The only places I have gone camping are in Utah, but there is such diversity in Utah’s climate and landscape, that I experienced a variety of different camping experiences. A camping hobby is great in Utah and other outdoor states. As I boy scout, I used to go on the Klondike every year. This was a winter campout in the Utah Mountains. It would get freezing up there at night. A couple of times when I went, I slept in a tent. The tent was freezing. A nice sleeping bag kept me warm, but the air was too cold to breathe. By morning my lungs felt like they had sand in them.

My scout leader, another scout, and I got up a little early to make a fire, because we were so cold. The scout kept complaining about how his feet hurt all morning, until the sun came up and then we realized he had his boots on the wrong feet. I think every year that I went to the Klondike, I fell through the ice on the lake and got wet. The warmest I have been at the Klondike was when I built a snow cave to live in. You just make a large pile of snow and pack it down. Then you dig out the inside large enough for a couple people to sleep in there. If you just have a candle, it will stay very warm inside the cave. The snow acts as insulation to the cold air outside. Snowcaving should definitely be added to your camping hobbies list.

I have camped in the high Uintah Mountains of Utah. My grandparents have a cabin up there that we have stayed in often. Now that I am older, I am a much bigger fan of cabin camping. You can just light the wood burning stove to keep the whole cabin warm. We had an electric generator to have electricity in the cabin. It might not sound much like camping to some people. We were up in the mountains alone though, and cooked our food on a campfire and got our water from a spring.

I have also camped in other areas of the High Uintah Mountains, without a cabin. Once I went on a fifty mile hike through the mountains. It took us five days going ten miles a day. We had to carry our tents, sleeping bags and all of the necessary supplies for food and other things, through the mountains for five days. Which reminds me; do not ever let your mom pack your backpack if you are going on a trip like that, unless you want to carry whole boxes of cereal and other things that are not useful on a long hike. When I hiked to King’s Peak, the highest peak in Utah, my mom packed my backpack and once I got to our base camp, I found in my pack a large iron skillet to cook on that weighed a ton, a whole loaf of bread, a large jar of jelly and a large jar of peanut butter. To say the least, I was not a happy camper after I realized I had just lugged a cast iron frying pan up the mountain.

I have also camped in the deserts of Southern Utah. There is no end to the scenery and variety of landscape there, from arches to the Grand Canyon along with Goblin Valley to Lake Powell. There are also the large canyons with the Green River and the Colorado River carving through them.

Find your camping gear at your http://www.varietyaccess.com online hobby store and more.

By Peter Jaystore

Cedar City, Utah can be great during all 4 seasons, fall, winter, spring and summer. Any time of the year is a great time to do some cedarcitytours. Cedar City is close to Cedar Breaks National Monument, Brian Head skiing/boarding/mtn biking park, Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Dixie National Forest, seen the fantastic ancient Indian rock art in Parowan Gap? Have you see Mammoth Cave, lava flows, Panguitch Lake, Three peaks, Thunderbird Gardens, seen Flanigan Arch, Southwest Wildlife Foundation Nature Center, or Ashdown Gorge?

Visiting Utah can be quite an adventure experience. The major airport to fly into the region is normally Las Vegas for Southern Utah. Cedar City has a growing and new airport on the outskirts of town. The small 10 minute city is perfect for getting around. It has most of anything anyone would want, and you can get to most of it in about 10 minutes or less. It is home to a wonderful university, Southern Utah University. SUU enrollment seems to be growing each year. There is also Southwest Applied Technology as well as George Wythe College.

As a perfect location for outdoor activity, Utah has 5 National parks and 3 National Monuments, in addition to the dozens of state parks. There are plenty of adventure choices. Red rock canyons, sandstone cliffs, the desert, the best snow on earth skiing, Joshua trees, slot canyons, canyoneering, travel, tour & adventure await your cedarcitytours. The National parks are: Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, and Zion National Park.

If that’s not enough of the most incredible landscape anywhere, the 3 National Monuments are: Cedar Breaks National Monument, Dinosaur National Monuments and GSENM, Grand Staircase National Monument. How about adding two National Recreation areas to the mix and maybe you’ll never want to leave Utah. The Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area all add up to one of the most spectacular places on earth to visit. Here are some of the things you can do.

• Hiking
• Camping
• Biking
• Golf
• Boating
• Beaches
• ATV
• Museums
• Scenic Drives
• Dog Sledding
• Snowmobiling
• Horseback Riding
• Hunting
• Antique Shopping
• Festivals/State Fairs
• Rafting
• Ice Skating
• Fly Fishing
• Wildlife
• Lake/Rivers
• Alpine & Nordic Skiing/Snowboarding

Another city is Saint George in southern Utah and just a couple of hours north of Las Vegas. It has an elevation of 2,880 feet above sea level. St. George has an average annual temperature of 59.9° F with summer temperatures well into the 100s. Palm trees and red rock cliffs are the norm in Saint George along with all the convenience of a city of 100 thousand.

Cedar City is well known as festival city. It is home to Southern Utah University, The Utah Shakespearean Festival, The Utah Summer Games, The American Children’s Christmas Festival, The Cedar City SkyFest, Neil Simon Festival, Himmelsk Festival Royal, yearly Cowboy Gathering, Rodeo, July Jamboree, Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire, Groovefest, and Paiute Restoration Gathering & Pow-wow. Cedar City is very close to Brian Head Ski Area. Close enough to be in the Vegas desert, ski during the day with views of Cedar Breaks Red Rocks and back to the desert for dinner. You’ll enjoy your cedarcitytours!

Bob Therrien is a travel writer and has traveled all over North America. He currently operates the website at http://www.cedarcitytours.com

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