Seattle, Olympic NP, Mt. Rainier NP and Oregon coast

We’ve been in the boonies for the last 2 weeks with no internet access to speak of and spotty cell phone service so please excuse me for another long post. I’m downloading photos from Seattle, Olympic NP, Mt. Rainier NP and the majority of the Oregon coastline from north to south.

June 12 thru 15

Welcome to the big city and the plus and minuses that go with it! The weather is cloudy with occasional showers which seem to be the norm based on my short time under the influence of Pacific Northwest weather but the vegetation is lush with a large variety of plants. The roads I chose have been scenic but I don’t get where I’m going very quickly so I spent most of a day getting into Seattle with a stop at an auto parts store for a set of rear brake pads that I changed upon arrival in my new campsite at Dash Point State Park just south of Seattle on Puget Sound. On a trip like this carrying some essential tools is a must and I had what I needed to do the job in about an hour. I’m in suburbia and the area has beautiful trees and shrubs and their golf courses look like they have fake grass it’s so green and lush but as of day 2 I still haven’t seen the Sun and I’m binging to feel like either a prune or a mushroom. I’m not far from the airport and it’s a big one and is very busy but Linda arrived on time and we headed for downtown Seattle to stroll along the waterfront and go up the Space Needle.

Our timing was bad though as we attempted to leave downtown at rush hour. I have never seen worse gridlock in a downtown area and it was about 1 ½ hours before we escaped. They do road signs poorly up here and the street layout of the city is chaos and with the exception of taking an Alaska cruise from here I will never set foot in this city again.  Watching the weather report is not encouraging and our plan was to head for Mount Rainier NP tomorrow for 3 days then the Olympic peninsula and Olympic NP after that but we are reversing our plan. The forecast calls for sun in about 4 or 5 days and we want sun for Rainier. So we’re off to Lake Crescent on the north shore of Olympic Park and on the way out of town we got some sun and blue sky for the drive that is only 140 miles but ended up taking 5 hours. Lake Crescent is another glacier carved lake and is quite long and over 600 feet deep and it has a deep teal blue color. Our campsite is very nice with a view of the lake through the trees.

With the sunshine giving way to high clouds moving in we rushed up a Park road to Hurricane Ridge and had some fairly nice views. It’s a little over 5000 feet up with views of the Parks interior that has numerous snow covered peaks between 6000 and 8000 feet high with many Glaciers. There are also views to the north of the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Canada. We could see the city of Victoria, British Columbia and even watched a few cruise ships that had departed Seattle that were no doubt on their way to Alaska. The Olympic peninsula has a very remote interior with no roads but it is a backpackers dream come true.

June 16 and 17

The weather is consistent since last night…..RAIN and more RAIN. We are determined to see some more of the Park so we headed for a waterfall trail and with our full rain suits on and proceeded to hike about 3 miles in the rain. The waterfall was worth it.

The next day was pretty much the same weather and we headed for the Hoh rainforest on the west side of the peninsula and headed through a small town that has a lot of fans nowadays, Forks, Washington of Twilight fame. Linda and I know nothing of the books or movies but she was talking with a local shopkeeper who said the business that resulted for the town was a godsend but they also looked forward to getting their town back. The grocery store had a display and many items dedicated to Twilight.

The rainforest is amazing and we were there 20 years ago with the kids. They get over 100 inches of rain per year. Since we were close to the Pacific we headed to Ruby Beach on the west side of the Olympic peninsula to see some Sea Stacks that are basically parts of old shoreline that are of harder rock that the ocean hasn’t eroded away. Seeing the ocean we decided that tomorrow we will pack up and head to an Oceanside campground near Ruby Beach.

June 18 and 19

We packed up in rain this morning after rain most of the night at Lake Crescent. It was so wet for our stay here that we never got to enjoy sitting out by a campfire with the view of the lake. However as we got near the beach campground the sun came out and we had blue skies to go with it. We got a great campsite on a bluff overlooking the ocean and we can see kelp beds just offshore. Since our visit to Ruby Beach was in the clouds and rain we headed back to there for a view with sun.

We finally got to sit by a campfire and threw in a view of the ocean….not bad. As evening approached high clouds returned and rain with them. It rained most of the night but began to clear by morning. Weather systems appear to change rapidly up here. The clouds and rain this morning are heading offshore to the west which seems quite unusual, Linda is watching a line of Cumulus clouds near the horizon that have some very high tops and are staying in view for a very long time due to that height. We are off to explore to our south along the coast. We went to Quinlet Lake and to a Sitka Spruce estimated to be 1000 years old.

We then drove on the beach in the little town of Pacific Beach and stumbled across the Pacific Beach Resort and Conference center that is basically an R&R resort for Military personnel and their families and it’s up on a bluff overlooking the beach and Pacific. The dining room is opened to the public so we got to enjoy a part of the place. It has a long history of Military use dating back to WWII. This evening we were treated to a fabulous sunset that went on for hours as the waning sunlight never seemed to leave the horizon. We sat by a campfire watching it and I kept at it after Linda headed for bed and there was still a glow on the horizon at 11pm while the Big Dipper was shining overhead…..summertime in the higher Latitudes. Tomorrow is the Summer Solicits so the Sun is about as far north as it goes. It got cool overnight with a low of 49 in the clear skies. It doesn’t feel like late June to a Floridian. I’m gonna suffer when I get home!! Check the SPOT link to see where we were.

 myspot
 Latitude:47.60984
 Longitude:-124.37592
 GPS location Date/Time:06/19/2012 22:00:05 EDT

 Message:This is my check-in from Spot. All is well.

 Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/8JefN/47.60984N/124.37592W

 If the above link does not work, try this link:
 http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.60984,-124.37592&ll=47.60984,-124.37592&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

June 20 thru 22

With good traveling weather we say goodbye to Kalaloch Beach and we headed for Mt. Rainier. Mt. Rainier National Park was established in 1899 and was our 4^th NP. As we neared Olympia we spotted the mountain on the horizon and it dominates the view. It took most of the day for the drive with numerous small towns. We have now driven a little over 11000 miles and my original “what if” estimates are a joke, we are 4000 miles over at this point so I won’t be surprised if we make 20000 by the time I’m back home. We are camping at Cougar Rock campground on the southwest area of the Park, the same campground we were in with the kids 20 years ago, it’s not bad and $14 a night is real nice. So is the weather. As predicted we have sunshine and therefore a nice view of Rainier which is still an active Volcano and is around 14400 feet high and has 26 glaciers on it. The blue ice of the glaciers are easily visible in this nice sunshine.

 The morning of the 21^st we headed up to the Paradise Inn at a little over 5000 feet on the western facing slopes of the mountain. Paradise averages 680 inches of snow per year and there is lots of it still here and we decide that we won’t hike here on snow packed trails. We headed down to lower elevations and did some hiking to the Grove of the Patriarchs and Silver Falls. The grove contains numerous old growth trees upwards of 1000 years old.

The weather is supposed to change tonight with rain coming in but for now we are enjoying a campfire and burgers on the grill for dinner. While driving back we passed a Ranger heading up the mountain with the emergency lights flashing and then saw an ambulance a little later. As we sat by the campfire a helicopter passed overhead and I commented to Linda that it seemed out of place and I thought it did not bode well. The next day we would hear that a 33 year old Park Ranger fell 3000 feet to his death while on a Rescue mission to aid 4 climbers who had summited Rainier that day and had then problems on the descent. We are very saddened by the news. I am especially thankful for the folks who choose a career in the Park Service and dedicate their lives to caring for the Parks I love so much.  I have seen many young people who are in the Park Service.

As predicted the rains arrived by morning so we decided to leave Rainier a day early and head for the Oregon coast just west of Portland. We drive thru rain most of the way and have a little stretch of Interstate 5 to speed up our journey but it still takes 6 hours. I’ve intentionally stayed away from the Interstates as much as possible on this trip choosing to drive the “backroads” so to speak in order to truly see America and I have enjoyed it thoroughly. Today’s drive includes a stretch of the north shore of the mighty and wide Columbia River just east of its flowing into the Pacific and there are references to Lewis and Clarks expeditions everywhere. We were fortunate to get into Fort Stevens State Park at the very northwest tip of Oregon for 1 night. Just as we got setup it started to rain and continued all night and as I’m typing this morning, the 23^rd, it’s still raining. We may not get to explore this park and the Fort.

June 23 and 24

We are headed to Nehalem Bay State Park and it’s only a 40 mile drive….yea! I hate to packup the camper wet but we’ll have no choice since the entire weekend (this is Saturday) will be quite wet. It’s supposed to begin clearing Monday so we should get to enjoy the coastline of Oregon.

We only drove 40 miles south but the weather changed dramatically and we arrived in sunshine so the camper got opened to dry out. We later enjoyed a nice Pacific beach sunset and a campfire. We’ll stay here 2 nights and explore the coast a bit. We had some rain showers overnight but it looks like the sun is trying to come back out. The beach here is surprisingly wide and gradual yet nearby there are portions of the coastline that are abrupt cliffs and rocky shoreline. It makes for some beautiful scenery.

We went south along the coast the next day to Cape Mears area where we toured a restored lighthouse that sits atop a cliff on the Cape. It has been replaced by an automated light but is an example of an original style lighthouse that used a Fresnel lens with a magnification of 195 times that allowed an oil based lamp and later a 200 watt light bulb to be seen 21 miles out to sea. The drive south from there proved to be quite scenic and we spent the better part of the day enjoying it with a late dinner of Dungeness crab that we bought in a local market and heated up in our oven in the camper followed by a campfire until about midnight. The weather treated us well for the day but by early morning the rain returned and we had to packup a wet camper once again as we headed south for Bandon, Oregon.

June 25 thru 28

The drive to Bandon took a lot longer than expected. Highway 101 along the coast goes through many towns and it is a windy road so your average speed is SLOW. We stopped in Tillamook and toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory, w also stopped at some overlooks that provided great ocean and coastline views along with some Sea Lions. Based on a recommendation we stopped and had lunch in Newport at the Rogue Brewery Ale House and we could have stayed there all day….goooood beer and they make many varieties. We are camped in another Oregon State Park called Bullards Beach just outside of Bandon and it’s very nice. From what we have seen the Oregon State Park system is the best I’ve encountered in my many years of camping. The stop here in Bandon is special since we get to visit a young man who is the son of some of our dearest friends and we’ve known him since he was months old. He is now the Head Golf Pro at the Pacific Dunes golf course at the Bandon Resort. The resort has numerous courses and sits along the coastline with incredible views of the ocean. Tomorrow I will play one of the courses with him and Linda is going to walk along with us in order to enjoy the location and ocean views. The courses are walking only unless you have a medical need that requires a cart and feeling tired with an achy knee doesn’t count!! But before the golf we headed north with blue sky to a scenic coastal area at Cape Arago that has numerous offshore rocks, a lighthouse, beach areas and a beautiful gardens that was the home of an old sailing ship owner whose captains would bring him plants from faraway places. The majority of the area is a series of Oregon State Parks and is awesome. We finally got to see some tidal pools with Starfish and Anemones.

Later in the day we played the 13 hole par 3 course at Bandon Dunes in a clear blue sky with a light breeze and many folks commented it was the best weather day of the year. The horizon was clear and we watched an exceptional clear sunset with hopes of witnessing the “Green Flash” but did not see it.

June 27

Today we continued our exploration of the Bandon area and its beautiful coastline. We walked on the beach around low tide and were able to see a few tidal pools with sea life and some Harbor seals on the rocks. The stairway down to the beach is heavily protected at the bottom and shows the intensity of the storms that hit the area.

 The harbor area of Old Town Bandon is nice and we walked around and visited some of the shops. We drove south to Cape Blanco and toured the lighthouse and campground, another Oregon State Park gem that if I’m ever back I would go camp at.  I’ll finish describing the area with additional photos in my next post but for now I hope to take advantage of a local coffee shops wifi and issue a new post tomorrow.

Thanks for following our adventure and as usual look for the new photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/103943218564105837637 

Placid Lake State Park,Glacier NP and Lake Wenatchee State Park

June 2

I drove thru a lot of “Big Sky” in Montana and made my goal of Placid Lake State Park near Seeley Lake, Montana and the last 60 miles was through beautiful valleys with wide open grazing land and I kept climbing into Alpine type forests and lake

The lake the Park is on reminds me of the Boundary Water Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. I’m told there is a pair of Loons on the lake and I’ve spent some time sitting on the shoreline in hopes of hearing them. No luck so far. I had an extra night to spend somewhere before Glacier NP so it will be here since it’s so great. I met a special lady and made a new friend, thanks Lois for being so kind. Drop me a note at dave.doub@gmail.com or comment on my blog. I’ll never forget the Seeley Lake area, its special. I had picked out that spot last year as a good intermediate spot on the way to Glacier and after seeing it I know I was drawn there for a reason.

I setup the antenna for my Ham Radio for the first time on the trip and had conversations with folks in Alabama and Arizona. I’ll try for Europe tonight then head for Glacier tomorrow. I have some other entertainment available this evening. I brought my Sirius satellite radio with me and I have a hookup in the camper and truck. This evening Jimmy Buffett is playing in Houston and the Margaritaville channel broadcasts every concert live and as an almost 40 year Parrot head I’ll be listening. Maybe I’ll make some Boat Drinks to go with Taco night!

June 3

Last night I was successful with my ham gear in reaching Europe, I spoke with Alex in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Not bad for a portable antenna but it got better this morning around 8am MT I spoke with Wayne in NEW ZEALAND!!! That made my day, he said I was weak but he could hear me so my little setup works wonderfully. The road north to Glacier was a treat through Alpine north woodsy terrain and numerous glacially craved lakes and at times I had snow capped mountains to my left and right. I love this type of country, makes me wonder why I live in Florida. Snow=Cold…duh.

Unfortunately when I reached Glacier NP in northwestern Montana it was socked in with clouds and light rain that is forecast to continue through Thursday and be heavy at times. The temps aren’t bad with highs near 60 and lows in the 40’s but my hiking plans look all wet…LOL. The Going to the Sun hiway is only partially opened from both the east and west sides and with the clouds we have now the views are crappy. I may find somewhere else to go before heading to Seattle where my cousin lives and Linda flies into on the 14^th. I spoke with her today and she was in the yard in Jax cleaning up the debris left by last weeks Tropical Storm and it was hot and humid and I’m not missing that weather.

June 4

The weather looked awful this morning with low clouds hanging around the lake and the mountains are totally socked in with occasional light rain showers. But after making breakfast the sun started peeking thru and the clouds retreated so I’m off to do some hiking at what is currently the end of the Going to the Sun hiway on the west side of the Park. It goes basically east/west over the continental divide thru high mountains and glacially carved valleys and it’s been dubbed Americas Alps and I can confirm it looks like them since I was in the Alps twice camping when I was a kid living in Italy. The road was completed in 1932 and is about 50 miles long but I can only go 14 miles from the west right now due to a combination of road work and plowing operations to remove the winter snow. I hope that coming from the east will have more open, I’ll know in a few days when I head over that way and have to drive south around the Park.

I hiked one of the most popular trails to Avalanche Lake, 5 miles roundtrip and 550 feet up then down. The lake is surrounded on 3 sides by steep mountains and the center mountain has a glacier up on it that you can’t see from the lake but the waterfalls make its presence know.

I hope the weather is ok tomorrow for a trip north to Bowman Lake which is on the west side of the Park and only about 25 miles south of the Canadian border. I expect it to be a more remote/quiet hiking area and as such my bear awareness has to be top notch. I have my “bear bells” as well as my bear pepper spray, a very strong mixture just for bears and usually very effective.

June 5

The trip to Bowman Lake was great except for the weather. It was heavy overcast and as I started hiking it was misting and that was actually due to my being in the clouds hanging around Bowman Lake.

On the way there you pass thru the little community of Polebridge , a non-electric spot and the last “town” from there to the Canadian border. The Polebridge Mercantile is a must stop and they are famous for their home baked items. The sticky bun with nuts was to die for! The Mercantile has a long history and is documented quite a bit on the Web.

The road to the lake from there is rough and narrow but the campground at the lake is my kind of place but taking the trailer was a no-no on those roads. I had been reading about Bowman Lake for a few years and was going come hell or high water. I was hoping for some solitude and lack of visitors and I got it. I hiked about 4 miles of shoreline and for the first 2 hours saw no one but a Black Bear who was coming down the trail at me. I was doing the right stuff by ringing my bear bells and calling out and when he heard and saw me he did a 180 and ran the other way. I also had my bear spray on my hip and I’d been practicing my quickdraw. I saw no grizzlies but a few deer and a Ptarmigan. On the way back to the camper I saw a momma Black Bear and her 2 cubs along the road.

I did a short drive to the Hungry Horse Dam south of the park. The Dam is over 500 feet high and creates a lake about 30 miles long in mountainous terrain. It’s also a hydro power plant.

About then it started raining and didn’t stop all night. I had already decided to bugout the next morning due to the weather and it was still raining when I left at 8:30am. The drive to the east side of Glacier NP goes thru mountains and has a pass over the Continental Divide above 5000 feet. As I climbed I could see the snow level coming to meet me and I began to think of turning around and heading south but I really want to see Many Glacier again.

Once on the east side of the mountains the wind was fierce and towing was not fun plus the temp dropped. As you come down the east side of the mountains a dramatic change occurs as you get into the drier zone the alpine trees disappear and rolling plains appear.

The east side is the Blackfeet Nation who sold their share of the land that is now Glacier NP to the Feds in 1885, they consider the park land still theirs and scared. I agree it is scared and I have no doubt they got screwed in the deal.  By the time I reached Many Glacier CG it was in the 30’s and the snow was blowing and the wind howling at 30 to 50 mph bending the trees. I’m sitting in the camper with the heater trying to warm it up and the wind is rockin me! There are only a half dozen campers here and I do believe all of us are NUTS. The forecast is for 3 to 6 inches above 5000 feet and the campground is at 4900 and more rain tomorrow. Looks like I’m back to a thermal undie night and lots of hot cocoa. Dinner will be something in the oven so I can enjoy the heat. The snow isn’t sticking to the ground….. yet. I paid for 2 nights and am betting on Mother Nature not letting me down.

You may have noticed that I don’t have either bed down on the camper. Since I’m by myself and I’m in such prime bear country it’s easier to sleep on the Dinette and be a hard sided camper, otherwise I have to store my food either in the cab of the truck or in a bear food box provided at the site. Either way is a pain. On the way in I saw a grizzly bear about 150 feet off the road and it’s the same road we saw one on as we left the Park 20 years ago. Another advantage is the camper is easier to keep warm without the beds down and here on the east side of Glacier that means something, 32 degrees at 9pm. The photos of inside the camper are with beds folded up and I’ve got one of the heated mattresses on the collapsed Dinette area but with the slideout out I’ve still got plenty of room for one. There’s a 3 burner stove, small oven (Pizza), a microwave and refrig with a small freezer compartment. The toilet area has a shower and sink. Enough goodies to make camping comfortable compared to what we used to do years ago, especially when I used to go backpacking. It turns out the only thing opened here at Many Glacier is the campground. I was looking forward to seeing the old Lodge again that was built by the Great Northern Railroad. No store, no nothing. I’m attaching a link from one of my SPOT messages that will take you to a map of where I’m at.

            

       myspot
 Latitude:48.84816
 Longitude:-114.18614
 GPS location Date/Time:06/05/2012 16:32:39 EDT

 Message:This is my check-in from Spot. All is well.

 Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/88H-m/48.84816N/114.18614W                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

June 7

Cloudy this morning so I’m cooking a nice breakfast and all of a sudden I see sunshine and a bit of blue sky and by the time I’m done with breakfast and cleaning it and me up the weather is gorgeous. That bet I made paid off. I hiked about 4 miles on the Swiftcurrent Pass trail to a lake and a very nice waterfall. This place is just awesome.

Then later I headed for the eastern end of the Going to the Sun hiway and the St. Marys Visitor Center. The weather forecast is calling for more rain tonight and tomorrow and sure enough around 5pm high clouds rolled in and made the views poor. I did get a neat photo of a snow avalanche that happen either last night or today.  A Ranger told me that the higher elevations got 1 ½ feet of new snow in the last 36 hours.

I’m sitting by my campfire typing todays update and it’s now heavy overcast and its 9:30pm. I’m now high enough in Latitude that evening daylight is extended some. I suspect it will be light until 10:30pm. The last time we were here we continued north into Alberta, Canada and traveled thru Banff and then up what is known as the Icefield Parkway thru the heart of the Canadian Rockies up to Jasper, Alberta. We camped in one of their National Parks that is a prime Elk calving area and they were everywhere. The second day there was July 1^st which is Canada Day, the equivalent of our July 4^th so of course there would be fireworks. We asked where and when and got the “after dark” response. Up there at that time of year after dark was 11:30pm!!

In spite of the weather I maximized the time I had and managed to get in 13 miles of hiking in the last 4 days. It’s much less than I had expected but I had hope to be able to access some of the high country.

I’m planning on leaving here tomorrow if the rain comes as expected and head toward Spokane, Washington and get to a Discount Tire store in 2 or 3 days. As I was leaving the Grand Tetons I lost another trailer tire, one of the Goodyear Marathons and it’s also time to replace the truck tires. Tomorrow starts week 10 of the trip and I’ve passed the 9000 mile mark and at the rate I’m going my estimate of 15000 for the trip is low. I’ve found that living in a small space is not a burden and I could do this for a longer time if I had the financial resources. We have a 19 inch widescreen TV and DVD player that can run off the inverter and I recorded numerous TV shows and Movies to bring along but I have yet to watch one. I don’t miss TV and have only hooked it up for local viewing in a few of the cities we’ve been in. So a cabin in the woods away from the BS of todays world would suit me fine! And after working with phone systems for 30+ years…… no phone!

June 8

As I was hitching up the camper this morning it started to rain so I had only a few regrets about leaving Glacier. It’s very special and if any of you get the chance to see it do not hesitate. The drive toward Spokane was a bit long but it’s important I get the tires taken care of and Discount stores are closed on Sunday so I’m pushing to get in the area today. I’m taking Route 2 thru the heart of northwest Montana and it has some beautiful country with Lakes, Rivers and snowcapped mountains. I’ve picked out a KOA campground about 30 miles north of Spokane and I utilized McDonalds again to find a Discount Tire store and call them to arrange for them to have what I need. It turned out to be a long day, over 10 hours on the road but the Little Diamond Lake KOA is one of the best commercial campgrounds I’ve seen and I’m a big critic of commercial setups and try to stay away from them. The weather improved today at least for my drive time but it started to rain again after dark. I met 2 guys from the Netherlands who’ve been touring National Parks in a 31 ft motorhome they rented. Like me they had just come from Glacier and had left to escape the rain and snow. We may have seen each other before now since their list of Parks is almost identical to where Linda and I have been. It’s great to see folks from other countries taking the time to come here and enjoy our Parks. Makes me appreciate them even more.

June 9

Raining heavily this morning and my drive to Spokane and the tire store is yucky. I’ll be glad to get out of this pattern but I hear it’s the same if not worse at home. The folks at Discount Tire took care of me once again and I’ve got to give them a plug. If you want exceptional service and competitive prices go see them. I’ve had 3 trailer tires blow and they have replaced 2 based on the insurance I purchased and pro-rated the other and then on the new truck tires I bought they gave me a pro-rated discount based on the mileage. So I’ve now had 3 trailer and all 4 truck tires replaced for much less than the cost of 4 new truck tires, I almost feel like I’m robbing them!! While there I checked my brake pads and the rears are history and I’ll change them at my Cousins place in Seattle next week.

June 10

I’ve decided to head a bit south based on the weather forecasts and come into the eastern side of the Cascades due east of Seattle. As I got into Spokane and headed west the weather turned nice for a change and tonight I’m at Lake Wenatchee State Park up in the mountains and about 100 miles east of Seattle. It’s a pretty nice spot and I think I’ll spend 2 nights here and just chill tomorrow and reflect on just how fortunate I am to be doing this trip. I wanted to find a National Forest site and drove about 12 miles into a wilderness area in search of one on the map but the road kept getting smaller and no campground was in site so I finally turned around when I could and came back to the State Park.

June 11

I got rewarded with a beautiful blue sky today and after an overnight temp around 38 it got up to the high 70’s and I got to wear shorts for the first time in about a month. You folks in Florida would kill for these cool temps, wouldn’t you? The lake here was glacier made long ago and it’s picturesque. I thought I must be fairly high up based on the snow on the mountain tops but I checked the GPS and I’m just under 2000 ft so I can only assume there must have been a lot of snow for there to still be some. I’m sitting outside after making sloppy joes for dinner but the mosquitoes are intense tonight even though I’ve got myself surrounded by citronella candles, I’m may have to give in and head inside. I was lazy today and hiked just a few miles and then got on the phone to do some personal business which occasionally interferes with my adventure but the real world does rear its ugly head now and then. Overall I’m am way out of touch with what’s going on and I’m not really missing those things. I need to stop and pinch myself though. I’ve been on the road long enough that I’m starting to take this for granted and forget just how special this is. I know many folks dream of doing something like this and that’s all it ever is, a dream. I may have worked hard to reach goals that allow me to do this but I need to be sure and never lose sight of how fortunate and blessed I am to be here. I hope all of you get to live your dreams at some point in your life.

 So it’s off to Seattle tomorrow and I just realized my losing track of time caught up with me, I thought this was Tuesday so I’ll be getting into Seattle a day earlier than I thought. I may have to see if the Mariners are at home and go catch a baseball game or go ride some of the ferries and explore the islands west of Seattle and do some whale watching.

As usual see the additional photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/103943218564105837637
.
Look at the posts for Glacier NP east and west, Placid Lake State Park and Lake Wenatchee State Park

North Rim,Yellowstone and Grand Teton

May 25

Greetings from one of the most awesome and wondrous places on the planet……YELLOWSTONE. Yellowstone contains 2/3 of the worlds thermal features.

We got here 2 days ago and are here for 6 nights. We left the north rim of the Grand Canyon, one of my personal favorites, Tuesday the 22^nd and did a 13 hour driving day up I-15 through Utah to about 60 miles south of Idaho where we hit a hotel for the night in order to get a very early start and make Madison campground that is in the western part of Yellowstone about 14 miles from the town of West Yellowstone. As we approached the park from the west we climbed to over 6000 feet and went through rain, sleet and snow. When we got to the campground they had 1 site left that would accommodate us so our early start paid off. This is our 3^rd visit to Yellowstone over the past 20 years and the first since around 1993. Our previous trips we’re in the summer with the kids and we camped then. We are very early in the season and the weather forecast is for highs in the 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s to lower 30’s for next 5 days with rain and snow showers!! Many of the campgrounds, lodges and visitor centers are not opened yet so our choices are limited. So let me backup and fill you in on what we’ve seen and done.

May 18

We left Vegas and headed north on I-15 into Utah and at the town of St. George headed east toward the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We visited the north rim for 2 nights about 20 years ago with the kids and for me it was love at first site and I have dreamed of going back. The drive in takes you through the Kaibab National Forest on route 67 that ends at the canyon and it goes through amazing large meadows ringed by tall Ponderosa pines and the beauty of them is jaw dropping.

We drove through them around 7pm just a little before sunset and saw numerous herds of mule deer grazing and a few patches of snow in shadowy areas. A few miles before the canyon we saw a Coyote walking casually through a small meadow…..WOW. The campground is quite nice, no hookups but lots of space between sites under tall Ponderosa pines. It would be home for 4 nights.

May 19,20,21

The north rim of the Grand Canyon is quite different from the south rim. The south rim is where most folks go and I’ve been there 3 times. It’s developed a lot more and has many services be they hotels or campgrounds. The vistas from the south rim are much bigger and if you’ve never been to the Canyon go to the south rim first. Linda and I have enjoyed the south rim a lot and even got to stay in one of their old cabins on the rim and dine in the El Tovar hotel in February of 2003.  In the summer the crowds are intense. The north rim is quiet and peaceful. It sits about 1000 feet higher at around 8000 feet and has less services and fewer visitors. It opens much later due to the large amount of snow it receives and we arrived about 1 week after they opened. We hiked every day, saw beautiful vistas and some wildlife and dined in the Lodge dining room which is something we try to do in every park we visit, if they have one. The days were cool and the nights cold with lows around 30. The stars were so big and bright they seemed to be within reach.  On the 20^th we drove out to one of the large meadows and watched the Annular eclipse of the Sun and enjoyed a few mule deer who decided to graze as we watched. The eclipse was a bit of a letdown being it never got very dark but we did have some viewing devices and we saw the “ring of fire” clearly. Our weather was outstanding and the visit damn near perfect. If you love the outdoors GO THERE.

May 23

We traveled all day to Yellowstone and got the 1 campsite I mentioned and went back into the town of West Yellowstone and had dinner then returned and settled in for the night. During the night Linda commented she thought it was sleeting but I thought it sounded softer and in the morning we were treated to 1 ½  inches of new SNOW and the temp dropped to 29. With our type of camper the popup style beds let a lot of heat out or cold in and it was fun staying warm. 

May 24 thru 27

The next day we began the process of renewing our association with the wonders of Yellowstone. Even though we’ve been here twice with the kids there is always new stuff to see. US Grant was President when he signed the bill creating the worlds first National Park in 1872 and started what I agree as “Americas Best Idea”. The weather has not been ideal with snow and overcast skies but an occasional patch of blue and some sun. We visited numerous thermal features and made the mandatory visit to Old Faithful but the clouds and temps made photos poor but she did her thing. It was around 34 degrees and that made the steam intense and we had gray overcast.  We went in the Old Faithful Inn and on a whim checked to see if they had any rooms available and they did so we will spend our 6^th night here in the Inn and dine in their dining room, what a treat that stay will be! Today, the 26^th we awoke to around 4 inches of fresh wet snow that clung to the pines and cold temps.

After clearing the snow off the camper we headed to the central area of the Park in order to visit the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and its Falls. 

Mother Nature was kind and granted us some sunshine and blue sky until around 3pm when the rains came. So I’m sitting in the camper with rain coming down and our little Honda generator running to recharge our deep cycle batteries. With the cold nights we really need the batteries to run the inverter so we have our bed heaters. It also recharges our deep cycle that runs the fan on the propane furnace. There is a price to pay for being here this time of year but the rewards are so great. Seeing Yellowstone in a touch of the Winter scene is quite special. We watched Buffalo grazing in a rather intense snow shower.

 The morning of the 27^th we packed up and headed for the Old Faithful Inn. It was threatened by the wildfires of 1988 when hundreds of thousands of acres were burned in Yellowstone. They actually rigged up water hoses from the peak of the roof to constantly wet it in the hope that flying embers would not ignite the building. The interior is really special in how they used logs and tree limbs in the construction.

We finally had a pretty nice weather day with some blue sky and sun along with the expected occasional snow shower and we spent our last full day seeing more geysers and thermal pools and watched Old Faithful a few more times.

I’m adding a special shout out to Jon at the Madison campground where we stayed in Yellowstone. We met when we checked in and he saw we were from Jacksonville. He lived there a while back. Then the morning of our 4 inch snow we met again as I was walking around taking photos and he was walking his dog and we chatted for awhile. It turns out the Jon worked in the Interconnect side of the telephone industry and so did I. He worked with many of the phone systems I did and then he worked in the Software industry and his customers included American Express and PHH Mortgage the two companies I worked for from 1985 to 2010. Jon then worked in the lending industry and worked closely with PHH Mortgage including folks I worked with in Jacksonville. What appears to have been a chance meeting now looks much different! The saying “it’s a small world” doesn’t quite cover it does it?

If I may let me inject a little National Park history that I am fond of. At Mammoth Hot Springs we went into the Horace Albright Visitor Center. Horace was a young man in his 20’s in 1915 and was working a government job in Washington DC that had something to do with managing our natural resources such as Yellowstone. There was no National Park Service at that time and the management of Parks was in disarray with an extreme lack of control of the resources with private individuals and companies exploiting those areas. Horace was disillusioned and intended to leave the government and work in the private sector. At that same time there was a self made millionaire named Stephen Mather who was in his 40’s who had a passion for the outdoors and especially our nations park lands. He was aware of the lack of control and was bothered by it. If I recall right he contacted an old college classmate who was Secretary of the Interior at that time and complained about the parks management. His classmate told him if he was so concerned then he should come to Washington and do something about it, so he did! He was put in charge of the Parks and made Horace his 2^nd in command and immediately gave him a raise with his own money. Stephen would often use his personal fortune to aid the Parks in different ways. Stephen would only accept $1 a year in salary and set out to see that our National Parks were protected and that the other areas would become parks. He was a man of extreme energy and those around him, including Horace who was half Stephens age, had trouble keeping up with him. Stephens efforts resulted in the creation of The National Park System. In every National Park you will find a plaque honoring him as the Father of the Park system. If you’ve been to the Grand Canyon you may recall Mather point. With Mather’s efforts the Grand Canyon was made a NP.

 

Horace Albright thrived in the new agency and he was very instrumental in the Park system we have today. At one point Horace was appointed Superintendent of Yellowstone and he also had a love of the Tetons just to the south and felt they should be included as part of a Greater Yellowstone Park. During his tenure as Super he had two visitors to Yellowstone who wished to not be recognized, John D. Rockefeller and his wife. Horace wanted to show them the Tetons and Jackson valley and share his plan to include them in the Park system but Mather instructed him to allow them to have a private visit and not mention it so he followed Mathers directions. However a few years later they came again and with no instructions to the contrary Horace took them on a tour of the Jackson Valley and the Tetons and shared his dream. They enjoyed the trip but made no comments on his plan until months later Rockefeller asked Horace to come to New York and share his plan with the “Family”. After hearing the plan Rockefeller said that it was not what they had in mind, it wasn’t enough! The Family intended to include a large portion of the Valley in their Park plan, not just the mountains.

Horace was elated and Rockefeller formed a Land Company and began buying up ranches in the Jackson Valley. No one was aware of who was behind these purchases. The Greater Yellowstone plan was not popular at the time. Some years later after other challenges the Tetons and a large portion of the Valley became a National Park. John D. Rockefeller and his family made other efforts and significant financially contributions in areas that are now National Parks.

Stephen Mather and Horace Albright and John D. Rockefeller are just a few of the  significant people who helped shape and create our National Park system. They had a passion for our wild lands and wonders and wanted to make sure they would be preserved and protected for future generations to enjoy. We must never forget their contributions and make sure all who come after us get to enjoy our Parks. If you’d like to learn more about the history of our Parks watch Ken Burns 6 part documentary on the NP’s, it’s great.

May 29

On the way to Grand Tetons NP that is a short drive. We arrived to temps in the 60’s….WOOHOO a frickin heat wave, and blue skies. We drove up Signal Mountain for great views of the Jackson Valley and the mountains. We are in a quiet campground just back from Lake Jackson.

While driving we saw a rather small grizzly as it crossed the road.

May 30

We took a boat ride across Jenny Lake to the base of the Tetons and then hiked up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, a few miles and about 500 feet of up then down.

 I have iced the knee tonight and it’s letting me know about it. I’m pretty sure I tore something back in April in Big Bend but will let it ride as long as possible. Tomorrow we are doing a 10 mile float trip by raft on the Snake River through the Jackson Valley and hopefully some more hiking then early Friday morning Linda flies home from Jackson Hole for 2 weeks. I’ll go on to Glacier NP and then west to Seattle where she will rejoin me for another 40+ days. The Tetons and this valley have really wowed me. This is a beautiful place and I could see myself working summers here.

May 31

We awoke to a return of our blue skies just in time for the raft trip and it was great. We saw a Moose, Pronghorn Antelope, Elk, various ducks and 3 bald Eagles. The scenery from the water was gorgeous and I took way too many photos but a few standout and I believe this one is going up on the wall back home in a larger format. Lots of others are on my albums.

June 1

We are up at 4am to get Linda to the airport. Driving at this time of day is a bit scary with the wildlife around here. We cruised thru a few herds of Elk grazing right along the road and Buffalo and Mule Deer are in the area as well so you keep your eyes glued to the road and shoulders…….nerve racking. We had an incident in Yellowstone I hadn’t mentioned. One evening we went into the town of West Yellowstone for dinner and were returning after dark. We were watching for wildlife, especially Buffalo which are plentiful in that area and I mentioned to Linda it was especially scary when another car came at you and you had to dim lights and were somewhat blinded by the oncoming car. About a minute later as an approaching car was passing us I noticed a mother Buffalo and calf stepping into our lane and we were just a few car lengths from them at 40 mph. I had no time to stop and gently moved left as far as I dare as we passed the oncoming car and with Divine intervention we missed momma Buffalo by what I believe was inches. Had we hit her the least that would have happen was totaling the pickup since they weigh up to 2000 lbs. I think the other driver may have seen my need for space and moved some. Ironically this was our 2^nd near miss with Buffalo on the very same stretch of road, the first being 20 years ago with the kids and our popup in tow. I don’t plan to ever drive in Yellowstone again at night and I best stay away from that stretch of road!

After Lindas departure I’m on the road for Montana and it will be a long day. As I cruised through eastern Idaho in route to I-15 I drove through ancient lava flows that went as far as I could see. We learned in info at one of Yellowstones Visitor Centers that the Yellowstone Super Volcano is over what is known as the Yellowstone hotspot where the earths crust is very thin. The North American continental plate is moving from the northeast to the southwest over this spot and there are ancient lava beds and volcanoes over 2 million years old stretching from Nevada northeast thru Utah and Idaho to Yellowstone in Wyoming. We have seen them all on this trip.

Photos  at   https://picasaweb.google.com/103943218564105837637