Stuck!

From Levan Town Park I traveled south to the Dixie National Forest in south central Utah, planning to boondock there for five or six days.

The first three days were just ideal and the weather at my campsite, which was about 20 yards off a forest service road, was 78 in the day and low forties at night.  The ground that made up the Tank's campsite was a mixture of clay-ish dirt mixed with gravel.

The area around the Tank's site.  Note the ground make up.

On the night of my third day at the campsite the weather changed for the worse, with rain falling in sheets for almost 48 consecutive hours.  I had a bad feeling when I stepped out of the Tank and my boots sank into mud about three inches,  if I sank that far how deep would the Tank sink if I moved it off it's leveling blocks which appeared to be somewhat supporting the pickup's wheels?  After the rain paused for an hour I took the chance to see if I could bull my way to the forest service road.

The Tank's drive wheel digging a hole!

As soon as the Tank moved six inches off the leveling blocks I felt it sink into the mud--deep---and not move and further.  I was at least bright enough not to over spin the drive tire (none of that four wheel drive stuff for me!)  and dig in deeper, I climbed back into the camper and resolved to wait until the campsite dried out to try again, and then it began raining for twelve more hours.

Deer ignoring the mud outside the Tank's campsite.

I was grateful for having a lot of extra canned goods in the Tank's cupboards and I did have plenty of fresh water and adult beverages so I waited out two more days but each time I climbed into the Tank the drive wheel couldn't grab traction and I was still stuck.  The next morning I woke up after a chilly night, looked out my window and saw this:

Two inches of snow on September 22!

The muddy soil had frozen under the Tank!  I got the idea of taking an almost empty charcoal bag I had and pushing it under the drive wheel so that the drive wheel could use the heavy paper for traction and then I climbed behind the wheel and put it in drive.  I felt the Tank move forward a little (this hadn't happened before) so I gave it gas and the drive wheel climbed out of it's hole, I didn't stop until the Tank made it to the service road.

Free at last!  The Tank sitting on the snowy service road.

The former campsite,

I learned some things from my being stuck.  The first is to carefully analyze the type of ground you park your RV on.  Had I done this I would have moved the Tank as soon as hard rains had begun to fall, I won't fail to move to more compacted ground in the future.  Second, I need to carry some type of traction improver (my brother says a bag of birdseed would work) because once the drive wheel gets coated with the mud it has almost no way of getting traction.  Finally, having extra cans of food (and beer) in your RV can REALLY come in handy if you have to "hang around" for a few extra days.

Thanks for reading!

Campground Review: Levan Town Park Levan, UT

When your making a long haul and want to break the drive up into two segments town parks are a handy way to accomplish this.  As I was driving from the Logan, UT area I drove a few hours then decided to stay over one night at Levan Town Park in the tiny Utah town of Levan.

Somebody got the No Skatboarding sign upside down.

You must call the city hall and request permission to overnight in the park and the lady who answers reminds you to please make a donation in the park's metal donation box, although technically it's free to stay in overnight.  I left five bucks -- if the park had a dump station I might have gone ten, but I thought five was reasonable.

Here's Levan Park's data sheet:

Hookups:                                             None                                                                          

Fire ring:                                              No                                                                              

Water Access:                                     No                                                                  

Fresh Water:                                        Yes                                                     

Trash Service:                                      Yes                                                     

Toilets:                                                Yes                                                     

Showers:                                             No                                                                              

Dump station:                                      No                                                      

WiFi:                                                   No                                                      

Level sites:                                          Yes                                                     

Laundry:                                              No                                                                  

Store:                                                  No (a quickstop is a half mile away)                          

Pool:                                                   No                                                                  

Shade:                                                Yes                                                                 

Verizon reception:                                4G, 3 bars                                           

Internet reception:                                3 bars                                      

Cost:                                                  Free (donation requested)

It's clear that the park management intends the RV's at the park to stay on an asphalt loop under a tree canopy but since I was relying on the Tank's solar panels I parked next to the ball diamond on a gravel parking lot where I got great sunshine.

The Tank soaking up sunshine near the ball diamond.

A covered picnic pavilion, note the tall shade trees.

The pavilion above had live electrical outlets if you didn't have solar on your RV and needed to charge cell phones or laptops.

A small playground for the kiddos. 

As is typical for most places in Utah there's always a view of the mountains, Levan Park is no exception.

A view from Levan Town Park.

Levan Town Park, like most town parks I've stayed in is definitely not a destination camping opportunity but as an overnight place to stay it runs rings around Walmart parking lots and the like.
I'd stay there again if it was on my drive path.

Thanks for reading! 

Campground Update: Newton Reservoir Newton, UT

When I originally visited Newton Reservoir in northwest Utah in 2014 the reservoir was a vibrant area of local water activity like water skiing and fishing.  I reviewed the campground here:  Newton Reservoir Review .  Being back in the area in September of this year I decided to go camp there again because it had impressed me and I was tired of camping in areas with little or no cell signal and the reservoir had a cell tower on a mountain right next to it,  If you revisit my original review and note the water level of the reservoir in the pictures you'll appreciate the picture of it's current level below:

About one third the depth it had in 2014.

Two years haven't been easy on the reservoir as all of Utah has been in a prolonged drought.  The camping experience is understandably diminished with the massive draw down and there were no boats on the reservoir probably because the boat ramp to it ended about 40 yards short of the water.

Really sad, until the drought breaks and the reservoir refills I can't recommend camping at Newton Reservoir.

Thanks for reading!