welcome to utah a state that often looks like another planet
full of off the beaten path adventures where you might not see another person all day long
i'm kristin and i've been traveling the world mostly alone for the better part of the last
nine years and this is my fourth trip back to utah and this time i want to find all the off
the beaten path gems that aren't on most utah itineraries i'm traveling with my truck where
i'll be camping the entire time with my fingers crossed that the monsoons don't wash me out
i feel stupid really stupid and someone watching this is like she's so stupid but i think i'm gonna
stay my journey began driving six hours from reno to the bonneville salt flats then looking for a
place to sleep for the night headed down a side road now in the ritual peak area which is like
right nearby back on in so my sleeping area is not facing the road backing's always interesting
in this car because it has such big blind spots i actually think i got that pretty level
most important thing by far is retaining these somewhere where i can't lock myself
out because this car is not one of those that's idiot proof and i haven't been an idiot
yet but it's just a matter of time let's be honest
i didn't escape the wildfire smoke like i'd hoped but then things cleared up the next morning
probably wondering if i'm gonna try it did try the salt in the bad water basin it tasted
like himalayan pink salt oh more like table salt is there such thing as a salt sommelier
nobody looks at you weird if you charge stuff at starbucks
my afternoon took me to a national forest east of provo that held a big
exciting surprise for the following morning
oh there's fish in here i don't know if you can see it they're the same color as the water
now they're shy i had a really bad experience camping next to a river once in tanzania okay
that was entirely insane um a flood was coming and i was about to yet like to become part of it and
then the guard came and let me know it was coming that's all there is on this drive so i'm taking it
okay i'm digging this camping spot more anymore i feel like the first time i came to utah i just i
discovered free camping for the first time and i just free camped absolutely everywhere i possibly
could and i thought it was the neatest thing ever then i started like telling people about it
and people get really worried when you tell them you do stuff like this like you would be
outside alone it really freaks some people out they're like aren't you scared this could
happen you're so brave and people ask things like aren't you worried and i'm like i wasn't but now
you feel like people really start to push their fear on you when you tell them you do things
alone oh no i just it felt like the most natural thing to me though kind of like what humans used
to do we used to live outside i feel comfortable outside i think it's nice to be alone i i worry
now than i ever did before because of letting other people get to me i should work on that
you're not bad good morning
look at this water
so
as tranquil as this looks i wasn't actually alone the whole time i did indeed find the nudists and
it was almost comical at this part how much i perfectly blocked the dude like in austin powers
that said they were super nice and the girl kept hyping me up while i was taking video
so what more can you really ask for
uh
i feel so amazingly relaxed i got ice i went into the gas station and filled up this with ice
so i have that too got some coffee and like those mineral hot springs were just wonderful
the limiting factor for me always is that i forget that primitive hot springs are usually
really rocky on the bottom and it hurts my butt so much so today and yesterday
i mostly have passed the afternoon at coffee shops because it's hot and it's a shady place
for me to like get internet make plans and just have somewhere to be wow i parked like an idiot
so the way things are going to work out for tonight i'm going to get to the campsite or
the national forest site that i've picked out on google maps after dark and i don't
want to be like cooking at that point but nothing i'm making today actually requires
flame i'm gonna be making um wraps so i can just put those in the cooler when i'm done and then
have them tonight when i'm done with my special exciting thing that i'm so looking forward to
doing next okay i'm at the mystic hot springs now and there's a shower i might have to utilize that
in contrast to the primitive spring from the morning mystic is a paid soak for 25 for two hours
there were several bathtubs and pools that ranged from pleasant to scalding
i highly recommend you go for the sunset hours
i think we're not for the thai basil this would be weird but
it's going down i have an hour drive ahead of me i hope it's not a horrible idea in the dark
but that's where my campsite is or what i think will be my campsite oh god it's really dark let's
go i did in fact pass five deer and one bunny so i was driving really slow i'm in what seems like the
most beautiful aspen forest right now i'm really excited that it's this beautiful time to sleep
i slept until 9 45 and i am pleased about that much colder than i bargained for i thought it
would be hot in utah because it's july but i'm at over 9000 feet here in this national forest
and i'm looking at i think what i came here for right now
this is so nice and forest bathing so panda why am i so excited about panda well as far as we know
this is the largest organism by mass on earth it's this aspen grove and the really cool thing is in
the fall that means that all of the trees change leaves at the same time pando covers 106 acres
weighs an estimated 13 million pounds and has 47 000 tree trunks connected by the same contiguous
underground root system but as i flew over i noticed it wasn't looking so great in parts and
i learned that it's sadly dying due to too much vegetation eaters and not enough large predators
a fence surrounds part of the pando now and i hope he survives for a few thousand years more
i know that the largest just by area is a fungus in oregon but isn't it incredible
that that the largest living organism by mass is here in utah and it's a tree
the oldest living organism on earth is the bristlecone pine which you can find
in nevada and california the largest is the sequoia and the tallest is the coastal redwood
oh and i almost forgot the largest pine cone is from the sugarcone pine i learned that two
weeks ago in lassen it's just incredible that we have all that on the west coast
spending time with pando was so humbling and beautiful but as a storm moved in
i found myself wanting clear skies so i headed east to capitol reef national park
okay i am now at the goosenecks over look behind me it looks like the weather i left behind but
to the other direction it looks absolutely stunning so fingers crossed
okay curveball i just stopped by the capitol reef national park visitor center
and the road that i was going to take to get to the bentonite hills is impassable right now
my friend kristen and i took it a few years ago when we went to see the temple of the sun and the
moon and it's okay because that is a place i've already been before but i do really want to see an
area that i found outside of hanksville that really looks martian and it's entirely possible
that that's impassable too right now or that there's a flash flood danger so i'm just gonna
head in that direction and hope for the best but if not i'll make a change of plans such as life
people at the capitol reef telling me not to drive down any dirt roads is in the back
of my head right now because this would be totally impassable if uh if it pours
well i'm 99 sure this is the spot but we can only know from the air
this feels stupid really stupid and someone watching this is like she's so stupid but
i think i'm gonna stay with the news that any dirt road could be
treacherous and feeling like my camping spot was probably stupid
i barely slept all night but you know what the drone the next morning was aw inspiring
frankly i feel disgusting i was like sweating all night and didn't really sleep because like
who camps in a low area during the monsoon scenes and me i'm an idiot but all's well
that ends well right and these look way bluer in the early morning before the sun's up so
that was cool to see but i think i need a little break from this guy for a bit
i smell so bad it's almost impressive they'll just take pity on me and let me check in early or just
be like we need to get this stinky girl out of the lobby turn left onto south main street i booked
a place to stay tonight just to get out of the heat and i think i'm gonna be very glad for that
i checked in an hour early i'm gonna shower so necessary well i am clean
and that feels so good i'm getting ready to head out now i have kind of a fun surprise i asked a
month ago on my instagram stories who wanted to come meet up with me and mow up for a surprise
and laura is the lucky winner so let's go surprise her we are i'm so excited the weather's beautiful
yay
look it's jack skellington sandy claws check it out there's nobody here
oh nice i love this tree action shot
i cannot be the only one who comes here and thinks that that's just penises
you said a sea of penises earlier could not be more accurate
it's impressive like you said but you you do have to manage expectations
i think if you know it's going to be full of people it's fine yeah appreciate it for what
it is yeah it's really beautiful though it's super impressive i can see why they're a bunch of people
it's 11 p.m either laura nor i have slept much at all in the last few days
but the sky looks like it might be clear so we're gonna drive 30 minutes
hike in the dark and hope that the stars are out and then sleeping tomorrow
just another sunny day in southern california
it's where the people came to play
well well hello from nevada my last night camping coming to the end of my road trip if
you want to see my camping setup watch that video next and i hope that you find other
videos on this channel that you like that are like this one i do this kind of stuff all the time
hope to encourage you to do the same but i love utah i love nevada too and i'm just so glad to be
spending one last night in beautiful nature make sure you subscribe see you soon