For Kimble and I, our travel adventures usually begin with me having some crazy idea; she gives me lots of latitude as usually I come up with some pretty good travel ideas. This adventure was no different except it was first planned for fall of 2020, however, due to an unprecedented year for wildfires, three months of clear blue skies were obliterated; as we all are aware, 2020 presented us all with many obstacles!
After our trip earlier this year to Mexico and planning around the birth of our first grandchild in April, we decided to give it a go during the month of June. So...with the navigation (below) laid out...away we went.
Departing Reno on 7 June and with the guide of no more than 5 hours a day in the vehicle, we headed out for our first stop - Elko Nevada - where we planned to spend the afternoon in Lamoille Canyon having lunch and hiking.
We got into Elko about
1330 and headed out NV227 taking us through Spring Creek and just shy of the
town of Lamoille itself. We got out of
Reno about 0930 and spent 30 minutes in Winnemucca for breakfast about 1000. The drive was smooth and adhering to our “no
more than 5 hours driving per day”.
The drive up Lamoille
Canyon was 12 miles and was absolutely beautiful. There was a fire here about 2 years ago so
the remnants of that were very apparent but the fact that this canyon exists in
Nevada is unbelievable considering not many know about it.
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| Looking West |
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| Looking East |
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| Very moist, lots of water running down slope - an interesting patch of moss |
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| A view that Kimble enjoyed - a meadow of daisys |
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Looking south from mid-way up the canyon road
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We spent about 4 hours in
the canyon and definitely plan to come back for an extended exploration. Arriving at our hotel about 1800 we ate at a
crappy restaurant and got squared away for tomorrows drive into Sun Valley,
Idaho.
We departed Elko about
0930 after having a great breakfast at Dreez.
A family owned and not Basque, restaurant. Kimble took the wheel and we were soon into
Idaho and heading north of Twin Falls.
Lunch was looming and I had a great plan for our lunch stop. The Shoshone Ice Caves - driven by it over the years but never
stopped. Today was the day!
Our guide through the
caves was 13 year old, Jace. What a
hoot. This young man knew his history of
these caves and really made the 45-minute tour enjoyable and informative. LINK TO THE ICE CAVES – if you are
interested.
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| Above ground showing the breakdown of the lava tube |
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| Ice forming in the cave from seepage above |
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| End of the cave about 100' below the surface - Temp 28 degrees F |
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| Looking up and out from the entrance - Kimble in the sunlight |
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| Dinosaurs roamed the land? A fun time for all who stop by! |
After a couple hilarious
and fun hours at the Ice Caves, we departed for Sun Valley and drove into our
close family friends, Cynthia and Craig’s, home about 1700 (lost an hour at the
border – sucks) and spent a great evening chatting, catching up and enjoying a
marvelous surf and turf meal for dinner.
Mornings in Sun Valley
are incredible especially in the summer months.
After a great cup of Cappuccino and granola, fruit and yogurt for
breakfast, we pulled down the bikes and hit the road. 24 miles!
Had a great lunch at Grumpy’s and then spent the rest of the afternoon
and evening again chatting, laughing and sharing great food.
Now Thursday 10 of June,
our adventure would take us north on Idaho 75 to Missoula, Montana. Our hopes for the day were to travel through
the Saw Tooth Mountains, see the birth of the Salmon River, adventure to the
GoldBug Hotsprings, have Lunner (think Brunch but afternoon) at The Dusty Mule
and then hit the Courtyard by Marriot by 7 not exceeding our 5-hour driving
goal. Well...we were Four for Seven.
We woke to a June rain
shower and the clouds eliminated seeing any of the Sawtooth Range. We went from dry in Sun Valley to snow at the
Galena Summit of the Sawtooth’s.
However, after dropping into the Sawtooth Valley we got to see where the
Salmon River begins (it ends as the largest tributary of the Snake. Still cruising under the cover of clouds and
drizzle to rain at times, we pulled into Stanley Idaho, a tribute to our eldest
and her husband, for breakfast and then continued on.
Around 1145, we pulled into
the trailhead for the Goldbug Hot Springs; raining hard! We waited for about 30-minutes and then
headed up the 2 miles to the springs; elevation at start about 4400’ ending at
about 5300 feet. Took an hour and we experienced
lightening, thunder, rain and hail! We
arrived soaked and cold but spent over an hour soaking in the 100 degree F
water. The pictures tell the story.
We hit the Dusty Mule –
Elk Bend, Idaho – for some Lemmi County steak and then on to Missoula arriving
at 1930 after 6 hours in the vehicle!
Truly another adventurous day for Kimble and myself! Tomorrow, 11 June up into Glacier National Park.
The drive to West Glacier was accompanied by blue skies with some clouds; the scenery was incredible. However, we did not get far north of Missoula before another quick stop. The Garden of 1000 Buddhas! I had Kimble laughing. Just a quick stop but hell, if your this far north on MT93, you might consider a stop just for curiosity sake.
After about another hour north, the Mission Mountain Range opened up and what a rugged range. Highest peak in the photo is about 9800'
We arrived at the Great Northern Resort, West Glacier about 1700. The two and a half hour drive took a bit longer! :-) We checked in to our room in the Lodge and then went on a quick recon of the area on our Pedegos. Great infrastructure with a bike path all the way into the park. Now here is what we did not know...the only way we were going to get to see the park was with our E-Bikes because just this season, Glacier National Park implemented a ticket requirement for entry - this on top of a weekly pass. And...you had to get the ticket, a very limited supply, 60 days in advance; really glad we brought the Pedegos. We ventured 4 miles in to Lake McDonald and got our bearings and one image...
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| Lake McDonald looking north into the peaks of Glacier National Park |
So with a plan in the works for tomorrow, we headed back to the Resort to figure out what to do for dinner; it was 1900, time to eat. Unfortunately, the forecast for tomorrow morning...RAIN!
We woke to this 0650 radar image - we are the blue dot in the center.
Thus the blog update, it's raining hard! We had to wait until about noon before it was dry enough to peddle into GNP. Attempt #1 - FAIL. Rain stopped for 45 minutes while we geared up and hit the bike path it started to rain and then downpoured all the way back the lodge! We managed to go about 1.5 miles before becoming drenched but managed a couple photos.
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| Waiting out the rain under the railroad overpass - It stopped for 5 then unloaded! |
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| We endeavored to get the selfie at the entrance sign! Whoohoo |
Got back to the Great Northern Resort Lodge about 1245, soaked and the updated weather report is 10% rain after 1400. We packed lunches so we will eat them here and try again later.
STAY TUNED...
About 1430 the rain stopped and we could see blue in the sky. We took off. Plan was to make it to Lake McDonald Lodge which was 11 miles from the Lodge. About 1530 and 8 miles in, it was apparent that the only way to see the park was to about face and enter with the car and bikes at 1700, the time when you did not need a ticket, drive the 16 miles up to the Avalanche campground where the road was closed to vehicles and then ride up the Going to the Sun road toward Logan Pass. This is what we did.
At 1700 we entered the park for the third time of the day and drove up to the Avalanche campground where all the campsites were for day use and there were hundreds of cars and guess what, cyclists doubling that number. We offloaded the bikes, slapped in fresh batteries and off we went.
What a way to see the park. Only hikers and bikers above Avalanche all the way to Logan Pass - which we did not make. We turned at the Loop which was about 10 miles from the pass at 1930; we were getting hungry. So June is a great time to visit albeit the road not open all the way to the east. However, had it not rained all day, we would have been frustrated not being able to get into the park until 1700. As it turned out, we had an excellent experience and would highly recommend this time of year - before the road is fully open as not having to contend with vehicles on the road made it wonderful. Definitely call the park offices to see the condition of the roads and any new requirements for visiting.
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| One of the tunnels built in the 1930's allowing the completion of the Going to the Sun Road |
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| One of several waterfalls along the road |
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| Where I parked my bike while taking photos! |
And we leave you with two parting shots of Glacier National Park - West Side...
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| Relief in the woods! |
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| 2030 hours |
It is 0800 on 13 June and we are off to East Glacier and St. Mary where we will stay tonight.
We pulled into East Glacier famished at 1030. Not a place for breakfast along the 102 miles from West Glacier. St. Mary was sparce and the first two restaurants we drove to...closed. So stop screwing around and we went directly to the St. Mary Lodge (our room for the night); they must have a restaurant here. They did but not open until 1130 so they graciously checked us in and we got squared away in our room, planned the afternoon and then went and had lunch.
The same situation of course existed here so at 1700hrs we entered the park, drove the 12 miles up to the Jackson Glacier Overlook and parked. The next 3 miles up the road we would attack on the bikes but still came up shy of Logan Pass as the road was closed just past the Siyeh Bend; with a sign saying if you go beyond this point you would be prosecuted! Unbelievable! However, we got some great images.
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| From the road at the furthest point up Going to the Sun Road from the East |
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| Going to the Sun Mountain - 9642 ft |
After about 30 minutes of enjoying the scenery, we headed down the hill but at a very slow pace capturing as much of this beautiful area as possible in our minds eye and the camera.
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| Looking South at Siyeh Bend... |
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| ...All the way back to Lake St. Mary at the East entrance |
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| Looking west into the east side valley! |
Back to our room about 2030 reflecting on a great day but the East side is definitely more subdued and barren; fires, different side of the Continental Divide? We are not sure but certainly a very cool part of the park.
If you are ever planning a trip. I would call the GNP office and find out when the road will be open to vehicles. If we could time it, we would come 2-3 days prior to the road opening, stay on the west side and adventure up to Logan Pass with E-Bikes (a must) and hikes until the road opens and then enjoy the full route once the road opens with the shuttles - we would guess July 1 but definitely make the call first.
By 2100 we were starved so we went to the Mexican cantina just walking distance from the St. Mary Lodge and waited 60 minutes for the worst tacos ever. We choked down two just because we were so hungry and headed back to rest for tomorrows drive to Big Sky, Montana; 315 miles to the south.
We departed St. Mary about 0830 and drove, and drove and drove. Google maps time estimation of 5.5 hours sucked. Took almost 7 with traffic and road construction but we arrived in Big Sky about 1630. The reason for this location is because I want to come ski here and wanted to recon the area and resort. Not unhappy. This place is huge and the triple diamond runs...way to steep for this old boy. However, the overall resort boasts some great single diamond runs that will allow at least 3 days of great skiing. Maybe I will venture out into a double diamond. (Single Diamond = Expert; Double Diamond = Expert but serious injury should you fall; Triple Diamond = Expert but certain death or disability should you fall)
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| Our breakfast view! |
YELLOWSTONE...WOW!!! In a word...there is not "one"! This place is enormous, green, lot of water and has a very unique scent (sulphur)! We arrived at the north entrance of Gardiner about 1200 on 15 June, stayed one night then went to the west entrance, West Yellowstone, stayed another night and then spent the final day in the park until about 3 and ended up in Cody, WY.
The photos below of over 200 shot will tell the story...
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS
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| The Mammoth Hot Springs from a distance of 5 miles east - this place is huge! |
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| Travertine pools from a top perspective |
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| Travertine pools alive and growing |
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| Travertine pools fading towards inactivity |
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| Inactive Travertine Pools |
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| Canary Springs - panoramic view |
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| Canary Springs - close-up |
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| A new spring forming and over time travertine pools will form on the downslope. |
NORRIS GEYSER BASIN
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| Porcelain Basin - Panorama |
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| Heated and mineralized spring water meeting a lake directly adjacent to the basin. |
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| Lower Porcelain Basin |
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| A lone Fumarole - 12 inches in diameter |
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| Upper Porcelain Basin area |
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| Emerald Spring |
ARTISTS PAINT POTS
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| Panorama |
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| Blood Geyser |
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| A small spring |
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| Bubbling mud pot |
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| Lower area collection pools |
ALONG THE ROAD FROM GARDNIER, MT TO WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT
(However the entire day was spent in Wyoming!)
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| Gibbon Falls on the Gibbon River |
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| Cow Elk |
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| Tatonka - Bison - Buffalo - these guys were all over! |
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| Elk resting roadside |
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Black Bear roadside with Park Rangers directing traffic...
Also making sure the large number of idiots stayed in their vehicles!!! |
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| Beryl Spring - right on the road. |
OLD FAITHFUL AREA TO BISCUIT BASIN
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| Old Faithful - erupts about every 90 minutes |
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| Grand Prismatic Spring - from overlook about 300 yards away |
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| Sapphire Spring - one of the deepest |
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| Avoka Spring |
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| Emerald Spring |
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| Mustard Spring |
CANYON AREA - CENTRAL PARK AREA NORTH OF YOSEMITE LAKE
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Yellowstone Lake - Panorama
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| Upper Yellowstone River Falls - 109 feet high |
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| Lower Yellowstone River Falls - 308 feet high |
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| The "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone |
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| Mud Volcano |
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| Udine Falls - West of Canyon |
ALONG THE ROAD FROM WEST YELLOWSTONE TO CODY, WY
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| Incredible engineering to overcome interesting problems |
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| Our Chariot! - 2012 Prius |
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Road construction at Old Faithful - an overpass - only one in a National Park
Too many people! |
Kimble and I took our two youngest children to Yellowstone in 2004 and while we dealt with people in 2004, it was nothing like we remembered as this adventure saw us dealing with masses of people and so many simply ignorant to situational awareness; they walk into you, talk like they are at a rock concert, drive and park like they were alone in a vacant lot and litter - can't tell you how many times we felt sorry for the environment and had to pick up power bar rappers, tissues and "covid" masks!
We also did not cover half the park that time that we did this time. Our awareness and appreciation has intensified and we just felt so blessed to have this "Granddaddy" of National Parks less than a days drive from our home.
We estimate that we spent over 20 hours in the park during our 3 days here and of the 142 miles of the Grand Loop Road we did 109 (214 if you include the backtracking and the entry/exit miles too and from the Grand Loop Road; the 19 miles between Tower-Roosevelt and Canyon was closed and the road from Norris to Canyon we only made it 3 as it was bumper to bumper traffic all the way so we turned around after 30 minutes of waiting to see if the traffic would clear...it did not! Every mile of it was wonderful and exciting!
This Park really demonstrates how Mother Nature builds as you get to see first hand the powers acting within the earth. You could feel the heat. You could smell the minerals. You can see what has been built over 500,000 years. Very humbling. Very motivational. Incredibly enjoyable.
For those of you planning on a visit, plan at least 4 days. Start from the North Entrance and explore a day to the West Entrance. Then, and we did not do this, Stay at least one maybe two nights in the Old Faithful area (book 6-8 months in advance) then exit at the East Entrance staying the night in Cody, WY. Make sure you take your own picnic table, we did, and chairs and a cooler full of food and drink - the lines to buy anything in the Park will waist hours of your time seeing the Park. We definitely could have used one more day. A visit here is highly recommended. Your understanding of the geology that shaped your planet will be greatly enhanced. A solid 10 out of 10!!!
Off to Rocky Mountain National Park - Have not been there since I was 8 and Kimble has never been! Time to change that. We headed to Cody, WY for the night and would head to Cheyenne, WY in the morning; remember, no more than 4-5 hours in the car per day!
The drive from Cody, WY to Cheyenne first ended in
Medicine Bow and finally in Laramie.
This was by design and there is a story.
Departing Cody, we headed down 120 to Thermopolis, WY. Why? We have a very dear friend that grew up there,
so it was on our way and we though it fun to send some photos and texts to our
friend. Well, those texts ended up with
many suggestions and one was to visit Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis and
then head toward Medicine Bow out of Casper instead of Cheyenne; the drive was
much more scenic.
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| Wyoming's first State Park |
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| Big Horn Spring - the largest in the park - flowing west into the river. |
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| The travertine cliff formed from the flow of Big Horn Spring - 30+ feet high |
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| The largest suspension bridge in Wyoming - at Hot Springs State Park |
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| A Tee-Pee Vent - so long Thermopolis and HSSP |
After groceries, ice and lunch in Casper – at about 1500 hrs
(we were way off schedule – hahaha) we headed for Medicine Bow where there was
the famous historic Virginian Hotel and well…we thought what the heck, lets
stay. We got there and went in. It was pretty cool from the outside but there
were 8 or so vehicles parked in front and all from Wyoming – no out of state
visitors? It was very cool, historic and
had the same furniture and mattresses and bedding from the early 1900’s when it
was built. First, no way could I even
fit and second, the dust on the bedding smelled of the old west. We passed and drove the extra hour to
Laramie. Great decision.
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The Virginian Hotel - Medicine Bow, Wyoming
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We headed to Laramie for the night - arrived 1730! Another long day on the road.
Being in Laramie, we only had two hours of drive time to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park so we took the morning easy as we only had one stop to make along the way.
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| Fort Collins, Colorado |
After a taster of their darkest beers, a Cosmopolitan, hummus & pita bread, a Growler...(togo!), two shirts and 4 one-pint glasses, Kimble took the wheel and we arrived in Estes Park at 1500. RMNP here we come.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
RMNP did not disappoint.
Although a much different park than Yellowstone or Glacier, it had some
incredible moments. The first was the view from our cottage - Longs Peak
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| Longs Peak - 14,259' - highest peak in RMNP |
One of our adventures that stands
out is our 16-mile bike ride and 2-mile hike (there is a story if you are
interested) up Old Fall River Road; a one way 4WD road presently closed to all but
bikes and hikers; another lucky opportunity early in the season as it opens 4
July to vehicles.
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| On the way up from the parking lot - Alluvial Fan West |
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| Chasm Falls |
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| Looking west up the valley |
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| Looking east back down the valley - the meadow is where we started |
We were only going to go for about 2-hours (as we had
another plan in another part of the park) but we ended going the entire 9 miles
– 8 on the E-bikes before they ran out of juice and then we were so close to
the pass, (I was not aware the pass was the Alpine Visitors Center on HWY 34), we
walked the rest of the way. This
adventure took us from 8500’ to 11,797!
Tomorrow we will hit 12K on the way to Granby.
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| A panorama looking southwest from the Alpine Visitors Center - 11,796' |
A few more images from the top...
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The Never Summer Mountains in the background...
Kim not real happy with me at this point! |
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| Look close - Kim is letting me know it is time to get lower! |
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The Pedego's with no juice left - fortunately it was all downhill from here.
We did have to adjust the brakes twice on the way down however!!! |
The EPIC part of this ride? We followed a bull elk for the first 2 miles and
then encountered 5 more on the way down (I have a video).
But the first hour uphill was spectacular. That elk was at home and owned the road. All bikers, first just Kimble and I but after
2 hours there were close to 12, all had to stop 100m short and wait for
him. So he just casually walked up the
road while we all just walked and peddled slowly behind. Finally he veered off the road into a meadow
and we were able to cruise up.
After the ride, we went back to the room for lunch and then
I really wanted to ride the tram up to the top of Prospect Peak. We did.
It was uneventful but did provide some nice panoramic images.
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The yellow star is where we stayed - Colorado Cottages
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| Another view of Longs Peak from the top of Prospect Mountain |
After the tram, we
drove up Bear Lake Road (it did not open until 1800 as we did not have a ticket
to enter earlier) and it did not offer any real breathtaking views. There were some but there were so many cars it was hard
to stop and look.
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Taylor Peak - 13,158...
Just a baby here but higher than all the peaks in Nevada |
This road is really
the doorway to the hiking scene. I would
guess that only about 10% of RMNP is accessible by vehicle, bikes and short –
under 2-mile – hikes; the rest by hiking, and there must be hundreds of miles
of trails in this park. We only had 2
days and so to see the most, we had to bike and drive. The 9-mile drive up took 45 minutes and the
drive back took 20.
It is unfortunate that the National Park System has had to implement such drastic measures to protect our incredible natural resources. We encountered many clueless and unaware visitors on all our park visits but to demonstrate the frustration the NPS and the Rangers have to deal with, they had to post this sign in all the bathrooms in the parks - read the third one from the top and you will get a small glance at the stupidity visitors exhibit while in our Nations National Parks...
Tomorrow was the
exciting day as we would be driving Trail Ridge Road – HWY 34.
We woke 0630 to a overcast and socked in eastern slope of
the Rockies in Estes Park and I have to say I was quite bummed as today is
Trail Ridge Road, HWY 34, day. Up and
over to the western side of the RMNP. It
is a crazy steep and windy road with “potentially” great views. We hit the road at about 0800 and as we drove
up, there was no moisture and no precipitation so we thought, maybe we will
drive out of this… and we did. By 10,000
feet elevation, the skies were blue and the rest of the drive was
spectacular. Unfortunately we got no
vista images looking east as a result of the overcast skies.
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| The Never Summer Range - west |
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12,153' - Highest point on HWY 34 -
The highest maintained highway in the USA! |
We exited the RMNP and drove down to Granby. We saw the headwaters of Colorado!! (The second headwaters. The first being the Salmon in Idaho)
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The beginning of the Colorado River!
Mind blowing when you think all that this river has created. |
At this point, we stopped and pondered. It's June 21, we have visited three National Parks, made over 50 stops, took over 1000 images, slept in over 10 different beds (not well I might add), driven over 2700 miles and well frankly, we were done! So we readjusted our trip, made a few calls, cancelled some room reservations and pointed the Prius west and headed home.
We took HWY 40 in Colorado through Steamboat Springs and then stopped at Craig for lunch at a great, great BBQ place, JW Snacks - most would have driven right by. Kimble, for some reason had a feeling. Then on down the road to Vernal, UT and well, after some serious navigational efforts, we drove through the Unitas/Flamng Gorge Recreation Area on our way back to Wyoming...yes back to Wyoming (3 states today) where we spent the night in Evanston on I80 - a straight 9 hour shot home.
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| Flaming Gorge reservoir |
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| Untas park area |
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| Flaming Gorge |
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| Driving out of the Unitas/Flaming Gorge area |
We got up early, skipped the crappy breakfast at our 12th bed and put the cruise control on 75 and continued our trek home. Past Park City, through Salt Lake City and at 0845 we crossed back into Nevada. At 0952 and 3,338 miles into our adventure, we completed the loop (photo below that we began back on 8 June) when we headed to Twin Falls off I80 and headed for Sun Valley Idaho.
We pulled into home at 1500 hours on 22 June with the odometer registering a total of 3698.6 miles; epic, fun, beautiful.
PS - I will be writing a letter to the Director of the National Parks. I will put a link to that letter here in the future
