Today was primarily a driving day with a goal of getting east. The route was US 20 to Idaho Falls and then on to Yellowstone NP. We went thru the park without stopping, but did get to see a bunch of Bison on the way.
The drive from the east entrance of Yellowstone to Cody was quite beautiful with some interesting mountain and rock formations. Apparently this drive was Teddy Roosevelts favorite in the west.
When we arrived in Cody we decided to stay for two nights, so we can spend some time in the Buffalo Bill Western Museum here which is supposed to be quite good. Tonight we went downtown and had dinner in the Irma Hotel, which was built by Buffalo Bill, and watched a reenactment of a gunfight featuring who else, but Buffalo Bill. As you can tell Buffalo Bill Cody is a big deal in Cody Wyoming.
Until we got Scout we had not spent much time in Idaho. For us Idaho is one of the states that we enjoy the most. Hells Canyon is one of our particular favorites along with the Salmon River.
Craters of the Moon was a delight. The geological features are fascinating, the Rangers were knowledgeable and friendly, and the campground was very nice.
Today turned out to be primarily a travel day, though we did make a short stop for some shopping in Mountain Home.
Today we arrived in Arco Idaho which is the first town ever to be powered by nuclear energy. During WWII the government constructed the first nuclear power plant near Arco. There still is a large nuclear site just outside of town.
Another Hells Canyon sunrise.
Things are starting to wind down on the tourist season and the campground we stayed at in Arco was closing down for the year on Friday, so there was no water available. Everyone is getting the hang of living in pretty tight quarters so the great experiment of having 5 people in Elephant (our Cruise America RV) is going pretty well.
The snow overnight had turned into ice when we woke up. But it was supposed to warm up quickly so we did not have any problems getting going in the morning. Our destination was one of Ton’s favorite campgrounds on the Snake River in Idaho. It is at the bottom of Hells Canyon, which is the deepest or second deepest canyon in the US. Last time we visited it was the same time of the year and the trees at the bottom of the canyon were in full fall colors. This time it looks like we got here about a week too late though they are still nice.
Today we reluctantly left Hells Canyon, unfortunately we are on a tight schedule for the week. Hopefully next year we will be able to take the time to really enjoy these finds when we are out wandering.
Today we drove US95 from Hells Canyon to Couer d’ Alene ID. It was not marked as scenic highway but really quite a nice drive with a lot of nice varying kinds of land. The fall colors were at there peak and though not up to New England were really nice mostly yellows.
During our 20+ years in the Northwest we had pretty much ignored Idaho which we now realize was a mistake. The good news is that we have an area close by we can spend some time in and discover.
This morning we woke up to this view from the back window of Scout,
and this evening we had this view out our side window. This makes it all worth it.
City of Rocks was as beautiful in the morning as it was the day before. We dawdled around getting out of there. On the way back to the interstate for some hard driving west we saw a sign for a back country by way and took a little detour thru a bunch of ranches with a small town every 25 miles or so. I am running out of ways to describe the beauty of eastern Idaho in the fall. If you are ever in the area around October give South east Idaho a chance you will not regret it.
Our plan for the next couple of days is to follow US95 from Boise to Coeur d’ Alene and then head over to Grand Coulee Dam in Washington. Heading north on US95 we saw signs for the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and our decision on where to overnight was made. On the map we saw that Idaho power had three campgrounds on the Snake river in the canyon. Our expectations were low so when we pulled in we were stunned with the high quality of this campground. Expecting primitive we found paved roads, power, clean showers, and WiFi all for $14. Kudos to Idaho Power.
Caution looked like the right choice when we woke up there was about 3” of snow in W. Yellowstone. When we left we had decided to head for Mountain Home ID for the day, but driving thru the snow down the mountain Ton mentioned a place we had always talked about going to and said the fall colors were supposed to be nice there tight now. So mid-drive we reprogrammed the GPS for City of Rocks National Preserve on the Idaho, Utah, Nevada border.
The view out of our window today.
Ton’s instincts were dead on. This place is a real hidden gem of the park service. It is run jointly by the National Park Service and the Idaho Park and Recreation Department. It is on the old California Trail which is a branch of the Oregon Trail. It has some of the most incredible rock formations and we found it extremely beautiful and tranquil. It is really remote and the night sky was also fantastic.
If you are ever in SE Idaho along I-15 so yourself a favor and swing thru.
Today was about getting off of the freeway and exploring Boise a bit. The primary target was the Basque Town in Boise. Boise has one of the largest populations of Basques in the US. We visited a museum dedicated to Basque Culture in the US and also learned a little bit about Basque Culture in Spain and France. But the real fun was across the street at the Basque Market where they were cooking up Paella on the sidewalk. Ton says it is the best she ever had. After a quick walk around town, it was 102 degrees, we decided to head west.
We had to try some of the Paella.
The next debate was whether to head home from Boise or make one more stop for the night. Ton pointed out that we had never visited Prodigal Son Brewery in Pendleton, so one more night it is.
Around Baker City we saw a large wild fire off to the north. It turns out that the next day they had to close I-84 due to smoke from the fire.
In Pendleton we enjoyed a taster at Prodigal Son, and then walked around town for a while. We visited Hamley’s western wear, Ton was very impressed with the quality of the saddles and clothes. Pendleton seems to be enjoying pretty good times these days. Tonight we decided we needed access to electricity as it was still in the 100’s and airconditioning seemed like a good idea. We ended up in an Indian Casino RV park, nothing special except 30amp electricity.
Pendleton Oregon is famous for its rodeo. This western store is one of the largest in the Northwest.
Today we started heading home. From where we were we had two options to get home one way was to head for I-84 at Boise and the other was to take I-90 to Spokane and head south. After some discussion Ton decided we had not ever stopped in Boise even though we had driven thru it at least 10 times.
After that decision we decided to take the back way. After taking the Interstate thru Butte a city we both remember as being particularly ugly, we took some back roads thru some hills and small valleys. We came into the Big Hole Valley and ran into the Big Hole Valley National Battlefield Monument. The battle of the Big Hole Valley was between the 7th Infantry and the Nez Perce Indians. The story of the Nez Perce is very sad as they were a pretty peaceful tribe forced off their lands and were essentially just trying to retain some freedom off the reservation. The Monument is very well done as are most National Park operations. Of course we are biased but we think the National Park Service is one of the best things going in our country.
After that we drove down the Salmon River Scenic Highway the opposite direction we had gone a few days before. At Sydney we turned onto the Big Pine Scenic Highway and pulled into a beautiful Forest Service Campground at Lake Stanley. We had Lake Stanley and an incredible view of the Sawtooth Mountains right outside the back of Scout.
Lake Stanley with a great view of the Sawtooth Mountains.
We had been corresponding with a couple in Victor ID who have a Siberian Tiger vehicle on order. This is the much larger cousin of our little Tiger. They had a standing invitation to visit them if we passed that way so we decided to take them up on it.
Enroute to Victor we were driving down the Sacajawea Highway in Idaho. It turns out that Sacajawea was from the area that is now Salmon, so there is a great deal about her in the area.
Outside of the town we saw signs for the Lewis and Clark Scenic Backcountry Highway. Ron was nervous about the state of the road due to all of the storms the night before, but Ton said that the BLM and Park Service always exaggerate how tough things are, and we could always turn around if it looked bad. The byway is a 38 mile gravel route to Lemhi pass where the Lewis and Clark Party crossed the continental divide. It turns out Ton was right and the road was a well graveled road suitable for logging trucks.
The view from Lemhi Pass on the Lewis and Clark scenic byway.
When we arrived at Victor not wanting to arrive with empty hands we stopped at Teton Brewing to pick up a growler. The beer is good and growlers are cheap if you are in the area.
We enjoyed good conversation, excellent Pizza and Beer. Thanks Ron and Gabi for your hospitality.
Today was scenic highway day. We planned to cover two scenic highways the Sawtooth Scenic Highway and the Salmon River Scenic Highway. The problem is that the weather was not that cooperative with periodic heavy thunderstorms throughout the day.
The first highway we took on was the Sawtooth Scenic Highway. It has a reputation as a beautiful road. I do not know if it was the weather cutting down on the views, but while it was pretty and had some exciting views it did not knock either of our socks off.
The Salmon River Scenic Highway on the other hand really made a positive impression. As it sounds, the road follows the Salmon River through some incredibly beautiful mountain valleys and gorges. We were very impressed with the Salmon River Highway.
Salmon River.
We spent the night in a campground run by an 83 year old widow, because Ton was so impressed with the quality of the reviews of this campsite and her spunk to run a campground by herself. Right as we checked in there was a big thunderstorm to put us to sleep.
Today we drove the Owyhee National Scenic Backcountry Byway. Last year we had visited Leslie Gulch on the Oregon side of the Owyhee’s. This year we decide to cover the Idaho side of the Owyhee’s. The byway is 130 miles long of which 100 miles is good gravel. It was an interesting drive but not as spectacular as Leslie Gulch.
Pronghorns along the Owyhee Scenic Byway.
The highlights were the three forks area where the three branches of the Owyhee come together, and a couple of Pronghorn sitings. While the valleys were pretty it was mostly sagebrush and grass so after awhile it got a little monotonous.
The final stop was Mt. Home AFB, for laundry and restocking of the fridge. Tomorrow we need to find a car wash to knock 130 miles worth of dust off Scout.
Craters of the Moon was a delight. The geological features are fascinating, the Rangers were knowledgeable and friendly, and the campground was very nice.
The harshness of the land is what makes Craters of the Moon so fascinating for us.
Today for us was a short 3 hour drive from Mt. Home Air Force Base to the Craters of the Moon National Monument. The National Monument is in Southern Idaho at the base of the Pioneer Mountains. The genesis of the monument is the hot spot that is currently under Yellowstone NP. About 11 to 15 million years ago the hot spot was under the current Craters of the Moon. This is one of the few continental hot spots in the world where magma comes within a few miles of the earth’s surface. Most of these hot spots are under the oceans. The hot spot is relatively fixed, but the crust of the earth is moving a couple of inches a year. So 11 million years ago the hot spot was about 200 miles west of the current location in Idaho with all of the resulting volcanic activity that we currently see at Yellowstone.
There has been volcanic activity as recently 2000 years ago due to weak spots in the earths crust. As a result you can see many types of lava on what appears to be a very desolate area, that supports a great deal of life as we learned. At night we attended two Ranger talks, one that focused on the geology and the fauna of the park, and the other on the wildlife resident in the area. They were both fascinating. The Ranger on the second talk managed to even attract a bat which landed on her shoulder during the talk, and a large male mule deal with a very large set of antlers who did a walk by during her talk.
The only down side was a Roadtrek 190 who pulled into the space between us and a nice German couple. The people inside never exited their vehicle, but turned on a large obnoxious generator and proceeded to run it for 6 consecutive hours 10 feet from Scout. Ton and I retired inside the vehicle rather than eating outside. The German couple did not have that option and ended up packing and moving to another site.
Today we drove the West Elk Scenic Highways to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We had to hustle out of Aspen in the morning to beat the bicycle race. We drove along the Elk Scenic Highway passing a bunch of State Troopers and support vehicles for the race.
Fans and support for the Tour of Colorado Bike Race.
After a couple of hours of driving we arrived at the sign for the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. The drive in was on some county roads with the last 6 miles on dirt roads. As we got near the park entrance there was still nothing that would hint at how spectacular the views were. The Canyon is only about a half mile wide but varies between 1500 and 2000 feet deep. At the bottom is the Gunnison River which rips along at a pretty good rate. The North Rim is pretty lightly visited so the overlooks were pretty basic, and you could approach the rim of the Canyon with almost no protection. Ton got over her fear of heights and got some good pictures. After spending a couple of hours at the North Rim we went back to the Elk Scenic Highway and headed to the more developed South Rim. The last 30 miles of the Elk follows the Black Canyon and reminded Ton of the Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur if you change the Pacific Ocean to the River and Mountains of Colorado.
When we got near the South Rim we decided we needed to stock up with some food, and Diesel Exhaust Fluid in Montrose. We also needed good internet so we decided to stay in a campground in town. When we checked in the guy told us this valley only averaged 7” of rain per year. When we were done checking in we headed out to the visitors center at the South Rim, and of course it rained. So we drove the rim road and headed back to town. By the time we got to town it was raining buckets! They probably got 1” of their 7” of rain for the year.
We got up early and headed to the Trail Ridge. The bulk of this road is above the tree line and the top of the pass is over 11,000 feet. The visitors center at the top is very nice and completely off the grid. They get their electricity from a generator, and water from a dam near by. Most winters it is buried to its’ roof in snow. Ton went to the store where interestingly most of the staff was college students from China, (and one from Macedonia) who were there working on their English.
About 11,000 feet in the park.
After completing the Trail we decided to push on southwest towards Gunnison. Ton suggested we take the Rocky Mountain Scenic Byway. The last 40 miles may have been more spectacular than the National Park with multiple 14,000 foot mountains and signs every couple of miles forbidding vehicles over 35 feet. The peak of the drive was Independence Pass here slightly over 12,000 feet and was our third time passing the Continental Divide today. Our original plan was to push on past Aspen after doing a drive thru to see how the other half lives. But when we got to Aspen we discovered that the only road out of town going west was closed for a couple of hours, after wandering around Aspen a couple of times looking for an escape to the west we decided to double back to Difficult Campground a Forest Service Campground we had passed coming into Aspen where we got the final spot for the night.
Today we started heading west again and stopped at Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive from Ft. Collins to the park was bumper to bumper the entire 30 miles so Ron was pessimistic by the time we arrived at the park about getting a campsite. Rocky Mountain NP is only about an hour from the Denver Metro area so it is well loved, but there were plenty of campsites. We arrived in the early afternoon and decided to save the highlight of the park the Trail Ridge for tomorrow. We headed over to Bear Lake and despite signs every couple miles saying that the parking lot was full we pressed on. When we got there a Ranger stopped us and asked several questions about Scout and how it handled on the highway, it was the first Tiger she had seen, she then asked the important question which was how long we were and when I told her just over 20 feet she waved us on and told us to enjoy our day as we would fit in the parking lot.
Alpine Lake in Rocky Mountain NP.
Later we attended a Ranger talk and turned in early with plans to get up and head over the hill to the Alpine road.
