Kettlehouse Brewing, Missoula MT

We wish we had the time to visit more of Missoula's dozen, or so, brew pubs. So much beer.  So little time.

Missoula Bike Ride

We took advantage of a beautiful day and a lazy morning to get in a tandem ride right from our RV Park in Missoula, MT.  

It's a great park.  The only negative is an adjacent train track that is in use quite a lot.

Montana: 80MPH

Montana is not messing around with speed limits.  In years past, the limit on remote roads was "Reasonable and Prudent," but that meant no federal funding.  We don't have a photo, but one of our favorite spots on this subject was a Montana "School Zone" with a reduced speed limit to 55 MPH.  ;-) 

Short-eared Owl, Benton Lake NWR

We visited Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Dexter and Alisa thought it might be a good place to see some Montana birds.  47 species isn't bad for a couple of hours. The highlight was a bird I had only seen once before in 36 years of birding: Short-eared Owl. Thanks to Alisa for seeing it sitting in the brush. See the first photo.  Dexter had his good camera and was on it immediately. 

Great Falls, MT. Visiting the Hales

We took a detour on the way to Glacier National Park to stop by Great Falls, MT where great friend Dexter Hale has lived since graduating University of Montana in the 70's. He and his wife Alisa were superior hosts. We drove to the nearest hills and hiked to "Rogers Mountain," which apparently is not named that, but it was over 1,500 vertical from parking along a beautiful trail with plenty of switchbacks.  We saw a nice black bear print in the mud and later some associated scat on the trail.  We capped off the trip by logging a geocache that had not been found in nearly a year.  We all got a great look at a soaring bald eagle on the way back down.  The next day Dexter and Alisa took us to Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge where I logged 47 species of bird including great looks at Short-eared owl and a nice look at Sharp-tailed Grouse.  

Dexter, Mary and Alisa.  47 degrees.  Gusts to 40mph

Sweet geocache at 7,000+ feet.

Bean at the summit block.

Dexter and Alisa before it got cold.

Being in the mountains is better than being just about anywhere else.

Trumpeter Swan, Firehole Creek

The only Trumpeter Swan we saw in Yellowstone was on Firehole Creek.

It's a beautiful bird, such a great representative of its genus, I am going to petition the American Ornithological Union to rename it the Hillary Swan.

Yellowstone Day 3. Old Faithful

Thursday, 26 May was our last day in Yellowstone National Park. The only thing we had missed (other than bears) seeing (that we wanted to see on this trip) was Old Faithful.  It's not as faithful as it was a few decades back when it spewed every 61 minutes, but nevertheless we only had to wait about an hour and twenty minutes to share this experience with about 1,000 of our closest friends.  In 2015 Yellowstone took in more than 4,000,000 visitors.  We have noticed the crowds growing just in the three days we have been able to enjoy it.  The video embedded here runs about 45 seconds.  In the past the geyser might have erupted up to 5 minutes.  Today it was about 1 minute, but still impressive shooting up to ~100 feet.

Old Faithful did not disappoint.

This was one half of the semi circle watching Old Faithful.

Yellowstone, Day 2

We drove 190 miles in Yellowstone National Park today.  And, we still have not gotten to see Old Faithful.  That will come tomorrow.  The highlights were:  We saw one of the park wolves with four or five pups hanging from her teats.  The park service has a den scoped out about a mile from the road. With a scope we could just see them.  We were a little late with a 75 mile drive in rain and snow. By the time we got there most of the dozens of folks on the hunt were packing up.  I had the scope trained on the den.  Mary was looking and saw the mom come out with a pup in her mouth. Her call resulted in another dozen folks getting a look.  Snow. Yes snow. It rained all night.  We were fortunate that most park roads were open, but it looked more like winter at 9,000 feet than late spring.  I wish we had a photo of the wolves, but they were much too far away.  We did also see pronghorn, elk, mule deer, and a thousand bison.  We missed the bears.  Another time.

What a difference a day makes!

It is so cool to see bison everywhere.  We had seen many in Colorado, but they were all on ranches with some, no doubt, headed for burger heaven.

More yellow stone behind Mary and Bean.

Sometimes you feel like you're driving in a mystical land from a fantasy novel navigating a thin skin floating on the top of a boiling cauldron.  Scenes like this, with steam coming off the landscape, were common all over the park.

Mammoth Hot Springs is a sight to behold The bubbling, mineral rich water, can create up to 3 feet of travertine per year.  

Yellowstone National Park, 24 May. Also Amazing.

We drove from Grand Teton National Park over the JD Rockerfeller National Parkway to enter Yellowstone from the south.  Our primary goal was to get to our RV park in West Yellowstone, but nevertheless we drove over 100 miles in the park and made some stops along the way.

I am not kidding. I took this photo.  Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  

...part of the reason for the name.  

Boiling Mud.  Fun.

These bison are descendants of an unbroken herd that has roamed Yellowstone since pre-historic times. Once their numbers dwindled to a few dozen after over hunting.  Today they number over 4,500.  The are a ubiquitous part of the landscape.

It's hard to see, but there is a calf nursing.  I don't think he has more than a day or two more of that business. He's getting huge.

Grand Teton National Park, 24 May. Amazing.

We woke up to a bluebird day at Jackson Hole, but by the time we got 25 miles north to Jenny Lake and a good view of Grand Teton, it was already clouding over.  Still, it is very tough to describe the beauty of this place.  I can best say it's like looking at a 14er in Colorado without any foothills to obstruct the view.  Grand Teton is 13,700+ feet. It's tough climb that I don't think I am going to attempt.

KOA on the Snake River

We got a little nervous when we work early this AM to find the temperature had dropped to 30 degrees. One downside of trailer travel is stuff, like water, freezes.  Richard got up at 4:30AM to set a dribble on the sink to prevent the outside pipes from freezing. 

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The town is Jackson.  The ski area is Jackson Hole, but it seems that all the locals refer to it as Jackson Hole. By any measure, this place is one of the most spectacularly-beautiful spots in America.  Even by the standards of comparison we have after 13 years in Colorado, the endless vistas of valley meadows at the base of snow-capped rugged peaks is breath-taking.  We know why people chose to live here, but we imagine the winters are harsh.

This is the view we had coming from the east skirting Grand Teton National Park on its south side. We will visit it on Tuesday.  It was Saturday.  We noticed the temperature dropping to the mid-30s and some showers on the horizon.  Before long we were driving in the middle of a moderate blizzard as we entered town from the north.

Just north of Jackson Hole is the National Elk Refuge,  We figured it was something designated a few years ago in response to the environmental movement.  We stopped at an interpretive sign to learn it was established in 1915.  It's an amazing place, just for elk, with no trails for humans.

We got the important stuff out of the way soonest by finding the best brew pub in town.  They serve an amazing American Pale Ale.  We're going back on Monday to be certain it wasn't a fluke.

The American West

Crossing the Continental Divide three times we passed Split Rock and eventually made it to Togwotee Pass at nearly 9500 feet.  The amount of snow gave us pause that perhaps we had started this trip a month too early. 

Split Rock is some sort of National Landmark.  We had never heard of it.  It was much more impressive than the photo depicts. 

Togwatee Pass reminded us of any of a dozen passes in Colorado.  It's late May and the locals are still riding snow mobiles in the snow here.

Bean ran right to the snow.  "Home, Dad."

On to Jackson Hole, Wyoming

On 22 May we drove the 300 miles from Rawlins to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  This is a road we have never been on. That's pretty rare for us. We found it a true reflection of the stereotypical west with a ribbon of asphalt cutting through some of the most beautiful and rugged country in America.  We passed through the Wind River Indian Reservation (Shoshone and Arapaho). We drove along the Wind River and crossed the Continental Divide three times finally making it over the Togwotee pass at nearly 9,500 feet.  We have been getting about 10 miles to the gallon with the Lexus. We consider that acceptable considering we're pulling about 4,500 pound with a vehicle that doesn't weigh much more than that.

Even with the extended side mirrors, we still can't see behind the trailer well.

 

If you did a population density study on Pronghorn Antelope based only on the number we saw today along the roadside, you'd have to assume there are tens of millions resident along all this BLM land. 

This was a spot we drove through along the Wind River. Just gorgeous.

Rawlins, Wyoming

Today we made it to Rawlins, Wyoming.  We didn't make it "downtown," but our first impression at the KOA Kampground is windswept hellhole.  We are set up on a direct cross to a 40 knot wind.  Can you say Jimmy Buffet?

8th Wonder of the World!

Today, on the way to Rawlins, Wyoming, we drove by the 8th wonder of the world, Mile High Stadium, home of the World Champion Denver Broncos.  Lucky us!!!

Colorado Springs ...

We were back to our old stomping ground's in Colorado Springs. Bean had a vet appointment to get a health certificate. We need that to cross into Canada early in June. Mary and Richard each had dental appointments. We had to repair a chip on the windshield. And we had a turn signal repaired at the Lexus dealer.  We met up with some old friends for dinner. Now it's off to Rawlins Wyoming. We will spend one night there on the way to Jackson Hole.

Low Tire First Thing

We had the bad luck to have a very low tire in the driveway. We added some air and made it to Abeline for a look-see.

Alaska Adventure 2016. Packing Up

It's a drizzly day as we get the new trailer ready to depart from Austin.  

12 weeks and 12,000 miles ahead of us.