on the road

Upper Mesa Falls, Idaho

October 12, 2011

September 16, 2007

On one of the days we were camped near West Yellowstone, Montana, we decided to take a drive into Idaho. The high point of the drive was the Mesa Falls Recreation Area.

From Wikipedia:

Upper Mesa Falls is a waterfall on the Henrys Fork in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Upstream from Lower Mesa Falls, it is roughly 16 miles away from Ashton, Idaho.

Upper Mesa Falls is roughly 114 feet high and 200 feet wide.[2]

Formation

Mesa Falls Tuff, which is the rock over which Upper Mesa Falls cascades, was formed 1.3 million years ago. A cycle of rhyolitic volcanism from the Henrys Fork caldera deposited a thick layer of rock and ash across the area.[3] This layer compressed and hardened over time.

Between 200,000 and 600,000 years ago, the river eroded a wide canyon which was subsequently partly filled with basalt lava flows. The Henrys Fork of the Snake River then carved the channel through the basalt; which is the inner canyon seen today.

References and Resources:

Upper and Lower Mesa Falls Interpretive Site – USDA Forest Service
Henrys Fork – Wikipedia

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LeHardy Rapids to Tower Falls, Yellowstone

October 10, 2011

September 2007

In all the visit’s we’ve made over the years to Yellowstone National Park, we’ve always seen plenty of wildlife. Though we’ve seen large mammals in all parts of the park, by far, we’ve seen the most along the eastern section of the Grand Loop Road.

Large numbers of buffalo can be seen from – and, often, on – the road in Hayden Valley, though we’ve seen them all along the route from Yellowstone Lake to where the road starts to climb towards Dunraven Pass. Bears and wolves can sometimes be seen in the same area, though we’ve yet to see a wolf and it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a bear there. We have seen quite a few of the wolves’ younger cousins, the coyotes. From Dunraven Pass past Tower Falls, we’ve seen bighorn sheep a number of times.

There is a bit of thermal activity along this route. The lower potion lies within the bounds of the caldera of the Yellowstone super-volcano.

The lower part of the route follows the Yellowstone River, parting from it at Canyon Village and then returning to it near Tower Falls. At Canyon, the river tumbles over two falls, the Lower Falls the more spectacular of the two, as it thunders into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

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Yellowstone References and Resources:

Yellowstone is one of the most popular destinations in the U.S. and there are a lot of available resources, including books and DVDs as well as internet resources. I’ve included links to a few reliable resources below and have more on my Yellowstone page at Haw Creek.

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Our plans didn’t include… SNOW!

October 6, 2011

September 15, 2011 – Rocky Mountain
National Park

October 6, 2011 – near Flagstaff

We learned several years ago that it was advisable to make reservations in advance when planning to camp in popular national parks. This year we made reservations for Rocky Mountain National Park (5 nights), Arches National Park (3 nights) and Grand Canyon National Park (3 nights north rim and 3 nights south rim).

We saw our first snow of the trip on September 15 when we were camped at Rocky Mountain National Park. It had been kind of cloudy and rainy on the 14th. We had driven across the park over Trail Ridge Road and had lunch and did a little shopping in Grand Lake. On the way back, we ran into very heavy fog. Around 3 pm, we stopped at the Trail Ridge Gift Store – next to the Alpine Visitor Center at 12,000 feet – for a coffee break. Unfortunately, it had already closed and, where it had been in the 60s in Grand Lake, the temperature was 35°F. We made it down in plenty of time, but, just a few hours later, Trail Ridge Road was closed due to snow.

Yesterday (Wednesday, October 14) morning I got online to check the weather. We were camped at Grand Canyon North Rim and were planning to travel today to the South Rim today. Unfortunately, the forecast was for rain/snow mix turning to snow with possible 1 to 2 inch accumulations. I knew that that wouldn’t be bad if that’s all that it did. However the forecast for today was for more precipitation and wind. With driving a somewhat boxy motorhome and towing a car, the overall forecast was too iffy, so we canceled our reservation at South Rim and left North Rim yesterday — the drive was still a fight with the wind, but there was no precipitation.

We heard on the evening news earlier that Jacob Lake, at beginning of the road to North Rim, got 3 inches of snow. Just as I thought, there was little or no snow sticking to the roads, but I’ve heard of too many surprise significant mountain snow accumulations to risk it with our motorhome.

We’re camped 50 miles south of South Rim and will go to the canyon tomorrow and the next day — it’s going to be cold and bit of a drive, but that’s okay.

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Yellowstone Lake Vicinity

September 30, 2011

September 2007

West Thumb Geyser Basin is situated on the shore of Yellowstone Lake’s West Thumb, a submerged volcanic caldera within the larger Yellowstone caldera. It was created about 162,000 years ago when a magma chamber bulged up under the earth’s surface, which it cracked along ring fracture zones, releasing the magma as lava. Once emptied, the chamber collapsed and, later, the caldera was filled with water, forming an extension of Yellowstone Lake.

The boardwalk trails at West Thumb provide easy walks that let visitors take in the beauty of the deep thermal pools and Yellowstone Lake.

While we’ve visited West Thumb Geyser Basin over the years, before 2007 we had not looked at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel, a few miles to the northeast. The hotel is one of three hotels in the park constructed by the Northern Pacific Railroad. Originally built in 1891, it was re-designed, expanded, and remodeled in 1903, 1922-23, 1928 and 1894 to 1990. The building is a “relatively plain clapboarded Colonial Revival structure with two large Ionic porticoes facing Yellowstone Lake.¹”

Yellowstone References and Resources:

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¹Lake Hotel – Wikipedia

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Old Faithful Vicinity

September 27, 2011

September 2007

We probably visited the Old Faithful part of the park more often this trip than any place else. We saw Old Faithful erupt at least four times that I can think of. We also made dinner reservations for one evening. Another day we hiked up to an overlook where you can view the eruption. Unfortunately the eruption occurred before we got all the way to the overlook, but we were able to get a good view of it.

Old Faithful is, without a doubt, the most popular location in the park.

The Old Faithful Inn is a fascinating hotel over a hundred years old. We stayed there one time back in the late 70s in the fall.

Reservations for lodging and camping – for those campgrounds where reservations can be made – should be made as far as possible in advance. In 2011, we waited too long to decide on our travel plans and campsites were not available in the campgrounds we preferred. We had to settle for something else.

Yellowstone References and Resources:

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Madison Junction to Old Faithful.

September 21, 2011

Since we were camped near West Yellowstone, we traversed this part of the park several times. There are a lot of thermal features here, but we didn’t make it to all of them.

Some of the more popular destinations in the park get very crowded as the day goes by, even in September when the season is starting to wind down. One secret to getting in at those places without having to fight traffic and/or search for a parking spot is to get there early. It seems as though a lot a folks are late risers when on vacation – or they are just taking their time.

In Yellowstone, like many other places, early morning is a good time for photos, especially on chilly mornings in areas that abound in thermal features.

Yellowstone References and Resources:

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Lewistown, Chokecherries and “What the Hay!”

September 12, 2011

September 2007

Music: “When it Rains” by Anna Coogan and North19
track added using YouTube AudioSwap

While in Montana in September 2007, we had plans to stop in Lewistown to get set up with a satellite internet system. The installer, Ron, had an extra RV spot at his home for friends, complete with hookups and invited us to stay there for a few days. The satellite system was a new model and there were a few wrinkles in getting it set up right.

Ron was a member of an on-line RV forum I participated in. Retired, Ron did satellite system installs for other forum members at one price no matter how long it took.

While there, we shared supper with Ron and his wife several times in their house and once at the Black Bull Saloon and Steakhouse in Hobson. We also took in the 2007 Lewistown Chokecherry Festival and the What the Hay “hay art” contest that stretched over 21 miles in Judith Basin County between the towns of Hobson and Windham. As, well they took us on a couple of other drives out into the Montana countryside.

“What the Hay” is now also called the “Montana Bale Trail.”

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Lewistown, Chokecherry Festival, and Montana Bale Trail information:

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Beartooth

September 6, 2011

(Music: Land of Promise, Terry Devine King, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, YouTube Audioswap)

We we camped for two nights at a campground just outside of Billings, Montana. We hadn’t decided on what to do or where to go on our “non-travel” day. Looking at the map, the Beartooth Highway looked like it might be interesting. While it was a ways to go, we decided to check it out.

In hindsight, I have only one regret for taking the drive that day and it’s only that I wished we were camped closer to the beginning of the climb into the Beartooth Mountains, perhaps somewhere around Red Lodge, where the Beartooth Highway begins. Other than that, the drive, said by some to be “the most beautiful drive in America,” was well worth it.

From Wikipedia:

The Beartooth Highway is the section of U.S. Highway 212 between Red Lodge, Montana and Cooke City, Montana. It traces a series of steep zigzags and switchbacks, along the Montana-Wyoming border to the 10,947 ft (3,337 m) high Beartooth Pass. The approximate elevation rise is from 5,200 ft (1,600 m) to 8,000 ft (2,400 m) in 12 mi (19 km) in the most daring landscapes.

When driving from the east to the west, the highest parts of the Beartooth Highway level off into a wide plateau near the top of the pass, and then descend to where the Beartooth Highway connects to the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway near Cooke City, which forms the northeast gateway to Yellowstone National Park. En route, one passes numerous lakes typical of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area which borders the highway along much of its route.

The highway officially opened June 14, 1936.

Beartooth Highway references:

The Beartooth Highway
Wikipedia
Travel Channel
Beartooth Mountains – Wikipedia
Beartooth Ranger District – US National Forest Service

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Devils Tower

September 3, 2011

America’s First National Monument

This was our second visit to Devils Tower. Our first was an abbreviated, quick visit-and-get back-on-the-road side trip on our way home from a western vacation.

On this 2007 visit, we stayed 3 nights at the Devils Tower KOA campground, just outside the entrance station to the monument.

One of the trails that we took was a trail that goes all the way around the base of Devils Tower. Devils Tower is a sacred site to many American Indian tribes. All along the trail could be seen Indian prayer offerings (bundles and cloths).

The other trail we took was a full moon hike with a park ranger. I did have a couple of good images that turned out from that night, but they were from after we got back to the camper. One of them is the last image of the video slide show at the beginning of this post.

Photos (from top to bottom):

Prayer bundle in the forest at the base of Devils Tower
A scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind in one of the prefab buildings on the military base set up at the entrance station.
Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon), and Larry Butler (Josef Sommer) run towards Devils Tower, Close Encounters of the Third Kind scene right at the entrance station to the monument.
Devils Tower National Monument entrance station.

It’s interesting, now, how familiar much of the scenery in the movie is now, including some of the scenery outside the park. The area where the military encampment is shown to be in the movie is now the site of several better than average touristy type shops.

From Wikipedia:

Devils Tower (Lakota: Mato Tipila, which means “Bear Lodge”) is a monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck located in the Black Hills near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet (386 m) above the surrounding terrain and the summit is 5,112 feet (1,558 m) above sea level.

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Devil’s Tower references:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (full movie)

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Deadwood and Spearfish

August 31, 2011

The day we decided to visit Deadwood, South Dakota, turned out to be during the “Kool Deadwood Nights” festival.

We had no idea that there was anything special going on until we got there. When we had trouble finding a place to park, we almost decided to head on down the road to see other places and sights.

Deadwood’s Main Street was filled with the chairs of people who were planning to attend the night’s entertainment. We have no idea who was performing that night and we were not prepared to stay that late.

Kool Deadwood Nights: Car lovers come together for four days full of classic cars, classic music and classic fun. It’s a 50’s and 60’s sock hop—Deadwood style. Enjoy parades, show and shines and FREE concerts on Main Street featuring the biggest names in rock ‘n roll history.¹

Deadwood, named for dead trees found there when it was established, was illegally settled in the 1870s in territory granted to native tribes in the 1868 Treaty of Laramie. An expedition led by George Armstrong Custer in 1874 announce the discovery of gold in the Black Hills. The news, of course, triggered a gold rush, and gave rise to the lawless town of Deadwood.

The town’s early history forms the basis for the storyline of the HBO TV series named Deadwood.