The Final Curtain is Nigh

Our trip across Idaho was most uneventful. We headed south west from Spokane to a little town called Yukima. It is something of a fruit bowl for much of USA and also lay claim to growing the best hops in USA. We checked out a small hop museum which was just that. From there we headed back into the mountains, this time the Cascade Range, not as iconic or as well visited as the Rockies but still quite impressive. We had booked a chalet type accommodation in the centre of the park and from there travelled on to Sunrise which is a high altitude hiking, skiing, snow shoe walking destination in Mt Ranier National Park. It was almost snowing so we limited ourselves to some short walks and got to see most of Mt Ranier, she kept her veil on unfortunately.

Out of there and our next destination was Mt Olympic National Park. We booked 4 nights in Dungeness near Sequim with no agenda. We had a nice homely AirB&B and spent a day hiking on the Obstruction Point walk. One interesting thing with the Parks here is that they quite often have good vehicle access to high points in the park. I’m sure that obesity would be less of a problem if everyone had to walk from the park boundary. We drove high in the mountains and then walked about 15kms, much of it in smoky air as fires continue to burn, many left to themselves if no buildings are threatened. There are hundreds of fires in North West America during summer and most are started by lightning. Unlike NZ, they have dry electric storms whereas ours are usually accompanied by rain.

We also spent a day biking 30km on a rail trail between Port Angeles and Sequim. (The number of accessible large juicy blackberries next to this trail brought back family memories of picking with my Mum Kathleen around Fernside so we couldn't resist picking some. We had beautiful blackberry yoghurt desserts for a couple of nights.)

Dungeness Spit 10.5km long

Mt. Olympic is north west of Seattle and we needed to head back to Interstate 5 to go back to Canada. We took a couple of days and a couple of ferries across a little island to get there. We visited the John Wayne marina while out that way but no sign of the Duke …or his horse.

We also spent a short while clambering about Fort Worden, near Port Townsend. The Americans started building this multi gunned, bunkered, fortified complex in 1898, to protect themselves from enemy forces. They kept adding to it and eventually stopped manning it and departed about 1955. They tend to give me the impression that they believe that the Worlds populace all strive to live in the US, and become a US citizen. I’m happy to tell them that we’re hoping to get electric lights next year. The more that live here the better off we all will be. 

While on Whidbey Island, Sally, my sister, had put us in touch with 2 friends that she had travelled overland from Asia to England with back in 1978. Ted and Robin were marvellous and treated us to a night in their seaside house in Puget Sound. We drank wine and watched cruise ships sail up the Sound, blotting out the sun as they went past.

Away from there, we visited some small villages, one having a 3 day music festival (not quite Woodstock though) but both quite quaint. We experienced the Boeing Factory Tour on our way past. I was surprised to learn - 35,000 people work 3 shifts, they only make planes to prepaid request, make 54 per month of one model (767 I think) and they have 8 years of orders in front of them. Only 20% of the Worlds population have flown on a jet airplane and as third world countries develop, the demand for aircraft will grow. It was an interesting tour on a massive scale. Disneyland and its car park would fit in the factory!

So we are now at the end. We have been 9 weeks since we drove in to Jasper National Park in British Columbia and 8 weeks since we waved Meghan and Blair goodbye at the Calgary airport. We have had a fantastic time, seen loads of animals, possibly “bunches” up this way, (even managed to photograph a few) met and stayed with wonderful relatives and friends along the way and have and will keep many great memories. Despite the politics here the US has been terrific, great people, good people…I think we only discovered one who admitted voting for Trump!

We are back to Vancouver tomorrow for 12 days then we will be heading home with a few days off in Hawaii. We think we need time to recover! Might get another note away from there.

We finished messing around in Jackson after a couple of great days and headed north west with no particular place to go. We had no bookings and just thought we would find somewhere to rest when we had enough driving. That didn’t take long as Idaho falls appeared in the windscreen and we decided to not let it appear in the rear-view mirror, not today anyway. We stayed two nights at a decent hut so had a day riding hired cycles around the town green belt, basically the river that runs through their town. They even have a wee power station on it and this also helps to create the ”falls” part of the city’s name. Here we dined in a brewery and service wasn’t good until a little old fellow decided to assist. We got to yarning, turned out he was the owner, a devout Mormon, they have oozed northward from Salt Lake City and are all through Idaho. But they are anti-alcohol and he is not only selling it he’s making it! Asked him about Trump and he thought he was doing a pretty good job considering the pasting that everyone seems to be giving him. Seems little old Mormon was a bit hypocritical but I invited him down to NZ as I think he needs to see how honest people live. 

From Idaho Falls we took to the wide-open plains with Craters of the Moon National Park in sight as our first stop. However, before that we came across “Hells Half Acre” and that deserved a look, and it was free. This was an area that had once been an active volcano and the lava was left baked to the earth like a giant cake mix spilled. Interesting formations that we were able to walk all over. Back in the car and on to CMNP which is far more commercialised but better set up with roads and walking tracks. More trouble with the cake mixing but Alison Holst had several mishaps over a number of years….in the millions we are talking, not mishaps, years.  

We spent a couple of hours there before back onto the prairies and then into the Snake River Valley. We got a bit caught up watching canoeists and rafters battling the rapids. The small town of Hailey came up next and we decided that this is where we would lay our heads for a couple of nights. Hiked to the top of Carbonate Mountain a mere 6,700 feet…we’re feeling like mountaineers now, just a dawdle up here.

Out of Hailey and into the hills, mountains really, the geography is starting to close in and things get far more interesting. We drove down rivers across prairies and up over passes and down, or up, more rivers. Logging trucks are appearing on the roads with far more frequency, often overloaded and fires are evident from smoke in the air. As I write there are 12 wild fires in Idaho at present with several more in surrounding states. We passed Boise as a group of New Zealand firefighters were coming in to help with the fire control. A group of these guys were from the Blenheim unit that I had been involved with for a number of years.

Cascade was our next stop for a night just to let the motor cool on the Mazda 6 that has served us so well. Then north again, as far as Orofino, another non-descript little settlement fighting ghost-town status. People are nice enough to us as we pass through, many realise where New Zealand is and tell us that we are one of the “accepted” countries. I presume that Mexico and North Korea are at the other end of the scale. When people don’t know where, who or why we are New Zealanders I explain, politely, go and google “America’s Cup”……and remember we only have 4 million people.

More smoke and more logging trucks and we are into Harrison on the edge of what is called Harrison Slough or more favourably, Lake Coeur d’Alene. We have had 3 nights here and spent the days cycling the Coeur d’Alene Trail, a bike track on a disused railway line. We managed 55 kms the first day and another 30 today. It is very pleasant pedalling through the river valleys and along lake edges, no cars and the grade never greater than 2% or 1:50. That’s wheel chair stuff. However, tomorrow we will move north to Spokane, out of Idaho and in to Washington. 

Yellowstone to Jackson, ♫Yeah, I’m going to Jackson, Look out Jackson Town♫

  

A few days ago we arose before the sun to head through Yellowstone National Park one more time and on to Teton National Park. We drove back across the geothermal area and with very few people about this made the experience a little different. A herd of elk entertained us for a while however bears and mooses were what I was looking for. 

Grand Teton Park was the next stop. Teton I understand is French for breast, but then I know some reading this are far more fluent in French than I am, and yes, I do know some French,…..(about 6 words!) The early French fur trappers saw the towering mountains and decided that they looked like three breasts and so named them “Les Trois Tetons”. The Grand Teton literally means “the Big Tit”, so it was easy to like this place.

We took a drive on our first day into an area previously ravaged by fire.  All looked somewhat ruined however in reality fire in these parks is a natural phenomenon. At present there are two burning in Yellowstone and one in Glacier Nat. Park. We saw some deer and a Hoary Marmot but little else to get the blood rushing.

Then it was Down to Colter Bay Cabins in the middle of the Park and a bit of a disappointment catering wise. We have been managing to make our own breakfasts with fruit and muesli and sandwiches for lunch. All we need is a refrigerator and a coffee maker and we are pretty good. This expensive cabin had none of that and clearly steered all their patrons to their restaurant. We filled our chilly bin with ice (learned this trick from our Australian friends) and stuffed the beer and the perishables in there. Change the ice twice a day from the free ice dispenser and you have yourself a refrigerator. The Log Cabins were built in 1920’s haphazardly all over the Park but were moved to this site in the 1950’s to fit with John D Rockefeller’s vision of how the Park should be in the future.  Plumbing and electrics were added but otherwise they have the same quaint old feeling……..hence no fridge!

A walk into Trapper Lake in a sweltering 36° didn’t turn up any big animals but then only mad dogs and Englishmen would go out in that temperature. Nice walk though alongside the towering bosoms and little lakes at the foot. 

Our last day in Teton National Park after 3 weeks of walking, tramping, hunting, glassing, driving and searching for things unknown to us had arrived. Good friend Peri had recommended a walk in Cascade Canyon. We were on the first boat at 7.00am to ferry across Jenny Lake and begin our 7.2km walk up the canyon. Within 15 minutes of starting I spotted a black bear crossing a clearing 400 metres above us. He was too quick or I was to slow to get the lends cap off and get a photo but we were pleased that there were animals in this neck of the woods…more of a cleavage of the woods. We got hiking, (that’s what they do here, no tramping, they hike on trails) on up the valley. Crisp morning and everything seemed perfect for a sighting of the elusive moose.

And wouldn’t you know it! Yes, a lady moose and her calf. We watched her for 30 minutes, not more than 40 metres away, the calf still feeding from the Mum….I was happy. Had the lens cap off and took a couple of photos….probably 50 just in case one didn’t come out. That was a very happy moment for me, and for Diana as she knew I would keep grizzling if we didn’t get a picture of a moose…a very strange animal, so big and yet two steps into the vegetation and it is gone. 

So with that walk hike done we were on our way south…”♫ I’m goin’ to Jackson, I’m gonna mess around..♫” but June Carter was probably right, “they’ll laugh at you in Jackson..!’’. 

We booked in to “The Virginian” a reasonable size establishment hoping to see James Drury wander past with his black hat and spurs.

With two nights r&r here and another beer with Peri and Kevin we are now looking to head through Idaho northwards and across into Washington State. 

Heading to Yellowstone National Park

We had a 3 hour drive out of Seeley Lake but as always the Mazda 6 was as determined to get there as we were, thanks Blair. On the way we stopped in Butte (pronounced Beaut, they didn’t want to be the Butt of all jokes). We took a short town tour in Butte which was interesting. They lay claim to having the richest hill in the World. It is a mile and high and a mile deep, and they have picked and drilled their way into most of it. They are still mining silver and molybdenum while trying to clean up the mess, 50 billion gallons of it (3.8 litres to the gallon!!!) from past mining of copper and other minerals. They won’t have that finished by Fall would be my uneducated guess!

We arrived in Bozeman in the early evening and I think they were expecting us! The main street was cordoned off, there were three bands going strong, 10,000 people and plenty of foodstalls. Perfect. We stayed at a B&B with the owners who ran a scuba diving shop downtown. I did my best not to laugh when explaining that they are a wee way from the sea, one of the main ingredients of that pastime I thought. “No, we have lakes…” wiped the smiled off my face …for a few seconds. But it turns out that practice in lakes with 2m visibility and stuff tied to the lake bottom to make it interesting. They showed us a photo of a human skeleton sitting on a chair at 15 metres deep! We were having a sort of rest day here but decided on a short walk in the canyon country to the south of town. Five hours later and after being completely ‘lost’ we were fabricating a letter to the authorities regarding the accuracy of their maps and track numbers…a total shambles, but all is forgiven, we’ve moved on.

From Bozeman our next accommodation was on the north boundary of Yellowstone National Park, in Gardiner. A great place to launch our animal ‘hunting’ expedition. We made an early start, before daylight (about 5.45am) to get ahead of the masses and catch the animals having one last bite before bedding down for the day. The drive in the Park is most enjoyable, exciting around every corner. We saw a lot of Wapiti, hundreds of bison, almost a pack of wolves and some Bighorn sheep. Scenery in Yellowstone is amazing. We spent a couple of days in the north then went east then south. 

On the way we passed through Cooke City, a real western-feeling little backwater. While we stopped at the saloon it would not have been surprising to see Wyatt Earp or Ben Cartwright walk through. I think I caught a glimpse of Clint Eastwood riding out of town as we arrived!

Back on the road south to Cody was enjoyable driving. Roads are good but doing 80mph is just too much...that’s 140kph! We must have seen well in excess of 1000 motorbikes so far, most of them have passed us and 90% would be Harley Davidsons. Interestingly they are often a guy and a girl, mostly older guys (bit of grey showing) but the guys never wear a helmet while the female passenger always does. I figure that they have worked out that if they came to grief then the lady wouldn’t want to ruin her good looks while the men are hoping it improves theirs. The guys can’t claim it messes their hair as many are balding. They sound and look great and are always friendly. Although the driving has been interesting. We seem to have the left-hand drive, right side of the road pretty well sorted but the 4-way compulsory stops are a touch confusing. We generally wait a bit until everyone seems to have stopped then make a dash across.  I think we must have it nailed as we regularly get a wave, either with two fingers or one! The one fingered wavers are particularly friendly as they will often give us a short toot on the horn as well. Lovely folks in America.

Cody is a city that was established by Buffalo Bill Cody back about 1880. Everything in the city revolves around the man. You have the Buffalo Bill Motels, Bill Cody Motels, Buffalo Bill Cody Motels, the Cody Motels and on and on, be it hotels, streets, saloons or cafes…he will never be forgotten. We visited the Buffalo Bill Centre and it was well worth the couple of hours. He was a ‘scout’ in his early days but later became legendary for taking his Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show around the world from 1883. We never bought the fridge magnet though. 

We stayed on Grizzly Ranch for two nights with some more lovely folks. They are semi-retired make a living off growing and cutting hay to sell. We spent an hour with Kim, an old-time rodeo man who has hung up his spurs. Cody is in Wyoming and is considered to be, by themselves, the cowboy state. They have a rodeo in Cody every night of the week! After visiting the Calgary Stampede we didn’t think another rodeo was going to pass muster.

From Cody and back into east Yellowstone we mounted an assault on Avalanche Peak. This is a mountain over 10,000 feet and we climbed it without oxygen! The highest I had ever previously climbed was Mount Egmont at 7000+ feet, and that was 45 years ago! (Where does the time go?) 

Later we headed into the central part of the Park, an area of geysers, sulphur and thousands of people. It was interesting though and many more colours than Rotorua. We did a couple of short climbs to get a view down on the thermal area and were quite amazed at the sights. Old Faithfull isn’t as active as she used to be (…. then, “who is?”), but she faithfully shot a good head of water 15 metres into the air. The sound of camera shutters was deafening! 

So we had more animal watching, mostly wapiti, bison, mule deer, squirrels, and we did see a black bear on our travels…. he was on his in the distance. No moose to date so hopefully in the Grand Tetons National Park where we will head at dawn tomorrow. 

Out of Glacier National Park, heading South

The Going to the Sun Road was just that as we got away from West Glacier just before sunrise and as we hit Logans Pass to cross the divide the sun peeped over the horizon like a well scripted movie set. The road is narrow in parts and while Diana was a bit nervous of doing the steering she figured she would be safer in that seat than me as I was still looking for antlered critters. Never saw anything to note right through the fantastic drive, apart from soaring Rocky Mountains and sheer faces of rock that soared into the skies…possibly beyond the environment!

Our first meander on the East side of the Park was from Many Glacier up into the mountains to “Iceberg Lake”. I’m sure we hadn’t made it to the Arctic Circle, but we did climb for a long time, and we found a lake with icebergs floating in it. A magnificent lake in a hanging basin, they are all so breath-taking. We were unlucky to miss seeing a moose on this walk as people we passed on the track said keep your eyes peeled, there is a moose grazing just below the track 400 yards along there. But no matter how much peeling we did no mooses were sighted.

From Many Glacier we drove south to East Glacier through magnificent country again. We settled in East Glacier for two nights so that we could spend a day in the Two Medicine area. This was more big country but a few less visitors… still too many, but less than other places. We boated to the head of Two Medicine Lake in a vintage motor boat carrying 50 people. We had wonderful commentary on the way, spotted a couple of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep high up on a mountain and just as we pulled in to the jetty at the head of the lake there was a young cow moose, 20 metres away, walking slowly along the lake edge. I hurriedly got the camera out, bit tricky to set up out the side window of our somewhat cramped boat, but I got in good position and excitedly snapped off three unbelievable live moose photos. The moose climbed into the undergrowth and was gone immediately. I reviewed my unbelievable photos to find that I had three excellent photos of the inside of the lens cap! Darn, hate it when that happens…several notes to self!. Don’t get over-excited being one of them.

We disembarked and after a quick scan of the surrounding area realised that moose can be very elusive. We headed off on our planned 9km out and back hike up to No Name Lake. (There appears to be too many lakes and they have run out of names!) Once again the mountains soar up from the lake edge in a bowl formation with snow still trapped in the shaded areas.

The past couple of days we have been driving, first back to Kallispell then south along Flathead Lake down to Seeley Lake. Diana was again driving on a very scenic route when I noted a sign the said “Animals Crossings, Take Care”. I was still reading the sign when all breaking systems were deployed as a fawn was standing in the middle of the road! It’s 32 degrees and not the right place for wild animals to be. Goodness knows where the hind was but I’m sure the fawn was severely reprimanded!

Tonight we are in Seeley Lake, a nondescript little village, a bit like Kuratau on the shores of Lake Taupo. Tomorrow we will edge closer to Yellowstone National Park and prepare our expedition once in Gardiner.

Crowsnest Pass and on to Great America.

Our journey south from Paradise Valley through Plains country to Crowsnest went uneventfully but gave us a real experience of the prairies. Seriously flat land but presumably not very productive as we saw very few animals or crops. Surprising that these guys aren’t good at cricket but I guess their summers aren’t long enough. Sure is plenty of room for a pitch and an oval. We enjoyed the drive through this part of the country with the long straights at 110km per hour and Blairs Mazda keeping up with the best of the Dodge Rams.

Arriving in Blairmore in Crowsnest Pass we met up with Maureen and Greg again (who we stayed with in Paradise Valley) and they had their grandson Colby with them, Tracey’s middle boy of three. 

Our first mission from Crowsnest was to the “Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump”. This was a sort of abattoir used by the Blackfeet Indians over 6000 years ago. Here they planned to herd buffalo over a vertical drop of some 30 metres but not before they had checked the phase of the moon, gathered enough young chaser recruits to dress in wolf skins and got the blessing from the Medicine Man. All going well the muster took 2-3 days of slowly gathering the herd together then speeding up the chase toward the cliff. There is 10 metre pile of bones at the base of the cliff so they had some success. This took place in the Fall (Autumn) so saving the meat through winter was little concern as air temperatures rarely rose above zero.

Our next visit was to Frank Slide and this is worth a google. (Not to be confused with a giggle – but sometimes I wonder) In 1903 the top fell off Turtle Mountain and hurtled down onto the town of Frank at 4.00am in the morning, temperature was a chilly -20degrees. 90 people were killed under the 80 million tonnes of rock and the scar is still quite evident. We had the pleasure of being adopted grandparents for the day of Colby as Greg and Maureen had another errand to take care of. We had a wonderful time with this little guy and he no doubt wondered where on earth these strange people came from……but he didn’t say! A well-mannered chap for sure. Hopefully we will see him again in New Zealand, perhaps in another 10 years time.

We took a short walk around a mountain lake with Cam and his family, wife Marnie and son Logan. Each evening in Crowsnest we retired to Cam and Marnie’s house for dinner and a sat around their fire pit. It seems standard practice in Alberta to have a fire pit and no matter the weather, a fire can always be lit. Not sure how many forest fires started from them but sure as one thing, they have had plenty of wild fires. They were warm family gatherings as the sun slowly wandered off over the horizon around 10pm.

We finally, sadly, said farewell to Maureen and Greg and couldn’t really thank them enough for the hospitality that they afforded us. So many relatives were visited, dined with, conversed with and said good bye to. We are hopeful that they will visit us again but like us, the years are running out and the steps into the aircraft are getting steeper! However, we have hopefully left a positive impression on their grandsons (of which we think there are 8) and our extended Canadian family that one day they will come knocking on our door to give us an opportunity to repay some of the wonderful hospitality that we received.

After Crowsnest we are heading south across the border into Great America, a land of miles per hour, gallons of fuel and a currency of dollars and cents. But we divide the dollars up into quarters! Interesting place.

Our aim was to visit Glacier National Park in northern Montana. We had two ventures into the park and enjoyed the amazing scenery. A walk into Avalanche Creek was spectacular but then everywhere we look the scenes are those seen on jigsaw puzzles.

Yesterday we took a free shuttlebus to the top of Logan Pass in the Park, walked to Hidden Lake, hidden because the mist was down low and we could see nothing. But….almost as if a miracle had happened  a gap in the cloud gave us a view of, now named Unhidden Lake and a grizzly bear 200metres away. These critters are quite a nasty beast but so long as you are no less than the second slowest runner you should be okay. I stationed myself next to a 6 year old who I think I could outrun if necessary, but that might have been a close a run thing. 

We walked on in the afternoon on Highline track (actually a Trail here, with a Trailhead…but no Foot) which was serious goat country, check out the track! Then we encountered a massive Mountain Goat, a billy which was a great sight.

We have been careful not to mention politics, especially here in Montana, presuming it would be a Trump stronghold. On arrival last night we met a guy in the motel unit next to ours, he was tuning his fiddle at the time. Clearly not the sort of a guy to open with a fake news Trump story but he opened with a tirade of derogatory comment that took us by surprise. Where he lives the farmers all grow wheat and barley. Apparently they grow crops and freight it to Mexico so the Mexicans can put it in their tacos etc. Well, that trade has stopped and they have to grow something else. I asked just how many Mexicans there were and how many tacos did they eat. “Truckloads”! my new friend said, “Trump has stuffed that”.

We were lucky to meet up with Peri Sasnett and her man Kevin, at the pub next to our West Glacier Motel. Peri studied in New Zealand and we met her through a mutual friend, then she and Kevin came and stayed with us for a night last April. Peri and Kevin both work as Park employees here in Glacier NP and Tetons NP. They have been a wealth of information for us about the hikes and everything local.

Tomorrow we intend to drive the Going to the Sun Road, world famous here in Montana, and providing nothing goes amiss the sun will rise and we will be well into it by 6.30am to avoid the queues of traffic. Main hope is that we see a moose, or a bear, or something with antlers.