From Mountains to Canyons

Grand Tetons and the Snake River.


One of the many islands growing at the edge of Yellowstone Lake as the Geysers continue to bubble up.

Old Faithful now erupts at + or - 90 minute intervals

Yellowstone nights were at the KOA 6 miles west of the ultimate tourist trap of West Yellowstone, WY. It does not seem to have changed any in the almost 20 years since we were last there and even some of the T-shirts may be that old. On the other hand the KOA which had received some fairly nasty reviews was a surprise with its clean spacious sites and well maintained bathrooms and grounds. We enjoyed sitting on the porch swing at the site and watching the almost full moon slip into the star laden western sky.

Last trip to Yellowstone was while visiting John as he did his commercial white water training on the Gallatin River just after the big fire in the Park. The regrowth of the timbers is impressive and the density of the lodge pole pine is something I need to learn more about. I do know that the seeds do not germinate without fire and I suspect the density is what makes them grow so tall and straight. This leaves me with more on my list of things to “look into”.

Since we were sure the Yellowstone River was still flowing and the falls were still falling we concentrated on the Geyser fields this trip. Good geology lesson , and follow up on the recent Nation Geographic article on the Super Volcano which lies under the park. Makes one do a lot of thinking, and changes our childhood notions about digging all the way to china.

Neither Carl nor I had been to Jackson Lake since our early teens so we really enjoyed staying at the Colter Bay RV camp right on the lake. We found a wonderful late afternoon hike and enjoyed watching a dry squall as it ran across the lake. The following day as we drove south progress was slow as there were constant stops always trying to capture a better angle on the Tetons and the numerous peaks and glaciers. We finally made it into Jackson Hole for fuel, but never found a truck wash. (The coach was covered in mud from all of the road construction, funded by stimulus dollars, in both Yellowstone and Grand Tetons NPs. ) We found Jackson Hole to be all grown up and like Aspen and Telluride has adopted the rustic façade, in a very upscale style, for the rich pseudo outdoorsy types.

On we drove through some beautiful country in the Star Valley of WY and Bear Lake in the Logan Valley of UT. Even the dry camp in the Wal-mart lot in Logan was attractive with a large freshly mowed park right outside the coach stairs, as we managed to park under two real shade trees.

Saturday we arrived in Moab, just in time to join the thousands of others here for four wheeling and raising hell over the Labor day weekend. You can only imagine a 1960’s RV Park filled to the gills with large coaches and toy haulers and all the extra vehicles needed to have fun in the dessert. This was combined with an equal number of SUVs topped with a minimum of two bicycles each and a load of tents. The showers were busy and the Music Festival was well attended.

We headed out to the more remote ends on Canyon Lands NP to do some hiking, but more on that later.
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Geology, Climatology and History

As usualthe photo upload is not as I had planned but.....Hoover got to swim at the headwaters of the Missouri.

The wheat fields of Big Sky country as we cross MT.

The Dry Falls from the Ice Age floods.

We have now survived just over a week on the road and have had a wonderful round of geology lessons complete with geographic examples. It was good to get into the Yakima Valley of WA just as the pears and apples were being harvested. At the Bella Terra Organic Farms they actually went out into the orchard to pick a doz. Pears for us. So we loaded up on fresh fruit and headed for Electric City and Steamboat Rock SP, WA for an adventure at the Grand Coulee Dam and some swim time for Hoover. It was fascinating to see all we had read about ice age floods laid out before us in the landscape of the region. The Visitors Center at the Dam was quite the education on the use of the dam and the use and reuse of the water as it runs through the lands of the Columbia Basin Project. I am not a big Dam fan but this was enlightening. It seems to have been a good use of “Bail Out” money during the depression and then post war completion. I will stay non political at this point but do suggest a visit to the link for some interesting information. http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Columbia+Basin+Project

and check out the Other Highlights at the bottom of this page.
The Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area was interesting. While searching for entertainment in Spokane we were always referred into Coeur d’Alene and there only found signs that the Californians had come and were busy removing money from the pockets or well-heeled tourists. The landscape is beautiful and it was well worth a drive around the lake to the south end to see how the real folk and Native Cultures live.
On to Glacier NP where the glaciers are rapidly melting and the kids and Europeans were enjoying their last weekend of vacation. (Poor timing on our part.) The scenery is really beautiful and I can only imagine (with help of the old time pictures in the visitors center) how spectacular it was a half century ago. The Prince of Whales Hotel in Waterton Park, Alberta is a marvel, and a testament to the elegance of the turn of the century resort hotel done Canadian (with much British influence) style. Flathead Lake and the area south of Kalispell is also a reminder of how fine Mother Nature’s handiwork can be, and a reminder too that northern CA didn’t get all the good stuff.
Now we have made it to Yellowstone after traveling yesterday and part of today through BIG SKY country. We ended up dry camping last night outside of Three Forks, MT so that we could visit the Headwaters of the Missouri SP this morning. (We had assured Hoover he would get his almost daily swim.) Our choice of dry lots turned out to be most fortunate as after we filled with fuel we discovered that we were at the Wheat Montana Bakery. http://www.wheatmontana.com/history.php As you may imagine the smell was overpowering and the meal I had planned went by the wayside as we were drawn, by the nose, into the adjoining deli. The only drawback to the whole experience was the fact that they bake all night (You should see the huge sticky buns.) with a gigantic high powered exhaust fan running. The white noise of the fan drowned out the highway noise but the all consuming smell of fresh baked goods was hard to sleep through. We were on the road early so as not to partake!