Limestone hoodoos on Red Canyon on Utah Highway 12 in Dixie National Forest, October 4, 2015

Red Canyon on Scenic Byway 12

Utah’s Bryce Canyon Country
Accessed July 25, 2022

Twelve miles outside of Bryce Canyon National Park on Scenic Byway 12, Red Canyon beckons with a similar red rock landscape. Like Bryce Canyon, Red Canyon’s hoodoos were sculpted from Claron limestone over eons from wind and water erosion.  Red Canyon is part of the Dixie National Forest and follows Scenic Byway 12 for about four miles.

2014 Winnebago Minnie travel trailer, Cannonville-Bryce Valley KOA, Utah, October 4, 2015

Winnebago RV Minnie Travel Trailer (Camper)

2014 promotional literature

The all new Winnebago Minnie redefines ultra-light with its high-quality construction and state-of-the-art light-weight design.

Coming out of the great recession, Winnebago Industries made a strategic choice to broaden their product offering and provide buyers with a wider price range of lifestyle and travel products. The company weighed the option of developing towable products from scratch or acquiring an existing manufacturer and, in 2010, purchased the Sunnybrook company in Indiana. The goal was to take a well-regarded, but struggling company and, over time, bring the same value and quality to towables that’s found in their motorized products.

Like their motorhomes, Winnebago Towables, generally cost a little more than some of their competitors. On the surface, while most towable products seem similar, the difference in quality (underneath the wallpaper and trim) is sometimes hard to see.

Soon enough a lot more RVers will be looking through their rear view mirror and seeing a Winnebago logo smiling back at them in reverse.

Limestone fence posts, Reservoir Road, near Minooka Park (Core of Engineers), Wilson Lake, north of Dorrance, Kansas, September 12, 2019

Fencepost limestone

Fencepost limestone
Wikipedia
Accessed July 24, 2022

Fencepost limestone, Post Rock limestone, or Stone Post is a stone bed in the Great Plains notable for its historic use as fencing and construction material in north-central Kansas resulting in unique cultural expression.

The Fencepost limestone is a relatively thin, resistant, and recognizable bed of stone that forms the middle range of bluffs in the Smoky Hills region of north-central Kansas, ranging from the Nebraska border near Mahaska, Kansas, about 200 miles southwest to within a few miles of Dodge City, Kansas, where it is seen in the buildings of the farms and cities of the area.

The Fencepost limestone is unique for its contribution to the cultural landscape of Kansas, appearing as miles of stone fence posts lining austere fields and pastures. The drier climate coupled with the grazing habits of buffalo and the prairie burning practices of Plains Indians meant that the first European settlers to the region did not have enough local timber for construction and fencing. However, a suitable, easy to quarry stone was available. No other “area of the world has used a single rock formation so extensively for fencing.”

The source of this tough chalky limestone is the widespread and persistent topmost bed of the Greenhorn Limestone.

Minooka Park (Core of Engineers), Wilson Lake, north of Dorrance, Kansas, September 12, 2019

Minooka Park Campground is a Corps of Engineers campground on Wilson Lake, a large impoundment on the Saline River in central Kansas. The campground is 6 miles north of Interstate 70, exit 199. The lake is surrounded by rolling hills and gulleys, making for beautiful scenery. The campground has seven loops, each with a pit toilet. There are also two shower houses and a playground. All the facilities that I saw were very clean and well maintained. The grounds are very well kept. The internal roads are paved and the individual sites are gravel. The sites have electricity and water. There is a dump at the exit.

When we were there in 2019, the summer had been wetter than normal, the lake level was high and several campsites were flooded from the high level.

Our motorhome is a 2008 Navion IQ by Itaska, a brand that is no longer used by Winnebago though Winnebago currently manufactures similar motorhomes.