In this video I leave southern Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park and set out to find an obscure and difficult-to-access (but very pretty) waterfall called Sand Creek Falls. I then steer my trusty RAV4 southward and drive up onto the Markagunt Plateau, a forested, high-elevation plateau east of Cedar City, Utah. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
All posts by Tristan
A Bucket List Experience! (Driving the Cathedral Valley Loop, Part 2)
In this video I finish up Capitol Reef National Park’s Cathedral Valley Loop, something that has been on my Utah bucket list for years. I check out the Morrell Cabin, the Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon, Glass Mountain, and more! (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
Driving Across a River, Finding an Abandoned Truck & More!
In this video I start the 60-ish mile Cathedral Valley Loop through southern Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park. I drive across a river, come across an old abandoned truck, and drive through some truly epic desert landscapes before finding a buggy campsite on national forest land.
Learn more about the drive here. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
Exploring Utah’s Desert – Dino Tracks, Arches & More!
In this video I explore Buckhorn Draw, a canyon in Utah’s San Rafael Swell area. I check out a ton of petroglyphs, some pictographs, a natural arch, a Native American ruin, a dinosaur footprint, and more! (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
Little Grand Canyon & Broken Camera!
Sorry for the delay in getting a video out, but good internet access has been difficult to come by on this trip! In this video I head to central Utah’s Little Grand Canyon and promptly break my main video camera. Great. I also cook up a couple of easy meals. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
Help Me Plan My Big Road Trip!
I leave tomorrow on a monthlong road trip and couldn’t be more excited! In this video I talk a bit about the trip, and I also ask for your input on places I should see and things I should do along the way, particularly in northern California (east of I-5), southeastern Oregon, and southern Idaho. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
Mountain Climbing and Lake Packrafting!
The Most Beautiful Campsite Ever?!
In this video I head up into the mountains of northern Utah and find the most beautiful campsite I’ve ever stayed at. I talk about some changes I’ve made to my camping setup and show off some new gear, including what may be the world’s most compact camp toilet! (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
This video is part 1 of the adventure. Part 2 will be up on Thursday or Friday.
Relevant Links
- Campsite Location: 40.968556, -111.796334
- The Walmart chair
- The inflatable solar lantern
- The other solar lantern
- The cooler
- The tie-downs I use as hammock straps (They’re much cheaper than “real” adjustable hammock straps and work great.)
- The privacy tent
- The windshield mount I use to attach my fake GoPro
(Note: This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links.)
I Found a New Website and App for Free Campsites
I’m always on the lookout for tools to help me find free campsites. Websites I currently consult before going on a trip include FreeCampsites.net, Campendium, and Hipcamp. I recently found a new one to add to the rotation, and it’s called iOverlander. (There are Android and iOS apps too.)
I live in Utah and have extensive camping experience in the state, so whenever I come across one of these new websites or apps, I immediately go to Utah and see if there are any camping areas I don’t already know about. It turns out that iOverlander had several. I then looked down into Arizona and southern California (other areas I’m pretty familiar with) and found still more campsites I wasn’t aware of. In my opinion, iOverlander is the second best of the above mentioned campsite websites after FreeCampsites.net. (I’ve found that the other two websites, Campendium and Hipcamp, have campsites that are usually covered on FreeCampsites.net.)
You can filter the camps by type of camping (I usually turn all of them off except for “wild camping” and “informal campsites”) and by amenities you’re looking for (being able to find a paid campground with a shower, for example, could mean that you won’t need to pay for a shower at a recreation center or truck stop).
Head on over to iOverlander and take a look at the camping areas near you or that you’re familiar with. Did you find any campsites you didn’t already know about?
Hanging a Camp Shower Without Trees (From Your Car!)
One of the problems I’ve had with my little solar camp shower bag is that I’m not always near a tree to hang it up. Plopping it on top of my SUV doesn’t work well because it’s not tall enough. This video covers two solutions that I’ve come up with. (Click here if you can’t see the video.)
Here’s the shower I have (affiliate link), and here’s the link to the “poor man’s drone” video mentioned.