A two day weekend meant time for a drive to Kanab for the truck camper so I can be ready for some comfortable camping. Then Saturday morning looked like this. They told me this was a summer job.
I didn’t get an early start Saturday morning, 10:30am which is already 11:30 in Utah. But I awoke to at least four inches of snow at 26F. Had to unbury and remove a few things from the back of the truck. Plus pack a few items to be comfortable over night. I mean why not stay, it’s warmer in Kanab and no snow.
The snow got deeper approaching Jacob Lake where it looked like 6-8 inches. Heavy, wet snow. And it snowed the entire 45 miles.
But I didn’t think it warranted a snowplow.
I got lucky at both locked gates with someone else already stopped and was waved through so I didn’t have to get out of the warm cab into the blowing snow.
Yet I did make a quick cookie stop at Jacob Lake Inn, and lemon zucchini is my new favorite. I figured the snow would be less as the road slowly drops off the Kaibab Plateau. Not so. In fact the clouds got lower to an almost white out for a while.
And even within sight of the valley below there was still snow.
In fact there were patches all the way to the edge of the valley floor.
When I got to Kanab I picked up some silicone to reseal a few edges on the camper. And wouldn’t you know it I forgot to bring the gun thingy so ended up buying another one.
It was chilly in Kanab but no snow. Enjoyed an evening with friends and slept in the camper, not on the truck. Sunday was predicted to be warmer so I put off loading until then.
Thank goodness I had help. First, because I’m so short it’s difficult to reach the crank to lift and lower the corner jacks on the camper. Guess I need a stool. Instead I had a tall helper. But backing under the camper so it’s perfectly centered is really hard to do alone. So having two helpers made that a whole lot easier and saved me from jumping in and out of the truck a hundred times. Still took about two hours.
Then only miles down the road I remembered the license plate hadn’t been taken off the truck and put on the camper so I pulled over to see how difficult that would be now. As I walked around the back I saw the plate on the camper and realized it had been there all the time and I’d been driving for 1 1/2 months with no plate. LOL. Was I lucky.
The rest of the drive back was gorgeous with temps in the 60s until I began climbing the plateau. What a difference a day makes. The clouds put on a grand show all the way home.
The air was so clear I had to stop at Le Fevre overlook to gaze back on the colorful bands of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument with Bryce National Park beyond. Cloud shadows speckled the landscape.
A couple of Navajos had tables covered in jewelry so of course I had to look. And although it’s not sterling silver, which is my preference, I couldn’t ignore this Horned Lizard pin, the Grandfather who brings good luck.
Only patches of snow remained as I continued up the plateau and another far view stop. The sculptural remains from the 2006 Warm fire opens a distant view of the Vermilion Cliffs to the left, Marble Plateau and canyon to the right then Echo Cliffs rising up to the foot of Navajo Mountain about 60 miles away.
Gone where the snow white meadows of the day before now turned into a soggy brilliant green. The drive through Kaibab National Forest to the North Rim changes with every mile, day and season. A friend aptly calls this his “ribbon highway”. It’s beauty sure makes driving 45 of 85 or more miles to town more enjoyable.
And now I’m ready for some comfortable camping weekends. But not in the snow.
