Headed home: South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri

Wednesday August 8

Today was another big travel day. Technically the western portion of our vacation is now over. We are headed to Charlotte as quickly as we can to meet my mother at the airport at noon on Friday and then will double back to Linville Falls for a family reunion this weekend. We will be home on Monday. We left Wind River NP about 7:00 and headed east across the plains of South Dakota. The day was largely uneventful, except that Dorcas drove a couple of hours. She hasn't driven enough to become comfortable yet, but she will get plenty of practice in the next few days. We had planned to stop at Wall Drug and the Mitchell Corn Palace, just for some diversions, but figured each stop would cost us over an hour, so we kept going. We did stop at the Minuteman Missile National Historical Site east of Rapid City. You can see an actual missile bunker, one of 150 that used to cover the South Dakota plains. There were films and exhibits describing how the missiles were used as deterrents during the cold war with the Soviet Union.

When we stopped at a rest area I noticed water dripping out the outside vent to the refrigerator mechanicals. When I removed the cover, there was water dripping from the upper area of the fridge. This can't be good. The only water up there is the ice maker feed, but it is past the inlet valve, so it shouldn't be pressurized unless the ice maker is filling, which doesn't happen without AC power. Wherever it was coming from, it would be a bitch to repair, because there is no access. I hoped it was some condensate from the upper area of the fridge (the eternal optimist) and decided to monitor the problem later (procrastinate). We didn't have time for mechanical problems.

That evening there was perhaps the most magnificent thunderstorm I had ever seen. There were low clouds and lightning was flashing in 180 degree arcs all around us. It would flash on one side, travel through the clouds across and above us and end on the other side. I did this for about an hour. It never seemed to strike near us and it never rained on us and the wind never blew very strong. It was just this magnificent light show.

We stopped for the night at a Wal-Mart in St. Joseph, MO after driving about 700 miles. It was next door to a Lowe's hardware (foreshadowing). I checked the fridge cover and water was coming out much more heavily than before. Dang. When I removed the cover I saw that the 1/4" poly supply line for the ice maker was broken. When I had looked previously, it must have been a very small hole and was shooting a fine stream (so fine I didn't see it) into the upper area of the fridge back. Now the break was larger and it was obvious where the water was coming from. When I touched it, the line nearly broke in half and squirted like a geyser. We didn't need Yellowstone after all; we had our own Old Faithful. I cut off the water pump and dried my face and changed my shirt. Luckily the break was just past the cut-off valve. I started to close the valve and the handle broke off in my hand. Dang. Well, as long as the pump was off, we weren't losing water. We couldn't flush the toilet, but whatever. Luckily we were near a Lowe's. The broken line would be relatively easy to repair, but the valve would be more difficult. First, it was an unusual valve; I had never seen one just like it. Second, it was attached to the incoming pipe with some sort of shrink-style one-piece hose clamp that I had no idea how to deal with. Must be an RV thing. Time for bed. I'll consult a plumber at Lowe's.

Wind Cave NP, Hot Springs SD

Tuesday August 7

Today we took two more cave tours, this time at Wind Cave NP. Wind Cave is the 4th largest cave in the world, but is the world's most complex cave system. There are ~125 miles of explored cave under one square mile of surface. Like Jewel Cave it is believed that only about 5% of the cave has been discovered. First we took the Candlelight Tour, which used candles mounted in buckets held sideways to explore unlighted, relatively primitive parts of the cave. The buckets amplified the candlelight, essentially making a primitive flashlight.. It is interesting that the historic light at Wind Cave is a candle bucket and at Jewel Cave it is an oil lantern. It is also interesting that the 2nd and 4th largest caves in the world are located within 30 miles of each other, but are not believed to be connected. Also, both have only one small known natural opening. After the Candlelight Tour we took the Fairgrounds Tour, which explores some of the larger rooms and the has many excellent examples of Wind Cave's signature "boxwork", very delicate calcite honeycomb fins.

The tour ended at about 6:00, so we boogied over to Mt. Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony. We took the scenic route through Custer State Park and saw bison, turkey, prairie dogs and deer.Other wildlife sightings included about 10,000 bikers attending bike week at Sturgis. The motorcycle rally at Sturgis, located about 20 miles from Mt. Rushmore, has been going on this week and draws about 800,000 bikers. They have all been enjoying the same parks that we have been visiting in the South Dakota Black Hills. Consequently, they have been swarming around us all week. You can't even pull out of a diner without running over 4 bikes.

I visited Mt. Rushmore about 20 years ago, and the facilities have changed significantly since then. They have built a large parking deck and all-new visitor's centers, gift stores and cafes. There is also a huge new amphitheater. When I was there it was fairly small and a quaint place I liked it better before, but I don't know how they could handle all the people that come now with the old facilities. The worst part is that they built the new visitor's center on top of the restaurant used as a setting in Alfred Hitchcock's "North By Northwest". So much for historic preservation by the National Park Service. There oughta be a law. I really like Mt. Rushmore. It appeals to my technical curiosity. I wish we had left more time to see it, but now it is time to go home.

Idiot of the Week

Faithful readers may remember that this trip was dedicated to Izaak and was named the "Izaak Memorial Westward Ho Summer Adventure 2007" in his honor. Accordingly I have been collecting mementos along the way to place on his grave when we return. We have collected many interesting and beautiful rocks from the best places we have been (none are from the national parks, of course; I know that that is illegal!), including a nice red sandstone slab in Utah on which I will carve a message and make a headstone. The red heart-shaped rock pictured here was found just under the water on the banks of Camp Izaak and just had to be a part of the collection of Izaak mementos. The problem was that we were more than 10 miles from the car and had severely overloaded packs to begin with. Fortunately I found a sucker, who wishes to remain anonymous, to haul the heart rock out in his pack. For this kind service this fool is honored as "Idiot of the Week".

Enter the Heart Rock Sweepstakes. Send your guess for the weight of the heart rock. I will weigh it when I get home and post the weight and name the winner. Post your guess, in pounds and ounces, to this blog or send me an e-mail by Monday August 13. The decision of the judge is final.

Jewel Cave NM, Custer SD

Monday August 6
Pronghorn (commonly called antelope) ought to be the state mammal of Wyoming. You can see them in large herds all over the plains of Wyoming. They must be smarter than deer, however, because we never saw them crossing the road and never saw a pronghorn roadkill.

While driving through eastern Wyoming and the western edge of the Black Hills we called ahead to Jewel Cave National Monument and made reservations for some cave tours. Jewel Cave is famous for its calcite crystals that looked like jewels to the Michaud brothers, when they discovered the original 14" opening to the cave. They used dynamite to widen the entrance, but that entrance is still the only known natural entrance to the cave. After rushing to town to stake their mining claim, they realized the crystals were not gems and had no monetary value. So they opened the cave for tourists and explored about 2 miles of the cave. Today almost 140 miles of the cave have been explored and mapped, making Jewel Cave the second longest cave in the world. Based on the volume and patterns of the winds inhaled and exhaled from the cave, it is estimated that only about 5% of the cave has been found.

Our first tour was the Lantern Tour, which enters through the historic entrance. This part of the cave is not lighted and each visitor is issued an oil lantern, our only source of illumination. The park ranger is dressed in a historic uniform, making the tour much like it would have been in the early 1900s during the early years of the cave tours. Since we were at the natural opening, bats and pack rats use this area, and we did find bats flying in the cave. The group was able to choose which section of the cave we wanted to explore and ascended and descended very old and steep wooden stairs along the route. We had to duck-walk through a few very low sections of the cave, but we also entered some large rooms. It was a very exciting and interesting tour. There was only one other family in our group (6 folks total), so it was a very intimate tour.

Our second tour was the Scenic Tour which enters via an elevator from the visitor's center, almost a mile from the historic entrance. This tour route is much more developed, and we had a larger group: 34 people. It is lighted to highlight the scenic features of the cave and follows paved walkways with aluminum stairs and bridges with hand rails. This one should have been called the "Tourist's Tour". It passes through some very large rooms and some of the most scenic and unusual formations in the cave, but is not as intimate and exciting as the Lantern Tour. I'm glad we took both tours. It's sort of a then and now thing.

After the cave tours we drove about 35 miles to Wind Cave NP and made camp there in Elk Mountain CG.

Travel Day into Wyoming

Sunday August 5

Today would be a long travel day. We ate breakfast with our friends at a quaint log cabin restaurant in Columbia Falls. We had planned to eat at the Blue Moon casino, but it turned out that the casino, or at least the casino restaurant, opened late on Sunday mornings. Montana is loaded with small casinos. There is one on about every other corner. No crazy rules here about letting the Native Americans get all the tourist's $$$. After breakfast we made our goodbyes, broke camp and hit the road about 10:00. As we drove south and east towards Missoula, the smoke and haze from the fires got even worse. We saw some evidence of recent burn along I-90 east of Missoula. As we continued eastward, the skies began to clear, and we actually saw some mountain vistas fairly clearly. We had hoped to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, but it was after dark when we passed there so we kept going. We drove until about 11:00 PM and camped at the Wal-Mart in Sheridan, WY, where we did spend $27 on groceries. We made almost 600 miles today.

Bob Marshall Wilderness, Flathead National Forest, MT

July 30 - August 4

There have been fires all over northwestern Montana. Everywhere we have been people have told us that the place, campground, road, etc, we were just at had just been closed or evacuated because of fires. One might have thought that the Whitleys were leaving a trail of sparks and fires and trying to burn down Montana singlehandedly. Later we heard that the governor had declared the whole state a disaster area. Fortunately we were never directly affected. Several areas of the "Bob" were closed due to fires. We stopped at the Hungry Horse Ranger Station and confirmed that the area we planned to backpack in was not yet ablaze. So far so good.. From there we proceeded south about 65 miles along a gravel forest service road that follows the Hungry Horse Reservoir and the South Fork Flathead River to the Meadow Creek Gorge trailhead, our put-in point. There the campground host advised us to raise the hoods on our cars so the pack rats wouldn't move in. About 11:00 we set off on our 6-day adventure in the "Bob". Our plan was to hike pretty hard for the first day and then look for a place to base camp. From there we would hike and fish and loaf as we saw fit. We had been told that the trail followed the South Fork and was flat. For that reason we weren't quite prepared for the steady rise of the trail and the short, but fairly steep, descents and then ascents as we passed side creeks. We also weren't prepared for the heat which peaked in the mid 90s. We hiked about 10 miles and made camp on a large gravel bar on river right near Black Bear Creek. There was an excellent fishing hole just downstream where several cutthroat trouts were caught and released.

The next morning there was a moose in camp, but Dorcas and I missed it. Today we had a choice of fording the river and saving a few miles by shortcutting a large bend in the river or continuing on the same side, climb a bluff and enjoy some views of the river. The group chose, you guessed it, the scenic, but harder and longer route. I think I may have found some potential new inductees into the "Dumb But Tough" club. We hiked about three miles, where we came to the Pack Bridge and a Forest Service work camp and began to look for a good base camp. We ate lunch in a shady spot near the corral while various members of our party set off in different directions at different times looking for a potential base camp. Finally we found a prime site on a bend on river left, about a half mile below the bridge. We christened it "Camp Izaak". During the four nights we spent there, at least a half dozen float parties told us that this was their favorite spot, and that they were disappointed when they came by and it was occupied. It was also an excellent fishing spot. We fished this section of river and had excellent results every day.

One thing we learned on this trip was that we, as hikers, were a very small minority of the area users. Before putting in, Dorcas was in an outfitter store and told the clerk we were hiking into the "Bob". She responded "Are you taking a mule or a horse?" meaning which of the two we intended to use. Hiking and carrying the gear was not a consideration for her. By far the majority of the folks who use this area have their gear hauled in via horse or mule and then float out in rafts. While hiking in and out, we must have met or been passed by a half dozen pack strings each way. These animals apparently need a lot of room to pass, much more room than the mules in the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon. The wranglers continued to advise us they needed more room to pass, which was a problem on the narrow trail. A few of the wranglers were not particularly polite, resulting in the temptation to startle their animals and watch the stampede. While fishing in front of Camp Izaak, we frequently had to stop fishing and retrieve our lines as float trips drifted by. Most of the guides asked permission before crossing and apologized, but the clients wouldn't make eye contact and kept right on fishing. Low-life bastards. If you didn't duck you were likely to take a hook in the ear. Unfortunately, many caught fish in our hole, which added insult to more insult.

On the last day we hiked out via the shortcut across the large bend and forded the river, a total distance of about 11.5 miles. On the drive out the smoke and haze was so thick you could barely see across Hungry Horse Reservoir, only a mile or so. Dorcas and I returned to the coach in Kalispell were we discovered that we had tripped the breaker in our external power supply, forcing the generator to cycle on and off as the battery discharged. I had set my coach charger to charge at a lower rate specifically to keep that from happening, but I had forgotten to turn off the air conditioners. Duh! No harm. We were down a little diesel, but the fridge was still cold. We showered and dressed and drove to Whitefish to meet our friends and feast on pizza and beer at the Mackenzie River Pizza Company.

Photo of the Week

NW Montana has been enjoying record high temperatures, as has many of the places we have visited this summer. This bin contains firewood for sale, but the sign conveys an unintended, but equally relevant message

Down By the River, Kalispell MT

Thursday July 26

Today we puttered around the camp for most of the day. We went into West Glacier to visit some gift shops. We also went to the Alberta Province Visitor's Center. That made us wish we had another month so we could go up to Waterton, Jasper and Banff National Parks in Alberta Canada. Maybe next time.

Friday July 27

Today we hiked from Siyeh Bend over Siyeh Pass and down to the Sunrift Gorge. This 11.5 mile trail circles Going-to-the-Sun Mountain and offers good looks at Piegan Glacier and Sexton Glacier. It climbs almost 2400' feet to the the pass. The trail starts in sub-alpine forest with spruce and fir and climbs above tree line into the tundra before descending back into the sub-alpine zone. At the pass we saw a large heard of 24 bighorn sheep. It is unusual to see such a large heard. It was also unusual because they were chasing each other and playing in a snowfield. They were much more active than any we we had seen them before.

After the hike we enjoyed another event in the Native America Speaks series in the park. Someone had told us about Jack Gladstone, a Blackfeet tribe member, who sings and tells stories, and who is an outstanding entertainer. We weren't disappointed. Actually, he looks a little like Chevy Chase with a ponytail. We were lucky and got seats on front row center and had a grand time.

Saturday July 28 - Another Big Move: 35 miles, Kalispell MT

Today we moved to Spruce Park-on-the-River, a private campground on the Flathead River in Kalispell. We will stay here two nights, then they will store the coach here until we come off our backpack trip. $1.00/day for storage, including electric to keep the batteries charged is a great deal. Our friends from home flew in today, and we ate dinner in town with them

Sunday July 29 - Packing day
Today was a packing day. Tomorrow we will put on in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area for a 6-day backpacking and fishing adventure. The cushy camping is over, at least for a while. We dragged out all the backpacking gear and flyfishing tackle that we have been hauling around for the last 11 weeks. After all that time we couldn't remember what we had packed and what we may have forgotten. Thankfully, it looks like we had most everything we really needed. We went to town the get a fishing license and the last of our groceries. In the evening our friends came over and we grilled steaks and had a big time watching the rafts and float tubes come down the river by our campsite. We got everything packed up and got the coach ready to roll. We will leave here about 7:00 to go to the Meadow Creek access in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area.

No more updates here for at least a week. Signing off!

Long Travel Day: 2 miles, Glacier NP

Wednesday July 25

We have stayed the maximum seven days at Fish Creek CG, so we packed up and moved to Apgar CG for three more nights, a distance of about 2.5 miles. On Saturday we will move to Kalispell to meet our friends. We have made reservations at Spruce Park on the River and will stay there until Monday when we leave for our backpacking trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. They will store our coach until we come out. This afternoon we drove to the Two Medicine area of the park. Two Medicine Campground looked very inviting. It is in a relatively remote area of the park on Two Medicine Lake, an intimate little lake that looked awfully fun to paddle. We caught an evening program "Native America Speaks" celebrating the Native American heritage in the park. Kenny Eagle Speak told Native American stories and gave some history of the Blackfeet nation.

Hidden Lake??? Logan Pass, Glacier NP

Tuesday July 24 Hidden Lake???

Today we took the shuttle to Logan Pass and hiked to Hidden Lake. Actually they didn't hide it well enough, because way too many tourists found it. Logan Pass is at the top of the Going-to-the Sun Road and the most popular destination in the park. Many folks hike up the boardwalk and gravel trail 1.5 miles through the meadow to the Hidden Lake overlook. Fewer folks actually continue down the other side of the pass another 1.5 miles to Hidden Lake. Along the way we got many good looks at hoary marmots, ground squirrels, mountain goats and big horn sheep. We ate lunch at a rocky point 1/2 mile around the lake. I fished a bit but didn't catch anything. I was at a good place; the fish were here. One 20" cutthroat trout kept swimming by me, but he wasn't interested in anything I had to offer. I could have dropped a rock on him or grabbed him with my hands, but that didn't seem very sporting.

Tuesday evening we grilled steaks for some folks we met hiking. This was our first attempt at entertaining on the road, and I think it went OK.

Photo of the Week

We were watching this marmot watch the tourists watch the bighorn sheep. "What's all the fuss about?" he said.

Quote of the Week

The national park is the best idea America ever had."
- James Bryce, British Ambassador to the U.S., 1912

Montana Update, Glacier National Park

After almost a week without internet I find myself in the position of making another massive update. We have seen and done a lot of exciting things in the park so far, but I will be as brief as possible. Our decision to by-pass Wyoming and spend more time in Montana was a good one.

Wednesday July 18 - Finally Arrived
We pulled into Glacier National Park late on Wednesday afternoon and made camp at Fish Creek CG, near West Glacier. There are a very limited number of RV-sized sites in the park, but we squeezed into a pretty nice one near the banks of Fish Creek. We can only stay here 7 nights before we have to move, so we signed up for the max. Next Wednesday morning we will move, probably to Apgar CG, about 2 miles away. It was a long travel day and we were bushed, so we didn't try to do anything in the park. Eat, drink and crash.

Thursday July 19 - Glacier NP Orientation
Today we began exploring the park.
We visited the Apgar Visitor Center to get oriented and poked around Apgar Village. We went just outside the park to West Glacier to look for internet access. No luck. Actually we did find one place that offered two hours of wireless access for three dollars. We didn't bite. It's not the money, it's the principle. Right. Then we began working our way up the Going-to-the-Sun Road. We stopped at all the overlooks and exhibits. We didn't get past the Lake McDonald Lodge, not far at all, before we called it a day.

Friday July 20 - Pizza and Brew
Today we struck out with the objective of hiking to Avalanche Lake. The trailhead starts at the Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail, a very pretty short trail through a grove of old growth western red cedars. We continued on through Avalanche Creek gorge and on about two miles to Avalanche Lake. A ranger had said there was good fishing there, so I carried my spinning rod. I was rewarded by catching a very nice 12" cutthroat trout. Dorcas was happy because I caught it on a purple lure. We did a little wading and the water is COLD!!! After about 30 seconds my feet were numb from the meltwater from the remnants of Sperry Glacier. We hiked all the way around the lake, about two miles, before we realized there was no good way to cross the outlet of the lake to get back to the trail. A-wading we went again. We saw several white tail deer along the trail back to the car.

Our camp host had told us about Polebridge, a tiny community on the North Fork of the Flathead River, just outside the NW corner of the park. At Polebridge is a general store that has a bakery and the Northern Lights Saloon, which has good draft beer and makes pizzas on Friday nights. That sounded good to us, so away we went up 25 miles of gravel Forest Service roads. When we arrived we found a pretty happening place. Everyone was sitting outside at picnic tables drinking beer and waiting for their pizzas. The crowd seemed to be mostly locals who all knew each other. They ranged from scientists employed by the NPS or the NFS doing various research products (they kept asking one guy about his woodpeckers; I assumed they were talking about birds), to dried up hippies and flower children who just wanted to be as far away from civilization as they could get. Everyone had a dog. If you didn't bring your own dog, they loaned you one when you came in. We drew a huge sad-faced black and tan mutt I called Butch. They had a band warming up at a makeshift concert hall out back. There was one old guy playing an antique silver accordion on the porch who was very good, playing Mozart and show tunes. One of the band members joined him with his toy squeezebox. It was a grand time. After the pizza, we hit the bakery and had a huckleberry bearclaw and a cinnamon twist.

Saturday July 21 - A Wild Mother's Day in July
Today we hit the road and drove to the east side of the park. We left the park at St. Mary and re-entered at Many Glacier. Many Glacier is said to be the heart of Glacier NP, with the many glacial valleys that converge there and the Many Glacier Hotel with its Old World Swiss charm. Unfortunately, most of the best trails in the area were closed due to high bear activity. We did hike up to Red Rock Lake and Bullhead Lake, an easy walk of about 6 miles.

Today was a day of extraordinary wildlife sightings, particularly of mother and baby. In a field we saw a whitetail deer with two spotted fawns. At Logan Pass we saw a mountain goat nannie and kid and a bighorn sheep ewe and lamb. We later realized that both were very common in that area. At the St. Mary Visitor Center we saw an osprey on her nest with at least two chicks. On Swiftcurrent Lake at Many Glacier we saw a moose cow and calf running along the edge of the lake, before turning up a creek into the woods. Dorcas saw a merganser hen and chicks on Swiftcurrent Lake. After our hike we saw a grizzly sow and cub on a hillside near the Swiftcurrent Motor Lodge. In addition to these family sightings, we also saw tons of mountain goats and bighorn sheep. As we were leaving the Many Glacier area, we saw a solo male grizzly coming down the hill, foraging for berries. As we watched him, he actually came pretty close, probably less than 50 yards from us. We probably should have been concerned that he was coming so close, but we weren't. First, there was a road and about a dozen cars between us and him. Second, and more important, there were about a half dozen squealing, excited kids between him and us, who I figured he would find more interesting and appetizing than us. We watched this big guy for almost an hour before we left. Later we learned that a ranger had been dispatched who would shoot him with bean bags and rubber bullets, "spanking" him to discourage him from coming so close to the road. Finally a black bear crossed the road in front of us near the Avalanche Creek CG. A rewarding wildlife day indeed.

Sunday July 22 - THE HIKE
Today we did perhaps our most challenging hike since we left the Grand Canyon. We hiked the Highline Trail to the Loop Trailhead, a distance of about 13 miles, with a side trip. This trail starts at Logan pass and traverses some very narrow ledges cut into rock cliffs, before passing though some meadow valleys. This was a naturalist-led hike with about 24 participants. With the number in our group and the high number of other hikers on this very popular trail, there was some interesting passing encounters. We saw many mountain goats, hoary marmots and ground squirrels and a few bighorn and ptarmigans. At one point two ground squirrels playing in the bushes fell out and bounced off Dorcas' and my boots. It was a little startling until we realized what they were. We passed a wolverine den, but there was no activity.
Shortly before reaching Granite Park Chalet, there was a spur trail to a pass and the Grinnell Glacier overlook. Since the only other trail to Grinnell Glacier from Many Glacier area was closed, this overlook provided the only opportunity to view Grinnell Glacier, and the best chance to see a glacier so close. The trail was 0.6 mile one-way and 1000' gain. I took it, but Dorcas decided to continue to the chalet. It was a tough hike, but I had no regrets. The view of the glacier and its lake and icebergs was spectacular. We met again at the Granite Park Chalet, a rustic stone inn, not unlike the Mt. LeConte Lodge in the Smokies. The Chalet and a nearby backcountry campsite was the the site of two fatal bear incidents 40 years ago, made famous by the book "Night of the Grizzlies". We descended the remaining 4 miles to the Loop trailhead. This last stretch was through a burn area and was prime bear habitat, but we had no encounter. Dang.

Monday July 23 - Going to Town
Today went to town to get some groceries, gas up the car, use the internet and research some motorhome storage options. We ate lunch at a nice little deli, Gresko's, that also had internet access. They were great folks. We stayed there for about four hours answering e-mails, paying bills and researching the future campgrounds. On the way back to camp there was a tremendous thunderstorm. The rain was refreshing; unfortunately we had left the windows open in the coach. Luckily it hadn't rained very hard at camp and there was little damage.

Montana-Bound, Idaho Falls ID

Today was a serious travel day. We left Moab about 9:00, cut over to I-15 and headed towards Idaho and Montana. At Green River, UT we bought fuel. A personal record: 107.4 gallons. The pump shut off at $99.00 twice and then locked up for good. We had to go in to the counter to get them to restart the pump to get our final 42 gallons.

We have just finished eating dinner in Idaho Falls. ID, about 115 miles south of the Montana state line. We have come about 440 miles so far today. It has been a pleasant drive once we got through the traffic in the greater Salt Lake City area. This part of Idaho is rolling hills with green pastures and fields. We plan to drive a few more hours and pull off somewhere in Montana.

Montana-Bound, Moab UT

Today we hung around camp and did chores: laundry, coach maintenance, literature organization, trip planning and naps. It was really too hot to do much else, although some clouds did develop in the afternoon that provided a little relief from the heat.

Our original plan (as it were) had us leaving Utah and heading to the Yellowstone area for a while, then going on to Montana to meet our friends in Kalispell on July 28. Upon further consideration, we have decided to go directly to Montana and skip Wyoming. Dorcas and I have both been to Yellowstone several times, but have never been to Glacier National Park or Montana. While we would really like to watch the wildlife in Yellowstone and the Tetons, we felt that we would rather spend our remaining time in Montana.

It is 908 miles from Moab to West Glacier. We will leave Tuesday morning, shoot up I-15 through Salt Lake City and Idaho and get there when we get there, probably sometime on Thursday. We hope to stay in either Fish Creek CG or Apgar CG, both near the west entrance. Both campgrounds appear to have had good availability the past few weeks.

Canyonlands National Park, Moab UT

Saturday July 14

Today we visited the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. The Islands in the Sky district is the most accessible of Canyonlands three districts and is about 45 minutes from Moab. It is a high plateau north of the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. All water in the Islands must be trucked into the park. Consequently they are pretty stingy with it. There is a water fountain at the visitor's center, but you cannot fill containers there. They do sell bottled water there. It continues to be very hot, over 100 degrees every day. We have been carrying about two gallons of water whenever we leave camp. We attended a very interesting ranger talk about uranium mining in the the area, before the park was created. During the 1950s there was a high demand for uranium. It was believed that the canyons in southern Utah contained significant deposits of uranium. There was little uranium actually found in what now comprises the park, but the search led to the building of a number of roads that made the park more accessible.

We did a number of short hikes and overlook walks. The Islands normally has exceptional views, but there was significant haze due to the fires and/or air pollution. Later in the evening we went to Dead Horse Point State Park, located one mesa over. Dead Horse Point is a mesa with a narrow neck that made for a natural corral. Wild mustangs would be driven onto the point and a fence set up across the neck, until the cowboys could cull the herd. Legend has it that, for an unknown reason, the mustangs were left on the point and died of thirst, within sight of the Colorado River 2000' below. We attended a scorpion talk by a Utah Wildlife biologist. He had a number of scorpion specimens, both living and not. One interesting trait of scorpions is that they flouresce under black light, making them easy to find at night. After the talk we walked around the visitor's center and found about half a dozen scorpions. Cool!

Sunday July 15


Today we explored the Needles district of Canyonlands NP. The Needles are more remote than Island in the Sky, about 2 hours from Moab. We stopped at the Needles Outpost, a private campground and store just outside the park boundary. The outpost was really neat. They have to haul in all their water. They had a huge solar array, tons of batteries and powerful invertors. They make their own power that runs their air conditioners, ice cream and drink coolers, freezers, etc. Have you ever had solar ice? Pretty cool! We had them fix us a cheese burger with chips and salsa. They operate a private airstrip and sell gasoline for $4.25 per gallon. Actually their prices were not too bad, considering what they have to go through to get their products. Super-nice folks.

The Needles contains more hiking opportunities than the Islands district. Unfortunately, due to the heat, we didn't feel like hiking very long.
We did do about 4 miles into Elephant Canyon to get a glimpse of the unique needles formations. Along the trail we met a father and son from Asheville. We had a big time y'all-ing and talking about grits, sweet tea and that stuff.

We left the park about dusk and saw a large herd of turkeys, several herds of pronghorns and a coyote. There were thousands of rabbits at the edge of the road, and about every quarter mile one would dart out in front of the car. I don't think we hit one, but I don't know how we missed them all.

Roughing It in Moab, UT

I'm playing catch-up again here at A Day in the Life of Myron & Dorcas. The short version is that we are currently in Moab UT. The following describes how we got here.

Monday July 9

We successfully survived the week of the 4th of July, and are ready to deal with plain ol' regular summer crowds. Today was a travel day with our destination being Capitol Reef National Park. We traveled scenic Utah 12. At Escalante we visited Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. UT 12 took us across the northern edge of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (the only national monument managed by the BLM; thats a whole 'nother story), along the Hogback, a narrow ridge with steep drop-offs on either side of the highway and across Boulder Mountain at El 9600'. Dorcas was sucking and hissing at every turn. It probably didn't help that I was taking pictures while I was driving. We by-passed several forest service campsites and decided to shoot for a site in the national park. We found a good site in the Fruita Campground and weren't disappointed. Fruita CG is located in historic Fruita, a Mormon settlement established about 1880. Brigham Young sent settlers out to the remote corners of Utah to "...make gardens, orchards and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations." They certainly succeeded at Fruita. Located in a canyon on the banks of the Fremont River and Sulfur Creek, it is an excellent place to grow fruit. There still exist 22 orchards of peaches, apricots, pears, cherries, plums and apples, now managed by the NPS. Visitors can eat all the fruit they want as they walk through the orchards. If they want to take some with them it's $1.00 per pound or $8.00 per bushel. We enjoyed apricots and peaches.

Tuesday July 10

Today we did some hikes in Capitol Reef NP. Our first hike was from the Grand Wash up to Cassidy Arch a strenuous hike of about two miles. Cassidy Arch is named for Butch Cassidy. Local lore claims that Butch Cassidy and his gang hid out in the area, although there is no evidence to support this fact. Later we hiked on out into the Grand Wash to the Narrows, a slot canyon in the Grand Wash. This was a relatively easy hike except that the surface is deep sand. Finally we hiked into the Capitol Gorge, another hike along a slot canyon with a wash bottom.

Capitol Reef is so-named because 1) it encompasses the Waterpocket Fold, a one hundred mile long buckle in the earth that represented a formidable barrier for early settlers and travelers, as a barrier reef did for early mariners and 2) the large monolith dome of white Navajo sandstone, that resembles the nation's capitol building in Washington. We had almost decided to skip Capitol Reef NP, because it was not on the most direct route to Moab, and I had not heard much about it. Ultimately we decide to visit here, primarily because we wanted to drive UT 12. I'm glad we did. It was a pleasant surprise. We set out a humming bird feed at the campsite and were very successful at attracting hummers. At one point there were 8 hummers on the feeder. This was pretty exciting since the feeder had only three feeding stations. Kinda like musical chairs in fast-forward. Humming birds can be pretty testy. We saw some hummers that are not common in the east, including the broad-tailed, black chinned and the rufous.

Wednesday July 11

After spending two nights at Capitol Reef NP we traveled to Moab. UT 24 is a stark change from UT 12. It is straight and flat. We actually drove on an interstate for about 30 miles, for the first time in about 2 weeks. At Moab we are staying at a private campground, Moab Rim Campark, about two miles south of town. It's pretty cushy camping: full hook-ups with cable TV and wireless wi-fi. 50A electrical service means we can run both A/Cs, the microwave and the coffee maker all at the same time. Not bad for $13 per night. I spent some time in Moab 18 years ago, and it has changed quite a bit since then. When I was here before it was a small town with little development. Then you could cross the street without looking and not worry about getting run over. Now the main drag is five lanes. Like many other places, it has grown up and gotten commercialized. They are building a Wal-Mart.

We hiked up to Delicate Arch, the trademark arch in Arches National Park. On the way up we saw some folks huddled around a man on the ground who was obviously in distress. There was a park ranger about 50 feet away, but she was doing nothing to help the poor guy. Something was not right here! As we got closer we saw the cameraman. It turns out they were shooting an educational video on safety in the desert parks. The man, who was decked out in the gaudiest of tourist garb and a pork-pie hat, was feigning heat stroke. Or maybe he twisted his ankle and fell, I couldn't tell. When we arrived at Delicate Arch it was overcast, but the sun broke through just before it set, allowing for some good photos of the arch. The film crew arrived and we learned that the cameraman did not have enough water and was becoming dehydrated. About this time a thunderstorm was approaching from across the La Sal Mountains. We got some really good views of horizontal streak lightening and decided it was time to get off this mountain. Ironically, the guys shooting the safety video stayed behind and kept shooting, even though the cameraman could hardly stand up in the strong wind. Maybe they were improvising and shooting a scene about thunderstorms. That evening it rained lightly all night, the first rain we have seen in weeks.

Thursday July 12

Natural arches are not unique to Arches NP, but it does posses one of the highest concentrations of arches in the world, with over 2000 cataloged arches. Today we did a number of short hikes in Arches National Park, visiting several of the more popular arches. Later in the afternoon we took a three-hour ranger-led hike through the Fiery Furnace, an area of fin-like ridges and slot canyons. This area is closed to hiking, except when accompanied by a ranger.

Friday July 13

Arches NP is a very charming park. Everywhere you go there are wonderful features and sights. We drove the length of the park road three times and never tired of it. Every time we saw something new and wonderful. It is one of the most primitive parks I have ever visited. Water is only available at the visitor's center at the entrance to the park and at Devil's Garden CG, about 18 miles into the park. The only electricity in the park is at Devil's Garden CG, and it is produced locally via photovoltaic array with generator back-up. The solar arrays feed banks of storage batteries that can power the campground services through four sunless days. Today we hiked the Devil's Garden loop trail, a primitive trail about 6 miles long that goes to some of the more remote arches. It also goes by Landscape Arch, one of the longest natural arches in the world, at 306 feet long, and only six feet wide at its narrowest point. Early on we saw a mule deer cow with her calf. Later we saw the same pair in a different canyon. Later we hiked to some more arches. I think we have seen 1997 of the 2000 arches, and that's enough. Tomorrow we go to Canyonlands NP.

Photo and Quote of the Week

We have been experiencing record high temperatures here in southern Utah. This raven saw that Dorcas was sweating and asked her if she ever intended to come back to Bryce Canyon in July. Dorcas replied to the raven ..... you guessed it: "Nevermore."

Peekaboo in the Hoodoos, Bryce Canyon NP

Today we enjoyed Bryce National Park. Bryce is very close to Zion in distance but very different in nature. Zion is a deep, narrow canyon with huge stone monoliths and high cliffs. It has a river, streams and springs. Zion is largely experienced from the canyon floor and it is a very hot place in the summer. Bryce Canyon is a broad and wide canyon whose primary distinction is relatively the small spires, columns and towers known as "hoodoos". It is viewed primarily from the canyon rim and is relatively cool and breezy.

As we entered the park we learned that the forecast high temperature for today was 68 degrees, a very welcome relief. We enjoyed a few overlook views and then took a hike down into the canyon. The Peekaboo Trial is a loop hike about five miles long and is so-named because it rises and falls a number of times along its path, playing "peekaboo" with the hoodoos. It drops about 1600' into the canyon. After the Peekaboo Loop, we explored the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge, looking primarily for ice cream. We haven't found any yet, but did find this open internet connection. We are fixing to head back to camp, and will find an ice cream shop on the way. Ruby's Inn is just outside the park and they have EVERYTHING.

The plateaus and canyons of southern Utah have some of the darkest skies in the US. to take of this darkness, Bryce Canyon NP has an astronomy unit. They were set up with two 15" reflecting telescopes at Red Canyon CG tonight offering viewing to visitors. We saw a number of heavenly bodies including Venus, Jupiter, a spiral nebula, a ring nebula and pair of binary stars.

Tomorrow our plan is to pack up and move to Capitol Reef National Park and look for a campsite nearby.

Quote of the Week

As an enhanced service to my faithful readers, I have added two new features to this journal: The Quote of the Week and The Photo of the Week. In this premiere edition I am offering two photos and two quotes.

Enjoy.

"Our mission here is to protect and preserve the erosional features in the park."
Ranger Nick, Zion National Park, 7/5/07

Ebenezer Bryce was a Mormon homesteader who lived at the mouth of Paria Creek near present-day Tropic, UT, about 1875. He is the namesake for Bryce Canyon, and his farm backed up to what is now called Bryce Canyon. When asked what it is like to live at the edge of such an remarkable canyon, he replied:
"It's a hell of a place to lose a cow"