Thermopolis & Casper Wyoming

Thermopolis

Fountain of Youth RV Park

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The drive to Thermopolis was mostly through high desert, with some areas of rocky outcropping formations and cliffs. We stopped about halfway through the drive at a rest area out in the middle of nowhere. It was nestled into a very small canyon like area, which was beautiful.  Before arriving in Thermopolis, there was another major road construction area. For about 2 miles there was no asphalt, only gravel on the road. This really slowed down our drive time and was very frustrating. We finally arrived in Thermopolis and headed through town to the north side, where Fountain of Youth RV Park was located. We had chosen this one because it had availability. We had read reviews that it wasn’t such a great place. When we arrived, the owner greeted us in his golf cart, wearing only ratty looking shorts and no shirt. That would make any city person a little creeped out. It was not so bad, as we’ve seen much worse. But the facilities were adequate with full hook ups. However, there could have been some basic maintenance and it would have looked so much better (like some paint on the picnic tables). It was named Fountain of Youth, as they had their own hot springs pool on the property, but based on the general maintenance, I decided that I would not be getting in their pool!  We didn’t settle in too much, as we were only going to be there for two nights, so we just made the best of it.

We then drove back into town to go to the visitor center. We were able to get information that we needed on our intended activities for the next day. Kurt wanted to do a kayak float on the Big Horn River, which flows right through town and along the Hot Springs Park. We then drove south through town along the river to find where a put in would be. We did find a boat ramp upstream of town where he could launch. He would end at the Hot Springs SP and take out at the boat ramp there. We drove a little south into the Wind River Canyon, which was amazing. We turned back as we would be driving through there on our way out of town.

The next morning, we drove Kurt to the put in boat ramp. This park was named Wedding of the Waters. The surrounding lands in this area were once inhabited by the Arapahoe Indians. After the land changed hands to the US government, there was a treaty that was signed between the US and the Indians. The river was named Wind River and the US named it Big Horn. The treaty allowed the river within the reservation to continue to be called Wind River; but outside the reservation, it would be known as the Big Horn River. Kurt took off and merely floated downstream, as the river was running very fast. The boys and I headed back to camp so I could drop them off at the RV. I then headed to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. WOW, I couldn’t believe how many dinos were there and the extensive exhibits. In the Hall of Dinosaurs lies "The Thermopolis Specimen" the only Archaeopteryx in North America, "Jimbo" a Supersaurus, one of the largest dinosaurs ever mounted, and "Stan" a 35-foot T-Rex and a Triceratops, the Wyoming state dinosaur. They even had a working laboratory inside. Visitors could watch the archaeologists working on cleaning rocks to expose the fossils. My sister Terrie would love this! They sponsor several digs in Wyoming to get their specimens. This museum has been named one of the top ten in the US. Kurt called me and he had arrived at the take out boat ramp. I went to pick him up and we went back to the RV for lunch. After lunch, we headed north about 15 miles to a tiny town called Kirby. There we took a tour of the Wyoming Whiskey Distillery. This is a fairly new whiskey plant, started in 2009 by a family from Jackson, Wyoming. They are in their third year of releasing the whiskey for distribution. We then were able to have a taste testing and it was very good (however, I am not a big whiskey drinker) but it seemed very smooth for sipping. At this time, it is only available in Wyoming, so we purchased one bottle to take home and share with our friends at Christmastime! Can’t wait for everyone to taste it.

After the tour, we went back to the RV and picked up the dogs, then headed to the Hot Springs Park. We walked around the hot springs on the boardwalks and also across the swinging bridge, which goes over the Big Horn River. After our walk, I headed to the State Bath House to soak in the mineral waters. Kurt took the boys to the river so they could get in and cool off.  It was a nice way to end the afternoon.

For dinner, we had decided to go try out a Mexican restaurant in town. Prior to that, we visited a local bar called Macs. While we were in Flaming Gorge Rec Area, we met a couple that was from Thermopolis and they told us to make sure and go to this bar. It was very nice and there were a lot of locals in there. And they had a pool table, so Kurt had to put his quarters on the table and challenge the players. They were all very nice and I spoke with some of the ladies while the guys played pool. We stayed there until about 9pm, then headed out to eat. Well, this is a small town and by the time we got to the restaurant, they were closing. Bummer, we really wanted to eat there. At this late hour, our only choice was McDonalds or Pizza Hut. Kurt went into Pizza Hut and we ordered a takeout pizza and wings, then went back to eat at our RV. After dinner, we began preparing to leave the next morning.

Thermopolis was very interesting, but for us, it is not a “go back” destination. We were ready to move on to Casper, Wyoming the next day.

Casper, Wyoming

Fort Caspar Campground

Our drive toward Casper took us through the Wind River Canyon. The Wind River/Big Horn River created this amazing canyon, as the river flows northward toward Thermopolis. The highway is very near the bottom of the canyon, with the railroad running on the opposite side of the river. At some points, the canyon can be up to 2500’ high. It’s very strange; while driving on the highway, it appears that it is a downward slope, but the river is running upward in the opposite direction. The canyon was beautiful with high rocky walls and formations.

We arrived in Casper and checked into Fort Caspar RV Campground. This is on the grounds of the historic Fort Caspar (it is spelled with an A, unlike the city’s name). There are some historic buildings still on the site and a museum with historic information. This campground was pretty much a large gravel parking lot with full hookups. It was adequate and we were glad to have full hookups. The North Platte River flowed around the park, which was on a large peninsula. The back half of the property was left as a preserve and there was a nature walk along the river. After we were setup, we took the dogs on this trail and they loved it, as we let them off leash. Later in the evening we had dinner and relaxed watching some TV.

After dinner I received a very sad email from my sister Cindy, who lives in North Carolina. Her husband Tommy had been battling pancreatic cancer for almost four years. He had been doing remarkably well with chemo and was living a very good quality of life. He was in the hospital in ICU, as he had contracted pneumonia. By the next morning, he was quickly losing the battle and passed away peacefully just before noon. This was very painful and sad news for our family and we were shocked that he went so quickly. At least now he is with God and no longer has any suffering or pain. Tommy was one of the most kind, laid back and caring persons that I’ve ever known. He will be missed so much.

The second day in Casper, I was not able to go out and do anything after hearing the news about Tommy. I just stayed in the RV and had a very sad down day. I prayed for Tommy, my sister and his family. My sister had insisted that we not come to N. Carolina; she wanted us to continue our journey and not change our plans. Tommy would have wanted that for us.

While I stayed at camp, Kurt decided to drive around town and check out Casper. He went to the visitor center to check on kayaking and mountain biking. No one there was able to give him any detailed information on mountain biking, but he did find out about kayaking. The N. Platte River runs right through the city and is mostly used by locals to float in tubes downstream. Along the River is an 11 mile paved trail that travels along the river, the Platte River Parkway. This trail links downtown with other areas of Casper and several parks. Kurt took the bike and rode most of the trail, which ran just nearby the campground. Later he came back, got the dogs and took them for a ride to look for kayak put-ins and take-outs. This determined his plan to go kayaking the next day.

On the third day, I decided I needed to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Tommy would want us to be happy. So, Kurt and I took the dogs for a hike on Casper Mountain. This was an awesome trail called Garden Creek Falls. The trail went back up the creek to a beautiful waterfall. The boys enjoyed getting in the water and playing. After the short hike, we took another trail that led up the mountain on one side of the waterfall, back down to the creek, then back up to the mountain on the other side of the falls. It was pretty steep in some places, and ended up being about 2.5 miles. Along the way were wonderful rock formations and great views of the plains. Also, the view of the city was awesome. The dogs were getting hot and tired, but we all survived and enjoyed the hike. The dogs had been stuck in the RV for the last couple of days, so it was great exercise and they needed to get outside.

After the hike, we went back to the RV for lunch. Next, Kurt wanted to kayak the N. Platte. I agreed to run shuttle for him, as I wanted to get some shopping and laundry done. His paddle on the Platte River was about 9 miles, but only took him a little over 2 hours. He did enjoy it, mostly watching the young people who were tubing on the river and having a fun time. I picked him up at the take out, which was at a large river park called Whitewater Park. At this park, the city had built a series of 5 artificial rapids to allow kayakers to learn to paddle these white water rapids. It looked like so much fun and was such an unusual feature for the city to create. While Kurt was paddling, I was able to get our shopping and laundry completed.

When we got back to camp, we began preparing for our departure the next day. We were excited to head to Cheyenne, which was our ultimate destination on this trip. We were going to be there for 5 days of Cheyenne Frontier Days celebration.

Cody, Wyoming

Cody, Wyoming

Buffalo Bill State Park

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The drive out of Yellowstone was amazing as expected. The road to Cody is through the east entrance of the park. The road passed through the Absaroka Mountain range and canyons, with beautiful rocky formations and following the Shoshone River. After leaving the park, Cody was 53 more miles ahead. We were then driving through the Shoshone National Forest. There were numerous recreation areas along the way, most offering camping. As we got closer to Cody, we entered Buffalo Bill State Park, where we were able to get a campsite. Our only choice was a non-hookup site, but we were okay with that. We now have the dry camping process down to a science. The site we chose faced the reservoir lake and was awesome! The dogs had a nice place to run off leash. Even though the campground rules required pets on leash, it seemed that no one was really enforcing this as other dogs were running free. We setup our living space there and sat back to enjoy the lake and the surrounding mountains. What a beautiful place, we felt lucky we were able to get a space here. After filling our water tank and getting setup¸ we discovered our water pump in the RV was not working. It seemed to be pumping, but no water came out. Kurt called Camping World service techs to help him diagnose the problem. The tech helped him locate the water pump and get to it by removing the cover. He was then able to determine that there was air in the water lines and then he worked on getting the air out. Whew! It was kind of nerve racking at first, as we would not have been able to camp there without a water pump. Anyway, as usual MacGyver pulled off this fix to save the day!

We then drove the couple of miles into Cody to check out the visitor’s center. As we headed to Cody, we drove through Shoshone Canyon, where the dam is located. This canyon was even more spectacular than any we had seen that day. There was a series of 3 tunnels that went through the mountain to get through the canyon. The city of Cody was wonderful and the visitor’s center was one of the best we’ve been to. While there, we collected brochures on activities in the area. We also purchased tickets to the Cody Nite Rodeo. The tickets were good for any night, as they only offered general admission. We were excited to see this rodeo.  After this we then went to Walmart to get our food for the week. When we returned to camp, the wind had picked up and was very strong. We were not able to keep our awning open or even build a campfire! Bummer, Kurt renamed this state Windoming! We ran our generators to charge the batteries and to be able to run the microwave and TV. After a long day we were tired and headed to bed.

The next day, we decided to visit the dam and learn about the history of this amazing engineering wonder. We were able to walk across the dam and look down at the river and canyon. There was a small museum that explained the history of the dam, how it was built and how Buffalo Bill was the first to create irrigation from the river to the local ranch lands. After this tour, we headed to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West Museum. WOW, we have never seen anything like this museum. It was mostly centered on the history and artifacts of Buffalo Bill (Col. William Cody). He was an amazing man; after homesteading in this area of Wyoming, he became a Pony Express Rider, then a scout for the US Cavalry and later became an officer. He was the founder of the town of Cody and later started his road show, the “Buffalo Bill Wild West Show”. His purpose was to take the “western” culture back to the east to entice people to come out to visit or live. He was an entrepreneur involved in the oil industry, hotels and tourism. He was a very interesting person with so many talents, especially for his time. The museum also had three other sections; American Indian Heritage, Natural History of Yellowstone, and a MAJOR gun collection (2700 guns dating back to the 1400’s, up to modern guns), which was amazing in itself.  This whole museum was so well done and was such a pleasure to visit. Even Kurt truly enjoyed it! We spent three hours in there, but could have stayed for at least a couple more. Amazing!

After the museum, we drove around Cody to check out the area. We needed propane gas for the RV and regular gas for the generators. We made those stops and also picked up some more provisions that we needed. We then headed back to camp for dinner and a wonderful campfire. It was so relaxing hanging out by the fire and having such an awesome view of the lake and the surrounding mountains. BTW, Kurt got a talking to about his campfire. The campground host came over and advised him that he should not have any logs hanging over the edge of the campfire ring! This was ridiculous, as the whole campsite was gravel! So much for Kurt’s cracker fires and I suppose he’s on another violator list in the Wyoming State Parks!

The following day, we had decided to head north of Cody for a scenic byway drive. This road went through the Shoshone National Forest and had some historical significance for the American Indians, which they originally used as a major trail. After driving an hour or so, we headed back to Cody. We went to a local sporting goods store to shop. I was looking for a backpack that sits around the waist and on the hips. I found one there that I loved. It is camo color (Mossy Oaks) and also had detachable shoulder straps if needed. It’s so nice to have a real backpack now. After that, we had found a city park with a bike trail along the Shoshone River. This trail ride was not too long, about 1 mile, but was gravel and had small hills. The best part was the river view, where we saw rafters riding the rapids.  After the ride, we had our lunch at one of the picnic tables in the park. It was a nice afternoon and we enjoyed the exercise. We then went back to camp to relax awhile. Later, we took the dogs and drove over the bridge to the other side of the lake to check out some hiking trails for the next day. We decided to go do the hike the next morning, and we would be able to take the dogs. Back to camp for the evening, dinner and a campfire!

The next morning, we drove back to Sheep Mountain, parked the truck and headed up the trail. The boys went with us and they really enjoyed the hike. This trail went up through the foothills into a small green valley. As we approached the valley area, there was a large water trough used for horse riders on the trail. Both boys enjoyed drinking the water and Kurt even put Kirby in the trough to cool him off. I’m not so sure he really enjoyed being in it, but I know he did feel much cooler. We continued up the trail for another couple of miles, when Kirby was beginning to huff and puff and the trail was getting really steep. He was getting tired and it was getting hotter. I decided to head back to the truck with Kirby, and Kurt was taking Kody. Well, Kody decided he was going back with me and Kirby. Kurt continued on the trail and we went back to the truck. We all drank some water and sat in the truck shade until Kurt returned. When Kurt returned, we headed back to camp for some lunch. We relaxed awhile and later got ready to go to the rodeo.  We headed into town and had an early dinner at the Irma Hotel. This is the historic hotel that was built by Buffalo Bill and named after one of his daughters. We ate outside on the patio and had buffalo burgers. It was wonderful! The Cody Nite Rodeo was next, as we headed to the rodeo arena. We truly enjoyed this rodeo; the participants are all “working cowboys”, not professionals. The events included bronco riding, bull riding, calf roping, ladies barrel racing, steer wrestling, and team steer roping. We really enjoyed this exciting rodeo. Just another great Wyoming experience!

Our last day in Cody was spent with Kurt doing some mountain biking and I was able to find a nice laundromat. I dropped Kurt off at the trailhead, which was just on the south side of town. He was able to ride his bike right back to the laundry, just when I was finishing the job. We drove through Cody back to the camp for lunch. The weather was warm, so we all wanted to get into the lake and cool off. The water was very chilly, but we all enjoyed our dip in the lake. Kurt wanted to go on another hike, which he had found on our way into the State Park. He took Kody and they had a nice hike on Four Bear Trail Creek, inside the Shoshone National Forest. Later, we began preparing for our departure the next morning.

We truly enjoyed our time in Cody and Buffalo Bill State Park. The campground was wonderful and was one of the best and biggest sites we’ve ever camped in, plus it was right on the lake. We felt so comfortable here and didn’t really want to leave, but on to Thermopolis!

Yellowstone National Park - east side

Yellowstone National Park

Fishing Bridge Campground – East side of Yellowstone

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Driving from Montana back into Yellowstone, we passed through Mammoth Hot Springs village. Since we had already been there, we just drove right through the area. This time we drove east on the Grand Loop Road towards our destination of Fishing Bridge Village and Campground. Along the way, we stopped by the Undine Falls overlook to see the terraced falls. Further down we stopped at the Tower-Roosevelt area for a break and Kurt hiked back into Tower Falls. I let the dogs get out of the truck for awhile and took them for a walk. There was major road construction in this area, the asphalt had been removed and the road was packed dirt with gravel. The speed limit was 20 mph and it was a grueling, slow drive. Ugh… Finally we were back on real road and continued to Fishing Bridge Campground. This area of Yellowstone had some pretty mountains and high meadows. There were many areas that were obviously part of the 1988 forest fires in Yellowstone. There were many young trees growing back, but it was sad to see the landscape like this. Canyon Village was also along the way. This is the area where the Yellowstone River flows through the canyon. There are two major falls, the Lower and Upper Falls of the Yellowstone. After realizing that this is a major feature of the park and river, we were making plans to spend some time back here after setting up camp.  Along the way there were a couple of places where the traffic was almost stopped. As we slowly moved forward, we discovered that some visitors were stopping in the road to look and take pictures of wildlife. This is not allowed in the park to stop on the roads, but so many people are so self centered that they don’t care and will block the traffic for their own pleasure. It’s so frustrating! Finally, we pulled into Fishing Bridge Campground and got registered for our site. Wow, this campground had the RVs packed in. We barely had room to setup our chairs in some space outside our camper and there were no campfires allowed. We were able to roll out our awning only about five feet. However, this campground is the only one in Yellowstone that has full hookups, which I reserved well in advance. Also, the campground only allows hard-sided RVs, as this is major bear country. (We never saw any bears in Yellowstone anywhere near the campground!) After setting up camp, we rode our bikes over to the Visitor Center to get information on hiking and possible kayaking. After returning to our campsite, we started Happy Hour and I made beef stew on our outside kitchen, which turned out really great.  We settled in for the night and got some rest.

The next day, we drove back north on the Grand Loop to Mt. Washburn. Kurt had decided to ride his bike back up a gravel road to the top of the mountain. I needed to get online and there was a signal at this high level of the mountain. I sat in the truck with the computer and was able to get some internet stuff done, but the signal was not strong enough to upload my pictures to Picasa. Kurt enjoyed his ride up the mountain, but didn’t continue up the hike to see the peak. Oh well, it was not that beautiful of a ride or hike. We continued back south on the road and stopped at a picnic site to eat our lunch. After that we went on a hike that went back to Cascade Lake.  The trail followed Cascade Creek through a beautiful mountain meadow. As we approached the lake, we saw a grizzly mama with two cubs about ½ mile away. I tried to move closer, but an off-duty ranger that was hiking near us advised us to leave the trail and head back. I was very aggravated as the bear was so far away and there were other hikers that were much closer to the bear and people fishing on the lake. The ranger got very belligerent with me and treated me like a child because I wanted to go just a little closer and get some pictures. Kurt got mad and started retreating, so I finally turned around and we headed back to the trailhead. As we have seen in the past, many rangers tend to blow things out of proportion! We were about ½ mile away and the bear was no danger to us. However, Kurt is the one who thinks that bison are not that dangerous and will get within 75 feet of one!  Oh well, an awesome hike spoiled…

On to the Canyon! After researching the canyon views, overlooks and hikes, we headed to the north rim of the canyon. We first drove the north rim drive, stopping along the way to do some hikes and overlooks. The first stop was the “brink of the lower falls”. This was a paved, switch back trail leading downward a couple of hundred feet. When we reached the brink, it was amazing to see the top of the falls and the amount of water and speed going over the brink. There was an overlook, where the view was back into the canyon and the river. I can’t even explain in words how amazing this looks. The pictures don’t even do it any justice! Not only do the pictures look like a painting, but the real view looks like a painting! It’s stunning! We also hiked along a rim trail that went down to another overlook, which looked back to the lower falls. After a few hours of viewing the north rim, we were exhausted and headed back to camp. At the end of the day, we were actually in love with Yellowstone; the canyon is really the highlight of the whole park!

The next day we headed toward the south rim of the canyon to see those sights. We first walked to an overlook to see the lower falls. It was an amazing view. We then found a picnic area at the brink of the upper falls, but we didn’t stop at one of the tables, Oh No! We headed down right by the river just above the brink and brought our chairs, cooler and food. This was an amazing place to watch the river flow right over the brink. Again, Kurt had to stand out on one of the ledges for a picture.  Imagine that! After that, we hiked down Uncle Tom’s Trail, which is a very steep series of steel steps and landings to get down near the bottom of the canyon for a view back to the lower falls! There were over 300 stairs and it was so nice going down, but the trip back up was grueling. However, it was so worth the effort. At this point, my feet were giving out on me, so Kurt hiked down to an amazing overlook called Artists Point. This is the location of most of the popular paintings of the Yellowstone Canyon portray. I drove the truck to the parking area and waited for Kurt. When he arrived, we were again stunned by the view and can understand how this is one of the most popular views of the canyon. After a few hours and dealing with too many people crowding and pushing their way into the area, we headed back to camp. An exhausting and amazing day in Yellowstone!

Our last day in Yellowstone was planned to ride our bikes back into the forest to a place called Natural Bridge, adjacent to Yellowstone Lake. The trailhead was at the Bridge Bay Marina, which we walked around and checked out first. We then rode our bikes about 1.5 miles back to the arch area. It was very beautiful and is much like some of the smaller arches in Utah’s parks. There was a short hike back up to the arch, but the trail was now closed to walk over the arch. After viewing this, we headed back on our bikes and back to camp for lunch. Kurt wanted to go on a hike by Yellowstone Lake called Elephant Back. Since my feet couldn’t take another hike, I stayed with the dogs at camp and also got some laundry and housekeeping taken care of. That’s kind of like a down day for me. Anyway, later be began prepping for our move the next day. Heading to Cody, Wyoming and we are looking forward to this place. So many people we have met told us this was a great place to visit. We will see!

Livingston, Montana

Livingston, Montana

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Osen’s RV Park, Livingston

Our drive up to Livingston began with a visit to Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone. After leaving the park and Wyoming, the highway followed the Yellowstone River all the way up to Livingston Montana. After driving through a mountain pass, we entered Paradise Valley. Wow, it was so beautiful with the Absaroka Mountains and the Gallatin National Forest on the east and the Madison Mountains on the west. There were several small towns along the way. As we approached Livingston, we passed through Rock Canyon, which was another amazing landscape. We arrived at the RV park, which was just a couple of miles outside the city limits. It was off the highway and back in a residential area. The park was well kept, with grassy areas around the camp sites. We setup our rig in the assigned space, which we really liked as it was along the edge of the park and there were no RVs behind us. There were some trees that also provided shade, as it was a warm day. The dogs enjoyed the grassy areas to hang out under the awning. The owners were very nice and helpful upon check in. They let us know they would be hosting a July 4^th barbeque for all the people staying at the park.

After getting settled, we needed to go to town for some groceries and to get oriented in this western town.  The town was hosting a large Independence Day celebration, beginning that day with a parade through downtown. We were sorry we didn’t make it there in time for the parade, as this is a big deal in Livingston! We checked out the events that would be taking place over the next three days. There was an art festival and the Livingston Rodeo Roundup followed by fireworks for all three days. It was going to be an exciting Independence Day celebration! We stopped in a liquor store downtown and purchased our necessities for the week. There was an adjoining bar, called The Office. This was a big hang out for the locals. When we returned to the RV park, I called our friend Annie Turner, who lives in Livingston and was the one that suggested that we come up this way, since we were going to be so close in Wyoming. She was working and would be each day, except for the 4th, so we made plans to get together the on that day.
We learned some history of Livingston while researching the events and the local area. The town was built around the railroad, which also brought industry to the area.  After Yellowstone was designated as the first National Park, the town soon grew bigger as it became the first gateway to Yellowstone. Visitors came into Livingston from the east by train and then changed to another train that went south into the Park. Thus, the growth of tourism in the area. Beyond that, we just fell in love with this western town that still had much of the original buildings and that old western feel.
The next day, Kurt rode his bike into town to visit the Chamber of Commerce. He was able to purchase the rodeo tickets, which we decided to go to on the 3^rd since the 4^th was already sold out. He also inquired about kayaking the Yellowstone River and shuttle services. When he returned, we decided to drive around town to explore some of the river access points for put in or take out. We found that Livingston has a really nice dog park along the river, where you can let the dogs run off leash. They can also get in the river to play and cool off. We also drove south outside of town along the Yellowstone to look at river access points in that area. With the help of a great river map, we were able to determine where we would put in and take out. The shuttle services here simply drive your vehicle to the take out, which made it so easy. On our way back to the campground, we stopped in the grocery and saw Annie. It was the first time we had seen her since February in Chokoloskee. We were excited about getting together with her and Lou the next day. After getting some dinner, we headed out to the rodeo. We decided to go early into downtown and have a drink, then walk to the fairgrounds. This was only about a couple of miles from where we parked.
It was exciting to go into the rodeo arena and see the cowboys and the local people enjoying the festivities. The rodeo is an annual event in Livingston and there were some top qualifying cowboys there. We saw bucking broncos, steer wrestling, ladies barrel riding, team calf roping, ladies stunt riding and of course, bull riding. The events were very fun to watch and there was some great competition! The rodeo ended with a great fireworks show that everyone enjoyed.
On July 4^th, we drove over to Annie’s house for a visit around noon. They were enjoying a day off work and getting some gardening done. It was great to see them again and have a couple of drinks together. They have two awesome dogs, one golden retriever (Jeff) and another large black lab (Jenny). We brought our dogs with us, and after the initial butt sniffing, everyone was okay with each other (the dogs that is). It was nice to get to know them a little better, as we had only briefly met them in Chokoloskee. We all decided to get together later downtown at The Office and have some drinks. We headed back to camp and returned in time for the barbeque provided by the campground owners. It was very nice with typical barbeque menu and we met some of the other visitors to the camp. We met Annie & Lou at The Office around 6pm and enjoyed the conversation and live music. After a couple of hours, Kurt and I decided we wanted to go down by the river and watch the fireworks show. Annie and Lou decided to head home. We took our cooler and chairs to a nice park along the Yellowstone River, just a few blocks from the rodeo grounds. We sat there and enjoyed the river sounds and then the fireworks display. It was a great way to end the Independence Day celebration.
The next morning, we gathered our stuff for hiking and headed south to a hiking trail in the Gallatin Forest in the Absaroka Mountains. We drove up a gravel road through the hills and forest, then back into the valley to the trailhead, near a campground. This was a hike called Pine Creek, as the trail followed the creek. It was about a 5 mile round trip back up to the waterfall. It began as a nice forest hike along the creek and then quickly changed to a steep climb up into the waterfall area. It was a very beautiful hike. When we arrived at the waterfall, it was very high and wide, with a nice footbridge that crossed the rocky creek at the base. When we crossed over the bridge, there was the other side of the falls. It split near the top, so there were two waterfall features, each one as beautiful as the other with many terraced ledges. I hung out by the waterfall while Kurt continued up a steeper trail that led to the top of the waterfall. After that, we headed back down the trail as it was getting very cloudy and overcast. In the distance we did hear some thunder, so we made it down the trail quickly. Just as we made it to the truck, the rain and storms came down on us. This was one of our favorite hikes on this whole trip. It was also in bear country, so we were hiking with the trusty bear spray. There were quite a few hikers on this trail, so we were not too concerned with a bear encounter. After this hike, we headed back to camp for lunch. We then took the dogs down to the river dog park in town. They had a lot of fun running free and playing in the river. We so enjoyed our time by the river and playing with the dogs.
The last day of our stay in Livingston was our epic paddle on the Yellowstone River. We had been looking forward to getting our kayaks on this river, it was so exciting. We parked the truck at Mill Creek Bridge and paddled about 20 miles downstream to Carters Bridge, which was in Paradise Valley. Since the river was so swift and running about 7 – 10 mph, it only took us about 3 hours to complete. Wow, we were moving faster than we have ever paddled, encountering many Class 1 rapids. There were places along the river that ran slower and was very calm; and then the rapids, which were very exciting. We did get wet, but we really enjoyed this paddle! The river flowed through many ranch lands and also some very upscale home properties along the water. Apparently, there are quite a few celebrities and wealthy people that live (or have another home) in this area. The weather was perfect his day, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. At the end of the paddle, we were so glad that we were able to do this run. This will not be our last time to get on this river. We hope to come back to Montana in the next couple of years and stay for an extended amount of time.

After returning to camp, we called Annie to see if she wanted to meet us at a place along the river where there is access for swimming and hanging out. She had mentioned that she loves to take her dogs down here to play in the water.  It was only a couple of miles from our camp. She met us there and brought her golden retriever, Jeff. The dogs and us all had a great time, playing retrieve the stick and having some colds drinks! The dogs played well together and had a great time; this was a chance for our boys to get out have some fun.  We then headed back to camp to prepare for the next day’s move to Yellowstone, on the east side of the park. We would be heading to Fishing Bridge to tour that side of the park.

Yellowstone National Park - Madison Campground

Yellowstone National Park

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Madison Campground – West side of Yellowstone

We were having such a great time in Grand Teton, but we were scheduled to move on to Yellowstone. The drive was only about 90 miles, so it was easy and there were a few really nice stops for scenic views. The road ran along the Yellowstone River. After entering the park, we stopped at the Grant Village visitor center for research about kayaking in Yellowstone. We were directed to the backcountry office. They advised us that our kayaks would need a further inspection by their staff and an additional permit sticker. The good thing is that there was no charge for this permit. Also, we found out that we could not paddle on any river or creek in the park due to spawning trout. There were only two small lakes where we can paddle in a limited area, and cannot put our boats on any shoreline! Oh well, more government regulations! So we got the permits just in case we do decide to get on the water.

Upon arrival at Madison Campground, we were assigned a site that we were not able to fit our trailer into! They were able to give us another site, which turned out to be very nice. This is an older campground with no hook ups and typically smaller sites, not designed for today’s larger RVs with slide outs. We were fortunate again to have very nice RV neighbors for the time we were there. The first family staying next to us was from Helena Montana, and they gave us a huge pile of firewood that he didn’t want to carry home. That was awesome!

The next day we made plans to tour the various geyser basins. Along the way, we took the Firehole Canyon Road that ran along the Firehole River. This road had awesome views of the river and a large waterfall. This river also ran downstream behind the campground through a beautiful valley. We continued south to see Old Faithful. There was a village there that had shopping, grocery, fuel and lodging. It was very modern and well organized. This area was one where a cell signal was available, so I tried to take advantage of this and get to the internet to post pictures and my blog. There was a large concrete walkway all around the geyser with bench seating to handle hundreds of people. We walked through the Visitor Center to read about the geology and volcanic activity that created this landscape of this park. When the time of the expected eruption was near, we moved outside to the benches and picked our spot. The geyser did erupt about 10 minutes prior to the predicted time; it erupts approximately every 90 minutes, plus or minus 10 minutes. When the geyser did erupt, it was exciting, but only lasted a few minutes. Unfortunately, it was not the spectacular event that we had anticipated. But it was worth the time to come and see the great one in Yellowstone. As we drove to the next geyser basin, there was an awesome falls along the road. Kepler Cascades was close to the road and we took some great pictures.

The next location was a visit to Biscuit Basin, where there were several geysers and nice boardwalks to get to each one. This basin had some very amazing thermal features. Along with geysers, there were hot spring pools and fumaroles. Some had quite brilliant colors and others were simply boiling pools. However, all of them were wonders that we have never seen before.  The different colors are due to the minerals, bacteria and gases that make up the feature.

We continued down the road to a bike/hike trail that would take us back to the Lone Star Geyser. This was a great chance for us to ride our bikes down this 5 mile trail. It was an old forest road through beautiful lodgepole pine forest with a creek running along most of the trail. At one point, we had to park the bikes and then hike back into the geyser area. This conical geyser is second in size to Old Faithful, but has a 3 hour interval for eruptions. We were in luck with our timing as the geyser was nearing the end of the eruption. A ranger had told us that this one had a series of three eruptions before ending the cycle. We watched until the cycle was over and got some great pictures. This one actually impressed me more than Old Faithful. We then headed back on our bikes and continued the forest ride.

After a few hours of geyser gazing, we headed back to the camp for a rest and to let the dogs out. By the time we got back it was late afternoon and we were ready to relax for the evening. Our RV neighbors gave us a load of firewood, so after dinner Kurt made a campfire and we invited them over to enjoy it with us.  

The next day we wanted to do a hike back to Mystic Falls. The trailhead was at one end of Biscuit Basin, where we had been the previous day. It was warm and sunny when we got to the trailhead. The trail was flat at first and then began a steep climb up a lovely trail through forest. The waterfall was about 2.1 miles back and was well worth the steep hike. Mystic Falls is a cascading, 70 foot waterfall. Kurt hiked on up the trail, which lead to an overlook at the top of the falls. I stayed at the bottom of the falls and went back to the base of the falls, where I found a nice rock to sit on, cool off and relax. As I gazed at the falls, I saw trout trying to jump up over waterfall terraces. I’m not sure that any of them made it, but maybe some did. They are however, in spawning season! It was so relaxing. I saw Kurt at the overlook and he took some nice pictures.  After Kurt came back down, we headed back down the trail. After returning to camp, we again enjoyed our evening around the campfire.

Our last full activity day we decided to head to Fountain Flat drive and ride our bikes on a 6 mile round trip trail. The gravel service road was not the easiest to ride on, but we were heading to Fairy Falls. The trail followed Fairy Creek, which is in a beautiful valley surrounded by meadows. When we reached the trailhead, we parked the bikes and hiked on up the trail.  Again, the day was warm and the trail went through high desert, pines and sagebrush. The waterfall, which was about 100 feet high, created its own weather. It was like a big air conditioner was turned on, along with a cool, fine mist. We stayed there a little while to cool off.  It was very relaxing and a nice respite from the heat. We now had to hike/bike back to the truck. It was a wonderful trek through the wilderness. Along the trail, there was a lone bison bull grazing, so we got some pictures of him. We then drove north on the main road to the lower geyser basin, where the main geyser is named Fountain Paint Pot. The variety of geysers there were very different colors and types. There were hot pools, mud pots and fumaroles. After another day of geyser gazing, we were preparing for our trip north to Mammoth Hot Springs then on to Livingston Montana.

The next morning, we headed north toward Mammoth Hot Springs. On the drive up, we stopped at a waterfall overlook, Gibbon Falls, which is a gigantic cascading waterfall. The overlook was very large; so many people were stopped there to get a look and pictures. Moving on up the road, we were able to find an RV parking space in Mammoth Village. We walked up to the hot springs, which were amazing terraced hot springs/geysers. The boardwalk up and around the terraces was extensive as we were able to see all the features of this amazing hot springs. We spent about an hour there getting some great pictures. While we were in Mammoth Village, there was a small herd of elk roaming the grassy areas and having lunch. It was cool to see them up so close. We then moved onward toward Montana. We stopped in the town of Gardiner to get some lunch. We got take out salads and went back to the RV to eat. The dogs enjoyed a nice walk around the area. On to Livingston!

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Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park - Jackson, Wyoming

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Gros Ventre Campground

Our move a day early to Grand Teton was a great decision. The campground that we had decided on did not allow reservations, so it didn’t matter that we got there a day early. The drive to the park was absolutely amazing. The first part was still mostly the high desert, but then as we approached the Jackson, the landscape changed to lush, green, steep mountains. There were also beautiful meadows full of wild flowers. The road mostly followed the path of the Snake River. The river was awesome, wide and swift, with lots of rapids. The mountains became craggier as we moved northward.

As we entered the town of Jackson, we found this to be a lovely mountain town; however, it was very busy and crowded with tourists. Being a rather large mountain town, it has all the amenities that a resident or visitor would need. We made our way through town and the road construction (uhg) and headed out to Gros Ventre (Grow Vont) Campground. The drive passed through the lush sage brush valley on the south side of the Grand Teton National Park, with a view of the Teton Mountains on the west side of the park. This campground is the largest in Grand Teton. It has over 350 sites (RV and tents) and runs along the Gros Ventre River. The National Elk Preserve is on the other side of the river. The ranger station assigned a very nice site for us and it was very spacious. It backs up to the river, but not a river view. But this was great as there was no one behind us! Perfect! The campground does not have any electrical or water hook ups, so we filled our RV water tank prior to setup and then hooked up the generators for power and battery charging. The dogs loved the site as we let them run a little off leash, but had to be careful as the rangers are very strict about this rule. After we were setup, we walked the dogs back to the river (on leash) to check it out. The Gros Ventre is a fairly wide and swift river, especially now with the snow melt filling all the rivers in the area. This area is known to have lots of wildlife roam into the campground. This happened the first night. We saw two large juvenile moose come into the campground and were grazing on the plants. They approached an RV about 3 sites down and seemed to be very rowdy, playing and jumping around. They started to come toward our site, but then headed back to the river. It was awesome to see these moose up so close.

We prepared our dinner and got ready for bed. We were able to watch some TV with the air antenna (some local stations out of Idaho). We started planning our activities for the next three days that we would be here.

The next morning was very chilly and we decided to drive through the park and stop at a visitor center. We went to Moose Junction and stopped for information. We found there was a paved bike trail that goes up to Jenny Lake, so we took our bikes off the truck and headed up the 7 mile trail to the lake. What an awesome way to see this part of the park. There were many beautiful vistas that we took pictures of and enjoyed stopping along the way. There were some glaciers up in the mountains and we got some great pictures. We finally made it to Jenny Lake and the view was incredible. What a lovely lake with crystal clear and blue water. We had packed a sandwich lunch and found a rock to sit on by the lake. It was very peaceful and relaxing. We walked around the visitor’s area and looked at some historical information about the area. A ranger was able to provide information about kayaking on Jenny Lake, which would require a special permit for boating in the National Parks. We really wanted to get our kayaks in this lake for a paddle, so we thought the next day we could do a paddle across the lake and then hike up to some hidden falls. On our way back to camp, we drove down the Antelope Flats Road, and along the way there was a huge herd of bison crossing the road. There were quite a few cars stopped to get a look and pictures. And of course, Kurt wanted to get a closer look. He walked down the road and got within 75 feet of the bison that were on the road. Oh my, I was so mad at him! He knew better, but those of you that know him and that he is a crazy dare devil can understand. I just turned around and couldn’t watch.  He finally backed away and came back to the truck; and eventually everyone was able to drive on past the herd. There were also some cute baby bison, they call them “little reds”.  Shortly after that we drove down “Mormon Row”. This is a large tract of land that was homesteaded by a group of Mormons, primarily the Moultons. One of the barns on the land is the most photographed barn in the US, as the photos usually show the Grand Tetons in the background. It was wonderful to read about the history of those settlers and how they created amazing farm lands and a great spiritual community. Later, when we were back at camp, we saw two young moose back in the campground again. They seem to come by most every night. A little later, we wanted to get the dogs out of the RV and out on a hike. We drove out of the park to a National Forest area, where there was a huge landslide years ago, the Gros Ventre Slide. The picture shows the information about this area; it was about 15 mile drive back into a valley past our campground. We were able to take the dogs on a hike through a nice trail that crossed over the natural dam that was created by the slide. A small lake was also formed on the upside of the dam. It is very interesting history of the area, as seven years later, the natural dam busted loose and the small town of Kelly was flooded with only 15 minutes warning for the residents. It was devastating as six people died and almost all the buildings were destroyed. The dogs really enjoyed running free on the hike and we also had a great time. By this hour of the day, we were very tired and ready to call it a night.

The next day we had to take some time to drive into the town of Jackson. We had a package waiting at a UPS store, a part for our tire pressure monitoring system on the RV. We picked that up and then also had to have a tire repaired for the RV. One of the tires had a slow leak (thanks to the tire pressure monitoring system we noticed it early on). We were able to get a simple fix and were back to getting our shopping done. We found a Mexican food restaurant and decided to have lunch there; it was okay, but not great. Kurt had found a mountain bike trail southeast of Jackson, so we drove out to the trailhead for him to take a ride. I was able to get a cell signal there and get on the internet to check emails and post my previous blog and pictures. On our drive back to the campground, we saw another herd of bison crossing the road into our campground. Again, many cars were stopped to look and we all had to wait for the bison to decide when they would cross the road. It was so exciting to watch these massive animals in their natural environment.

When we got up the next morning, we packed up for hiking and headed back to Moose Junction and found the trailhead for Taggart Lake. We had heard it was a beautiful hike back up to a mountain lake, which also included another lake called Bradley. The hike was awesome, as it followed along a beautiful creek, which we had to cross at a big waterfall area. The trail continued up through mountain meadows filled with wild flowers and aspen forest. It was amazing. We reached Bradley Lake first and then continued on to Taggart Lake. The hike was about 5 miles round trip. It was worth the climb, except my left foot was in pain by the time we got back to the truck. Kurt had wanted to do another hike by Jenny Lake, on the Hidden Falls trail. He went on the hike himself, while I relaxed in the truck and also went to the Visitor Center and shops at Jenny Lake.  On our way back to camp, we again drove Antelope Flats and saw several Pronghorn antelope. They are such beautiful animals. When we got back to camp, we also began prepping for our move the next day to another campground on Jackson Lake on the northern side of Grand Teton Park.

Colter Bay Village RV Park

The drive to Colter Bay was only about 25 miles, so we arrived there by noon. We were able to check in to our RV site early. This RV park has full hook ups, which we were looking forward to after four nights of boondocking. We were only going to stay here for two nights, mostly for full hook ups and to get some laundry done. The campground was very nice, but the sites were kind of small. The Village was a full service area; with grocery, laundry, fuel, marina and restaurants. After setting up the RV, we decided to go get lunch at the café.  We had been eating turkey sandwiches for days and just couldn’t take another one. It was a good for a change to get something different for lunch. After lunch, we went on a hike around Heritage Point. There were some small lakes, and views of Lake Jackson. The marina was full service and there were many boats there. The forest was lovely with lupine flowers everywhere. On the small lake named Swan Lake, we saw two trumpeter swans. There were also Canadian geese, white pelicans (there are really pelicans up here!) and a sand hill crane. After the hike we went back to the RV to relax and have some dinner.

The next day we took our kayaks down to Lake Jackson and put in near the swimming beach. We were on the east side of the lake and had made plans to paddle across the lake to look at a giant waterfall back in the valley named Waterfall Canyon and to see the shore line. We made the 3 mile trek across the lake and landed the kayaks on a gravel shore. We were able to get a closer view of the waterfall, but it was still several miles back into the canyon. There was no way to hike back there, no trails and also it would require some rock climbing to get even close to the waterfall. We simply enjoyed the view from the shore, and paddled around into some other little coves where we stopped and ate our lunch (sandwiches again). On the paddle back, the wind picked up a little and we were crossing some choppy water. It was much harder paddling back then it was going over. The complete trip lasted about three hours and was really fun. It was so awesome to be paddling in the shadows of the Teton Mountains, a new kayaking experience for us. We went back to camp to get some chores completed. Kurt walked the dogs and I got to do laundry. They had a really nice “launderette” and I was able to get a few loads done at once. We wanted to go down to the lake and take something for dinner. We went to the grocery store and got a frozen pizza. We baked the pizza in our RV oven and then loaded up the food, cooler, dogs and chairs. We headed to the beach about one hour before sunset, which up here is close to 10pm. The evening was beautiful and the sunset on the mountains was amazing. The purplish hue on the mountains is called alpenglow. The pictures do not do any justice to how it really looks. It was a great last evening for us in Grand Teton.  What a great time we had in Grand Teton. So far, this was my favorite stop on our trip. Now, on to Livingston Montana!

Flaming Gorge Recreation Area - SW Wyoming

Flaming Gorge Recreation Area – SW Wyoming

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The drive from the Yampa Valley to Flaming Gorge was one of the prettiest drives so far. As we headed west and north through the Uinta Mountains in Utah, the landscape changed from high desert to forest, red canyons, then back to high desert areas with small rounded mountains and slopes down to the reservoir. The Uintas include the Ashley National Forest, which is a beautiful mountain forest. This is part of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, beginning in the northeast corner of Utah and continuing up into Wyoming. The Green River is the architect of the gorge. The Green River dam is at the north end by the town of Rock Springs. We arrived at the campground to find nicely laid out campsites, each with a wind shelter over the picnic table, much like what we had in Yampa. We got the RV setup; we had electrical connection, but had to fill our water tank for this stay. The campground host was very friendly and helpful. This area had a large commercial marina and a commercial RV park right on the lake. As we soon discovered, this camping area is all about the lake fishing. We walked the dogs down to the lake to have a look. There were some sloping areas down to the lake and other shoreline that was cliffs.  

As the afternoon progressed, the wind began to get very strong. There were gusts up to 45-50 mph. Every one retreated to their RVs for protection. We decided to have happy hour inside and discuss our options for activities. Our initial inclination was that we would not stay past this first night. We thought maybe we would go ahead and move towards Teton the next day.

When we awoke the next morning, the weather was beautiful and the forecast looked very good. Since we had already pre-paid for 4 nights, we decided to stay here and work with it somehow. Maybe we would leave a couple of days early. There was not much to do other than fishing, and you need a fishing boat for this lake. The second day we decided to drive up to the town of Green River (26 miles north) and look into another RV park and see if there were more activity options. We spent most of the day looking around the town and found there was only one RV park, which we looked at, and decided that it was a little scary looking. There was also not that much to do in that area, except some hiking. It was crazy that the Green River flowed right through town, but there were no outfitters in the area. Even the Visitor Center worker said they received a lot of complaints from visitors who wanted to kayak/canoe this river! So we gave up and headed back to camp.

By then we decided to go ahead and stay one more night, then move north to Grand Teton. So the third  day we drove back into Utah and Ashley National Forest to hike the Red Canyon Rim Trail. We had passed this on our way to the campground, but didn’t have the time to stop and hike. It was well worth the 60 mile round trip drive south. We spent a few hours hiking and driving around to explore the forest. There was dispersed camping everywhere, with primitive campsites. It would have been awesome to camp there, but would require boondocking our RV. Maybe in the future if we ever come back to this area, we will consider camping in this forest. It was very beautiful, much better than the reservoir camping.

We were definitely going to move the next day to Grand Teton, so after returning to camp we got everything ready for the move. The drive up there would be about 5 hours, so we needed to get an early start.