Beat feet and just drive he said

 

Wow-za-roonie!  We gotta zoomie!  The snow's a comin' and there ain't no time for lolly gaggin'.

As noted yesterday, we said weather could play a wild card in our travel plans.  Well, the wild card has been played and now we have to deal with the hand we've been dealt.

A large, wet storm is roarin' in from the Northern Pacific.  The jetstream pushin' this puppy will be a blowin' almost 140 miles per hour.  And did we say it's wet?  Yep, it's carryin' water vapor picked up from that large pool of warm ocean water we discussed a while back.

How wet is it?  Well, NWS Grand Junction is just sayin' it's WET!!

Check out NWS GJT's Wednesday morning comments:

"The breakdown of a big bubble overhead will result in a major  shift in the forecast this weekend and may bring the first widespread snow storm across all mountain ranges for the season. The 120+ kt jet aloft will be sucking in a stream of Pacific moisture as the low deepens across the Great Basin. The anomalously high moisture content warped within this system, support the likelihood of a widespread and impactful precipitation event. Snowfall amounts of 6"+ are on the table for nearly all of our highest mountain ranges with 12" or more a possibility as well. Temperatures won`t be cold enough for snow in the lower desert valleys, but a widespread soaking rainfall is a decent bet. The changes that are coming will be a stark contrast from just a day or two prior... and another sign that winter is rapidly approaching."

The Road Trip route remains the same but the timing has changed.  Why?  Well, there's just absolutely NO doubt that both the west and north routes into Capitol Reef Country will be snowed in Sunday with very probable travel impacts continuing well into Monday. Both UT Hwy 24 and UT Hwy 72 crest out around 9,000 feet.  Trust me, this storm is cold and wet enough to drop a LOT of snow at the high points of both those highways.

So, there's only one choice--get into Reef Country as soon as possible BEFORE the snow flies.  That means we will leave Monster Country early Friday morning and beat feet south to Palisade State Park south of Manti, Utah.  We even went so far as to reserve a site in that campground so we wouldn't show up and get shut out.

Saturday morning, it's the same drill--get up early and beat feet for the far side of Fishlake Mountain.  We must get on the other side of those 9,000 foot crests before the snow flies.  The earlier the better.

We're pretty sure we will find an open spot in Sunglow Campground outside of Bicknell.  Since the storm is coming out of the Northwest, Sunglow will be well shielded from the high winds.  Snow that low would be doubtful and the campground road will be passable even when thoroughly sopping wet.  It's a near perfect place to hunker down for a Wayne Wonderland wall banger.

Bicknell is close by if we need some civilization and a stray cell signal.

Monday morning it will be a leisure cruise over through Torrey to Fruita and to our Site # 30 in the B Loop of the Capitol Reef National Park campground.

This upcoming weather is a LOT more like we'd grown to expect in October.  These blissful past three weeks of pollyanna weather conditions sure have been wonderful.  Now it's time to return to reality.


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