Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Fall Trip North - Day 12

The next day while I was still in Great Basin National Park I found out that there is an underground cave system.  Of course I planned  to check it out.  But first thing in the morning I woke up to what I thought was the sound of rain.  It was not rain but hail which shortly turned to wet snow!  Since I was going to be on the cave tour (underground), I figured that the weather would not effect my day.  A few pictures of the hail / snow at my camp spot.
This all built up in about 30 minutes while I was getting ready to leave the campground.
This was the spot where I parked - a perfect outline of my truck as I was leaving!
I had about an hour until the tour of the caves started, so I decided to take a drive up the hill in the park.
As I got up to 7,500` elevation, the snow got a little heavier but the road was still clear (for a while).  This sign is warning about 10 miles of 8% up hill grade.
Soon the road was covered and only one brave sole had been up before me.  But I kept on going, of course!
When I got up to this sign (8,500` elevation) the snow was below me and the clouds were starting to break.  Very soon after I turned around and headed back to the visitor`s center to take the cave tour. 
Back at the visitor`s center I found this perfect "Christmas tree" all decorated with real snow!
It was now time to take the cave tour.  They are not big but very interesting.
This had about 30` high ceiling and all sorts of formations.  The one above was taken without a flash.
This one was taken with a flash and it brings out a lot of the true colors.  I was supprised to find out that they allowed people to take falsh pictures.
Some of the passage ways were rather tight.  This one was only 3` wide and about 6`6" tall.
OK enough of the cave pictures.  Back outside the temperature had dropped some and as I was getting gas, I noticed this ice on the front of my camper!
Back down in the valleys it cleared some but the hills around still had a good bit of snow as you can see below.  This is headed southeast toward Utah.
There are some long, straight roads out there.  A little later the weather started to close in again and the snow returned (see below).

This would not be a good place to have vehicle trouble - I drove for about an hour without seeing anyone.
When I got into the small town of Beaver, Utah (about 150 miles north of St. George, Utah) I stopped at a market to get some more supplies.  I the parking lot was this delivery truck that cought my eye.  It almost looked like it was intensionally deaigned with snow around the

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