Colorado

 I made it to Idaho Springs, CO when the snow finally caught up to me.

Overnight is snowed about 8" and a couple more inches during the day. This picture was taken in the late afternoon.  I had already cleared the cab once, they had plowed that morning and it is melting quickly.

Did I mention that Indian Hot Springs is located in the town of Idaho Springs?  Well I decided to stay around an extra day, no point in driving those snow covered roads.... :)



Seriously there are some severe hills and curves between Idaho Springs and Denver.  I am use to driving in snow and icy conditions but hauling a trailer when it is not necessary is foolish.



The following day I drove into Denver to my Aunt's and Uncles house for a couple days.  Very nice visit before heading back to Michigan.

Utah

With the snow that was expected in the Rockies I decided to head south a bit into Utah with the benefit that there are several National Parks that I could explore along the way.  My first night was spent in the Walmart parking lot just north of Salt Lake City.  I was only a couple hundred miles south and a huge temperature difference.

I did spend a little time on the Great Salt Lake but I could not find much access.  In hind site next trip I should go out to Antelope Island which is a State Park and probably the best place to explore.  I did go down to the State Park Marina and get a couple pictures.

 

After leaving the Great Salt Lake I drove an hour or so to Yuba State Park only to find that I was the only person in the park.  I picked out my site which overlooked the lake and enjoyed the remainder of the day by sitting in the sunshine.

 

The next morning I drove a couple hours to Bryce Canyons National Park but to get there you have to drive through Red Rock Canyon… Awesome.

Arriving at Bryce Canyon I was able to get a campsite even though there was a sign saying the campground was full.  Actually there were a lot of sites available.  I decided that I would pay for two nights here.  For the remainder of today I would car tour the park.  Tomorrow drive down to Zion National Park and then the following day I did a hike down into the canyon.

 

Bryce Canyon looking at the amphitheater from Bryce Point

Down in the canyon looking up at Queen Victoria

The trail through the canyon in spots is cut through the rock.

I entered Zion NP from the East entrance and after going through the fee booth the first sight will be the Checkerboard Mesa.

Weeping Rock

Temple of the Sinawava.

From here you can hike up the canyon, it is a wet hike.

Leaving Bryce Canyon takes me along highway 12 through the Grand Staircase - Escalante.  This is an awesome drive, at times you are driving along the highway and on either side it drops off hundreds of feet and no guard rails!

In the village of Bolder, UT you only have a choice of a couple restaurants.  I picked this one because it had outside seating but the personalities of the staff really made it a great place.

A little side trip up the mountain just outside of Boulder, UT took me to this spot.

Couple pictures from Capitol Reef National Park.  These pictures were taken outside the normal tourist area, that is unless the tourist has a high clearance 4x4.

 Quartz Mountain

Next stop in Utah is Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.  These two parks are close together too so I took a site at Canyonlands for a couple days.  

 

Looking down over a cliff to my road to the bottom of the canyon in Canyonlands NP.  Another one of those 4x4 roads.

Notice the undercut...

This arch is one that is visible from the road going through the park.  It is also visible from the other side in the campground.

This arch is only visible to those that are willing to get out and walk a few miles back.  Awesome hike!  I sat under the arch and ate my lunch before heading back.

Idaho and Yellowstone NP

I wanted to get an early start after spending four nights in Ontario, Oregon.  My repairs are done so I now have new axles and brakes on the trailer. 

 

My first stop in Idaho would be Twin Falls and visit Shoshone Falls. This waterfall is 50ft higher than Niagara Falls and they are 1000ft wide, very impressive.

After eating my lunch I was heading east again.  I was heading for Craters of the Moon National Park but was a little undecided about the best way to get there.  I could head north on US 93 to US 20 to the park entrance or continue on the interstate to US 20 and backtrack West.  I think I was just a little unsure still about the trailer repairs and took the safer route along the interstate.  To do it again I would head north on US 93.

Craters of the Moon was not really what I expected, maybe I was just expecting a moon type landscape?  After all the Apollo crew went there before their mission to the moon to get a feel for the landscape.  Nothing like what I remember that was on TV at the time.

When I was at the visitor’s center I was told about a Ranger Talk that went to one of the lava tubes in the park.  I decided to go along, it was great only two other people on the walk and talk but I had the same type of presentation.  I think they learn a presentation geared to 6^th graders and do not know how to adjust it when they are talking to adults.

 

This picture is from inside one of the lava tubes.  Really hard to get a good picture inside the tube just not enough light.  I need to invest in a good strobe light.

 

The campground was empty except for a half dozen spots.  I had to take a picture of this camper….

I have seen quite a few pickup campers attached to flatbed trailers but this is a first.

I was really excited about my next stop, Yellowstone National Park.  It was only about a two hour drive so I wanted to get out kinda early.  It is really nice and warm during the day but night temps are down to the low 30's if not lower some nights.  But as soon as that sun is out it gets warm quick.

Arriving about noon allowed me most of the day to explore the park.  One of my first stops and fairly close to the campground was Old Faithful.  I made several stops before reaching Old Faithful, I guess one too many.  As I was walking up to Old Faithful a small crowd was walking away.  Next predicted time was 90 minutes, I couldn’t wait because I had made arrangements to meet Aaron at the north entrance for dinner that night.  (Linda and I met Aaron in Chicken, AK)  So I continued my auto tour of the park.

I was supposed to meet Aaron at the restaurant just inside the park at the north entrance, we were both on time but they had already closed the restaurant for the year so we had to drive down the mountain to Crowin Springs for dinner.  It was late by the time I drove back up the mountain and to my campground. It was so dark I almost missed my turn to the campground.

The next morning the weather forecast was not good, they are expecting 3-6” of snow tonight so I decided to leave a day early and head south a bit to get out of the weather pattern of snow.  I still might have a problem going over the Rockies but probably not.  But I was not going to leave without seeing Old Faithful so first thing in the morning I drove back down to wait for the geyser to put on a show for me.  I arrived and nobody was around, the visitor’s center was still closed which is within viewing distance of not only Old Faithful but several other geysers.  As I was waiting a Ranger stepped out and told me that Beehive Geyser was due to erupt soon.

Old Faithful

Beehive

 Planning a visit to Yellowstone?  Beehive is only once a day and Old Faithful is every 90 minutes and getting longer all the time.  Only a few years ago Old Faithful was erupting every 50 minutes.

 Of course the wildlife inside the park is everywhere!  Talking to the Ranger I'm told that every year parents will put there kids in front of the bison for that photo opportunity.  But some of those pesky bison just do not like their photos taken or look at those kids as bowling pins.  How stupid!

So this morning I started out in Wyoming to Montana to Idaho and ending up in Utah.

I drove down to just north of Salt Lake City to Bountiful, UT and spent the night in the local Walmart.

My original plan here was to take 70 east into Colorado but now that I look at the map a bit from 70 I am very close to several National Parks.  Next blog entry will include Capitol Reef, Zion, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.

Adventures in Oregon

Catch up time….

Going to try and do a entry that will serve as a catch up…..

Washington – After leaving the Olympic National Park I went over to Mt. Ranier and then Mt. St. Hellen.  Both were about the same because it was raining and the weather was closed in…. Ahh what can you say, I have been pretty lucky with the weather to date.

Oregon – The weather was following me for sure.  I crossed over into Oregon in Portland then head over to the coast driving right through Hilsboro, the city where my sister use to live.  The story of my life…. A day late and a dollar short.  Making it over to the coast in the city of Tillamook the home of the Air Force Museum.  It was almost 5pm when I stopped and they were about to close but allowed me to step in for a minute to look around.  I snapped a few pictures in the 10 minutes they allowed me….. fantastic place.  Also really nice of them to allow me to spend the night in there parking lot.  I really did not want to drive any further the rain was really coming down and the wind was terrible and with me pulling this huge sail behind me.

The morning was much nice to me.  The sun was not out, still looking kinda gloomy but it was still early.  I felt a little guilty leaving before the museum opened but I really wanted to see the Oregon coast so I hit the road.  Arriving in the town of Newport I saw a Les Schwab tire shop.  I really needed to get a slow leak patched in one of the trailer tires.  Every morning it was down to about 20 pounds so it would need to be pumped back up.  I pulled in and before I made it across the parking lot a guy was out asking if he could help me.  Told him I needed a slow leak looked at and he told me to back up the trailer under the carport….. yea it was raining again but not bad at all.  He put the jack under the axle and started jacking it up.  Little side note on this.  I have been told that you never jack a floating tandem axle by placing it under the axle you always jack it up at the frame.  Well I didn’t say anything because I was not sure.  Anyways remember this as you read this blog.  So 30 minutes later the tire is fixed and I’m back on the road with the added bonus it was a free fix.  Well like I said keep reading the blog.

The Oregon Coast was beautiful, so beautiful I was stopping all the time, a couple pictures that I took at Pacific Beach State Park that evening.  Still cloudy but warm.

 



California - Entering California was an experience.   First and only state that has a vehicle inspection as you enter the state!  Thought these were only where the borders of two countries meet!  Asked me if I was bringing in any fruit!  What if I buy some bananas in Oregon they are not going to let me take them into California?  Don’t think California and I am going to get along very well.  Glad I will not be here long anyways, just want to see the Redwoods.

30 miles south of the “border” I go into the Redwoods State and National Visitors Center and they tell me a good place to see the old growth Redwoods is back North on highway 199 which is the way I wanted to go that will take me back into Oregon.  I went, I saw and I left!

Oregon – Yup back into Oregon and heading back North to Oregon Caves National Monument.  Only problem is that it was getting late, little after 4pm so I would not be going to the caves today, need to find a place for the night.  I had 3G access on my phone and do a search for boondocking sites in the area.  I find one on Eight Dollar Road but my GPS can not find Eight Dollar Road.  Thinking that I am going to miss out on the caves I reluctantly head north.  Then I get about 5 miles north of town and I
see a sight for Eight Dollar Trailhead which sure enough was on Eight Dollar Road.  Think I need to update my GPS.  I didn’t go to the boondock site but rather decided to stay at the trailhead for the night.  Awesome spot, no signs telling me that I can’t stay.  The next morning I go back into town and get breakfast at the local greasy spoon.  It was good but…. Greasy!  They were also nice enough to let me unhook the trailer here.  No point in pulling the trailer up the mountain and then back down again.  Good thing too the road up was steep and several hair pin turns.  I have been told that the tour here was fantastic so I took the tourist tour (which I normally do no do) through the caves at the barging price of 8.50 and well worth it. 

Awesome tour, the ranger needs to adjust his tour a bit for the age group, at times I felt like I was in a 6^th grade field trip, but the tour was awesome!

Back on the road again and heading for Crater of the Lakes I was able unhook my trailer in one of the campgrounds before heading up to Crater Lake which saved me from hauling the trailer up on icy roads.  I should add that this was only because the campsite was empty, during the peek season this would be impossible.

The East Rim of the Crater was closed for the season but I did get some nice pictures of the West Rim.

 
This turned out to only be a half day visit which was fine for me.  When I went up to the Crater at 9am there were only a few people.  At noon there were people all over the place.  About 2pm after some people watching outside the coffee/gift shop I decided it was time to head for Newberry National volcanic Monument with a little side trip to some hot springs for the night.  Well making the turn off I find an information sigh telling me all about the springs and head up the mountain.  I get to about mile ten and it was really getting steep so I decide to head back down to mile three and setup camp at the National Park campground only to find out that they closed already for the season.  I looked for any good boondocking spots, nope cant find any.  I go to the State Park a couple miles down the highway, nope full.  I head back towards the hot springs and at about mile 5 there was a parking area for snowmobiles.  No signs saying I can’t park overnight so this is my camp.  Every night I do an inspection on the truck and trailer, actually just about every stop I look things over.  I am shocked to find my drives side rear tire is wearing bad!  It was like a toe in problem if your front tires were out of alignment.  Too late tonight to do anything about it.

First thing in the morning I change my tire.  All looks good, maybe a defective tire?  I decide with no safe place to drop my trailer to forgo the hot springs and continue north to Lava Lands National Monument which is only about an hour or so north.

Lava Lands is a unique place it is a volcano which is rather small compared to what at least I would think that you can drive right up to the top.  First I had to drop my trailer in there lot, for good reason.  When I got to the top there was only room for a dozen or so vehicles.  No way I would have been able to turn that trailer around!  This was a quick spot, few pictures and then back on the road.

 

Now it was time to start heading East, destination tonight Boise, Iowa.

The terrain here was quickly changing from forest and mountains to high country desert.  On one of my stops I check my tires and it looks like the new tire I put on the trailer is wearing on the inside too.  A closer inspection of the passenger side is telling me I have a problem.  The inside edge of the rear tire is also wearing.  I decide to swap the front passenger trailer tire for the rear one otherwise I will totally ruin another tire.  I almost make it to Iowa when I find a Walmart in Ontario, Oregon which is a good free boondocking spot and I can throw a rock over the river and hit Iowa.

First thing in the morning I get on the internet and look for an RV repair shop.  The first on I go to is closed for Columbus Day.  What repair shop closes for Columbus Day?  So talking to another lost customer in the parking lot he tells me of another shop.  I really just followed him over there. 

While waiting my turn the gentleman that I followed over says something about going over to the other RV place first.  A customer in the back of the store (small store) puts her two cents in telling us he is a crook anyways.  I guess she had a bad experience whit him but appeared happy with the service here.  My turn comes around and after telling him my problem he goes out to take a look.  As we walk up he tells me that there is not much camber left in my front axle and none in my rear axle which is why my tires were wearing. 

Parts will take two days to come in and not cheap, cheaper than what I was expecting but nothing I can do about it.  Back at the internet hot spot I found I do a little research and find he is not just selling me new axles.  That afternoon I was able to catch up on my laundry, haircut, shopping all the things that I have been putting off.  Even watched some TV that night.  I don’t get TV reception in most places I stay.  The next day was spent cleaning my house, working on pictures and a little internet.  Finally Wednesday morning I take the trailer back to the repair shop and drop it off.  Axles were not there yet but should be there soon.  I had found some hot springs about 20 miles south of town, not a bad plan.

Snively Hot Springs is not a great soaking hot spring but nice .  The spring itself was a small stream entering the river at 135 degrees!  Somebody had placed rocks along the river creating a shallow retention pond of sorts.  The water is only about a foot deep so you have to lay down if you want to soak and then you have to keep mixing the water by moving your hands and legs to mix the cold water in.  Relaxing in an aerobic kind of way.

With lots of time on my hands today I spent some time on the truck.  I needed to rotate my tires….. got it done.  The old truck also needed a bath really bad, I had hot water available to me and I had a small bucket and sponge in the truck.  The gray truck was actually red under all that dirt!  It was a rather warm day so I jumped back into the hot springs and cleaned up a bit.

About 4pm I went back into town, when I arrived back at the repair shop he was just checking the tire pressure.  All was ready to go all my errands are done but it is too late to go anywhere so one more night at the Walmart.  Tomorrow I will finally be leaving Oregon.

Next blog entry will cover Iowa, Montena, Wyoming and then back into Iowa.

Olympic National Forest

National Parks Tour – Washington

I know I wont be able to spend a lot of time at the National Parks but I am going to do my best to see as much as I can.  In Washington I want to visit the North Cascades, Olympic and Mount Rainier.

I mentioned earlier that Linda and I drove into North Cascades NP but we would only have a couple hours.  We only drove up to the Diablo Lake Overlook but as you can see the view was awesome!  And as a bonus there was this HUGE parking lot and we were the only ones in it…. Loving it!  Now the remainder of this blog is about Olympic National Park.

After leaving Seattle my first stop was Olympic NF It was a short drive from Seattle but I had a few errands to do while in Seattle so I didn’t leave until noon and then of course there were a few stops along the way so I didn’t make it to the campground until almost 5pm.  Pulling into the Elwha Valley campground I was very happy to see that their was only one other camper in the entire campground.  I wanted to explore the area a bit more but I could only go another mile or so up the road.  They are in the process of removing a couple dams in the valley to restore the valley back to it’s original ecological health.  This is a complicated procedure where they have to lower the water levels including water treatment facilities to protect water supplies.  They have a web site setup at www.nps.gov/olym if anyone is interested.

The next morning I drove up Hurricane Ridge as I approached the first turnout I noticed an overland vehicle which is a very unique design and I have seen this one before.  When I went to McCarthy, AK I saw this truck along with another one from Germany.  I pulled over under the pretext of taking some pictures and started up a conversation with the driver.  Their names are Mark and Sarah from the UK touring the states.  They were at McCarthy and are heading for South America, where such a vehicle will come in handy for sure.  Their web site is www.fromatob.org

I had a fantastic day for this drive.  Oregon is known for its lousy weather and today there were only a few clouds.  One picture shows the Olympic mountain range, sorry there is no way my camera can capture that.  The second picture I am told but have been unable to confirm is Mt. Rainier in the distance.  If that information was correct I’m told that it is only visible a few times a year.  All I can say it was in the right direction.

Part two of today was to spend a little time in Port Angeles but it is a small town so after a walk along the port area I headed to Sol Duc Hot Springs.  This is a resort where the highlight of course is the hot springs.  They had four cement pools ranging from COLD to HOT.  I stuck to the middle one, very good soaking.

For my third day in the park it required me to hook up the trailer the next morning and head out to the Hoh Rain Forest which was about a two hour drive to the other side of the park. I was only able to do the shorter of the two hikes they have here in this section of the park because one trail was closed for repairs.  But that leaves something to explore on the next trip. The picture on top shows the growth of the Sitka Spruce, the one on the left in Alaska the one on the right in the Hoh Rain Forest.

Part two today was to make it over to the coast, yes this is still part of Olympic National Park.  This was another hour drive where I took this picture at Ruby Beach.  After spending a little time taking pictures and kicking back on the beach I went down the coast a little bit more to Kalaloch campground.  Nice but crowded and very windy.  On the plus side the smell of the sea was fantastic.

I really enjoyed the Olympic National Forest, I could spend weeks here alone but I just do not have that amount of time right now, maybe someday.

Leaving Alaska

Back on September 15^th it was my time to leave the beautiful state of Alaska.  My sister Linda had wanted to visit so we came up with the plan of her flying up to Anchorage and then drive as far as Seattle, Washington with me.  Between not enough time and the lack of internet services through the trip I have been lacking on keeping this blog up so I will try to give a little synopsis.

Our first stop was in Valdez, AK which turned into an overnight because we decided to take a wildlife tour the next morning.  We didn’t see a lot of wildlife but did get an up close view of the Columbia glacier the captain of the ship had to push ice to make it there and back, awesome.  On to Chicken, AK the Top of the World highway and Dawson City in the Yukon.  Steep roads with awesome views, border crossing in the middle of nowhere to say the least and just before you get to Dawson City a short ferry ride over the Yukon River into Dawson City.  Dawson city was founded because of the gold rush but the Downtown Hotel also has the Sour Toe Cocktail that deserves a blog entry of its own. 

A couple days later we are at Watson Lake, still in the Yukon and hanging our signs on the signposts along with the thousands of others that have been left over the years.  In the British of Columbia the main highlight was Telegraph Road.  We unhitched the trailer at the local grocery store and drove the 80 miles one way on this road which has outstanding views, shear cliffs that in some places there is only enough room for one and a half vehicles.

Another unfortunate highlight of this trip was when my front left brake caliper froze up.  A couple days before I hit a pot hole going over a RR track which really hit hard kinda wonder if this wasn’t the start of my problems.  Well I made it into Pemberton, BC when things really started to act up and was able to get it repaired.

The next day we crossed the border back into the US and after a couple hour sight seeing tour in the Cascades National Park I dropped Linda off at her hotel before continuing on my way to Olympic National Park and well I will try to catch all that up.

This was REALLY the condensed version of the two weeks that I spent with my sister but I tried to write out a more detailed accounting but on day four I had four pages…… way too much information.  It was a great two weeks.

I will try to do another entry in the next couple days catching things up.

Girdwood - Part 2

  Later in the evening I decided to take the tram at the Alyeska Princes Hotel which takes you to the observation deck shown in the picture.  The cost of the tram is $20.00 or only $10.00 after 7pm or if you decide to hike up the ride down is free!  It takes a conditioned hiker about 1.5 hours to do the hike.

At the observation deck there is a skiers cafeteria which is open during the season and there is the Seven Glaciers, a five star restaurant which as expected is a bit pricy.   After roaming around at the top for a while I stopped in and enjoyed an Alaskan White beer and was tempted to order their salmon dinner but decided against it.




This is the view of the resort from the top using a 300mm lens.  If you look close you can see my truck in the parking lot.  Last row, third from the left.









You can see these reminders occasionally.  Should go without saying, one would think.  They are used when the snow builds up, avalanche control.  Duds are supposed to be reported at the time but unexploded shells are still found occasionally.  One shell was recently found by a hiker in a different area and fortunately by somebody that was smart enough not to take it home as a souvenir.

A couple ways down Tram, Walking or flying!











Now this is what I was waiting for, my first sunset that I have seen since last May.  Not bad.