Utah, Nevada & California

It’s been a while and we’ve got a lot of ground to cover, I know because we’ve literally covered a lot of ground. We’ve got to at least get you caught up to the state we’re in by the end of this post. So without further ado, I’ll get right down to it.

We couldn’t leave Utah without hitting up a couple more of the ‘Mighty Five’ National Parks in the state, and a couple bonus dog-friendly spots as well.

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Red Canyon

There’s only one dog-friendly trail at Bryce Canyon National Park, but luckily I had read that a good alternative is Red Canyon. It has similar rust-colored hoodoos that furry friends are welcome to wander through.

There are lots of super short (<1 mile each) trails that interlink; we hiked Photo, Birdseye, Pink Ledges, and Hoodoo Trails which are all pretty easy strolls through the hoodoos.

Next we walked south across the road to a slightly more challenging 2.5-mile, 803-ft elevation gain Golden Wall Trail.

While the hike up was exhausting, the views at the top made it all worth it.

Interactive photo – click and drag to look around:

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Bryce Canyon National Park

At Bryce Canyon, dogs are only allowed on a short 1-mile section of the paved path between Sunrise Point and Sunset Point. We figured we’d make the most of it and arrive at Sunrise Point early enough to watch the sunrise.

This meant waking up, getting ready, making to-go coffee obviously, and getting there and parked and situated all before 6:00 am. I don’t know if you’ve heard but…we’re currently on sabbatical so we typically roll out of bed every day at our leisure. Waking up that early was a real stretch for us.

But we did it! And it was pretty magical watching the sun rise up over the vast stretches of pink and cream rocks.

Bruno found it to be less than magical. He felt he had been promised a hike, not just sitting at the edge watching the sun come up. He let us know his displeasure, as he often does, by whining the whole time until we started moving again towards Sunset Point.

While it’s a short walk over to Sunset Point, every few yards along the edge offers slightly different, equally spectacular views of Bryce Canyon. It was neat to watch the light change as the sun slowly rose higher in the sky.

At Sunset Point, you can see Thor’s Hammer, a tall singular spire, pictured close to the center of the photo here:

You guys…I know this is way too many pictures of Bryce, but it was so beautiful. I just can’t bring myself to remove any! 10/10 would recommend everyone go there some day.

We walked back to Sunrise Point to get our car and drove to a few extra scenic overlooks before heading home.

I think Bryce Canyon is my favorite National Park we’ve seen so far. We may have to come back one day without the doggos to explore a little more.

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Kodachrome

We hiked the dog-friendly 3-mile Panorama Trail loop at Kodachrome Basin State Park. In Kodachrome, they call the tall rock formations ‘spires’.

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Zion

At Zion National Park we walked along the easy, flat, dog-friendly, 3.5-mile Pa’rus Trail. Pa’rus (pah-roos) is a Paiute word loosely translated as “bubbling, tumbling stream.” This trail aptly meanders alongside a small stream running through Zion.

The drive in and out of the park is also nice as it winds through a long 1.1-mile tunnel and through the towering cliffs of Zion.

And that’s all for Utah! It was starting to get pretty warm again, which can make for a pretty uncomfortable boondocking experience, so we decided we’d hightail it up north.

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Mammoth Mountain

We had our eyes set on Oregon, but you don’t want to spend more than a few hours driving an RV at a time, so we had to chart a path to get there. I know I said we weren’t going to go to California at all due to the pandemic, but we decided we’d just drive through Nevada and hop across the border to the small town of Mammoth Lakes, CA.

In the winter, it’s a nice skiing destination. We arrived in the off season so there weren’t too many people.

We intended to do the Mammoth Mountain Loop hike, but I must’ve been leading the way that day because we got disoriented and ended up following some sort of closed bike trail around the base of the mountain. The good news is when you aren’t even on a trail you’re guaranteed to have it all to yourselves!

Perhaps we over-corrected in our efforts to get out of the heat because we were greeted at our new boondocking site by snow!

Please excuse my poor recording abilities but enjoy this short video of the dogs frolicking in the snow:

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Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe lies on the border of California and Nevada. We started on the California side with the 1.5-mile Casacde Falls Trail. It started with a great overlook of Emerald Bay.

It’s difficult to get a good picture of, but the Cascade Falls sprawl across the rocks and you can sort of walk through the tops of them. Or if you’re Bruno, you can enjoy a refreshing sip.

Next we drove around the perimeter of Lake Tahoe into the Nevada side. It’s still pretty chilly out, so we had no intention of actually getting in the icy water, but we hiked down the hill from the road to Secret Cove Beach.

Apparently the California side is typically busier because the beaches are right off of the road, whereas the Nevada side is more secluded because you have to be willing to hike a steep mile down to the water’s edge.

Secret Cove is known for its glassy turquoise waters and boulders dotting the surface…oh and also its nudists…did I mention it’s a nude beach? We thought it’d be far too cold for anyone to be in the buff, but we were mistaken…

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Lassen Volcano

Last stop in California: Lassen Volcanic National Park. And what better way to tackle this park than to hike up Lassen Volcano itself?

There was lots of very deep, packed snow on this 6-mile trail, especially at the base. We hiked this one without the dogs.

Lassen Peak is about 2,000 ft tall and has a volume of 0.6 cubic miles, making it the largest lava dome in the world. Lassen is an active plug dome volcano which last erupted in 1917.

We were originally expecting to see a large opening at the summit, but since Lassen Peak is a plug dome, there are large lava rocks jutting up from its top.

We had to not-so-gracefully skate down some of the snowy slopes. This is the only hike so far where we’ve felt envious of some of the other hiker’s hiking poles. But the sliding was sort of fun too.

That’s all for now folks! Cross a couple more states off our tiny home’s bucket list.

We’ve made it to Oregon where we plan to spend some extra time.