Idaho/Wyoming/Idaho/Wyoming (7/22/24)

 

I definitely feel like we are zigzagging quite a bit in our travels this summer. It’s mostly because we are in search of cooler temperatures- it is a very elusive thing to find right now, but then again, nothing competes with how hot it is back a the house!

Looking at the map while at Dinosaur National Monument, another national monument caught Paul’s eye- Fossil Butte National Monument- and it was only a few hours away.

On the way there we drove through a national forest campground, just to check it out, and liked it so much we decided to spend a night there. It was the first night cool enough to have a campfire!

While there we drove down to the visitor center at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. We walked along the ridge, looking at the reservoir, but elected not to do any hiking.

The following day we arrived at Fossil Butte, mid afternoon. We have a dispersed site, so, no hookup, and therefore no reason to swelter, so we headed for the visitor center.   We also managed to find time to drive the scenic drive, which gave a decent view of the entire area, most of which had been Fossil Lake 52 million years ago.  

This area has some of the best preserved fossils in the world.

The one thing that Paul really wanted to do was do his own digging for fossils. You can’t do it in the national monument, but there are several quarries nearby that let you dig, if you pay them money. Paul bought a 2 hour window, and I elected to watch.

Traveling in the truck camper for months, he didn’t want anything too big.  There is more to finding fossils than we thought, but the workers were more than willing to show him how to do it. You use a chisel to slice the rock, a little at a time, hopefully exposing a fossil.

Of course, most of the time there isn’t much there, but Paul actually did good- finding one piece with 3 fish on it (he even got both halves) and a snail that was so detailed, the guide asked for a picture of it. So it only took  an hour or so in the sweltering heat to find all he wanted.

They also explained how to preserve them so they won’t fade. The nonprofessional way of doing it is to fill a tray or bucket, whatever the piece fits into, with a 10:1 solution of water to Elmer’s Glue. The kicker is it has to be original Elmer’s, not the newer “school” version. Turns out its a little harder to find.

We are still continuing our trek north, although we were planning on being a little further west by now-but the cooler temperatures at Henry’s Lake near Yellowstone National Park were calling our name. Paul grew up coming to this area so he never minds visiting. We stopped for a few days in Irwin ID on the Snake River to check it out, on our way.

This area of the Snake River is really beautiful, with powerful water…

… a reservoir for boating activities, and gorgeous scenery.

We drove around taking it all in. What it didn’t have, that we could see, was any Bald Eagles. Lots of Osprey nests but no Bald Eagles. In fact, we haven’t seen a single one this summer. Bummer.

 

Arriving at Henry’s Lake, we immediately extended our stay from two to 4 days.

The weather was just a little cooler than anywhere else. At one point we watched a storm come across the lake- always fun, as long as we remembered to pull the awning in.

I guess cool is a relative term because our first day we elected to drive up the nearby mountain to check out Black Butte- the highest peak in the Gravelly Range.

We packed a lunch, so we could take our time. The gravel road up the hillside was a pleasant surprise, lined at times with bright wildflowers, and other times with ponds and meadows. 

At the top, of course, was Black Butte.

We continued our drive to make a loop through West Yellowstone. Our first stop was at Quake Lake. Quake Lake is actually part of the Madison River.

In August of 1959 a massive earthquake shook the region. Within seconds, one side of the mountain essentially collapsed down into the valley below and continued up the other side. You can still see the scar left behind from the falling hillside.

There were almost 300 people camping in the valley along the Madison River. Falling rock created hurricane force winds as it displaced the air below, and sent the waters of the Madison River flying in every direction. The debris settled in the valley, cutting off the river, creating Quake Lake.

The visitor center displays placards with the stories of the families and individuals who were there that night. Although most of the campers made it out alive, 28 people did not survive.

Our one hiking day we opted for a 4 mile hike to Coffee Pot Rapids. The first part of the trail was along a quiet river-Henry’s Fork.

The trail was great and when we reached the rapids, the river was no longer peaceful and calm.  It was fun though.

Continuing our drive we stopped at Big Springs. Big Springs is one of the headwaters of the Snake River. 120 million gallons of pure water gush out of the ground here every day. Enough to supply the water needs of a million people. The whole area was beautiful and there was a paved trail, which we walked for a bit.

Our final stop of the day was the grocery store, to pick up a few things before leaving the next morning. 

Last of Utah, for now (07/10/24)

 Leaving the heat of Salt Lake City, we headed to nearby Uinta National Forest. We had a spot in mind where we thought we could park- the only issue is we took the wrong road to get there. Partway down the “Left Fork Hobble Creek Rd” we dropped the camper and continued in the Bronco, to check it out. It wasn’t long before we knew we could never make it. So, it was off to the Right Fork Hobble Creek Rd, which got us to the spot we wanted.

It wasn’t as cool here as we were hoping, but we did hike one trail in the national forest- Monks Hollow- a 4.5 mile loop with 900 ft of gain. Unfortunately I started really feeling the heat too much, which didn’t make for a fun trip during the last mile or so.

Resting up the following day we drove over to Strawberry Reservoir.  It is a beautiful lake, but we could have left our swim suits at home. The water temperature was on the frigid side. Oh Well, the Bronco has air conditioning and it was a fun drive.

Both Paul and I commented that his whole area is very green and healthy looking.

Scrambling for a place to be on July 4th can be stressful, but we had already made arrangements to visit our friends Dave and Nancy, in Helper Utah. It was less than two hours from our location, so the drive was easy.

Dave and Nancy used to be RV friends but they are off the road now, and bought a house in the small town of Helper.

Naturally, there are many projects that need to be done, and Paul was ready to jump in with both feet. Unfortunately on one of those jumps he impaled himself on a rusty tomato cage, which, after some calculations(when was his last tetanus shot???) resulted in an Urgent Care visit to get a shot.

On the plus side, we really enjoyed reading the “ pain chart” in the exam room. The nurse said he put it in there because people always said their pain was a “10”   and he would say…well you are conscious. sooooo… then they would say a “9” and he would say, so, like being mauled by a grizzly bear?  Eventually he would get them down to a reasonable description of their pain level.

We had an awesome July 4 with Dave and Nancy, and some of their friends, and took off the following day for our next destination.

Everyone we have talked to who has been to Dinosaur National Monument, on the border of Utah and Colorado, says it is a “must do” so we headed there to do it. We were originally planning on finding dispersed camping, but in keeping with this summer’s seesaw theme, we ended up booking a KOA that had a cancelation. Temperatures were in the mid 90s during the day. The day we arrived, at 3:30, we decided there was no point in sweltering while listening to the air conditioner, so we headed to the visitor center.

We spent an hour or so gazing at dinosaur bones. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure they are important, but they don’t hold much interest for me.

We decided we were better off being on the water, so we booked a one day rafting trip down the Green River for the following day. We were a group of 4 boats, and we shared our boat with a family of 4.

Charlotte and her brother Adrian were the lead paddlers who were responsible for following what our Trip Leader, Sanders, told them to do. The kids did a good job. All we had to do is paddle when they did. Charlotte (age roughly 12) was sitting in front of me, and we chatted quite a bit.

My biggest stress was that she said she had a premonition that she would fall in- so I was holding on to the boat for dear life the whole time, just in case she did. She didn’t.

Our final day in the area was spent hiking and exploring by Bronco. Reading some of the signs at the turnouts on the road can be interesting and entertaining. This area of Utah was explored by Spanish explorers who “discovered” this area for Europe. 

The expedition was called the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition, and many things are named after them…Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Escalante State Park, the town of Escalante, etc.

But that wasn’t his name! His name was Fray Velez, and he was FROM Escalante. Too funny- I never knew that.

What we discovered that day is Mormon Crickets. If you don’t know what they are, they are actually not crickets, but a type of Katydid. I don’t care what their name is, they were pretty gross. They covered the roadway- thousands of them.

Turns out they are cannibals, so when a “friend” gets run over by a car, they all chow down, but guess what happens when the next car comes along? 

I was just happy they don’t fly!

Our hike took us out on a ridgeline, Harper’s Corner, that got narrower as we went along. The end section had fences to make sure no one fell off. Here we could see both the Green River, and the Yampa river.

The views were pretty spectacular.

Hike done we headed down the dirt road that we had seen from the ridgeline. It led to an area at the confluence of the two rivers. Here we could see the confluence of the Green and Yampa River.

Goldilocks (6/20/24)

 Sitting in the camper with the air conditioner running literally all day is not our idea of fun (its very noisy) so for our next move we looked for some place cooler. And boy, did we find it. Moving north towards Salt Lake City is our game plan and since we loved Cedar Breaks National Monument when we were there, we headed that way again.

There is dispersed camping just outside the national monument, and we picked out a really nice spot. Being at 10,000 feet, the weather is totally different than Vegas.. It was sunny, but a little too windy and cool to sit outside. There were even pockets of snow near our campsite. Our intent the following day was to do a hike, but the wind was still whipping, and it was Cold! 

We elected to drive some back roads in the Bronco instead. That night the furnace ran a lot, and we realized the temperature had dipped into the 20s.

I felt like Goldilocks at this point. First it was waaaaaay too hot, then it was waaaaaay too cold. Time to move on, again.

Our next stop was Provo Utah, where we met up with our friends Liz and Randy, who were staying at the Elks lodge. Since they were busy entertaining their granddaughter, we took off for the nearby mountains to explore.

We had two goals- one was to hike and another was to drive the scenic road, looking for potential places to camp in the camper. But first we stopped at the visitor center for Timpanogos Cave National Monument.  Before we even got inside we were approached by someone who asked if we were doing a cave tour. Of course, we had no idea that there even IS a cave tour. He explained what it was and offered us free tickets because he had overbought for his family reunion. That changed our plans, but that’s ok too.

The cave tour begins with a 1.5 mile hike up a paved trail. There is 1100 feet of gain, so they give you an hour and a half to do it. 

It was pretty warm that day so by the time we got to the top, we were ready for the 45 degree cave. 

It is actually three caves, which have been connected with tunnels. We have been in many caves so this one was just ok for us, but the price was right.

One of the people we met in the RV park told us about a nearby museum (Richard W Erickson Foundation Antique and Classic Power Museum) that they thought was pretty awesome, so we decided to check it out. When we arrived, the place looked closed, but we parked the Bronco and walked around. It was acres of open air, and lots of buildings.

A few minutes later we ran into the owner, who had seen our car and was looking for us. Turns out the museum is really only open a few times a year for special events, or by appointment, which we didn’t have. She was gracious enough to show us around for an hour or so.  Her dad had owned the property and started collecting vehicles of all sorts, many years ago. 

He left a trust hefty enough to take care of the property. There were probably a dozen buildings, each holding a particular kind of nostalgia…one building is bicycles, one is race cars, etc. After a couple of hours we said goodbye to Pam, with the promise of sending her a few things we think she needed from our collection of stuff in the garage.

Before leaving the area we reached out to one of Paul’s (second? first cousin once removed?) cousins on his mom’s side.  We had an awesome dinner with Lori and her husband Rick, but of course, I took no pictures.  Paul wanted to pass along to Lori all the memorabilia he had about the cabin in West Yellowstone that has been in the family for generations.  Lori and her family still spend time at the cabin every summer.

The main reason for our visit to Salt Lake City, was to fulfill Paul’s parents last wishes.

Once they both passed, they wanted their ashes to be buried together in their plot in Salt Lake City.

Paul’s grandparents and great grandparents are also buried here.

They wanted no service of any sort, so it was just Paul and I, doing what they asked.

Our last afternoon was spent at a house on Murphy’s Lane in Salt Lake City. We have visited this house before, with Paul’s mom, but that time, there was no one home. This time there was.

The house used to belong to Paul’s great aunt and uncle, Alla and Tom Mulhall. At that time there was a house and a cottage. The cottage is now gone but the house has been restored very meticulously.   During World War II Paul’s mother and grandmother lived in the cottage while Paul’s grandfather, James Vegene Laird, was away fighting for his country.

Built in 1848, the original owner of the home was Robert Gardner. He and his brother also started the first saw mill in Salt Lake City. In 1928 the house was sold to Paul’s great uncle and aunt, but in 2012 the Gardner family regained possession of it, and decided to restore the house. It is now the oldest house in Utah that sits on its original foundation.

We met Sherril, a member of the Gardner family, because she happened to be staying at the house. Paul had brought whatever documentation he had regarding the house and his family’s part in its ownership, and he gave all of it to Sherril. She, in turn, happily showed us around the property, showing us the restoration that was done.

Our visit to Salt Lake concluded, we continued on our Goldilocks journey, seeking higher (and cooler) ground, in a national forest.