refrigerator and shower.