One of the benefits of pulling your home along behind you is that when the weather changes abruptly, all you have to do is dig out the winter clothes that you stored away. That served us well starting in Grand Teton. After months of shorts, tank tops, and air conditioning having traveled so far north and climbing into the mountains, we actually needed long pants and socks! Cream ‘o Wheat became the breakfast of choice.

After leaving Yellowstone, we entered Montana and made our way north. Heading out on Friday of Labor Day weekend, we had some concern about the availability of camping. To our delight, our “Free Camping” (it actually includes everything $12/night and under) book helped us locate another sweet little city-run campground. This one was in Drummond, on the banks of the Clark Fork River. It was about 5 minutes off the interstate, which sounded way better than the other options listed in the book, which were all many miles down what it described as a “rough forest service road”. There were other folks in the campground, but it wasn’t close to full, even though there are only 12 sites, and it was much nicer than a Wal-Mart parking lot for an overnighter. They charge $10/night for with no hookups and $25 if you want electricity (that’s the highest charge we’ve seen for electricity).

The next day driving took us through gorgeous mountains and along sweet lovely rivers. We stopped for a few hours in Missoula to catch up on laundry and to go in search of decent coffee. We found a very nice laundromat with wireless internet (and attached casino) adjacent to the parking lot for some government offices that were closed, which was quite convenient for parking the rig. After fixing lunch, Laura finished the laundry while I went off in the eternal quest for fresh quality coffee beans. Not very happy with the product of my efforts.

Back on the road through more beautiful mountains and other scenery. One thing that we’ve noticed is that all of the horses we see look great. Glossy and well fed, but not fat. Late in the afternoon, we arrived at Flathead Lake. Our host, Gene Presser, was an inspiration to us when we were first considering this adventure. We met him at Brannon Island Recreation Area, where he was camped with 3 dogs and a cat (sound familiar?) Gene has about 45 acres here on the lake, with a huge house that he rents out for family reunions and the like during the summer months while he stays in an Airstream trailer on the lakeshore. We set up a little ways from his trailer, on the other side of a tree, but equally as close to the water. Out our door we look at “Wild Horse Island” which is to be home to a band of Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, and coyotes in addition to the wild horses. On Sunday, Laura woke up feeling a bit under the weather the wind picked up with a good chance of showers, so we decided to spend our day doing things hadn’t had time for recently, like cleaning out the back of the camper and allowing the dogs some off leash time. We had a very enjoyable dinner with Gene before walking up to his rental house. A great reunion/party house with amazing views of the lake. While we were there, Gene offered up fresh veggies out of his raised bed garden. What’s better than fresh carrots, straight from the ground only moments before? Well, fresh corn on the cob, actually…but anyway… they were great.

Labor Day Monday, arguably the single best day on our journey so far. We set off from camp via canoe. Paddled across a section of the lake to Skeeko Cove on Wild Horse Island, which is part of a State Park. Beautifully clear water. As soon as we landed, we were approached by a staff person, who was very welcoming and knowledgeable. He gave us some useful information about the hiking opportunities and wildlife we might be on the lookout for. In addition to seeing numerous mule deer, we encountered a herd of big horn sheep. We expected them to be skittish and reclusive, but quite they were quite the opposite. They seemed as interested in watching us as we were in watching them. After we made our way back down the trail, we heard thundering hooves, and the next thing we knew, the sheep were a few yards away from us, with juveniles bumping heads and leaping into the air. As we reached the other side of the island, a place called Eagle Cove, Laura said that her day would be complete if she saw a bald eagle and a wild horse. A few minutes later, her bald eagle wish came true. Sadly, we didn’t see either of the horses still left on the island. In addition to the bald eagle, we spotted an osprey, a Clark’s Nutcracker, a number of Black-billed Magpies, Red Breasted Nuthatch, Flickers, some type of Chickadee, Juncos, and a juvenile woodpecker that we’ve yet to identify. The impending rain showers held off until after we got back to camp and got the dogs some outdoor time. We had soup to warm ourselves. A light rain came through, Laura went out in search of a rainbow. Not one, but two… a double rainbow. Two hours later, I looked out the window to discover an even brighter double rainbow. By the time I grabbed the camera, it was gone but I was able to get a shot of a single reflected in the lake.

On Tuesday, we spent the day at Glacier National Park, and quite a day it was. We left the trailer and bikes on the lake, giving us the ability to take the Going-to-the-Sun road, which has both length and width restrictions (once we were up there, we understood why, especially the width restriction). Our first impression, while driving along Lake MacDonald (ho hum, another world class, crystal clear lake) was that while a very beautiful area, it was similar enough to other places we enjoy to not inspire much of a “wow” response. That didn’t last too long. We rounded a turn in the road and got our first glimpse of the mountain peaks that make Glacier the special place that it is. This post wouldn’t be complete without comment on the road construction and related delays. We were stopped by flag persons 5 different times, for up to 10 minutes at a time. We were glad that we didn’t have a schedule to keep. It just gave us time to get out, look for wildlife, and ooh and ah at the cloud-shrouded mountaintops, waterfalls and snowfields. And there were times that you just had to stop in the middle of the road long enough to snap a picture or two of something really special, like the young bighorn sheep that we encountered by the side of the road, or the three mountain goats that were wandering down the hiking trail (sorry, that photo didn’t work out.) We drove all the way through the park before returning to Logan Pass to hike to Hidden Lake Overlook. The sign at the entrance stated that we were at the Continental Divide. We’ve been dancing along the Continental Divide since the day we left Fort Collins. When we reached the Visitors Center, there were no less than 3 other 4-wheel campers in the parking lot. It isn’t that common to run into even one, particularly once you leave California, so seeing that many in one place at one time was noteworthy. We had met someone else travelling in a 4-wheel early in the day. Oh, and while we were stopped in a turnout looking out at a vista, a van pulled in ahead of us with a “KPIG” (our favorite station, broadcasting from Santa Cruz County) bumper sticker. It turns out he lives on Hames Road, not far at all from Mike and Westi. He left the first of August, had logged more than 10,000 miles and was on his way back home. The hike to the overlook took us through fields of wildflowers still in bloom, past too many creeks to count, and past some of the most beautiful rocks we’ve ever seen. The rocks were one of our favorite parts of the hike. While we were excited about seeing exotic wildlife, it was actually much more fun to watch a pair of squirrels cavorting along the trail. One scampered after the other for what seemed to be minutes. We thought they were done, and we continued on our way and then they showed up again, exhibiting the same behavior. Whether it was a “turf war”, courtship, or just play will remain a mystery.

The overlook of the lake was well worth the hike, but the pools in the meadow were at least as lovely. As we returned to the trailhead, the sky seemed threatening and we were happy to get back without getting rained on. On the way back we stopped at a popular roadside fountain which had been vandalized, now it was just a plastic pipe streaming water out of the hillside to walk the dogs and fill the water bottle. We learned a little more about the area from the informational signs posted there: the Flathead River (remember, we’re camped on the shore of Flathead Lake) drains Glacier National Park, the “BOB” wilderness area, and the southeastern corner of British Columbia. There was another sign describing how the area known as “bad rock canyon” got its name, the scene of another tribe ambushing the local Flathead tribe after stealing some of the Flathead’s horses. I doubt that we’ll forget our time in Montana any time soon. (From Laura… we won’t forget and we WILL be back!)

(Slideshow of Montana photos will open in new window)

There is more to come in a post that Steve is already composing about our stay in Montana, but for now, this is the view out our door! Life is good here.

Yellowstone… where to begin? Both of us had visited Grand Teton before, but neither of us had ever been to Yellowstone. An odd coincidence, considering that the two parks are only a few miles apart and Yellowstone is definitely the bigger name. Driving in, what struck us most was evidence of the “Summer of Fire”- 1988. Twenty years later, you can still see what seems to be an endless landscape of standing dead surrounded by what could easily be mistaken for a Christmas tree farm, the newer trees are coming in that thick. When you think of Yellowstone what comes up? Certainly “Old Faithful” and wolves, since there has been controversy about them ever since their reintroduction into the park in 1995. We really had no idea that so much of our experience here would be about water. We only had two days here. The first was spent exploring the Canyon area and the second was all about geysers, at least until we got back to camp (more about that later).

We camped at Bridge Bay, across the road from Yellowstone Lake, which defies satisfactory photographic documentation by its mere immensity (as do most of the sites in Yellowstone!) Beautiful, crystal clear and cold. The lake feeds the Yellowstone River, which also runs as clear as any river we’ve seen (and that’s saying something). Regardless of how deep it is, you can clearly see the rocks on the bottom. We had planned to drive from camp to the Canyon area Visitor’s Center and to explore from there. It took us over 4 hours to make it there. As we made our way up the road, it seemed like every pullout had something worth stopping to look at or explore, like picturesque rapids right next to the highway or a boardwalk built through a field of steaming mudpots, or a path down to the brink of the 109 foot Upper Falls. We were also caught in an unusual traffic jam: there was a herd of bison that decided to move to a different grazing area and they had the right of way. They wandered among the cars, providing some great photo ops seemingly unconcerned about anything but getting to the spot they had chosen. After lunch and a trip through the Visitor’s Center, we took in the views from Artist’s Point, overlooking the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and got our first look at Lower Falls, with a drop of over 300 feet. Magnificent and stunning. We continued our exploration down the South Rim trail and took Uncle Tom’s trail as close to Lower Falls as we could go. A bit of a workout at 8,000 feet, but gave us great views of the falls.

The next day, we set off towards Old Faithful. We arrived just in time to watch it finish an eruption. Off to the Visitor’s Center. We learn that “Grand Geyser” is expected to go off in twenty minutes. We rush to head towards it by bicycle, only to be stopped by a ranger because bison were blocking the path. He suggests we secure the bikes and take an alternative route through the geyser basin, which he thinks is about ¾ of a mile. Not. More like a mile and a half. And we have a clear view of the path we were unable to take the whole time. Well, the bison decide to vacate in time to allow others to get to Grand Geyser, but by the time we get there, the show is all but over. Still impressive, but not the 200 foot eruption that inspired applause when it subsided. We spent the better part of the day in the basin, visiting numerous beautiful and amazing features: hot springs, fumaroles and geysers. Who knew that Yellowstone is a volcano? Old Faithful is the name that everyone knows, but she isn’t the biggest or even the most predictable. Riverside and Castle Geysers also made our waiting worth while. Did you know that 2/3 of the worlds geysers are in Yellowstone? The colors of some of the springs were just incredible. Heart and Blue Star were wonderful shades of blue. Morning Glory now is green with yellow around the edges. According to information at the springs, the color has changed as the water has cooled, a result of people throwing objects into the pool, clogging the flow from below. They refer to it as “fading glory”.

We returned to camp, our heads spinning from all of the natural wonders we’d witnessed. We set about the normal routine of life on the road. Shortly thereafter, Dottie and Noche started barking as if someone was walking by their yard. No amount of urging them to be “quiet” worked. Laura went out to see what was causing the commotion. The dogs had good reason to be alerting us. We were being surrounded by bison. Laura grabbed the camera and went back outside to take pictures of the bison between the trailer and the truck. While focusing on the area in front of the trailer, she heard a grunting behind her. To her surprise, a bison was rounding the back corner of the trailer, less than 10 feet from her. One quick shot, and back into the trailer. Bison don’t seem very aggressive most of the time. They just mill about, grazing as they go. However, the males do seem to have an interest in maintaining a “pecking order”. There was a display outside our window where a large male drove three smaller males away from the group, as if putting them in their place. A little later, two of them locked horns for a couple of minutes before wandering off. We decided against taking the dogs for an evening walk after all.

We only began to scratch the surface of what there is to explore at Yellowstone. We’ve already started trying to figure out how to spend an entire summer here… maybe when the twins are a bit older…

Slideshow of more Yellowstone Photos (will open in new window)

We used Firehole Canyon Campground on Flaming Gorge Reservoir as an overnight stop en route from Fort Collins to Grand Teton. We talked about staying in the KOA at Rock Springs, but as soon as we saw it from the freeway, we knew that wasn’t happening. Going farther turned out to be such a good choice. The landscape around us harkened back to the southwest… bands of color, rock spires and quiet. That night, we reveled in the cool fresh air, sleeping with the ramp door down. We were awakened in the middle of the night by the haunting sounds of a chorus of coyotes not too far in the distance. From what we’ve read, the southern end of the gorge is the more beautiful, but that wasn’t in our travel plans.

If we had it to do over again, we’d have taken more time to get to Grand Teton. We saw a couple of BLM campgrounds south of Jackson, right along the banks of the Snake River that looked very inviting but we felt time pressure so we didn’t stop. Entering Jackson from the south, we were impressed that diesel was posted at $4.39, comparable to what we had seen earlier in the day. Perhaps here, they weren’t so interested in gouging the visitors to the National Parks. We were disabused of that notion as we reached the north side of town, and found it at $4.69 and later, within the park at $4.96 (I think that’s the highest we’ve seen since Death Valley’s record $5.33!)

We found the campgrounds at Grand Teton less than inspired, but the beauty of the lake, the surrounding mountain vistas, the wildflowers still in bloom in late August and the stunning scenery more than made up for it. We camped in Colter Bay campground, a short walk from Jackson Lake. The water was clear and beautiful, and surprisingly not too cold. It was a treat to walk along the lakeshore, throwing sticks into the lake for Noche to retrieve and enjoy the multi-colored rocks shining just below the surface. They reminded us of the rocks we used to build the wall on Fern Flat. Hiking at this higher elevation was a bit of a challenge, but fortunately we chose a trail that was not overly strenuous and had enough birds that we hadn’t seen before to justify stopping frequently in order to identify them. We thought it looked like great moose habitat, but apparently the moose had other ideas, because we didn’t see any. Our last morning there, the wind had picked up significantly and the character of the lake had changed dramatically. Instead of the placid view we had enjoyed, now the surface was covered with whitecaps and the wind howled through the tops of the trees like a freight train. Time to move on to Yellowstone. (Slideshow with more photos will open in new window)