Travelogues
2016 New Mexico & Utah Trip

Monday, October 3

Bummer

That pretty much sums up today. Our plan was that Carol would go down to the office and extend our stay at Goulding's Campground for two more nights, and then we'd drive back to Butler Wash and hike up to the Procession Panel. But when we got up, the wind was still howling and the sky was a hazy, milky white. The Procession Panel is near the top of Comb Ridge and requires hiking up open slickrock all the way up from the wash. Climbing up the slickrock would be no fun in the wind. But it was the poor lighting that cinched it. Our next two hikes to Fallen Roof Ruins and House on Fire Ruins are best shot around 10:00 or 11:00, and we couldn't get there and hike in to the ruins in time. We were out of good alternatives because of the lighting and timing. We decided we would have a tourist day and have a leisurely lunch in the Goulding's Dining Room and then check out the gift shop.

But first, we needed to extend our stay at the campground. Surprise! The campground was completely booked for tomorrow. The person in the campground office was extremely nice and suggested that we keep checking back in case there was a cancellation. So much for our plans!

We still enjoyed a good lunch at Goulding's Lodge. Carol had been looking forward to getting frybread, so today she had a frybread taco. I was my usual daring gourmet and had a hamburger. We had a window table looking out over the valley and enjoyed a chance to relax.

When we returned to camp, we spent the afternoon trying to come up with new alternatives for the next 3 or 4 days. We concluded that since anyone cancelling a reservation 24 hours in advance would lose their deposit anyway, it was unlikely that we had any chance of getting a site for tomorrow. We would need to move. We came up with four possibilities, and decided that we would drive to Blanding tomorrow and camp at the Blue Mountain RV Park. We've never stayed there before, but it's convenient to all the Cedar Mesa hikes we want to take over the coming days. It feels like we're planning a whole new vacation every night.