Mirror Lake Scenic Byway
Personal Notes:
Dog in the Woods Trip
This page presents our personal notes on our stay in the Stillwater Campground along the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway in the Uinta Mountains in northern Utah and southwestern Wyoming.
Friday, August 15, 2003
Stillwater Campground
We camped again in the Stillwater Campground, arriving around 11:00 a.m., after a 2.5 hour drive from Sandy. We first drove south toward Provo, then took Provo Canyon to the east, toward Heber. Then we took 32 to Francis and then Kamas.
We had mostly clear skies, but it looked like there had been rain the previous night or earlier in the morning. We suspected that it could easily rain later in the day, since that was the pattern we had noticed over the Wasatch Range. The temperature was somewhere in the low 80s, with a slight breeze.
We had made reservations for Site 5, the same location as the previous year, and we had no trouble backing into the site. One of the nice things about this site is that there is no other site to the east, except the campground hosts, and their site is off a ways through the trees. There is a campsite on the other side of us, but it is not close, although it is wide open between us. The Bear River runs along the back of the site, and, across the dirt entrance road, there are just pine trees. The site is level, and there are enough tall pines to make sufficient shade to keep us cool.
While we were eating a late lunch, the Campground Host came by to make sure we were who we were supposed to be. He told us that he and his wife have served the Stillwater Campground for seven years.
It is amazing how much stuff some people bring with them. There are a few sites down a ways that have pop-up trailers in them, and it seems that they have brought along every piece of camping equipment that they own, even if they don't intend on using it. They have a screened canopy over the picnic table, which is loaded down with all sorts of stoves and pots and pans and food and stuff. They have a shower rigged up between two trees, grills, inner tubes, bicycles, toys, coolers, wood, chairs, tables, and all sorts of stuff stacked around. You'd think they were going out for a week or two.
We had assembled the canopy (without the bug netting), assuming that the sun would be hot, but the remainder of the day was pleasant. We even got chilly while sitting in the shade and reading, getting a little breezy at times.
The campground is full, and we can, obviously, have campfires this year, even though the fire danger is extreme. It clouded up some for a short while around five or six, but cleared off. Later we started a small fire, and when we had plenty of coals, we grilled chicken breasts and had them with some delicious corn on the cob. Of course we roasted marshmallows for dessert.
Saturday, August 16, 2003
Stillwater Campground
It got cold over night. At 9:00 a.m. this morning, inside the trailer, it is still only 55 degrees F.
We don't usually take our dogs with us on our camping trips, because we generally hike and they just can't keep up with us, or they are not allowed on the trails. But this trip was mainly to sit and relax and to catch up on our reading. So we brought Nikos along to see how it would go. This was his first trip alone, since DJ passed on earlier this year.
Nikos seemed to enjoy himself, but he wouldn't eat anything but his treats. And he's only had a bit of water to drink. Maybe the smells and sound overwhelmed him. One of the problems with having him out with us is that he always has to be tied up or on his leash. Something that he's not used to around the house. But he didn't seem to mind that too much, even though his line was always getting tangled around poles and trees, etc. We took him for a walk after breakfast, around the campground and up along a short trail through the forest and back along the stream. He seems to like the stream, and walks right into it. But he has a hard time with the slippery rocks of the bottom.
There are a lot of dogs in the campground this year. Many are not on leashes. There is not a lot of barking, though. We're thankful for that.
The four guys next to us (two fathers and their teenage sons) literally collected a truck load of wood on Friday afternoon, and pulled down dead branches from within the campground for tinder. They, of course, had a huge fire last night, and again this morning. Every piece of wood was consumed before they left to go fishing for the day. When they came back they had another, even larger, truckload of wood. I just don't understand why folks have to have a huge bonfire, especially when the fire danger is so high. A nice, contained, smaller fire works just fine.
The folks with all of the stuff inflated inner tubes and spent about an hour floating down the river a short distance, walking back, then floating down again.
We sat around, reading and napping. Around 4:00 p.m. it began raining. Lightly at first, then much heavier. There was some small hail at one point. The trailer was on a high spot, but the area where we had placed the canopy was a low spot, so the water collected there. The rain stopped after 7:00 p.m., but it stayed cloudy and it sprinkled on and off throughout the evening. There was lots of thunder and lighting. Nikos, of course, went off on a barking binge every time it would thunder.
We played Scrabble in the trailer and enjoyed the storm. After it stopped raining we started a small fire and grilled burgers. We turned in around 10:30 p.m.
Critters
Lots of humming birds, but not much else. Saw a couple of night hawks last evening, and an occasional robin. But there still seems to be an unusual absence of small animals.
Sunday, August 17, 2003
Stillwater Campground
It was cold again over night. We wished we had brought along an extra sleeping bag to throw over us like a comforter. It is clear, but very damp this morning. We waited for the sun to come up and hoped that it would dry things off some. I set the folding chairs and other stuff in a sunny spot. That helped them. And we moved the canopy to a sunny spot, and that dried off pretty well. But the trailer was still wet when we were ready to close it up, so we had to pack it damp and open it again when we got home. I think we left the campground around 11:00 a.m., and we got home sometime after 1:00 p.m. We returned by the same route that we had come in on. It was warm and sunny in Sandy.
