The Night of Camping that Would Not Be...

Woke up, packed up and took off to continue my Northern march.  Descending from the Nebo loop into Southern Payson was interesting, there are some great properties and I could imagine having a ranch in an area like this.  In fact, overall I'd say that I like what I see in Utah.  I had such good luck with the Nebo loop byway I tried another alternate option via the 91/89 combo from Bringham City, UT to Pocatello, ID - bad idea, while it was pretty, the traffic through Logan was terrible!!!!!

The trees in downtown Pocatello have
"twinkle light" and the string is connected
to this box.  I thought it was funny.

I stopped by the BLM and Forest Service office in Pocatello and asked for ideas on where to camp.  Usual criteria:

• No people
• Few rules
• No fees
• Dirt
• Etc.

I got a hot tip on a road up in the forest on the South side of I-86 so I checked it out.  The following video was taken on that road, it was amazing.

OK, so I didn't camp there and I'll tell you why:  I had a lot of office work to do and therefor needed an internet connection - I lost signal about 500 yards before I turned off on that road and it didn't return in the 20 minutes I spent on it.  So I turned around and headed for the next State Park that was close to the interstate as I'd likely have 3G coverage there.

Salvation! was found at Massacre Rock (great name!) state park.  As I pulled in I had full 3G bars.  Campsite was pricey at $26 and a cabin, according to the info board, was $55.  Normally I wouldn't even consider this, but the following flew through my head:

• Power - it would be convenient to plugin the laptop instead of sitting near car with inverter plugged in
• Bed - my back is hosed and a bed sounded nice
• Wind - it was blowing hard and sitting outside in the dark with a headlamp (so I can see the keyboard) didn't sound as good as sitting in a cabin at a table
• Alcohol - while this didn't have a direct connection to the prospect of staying in a cabin I nonetheless had a craving for a drink.  Update: I have not yet had a drink, I'm about to though!

Snake River as seen from my porch

Fresh pot of coffee at 8pm, ready to work late.
This is the view from my cabin-office

My back is screwed.... I really tweaked it when I crashed.  I spent the whole day stopping and applying ice packs and taking Advil.  Fingers crossed that I can ride with the Idaho MTB group on Friday.