April 17-19

Pasture Creek Campground-Bureau of Land Management

We knew it would be tough to find a campsite in this popular park, and sure enough, the campgrounds were full.  Fortunately, a helpful park ranger directed us to several campgrounds right outside the park that are run by the Bureau of Land Management.  We found a great spot in the Pasture Creek Campground.

We are lucky!! The fee is $4.00 per night with our Senior Access Pass.  By the way, if you’re 62, you can buy one of these for $10.00, and that’s good for a lifetime.  You get free admission to all of the national parks, and at most of them, you get half price camping fees.  Many state and National Forest/BLM areas also offer a half price discount.  Such a deal!

There’s no water, but we did have a pit toilet.  It was one of the most beautiful spots so far.  No RV’s, no lights, no noise.  Big skies, stars, stillness.

We were at the southern end of the park, known as Needles.  We didn’t get to the northern end, which is called Island in the Sky.  I’d like to see that part, although Needles is so beautiful…no disappointments here.

We did two hikes; Slickrock Trail and Cave Spring Trail.  Slickrock is all stone; the trail is marked by rock cairns.  The views are amazing, and the trail was fun because the terrain is so different than what we’ve been used to.  We did manage to get off the path and spend some time wandering around and wondering if we’d be able to find our way back.  (We did.)

The other hike took us past a former cowboy camp and some pictographs along the way.

Buzz liked this hike a lot, and so did we.

I’ve been looking forward to the Utah parks, and Canyonlands is a great beginning!