Trip log: RV Trip to Alaska 2014 |
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7/24/2014 Day 78 St Mary, MT to Many Pines Campground below Neihart, MT; about 220 miles We got started at 7 this morning after filling with water and dumping the tanks. A procession of Airstreams was also leaving at the same time. After being warned that highway 89 was not good for RVs, that’s the route we took. It proved to be just fine, smooth and wide for the most part, though somewhat twisty, and very scenic. Today instead of cows we had horses on the road. Just before the junction to MT 44 we saw a sign warning of road construction. We diverted and took MT 44 across to I-15 then south to Great Falls. In Valier we found a high bay car wash and hosed off the worst of the cow poop, bugs, road tar and grime we had accumulated over the last week. We stopped to stock up on groceries in Great Falls at the Albertsons on 10th street, which is also the entry point for highway 87/89 continuing south.
We stopped at the Lewis and Clark Forest Ranger Station just south of Neihart for information about the campgrounds and were directed to Many Pines, a few miles further. This is primitive, about 20 sites with no hookups, in the forest just off the highway. We got one of only two pull-through sites, #4, for $5 with our senior discount.
The experiment here was to see if we can cook salmon in the toaster oven using just the inverter. The answer: yes. It worked fine, even with the last 5 minutes of broiling. Battery voltage after the 30 minutes of oven use returned to 12.5. Of course, this is after driving for several hours resulting in a fully charged battery. The salmon was excellent, as always. |
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7/23/2014 Day 77 Lundbreck Falls Recreation Area, AB to St. Mary, MT; About 80 miles We drove out of the campground at 1 MPH this morning early. The “tar” had solidified except for some very large puddles that were still liquid. At the top of the grade before the highway, we removed all the tape and paper towels we had put on the night before. Seems to be pretty clean.
Leaving the campground we saw a mother deer and three very small spotted fawns in the adjoining field. Later on, after we cleared US Customs and before joining US 89, we found cattle all around and on the road. One stopped to nurse her calf in the middle of the road while we observed and waited for breakfast to be over.
We had to stay in a commercial park tonight, Johnsons of St Mary Campground, on the east edge of Glacier Park, because all of the Park campgrounds were full by 11 AM. We got site #36, at the back edge in the trees and on grass with 20A electric and water for $36, just about the last one available. A dump site is available in front of the office. There’s a group of Airstream campers here taking up much of the campground.
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After planting the RV, we drove up “Going to the Sun” highway to the top. Lots of road construction and delays in both directions, and the top visitor’s center parking lot was completely full to overflowing. Far too many tourists—it is, after all, high season now. It’s a spectacular drive nonetheless. No animals.
We had huckleberry pie and ice cream at the local restaurant and it was really good. Pie, ice cream + coffee came to $20. The gas station next door took our remaining Canadian money, about $140 worth at a 10% discount, which filled both the RV and the Jeep at $4.21/gallon. Gas should be getting a little cheaper from here on down, except maybe around Yellowstone.
For the second time on this trip we are running the air conditioner. |
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7/25/2014 Day 79 Many Pines to Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone; 160 miles We bounded out of bed at 4:30 this morning, still very dark out, with the plan of getting to Mammoth in time to secure a campsite. We had to dawdle a bit to let the lights come on, and didn’t want to start the genset to make coffee. The batteries were a bit low since I hadn’t charged them the previous night. But I started the truck instead; technically it isn’t a generator so it’s legal! That charged the batteries enough to get the slide pulled in and make two cups of coffee. Almost immediately, a cow elk and calf walked across the highway in front of us, momentarily blinded by the lights. We saw several more deer, some crossing in front of us, and one very scared and lost spotted fawn bounding at full speed alongside the highway.
The plan worked. We got to Mammoth at a little after 9 AM, three others in line, and secured site #8 for two nights at $10/night, no hookups. Mammoth usually fills by late morning. The campground in Gardiner that we had reserved “just in case” gracefully refunded our money. It would have been $48.
After that, we set out for a Jeep ride. The course was Mammoth to Norris Junction, east to Canyon, south to Fishing Bridge Junction, south to West Thumb, then back to Canyon, Tower Junction, dinner at Roosevelt Lodge, and back to Mammoth. West Thumb was the place we wanted to see the most, having already seen, on previous visits, all the mud pots and geysers we need to see. Animals and scenery are the main thing. On the way were, of course, many bison along Hayden Valley, some elk further down, and a black bear reported by folks stopped on the highway but not seen by us between Roosevelt Lodge and Mammoth. At West Thumb we saw killdeer, the little stalking birds that look like sandpipers.
The park is crowded, as it always is this time of year, but it wasn’t oppressive like Glacier NP was. It was manageable, and we got parking wherever we needed it. We returned about 5:30 and ran the genset and a/c for a couple hours. |
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7/26/2014 day 80 lake hotel; out northeast entrance to silvergate; canyon in Yellowstone Park Up early again today, out on the road by 5:30 and into Lamar Valley as the sun was just appearing over the mountain. The idea was to find wolves. No wolves appeared. Hundreds of bison, a small herd of pronghorn, but no wolves. There were also supposed to be a coyote family denning under or around a large rock west of the Buffalo Ranch Ranger Station but they weren’t home either.
We met some folks from Oklahoma who are frequent visitors to the park and told us about the Log Cabin Café in Silver Gate. We went there, just outside the northeast entrance and had a great breakfast.
We then went over Dunraven Pass to Canyon and down Hayden Valley. The ranger at Mammoth had said Lamar was the best place to see wolves, but all of the local knowledge seems to point to Hayden. We watched a herd of about 8 cow elk and their 3 or 4 calves as they grazed along the riverbank. Suddenly, they all raised up, faced the same direction, trotted off toward and into the river. We watched them as they made their way about a mile upstream. This behavior indicates (according to rangers) that a predator has been sighted somewhere near. We did not spot the predator, if there was one.
We filled the Jeep with gas at Canyon ($4/Gal), took the walk down to the brink of upper falls, and continued on to Lake Hotel where we rested for a bit. There had been an incredible bison-jam going north just north of the Mud Volcano, but it had evaporated by the time we started back again to revisit Hayden for another shot at wolves. From the same vantage point as before, our herd of elk was still visible, still standing in the middle of the river. Still no predator visible, but several other visitors told us of having seen wolves in that area. One mentioned having seen a grizzly also.
This time we turned left at Canyon on the cutoff toward Norris Junction and almost immediately ran into a traffic jam on both sides of the road. There were several police and ranger vehicles trying to maintain order--fairly successfully and courteously, I must say—and we found out it was a grizzly sighting. Two grizzlies, in fact, quite a distance away at the edge of the trees. It was a cinnamon colored mama and very dark half-grown cub. Mama was very busy dissecting a rotten log for grubs for the 30 minutes we watched. They eventually vanished into the trees.
On the road back from Norris to Mammoth we saw two sandhill cranes. We ate supper at 5 PM at the Terrace Grill in Mammoth—burgers, etc., then walked around town checking out the historic buildings of the old fort, and came home with two hours of generator time left. |
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7/27/2014 Day 81 Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone, to Boulder, Wyoming; 235 miles We drove through Tetons to Jackson, then followed WY 191 to Pinedale and Boulder, arriving about 2 PM at Highline Trail RV Park where we got a pull-through double site #4 with only us in it; full hookups, $31.20. Very nice park and sparsely populated. The animal count today was: 5 elk immediately, one bison walking in front of the car, one almosta grizzly (bear jam on the road but we didn’t see it).
At the north end of the Old Faithful Geyser Basin we saw one geyser erupting to a height of 4-6 feet. Lots of steam activity. The road was good all the way except for the 5 mile stretch just above Norris where there is construction. We dumped and filled at Madison Campground; a very nice three bay dump site right at the entrance of the campground. Madison is all reservations and totally full by 8 AM.
We spotted one very small plume of white smoke to the east over the mountains. It was no longer evident later. Temperature is in the 80s. |
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7/28/2014 Day 82 Boulder, Wy to Flaming Gorge, UT; 116 miles We left about 8 this morning and right away saw a lone pronghorn followed a little later by two more. Coming through Rock Springs we stopped at Albertsons to restock before continuing on down 191 to Firehole Campground, 13 miles south and 10 miles west of 191. It was a gamble, as there was no way to know if it was full, totally reserved or what, but it was nearly empty. We got site #1, half of a tandem site which they all are, for $9, no hookups but a dump site and water is available. Each site has a cabana with a picnic table. We cooked and ate the frozen crab we had purchased in Ketchikan and it was excellent.
The campground is right on the Green River in Flaming Gorge, just across from where John Wesley Powell launched his boats for his Colorado River exploration. This part of the river is a lake now, however, the result of the dam 50 miles south at Dutch John, Utah.
After settling we drove down to the river to soak our toes in the water, then went for a couple of fairly Jeepy trail rides. There are many tracks all over the hills on both sides of the river. It would take weeks to explore all of them.
The left inside dual, the spare that I put on outside of Chicken, is still losing air. It takes several days to lose 5 pounds, so it doesn’t seem to be a problem, but will have to be addressed when we get home. |
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Through a notch in the road way up above, down on the beach next to the Green River in Flaming Gorge are RVs looking mighty small. This is dispersed camping where you are allowed to camp most anywhere. |
