Heading North

If we were going to get to the Canadian Rockies before the high season, it was time to start heading north.  The only problem was the weather, with high afternoon winds in the forecast every day.  So we did something we rarely do, we were on the road before 8AM and putting more than 200 of the 300 plus mile days behind us before noon.  That may not sound like a lot to a non RVer, but last year our average day of travel was only 185 miles and we usually leave at the crack of 10AM.  Normally we follow the 2-2-2 rule, drive no more than 2 hours, travel no more than 200 miles and stop by 2 PM.  But we have a lot of miles to cover to get to Canada. 

Our first stop was in Colorado Springs where we had this great view of Pikes Peak for the Elks campground.  We stayed two days because of threatening weather and did a day trip to Manitou Springs, a neat old town with many shops and restaurants.  We did have a negative experience in Colorado Springs as some fine patriot, who does not believe in free speech, tore our 08 OBAMA sticker off the car.  We were not deterred and had a replacement attached within minutes of discovering the vandalism.

The next big driving day took us across the High Plains to Alliance, NE where the Sunset Motel and RV park accepted the half price Passport America rate for Memorial Day weekend.  The plains do have their own unique beauty with the windmills, old abandon homesteads and fields of green and brown crops.

One discovery was the Nebraska panhandle does not have a lot of highways and you can often save many miles of travel if you use the unpaved roads (in the CRV, not the RV).  On this five mile stretch we met many cows, birds, pronghorns, two trees but NO vehicles.  On our return trip we did encounter a strange plains phenomenon, a fog bank like we have only seen in Labrador and on the Pacific coast.

You know you are in America's breadbasket when you see a junkyard that has only combine and tractor parts.  I was surprised to know they scrapped old equipment, from what I had seen I thought they just let it rust away behind the barn.

The goal of this drive was to add Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, the site of a huge collection of prehistoric but post dinosaur fossils, to our list.  The two hills, University and Carnegie, are where the digs took place.  There is a Pittsburgh connection here as the dig on Carnegie Hill was conducted in 1904 by O. A. Peterson from the city's Carnegie Museum.  Without realizing it I have probably seen displays of his work there on my many visits. 

The scientists believe there is such a large concentration of fossils here because during a drought the animals ate all the surrounding vegetation then gathered near the comfort of the waterhole only to die in large numbers.  These are a few of the remains of prehistoric animals like the Daphoenodon, beardog; the Monoceras, a rhino, and a Moropus, a relative of the horse.

One thing that stumped early scientists was these spiral fossils. They first thought they were a tap root of an ancient plant but later learned they were underground shelters of large, dry-land beavers, Palaeocastors, that lived in large colonies like today's prairie dogs on the High Plains.

Agate Fossil Beds also has an extensive collection of Indian artifacts that land owner James H. Cook, who first discovered the fossils, received as gifts.  Cook was friends with many Indians including Red Cloud, an Oglala Lakota (Sioux) chief.   Top are beaded moccasins.  Bottom is a buffalo hide with the story of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the red whetstone that was carried by Crazy Horse when he was killed and Red Cloud's buffalo shirt.  This little out of the way park service site is a worthwhile stop. 

Another stop in the Sandhills of Nebraska that was on our list was Carhenge, a full size replica of the real thing that we saw in England.  We also saw a small scale replica in Texas (and you thought that everything in Texas was bigger), but this one is truly unique.  It was built in 1982 using 38 1950's and 1960's junked cars.  They are placed just like the stones in England down to the ones that have fallen and others that are half buried.  It even duplicates the real function of Stonehenge as the shadows align for the solstice and equinox. 

More recently other works of 'car art' have been added.  This one is the Fourd Seasons, that represent the four stages of the wheat crops grown in the area. 

After Memorial Day weekend it was back on the road with a stop at Fort Laramie National Historical Site in Wyoming.  The site of the fort was originally a trading post that became a military fort to supply and protect travellers on the trail used by emigrants heading to Utah, California and Oregon.  This is the old Calvary barracks.

One thing I have noticed in visiting these old frontier forts is that the barracks of the late 1800's were not that different from the ones I lived in during the 1960's.  A big room with lines of beds, no privacy and a large open mess hall.  I hope that has improved for today's soldiers.

The stones mark the foundation of an old infantry barracks and the buildings are the post commander's home and what we called the PX (post exchange).

The ruins are the officers quarters and the white building is the BOQ, Bachelor Officers Quarter, which was know as Old Bedlam.  I'm sure that is appropriate for a building housing a bunch of young officers far from civilization. It is believed to be the oldest building in Wyoming.

These are the homes of the married officers.  A great family setting for the frontier and sure a lot nicer than the enlisted barracks.  As they say in the military, RHIP! 

 

One thing the post had back then that they had when I was in, was the beer hall that had a pool table.  All the wooden cases are from Anheuser Busch.  It is great that the government has done such a good job of preserving these little traces of our past.

After leaving Fort Laramie it was on to a night at Wally World in Casper, Wyoming where we had some of the worst winds we have experienced since we hit the road.  We were glad we were parked and not out on the Interstate as a micro burst rocked us like never before.  As we continue north we are hoping for calmer winds.

YNP to ABQ

The plan (as always written in sand) was to stop for a few days in Santa Fe, NM on the way from Yellowstone to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. At about 12 noon and just 60 miles into the thousand mile trip the STOP ENGINE light and buzzer came on. Fortunately, we were by a turnout in Grand Teton National Park so we immediately did as told. The next step was to call our road service for the first time ever. They called back with the info that the closest Cummins repair facility was 135 miles away in Idaho Falls, ID and they were trying to find a truck big enough to carry our 33,000 pound motorhome, Opus. A while later they called to say someone could be there by 9PM which would have required us to follow the tow for about four hours over very steep Teton Pass at night. We opted to spend the night where we were and wait until the AM for the tow. Just after dark a ranger knocked on the door to see why we were along the road in the park which is illegal. After I told him the story he had no problem with our staying.

About 10:30 the next morning Sean from Eaton Towing showed up with a flat bed to carry Opus to Idaho Falls.

I did have to help by basically hanging on tight to the steering wheel so it would go straight on to the trailer. It was a bit tense as the trailer wasn't much wider than our wheels.

To haul a big rig you need a big rig.

This is not the view of the Tetons we were looking forward to seeing. It took some time to get relaxed watching our house on top of a trailer going down the road. Going under the traffic lights in Jackson was a little hairy, but the further we traveled the more confidence we had in Sean.

Then we came to Teton Pass that is a 10% climb up and a really slow 10% decent. It was all done expertly and we were very happy with the service.

We did not arrive at Kenworth in Idaho Falls until after 3PM and they could not work on Opus until Friday, so we had a night of industrial camping. They were also very accommodating and gave us an extension cord so we could have power to charge the batteries. Here is another Sean under the rig checking things out. The news turned out to be not too bad as the problem was "only" a $27.81 heat intake sensor that cost "only" $301.60 to diagnose and install. After a 51 hour delay we were back on the road at 4:30 PM (a later start then we have ever had) heading south to Utah.

Since we were West of the divide we decided to go to Moab for a couple of days to relax. We were here in 2008 and loved it. On Sunday we did some short desert hikes in Arches National Park. Here is a link to our 08 post on Arches.

The red rock and blue sky were absolutely beautiful.

Another view in Arches

The next day we did a 30 mile side trip to see the only place in the US where four states, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet. This little geographic oddity was on our to do list so we made the stop for the mandatory picture. When we looked at it we discovered Nanc was only in three states as she was not touching Arizona so we might have to return. We were also able to help the Native American economy (which Nanc did visit in every state) as we made a couple of purchases from the artisans.

A few sights from along the road South. The cloud was dropping rain but it was not getting to the ground. Top left is Ship Rock and the others were just some of the interesting landforms we saw along the way through the arid Southwest.

We are now at Enchanted Trail RV Park in ABQ and will be moving 20 miles to the balloon fiesta for the next twelve days. They have a couple of old cars and several old campers displayed here. This is an old Hudson. All said, the trip we planned did not happen but the trip we were forced to take turned out to be very great. This past week showed the down side as well as the up side of having a home on wheels and living this adventurous lifestyle. Life is Good!!

More of Fabulous Yellowstone & the Grand Tetons

On day three of our Yellowstone visit we awoke to cloudy skies and a bit of rain. We were not deterred and explored the Northern part of the park loop road passed Mount Washburn to Mammoth Hot Springs. We were rewarded with more spectacular scenes of nature.

We encountered our first wolf jam and got to see a large wolf far off in the distance. One of the watchers let all of us have a close up look with his spotter scope and I got this blurry picture as this lone wolf walked through the high meadow. This was an animal that was high on our must see list, as the last time we were here in 1977 there were no wolves. Their reintroduction in 1995 means that all animals that were here in 1872 when the park was establish are here today. This project was not without controversy, but from what we saw later it was the correct decision.
Buffalo Jam. Buffalo are the most seen large animal in the park and we encountered many buffalo during our stay often blocking the road as they meandered slowly along. This big guy and another one, after wallowing in the dust, made passing threats at each other before moving on. These huge animals appear to be very gentle but they cause more injuries to stupid tourists than any other in the park. They can run very fast and can jump most fences with ease.

The overcast skies added to the surreal look of the Mammoth Hot Springs. These massive springs of hot water and calcium carbonate have formed the ever changing colorful, steaming terraces.

While we did see some s**w this is a white terrace with a hot water falls. The sign warned "Danger Hot Water Will Scald" and even I did not want to test the waters as you could feel the heat just walking the paths through the springs.

This is one of the older formations at the top of the terraces. This is a really neat, beautiful area that should be on your must see list.

Norris Geyser Basin has many spouting geysers including the Steamboat geyser, the world's largest. This giant erupts at irregular intervals of days or years so we did not wait for the show. This is another place where the colors have changed because of the idiots who throw junk into the water. Go Figure!!!

That evening we enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel which has been renovated to its original 1891 grandeur. It was a great time with great friends. We do love having our friends visit us so we can share a bit of our wonderful lifestyle.

Driving back to the campground from dinner we had both a bear and buffalo jam. This mama grizzle and her cub were within about 25 feet of the car. She was standing to see what all the ruckus was about as all the cars in both directions were stopped on Fishing Bridge because a big herd of buffalo were stampeding around all the vehicles through traffic to cross the bridge. After she saw what was happening she and the cub ran up the hill and out of the way. The picture is not very good because it was dark and I was so excited that I failed to get any pictures of the buffalo. I think we have seen so many that at the moment I did not think I needed more buffalo pictures but it was quite a show.

The next day we traveled South out of Yellowstone down the John D. Rockefeller, Jr Memorial Parkway to Grand Teton National Park. The parkway includes 24,000 acres of land that was donated by Rockefeller to connect the one grand ecosystem of the Tetons and Yellowstone. The Grand Tetons offer the most beautiful mountain scene in the US with peaks that raise to 13,770 feet above Lake Jackson at 6,772 feet. Being face to face with 7000 feet of mountain is an experience that is only seen in a few places in the world.

Everywhere you look there is a spectacular view of these impressive mountains that are jutting out of the lake and valley to form the impressive chain.

The Chapel of Transfiguration an Episcopalian Church. The window behind the altar frames the beautiful view of the Tetons. The minister had better be great to get his flock to focus on his words and not the beautiful scene behind him. We had to wait to get inside as there was a wedding going on. What a wonderful place to start your married life.

Mike and Sherri left a day too soon. In Hayden Valley we had the chance to see one of natures great encounters. For almost 45 minutes we watched as a pack of four wolves tried to run down three elk cows. The chase ended at the banks of the Yellowstone River. Here the exhausted wolves get a drink as the last cow walks into the river. The large buck stood by and watched the whole event and was not bothered by the wolves.

After being threatened again the cow starts across the river to join the other two on the opposite bank. The wolves did not venture very far into the water.

Here they have given up the chase and start back through the meadow to the forest. Near the treeline they stopped and went nose to nose with a big bull buffalo but thought better than to take on that big guy. This was truly one of the most amazing natural events we have ever seen.

It is time to get on the road and head South as there is some fresh s**w in the higher elevations. We had a great week in Yellowstone and sharing it with Mike and Sherri made it even better. If you are keeping score the guys went 4-0 in the four euchre tournaments we played this visit. Yellowstone is the most spectacular and diverse natural environment in the national park system and is not possible to capture it in two blog posts so here is a web album with more pictures of this wonderful park. Click on slideshow to enlarge the pictures.

Fabulous Yellowstone

When it was established in 1872 Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the world. A visit here makes you realize what a wonderful decision this was. The diverse, natural environment includes rivers, lakes, falls, mountains, forests, meadows, the largest geothermal hot spot in the world and many, many animals. The large, central part of the park sits inside the collapsed caldera of an ancient super volcano that last erupted 640,000 years ago with an explosion several hundred times more powerful than Mount St. Helens. This is why there are so many geysers, hot springs and mud volcanoes in the park. The Yellowstone ecosystem extends beyond the park making it the largest such area in the lower 48 states. We arrived at Fishing Bridge Campground with Mike and Sherri and immediately began exploring with a drive through Hayden Valley to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.Our first stop was Mud Volcano, where boiling mud pots steam and smell of sulfur. It is so strange to see these large areas of earth that look like something out of a science fiction movie.

This is Dragon's Mouth Spring, a boiling, steaming, hissing and burping mud spring that really does make it seem like you are looking down the dragon's throat and smelling its bad breath.

A sure sign that animals are nearby is a traffic jam with many cars stopped on and along the road. They are commonly called buffalo jams because they are the most seen animal. I can't even imagine what it would be like during the summer months. Our first such stop was an osprey jam to see this huge bird. I also had my first case of lens envy as many of the photographers had big, big equipment.

This is the 109 foot Upper Falls at the entrance of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The 1000 foot deep canyon was carved by ancient glacial floods.Looking down the canyon from Artist Point under the setting sun sure shows where the name Yellowstone comes from.

Even though it was cool enough for jackets, Nanc, Jim, Sherri and Mike are enjoying the warm sun at Artist Point.

Nanc and I returned to the Grand Canyon to hike the North Rim Trail and a couple of side trails into the canyon. It looks really different in a different light. Here is the view of the canyon, river and Lower Falls from Inspiration Point.

This is looking down the canyon from the same spot.

The hike down to the brink of the Lower Falls rewarded us with this great view and the rainbows in the mist.

This is the view of the Lower Falls from Red Rock Point. Look carefully and you can see the people on the brink of the falls where we took the above picture.

On day two we drove to Old Faithful then out of the park to Earthquake Lake in Montana. Here is a post of our earlier visit to Earthquake Lake. We also had dinner and did a little shopping in West Yellowstone.

Here is the first eruption of Old Faithful that was not very high and did not last very long. The duration can be from one and a half to five minutes and height can vary from 106 to 180 feet but this geyser still goes off within ten minutes of the predicted time. We don't think Sherri was too impressed.This is the second eruption that was higher and lasted longer than the first one. She liked this one much better.Two historic figures, Sherri and Mike, in front of one of the historic Yellowstone tour buses at historic Old Faithful Inn.

Morning Glory Spring is one of the most colorful and is located near Old Faithful. The color has changed over the years because idiots have thrown coins and other junk into the spring. It has to be cleaned out every year. There are several more similar springs in the area.

Another of the many geysers on Geyser Hill near Old Faithful. The eruption of most are not as often, as big, or as predictable as Old Faithful. Some show their stuff daily while others may not erupt for years. Much of this is affected by the thousands of small earthquakes that occur in Yellowstone each year. Old Faithful Inn is pictured in the background.

On our return from West Yellowstone we were stopped in an elk jam. This big racked buck was with a couple of cows and a young elk. All this is only a glimpse of a wonderful week in beautiful Wyoming. There will be more to follow.