The next morning I cleaning the inside of my van, set up the back in the couch/lounge position, rolled and stuffed my memory foam mattress topper in my big storage cabinet, put all my bedding away, and oiled my counters so that my van looked perfect for the exhibition. There was a small festival with live music and food trucks going on that afternoon and evening in the grass along the buildings, which many of the exhibitors enjoyed while getting to know one another and bonding. Before heading to Washington County Legacy Park to get a good spot for the first ever VanFest, which was taking place the next day on May 8th, I went to one of those self-serve car washes in Hurricane and scrubbed my van clean since I was selected as one of their exhibiting vans. The following day was prep day to get my van exhibit ready. Sadly the snow covered a lot of the donut hole so one couldn’t get the full waterfall view and experience, but I was still proud of my first hike in the snow! I have since learned to carry micro spikes for my hiking shoes with me in the van. Normally this is an easy 1.5 mile trail, but during the winter the gate is closed to get to the starting point, so you have to park at the Mill D Trailhead, which adds roughly a mile round-trip to the hike. Since the weather was warm and sunny, I didn’t expect the trail to be covered in snow, but luckily I had my trekking poles with me! The hike ended up being quite the feat in the snow without spikes on my shoes I even fell and slid on my ass and got all muddy, and the last part uphill to get to the falls required knee-deep steps with my poles supporting me the whole way. The falls pours through the hole into a small pool in a cave before trickling down the rocks. The waterfall gets its name from a donut-hole shape in the rock. I read that Donut Falls was an easy waterfall hike within Big Cottonwood, so I decided to stop and take the trail. For those of you that don’t care to have a campsite, there’s quite a few pullouts along the road you can overnight at instead. Campsites there are only $5/night, though if you have an America Is Beautiful pass, it’s half that. I found a wonderful camping spot called Spring Recreation Site along the Browlee Reservoir, a 52-mile long reservoir on the Snake River. I stopped quickly at Selah Creek Rest Area where I took some great photos of the valley below, then headed on. One highlight was coming down I-82 after passing Yakima and seeing both Mount Rainier to the north and Mount Adams to the south towering in the distance. My trip started on May 2 and took me from my home base in Bellingham over Snoqualmie Pass into Eastern Washington and through Yakima, the “ Palm Springs of WA,” and then south into Oregon over the Columbia River at Umatilla. I still planned to explore solo, but the universe had a different plan for me and the adventure I went on was still amazing and unforgettable! I had big plans to meet up with my friend Ricardo and caravan through a lot of the national and state parks/monuments in Utah and even get to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but he sadly couldn’t commit to week long road trip. Back in May 2021, I went out a fun journey to Utah for the inaugural VanFest.
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