From the Southwest to the Northwest

[Tom&Shelly]

After 18 days in Canada, we drove to Spokane Washington, where Shelly has relatives. While on a narrow, windy road, just south of the border, we came across a bad accident not long after it happened. A passenger car met a logging truck and the car went into the trees. Not good. They were about to bring in a Life Flight into the only clearing, where several of us were stopped, so we turned around the way we came. Never heard the outcome.

In Spokane, we stayed at a KOA, with shore power and showers.

Also a nice gazebo, which made breakfast pleasant. It rained lightly while we were there, but it was always dry under the gazebo.

There were fire restrictions, so we couldn't use charcoal. We spent the weekend with Shelly's niece so we probably wouldn't have used it anyway.

We did use the KOA's laundramat. After nearly 3 weeks since our last laundry, we needed it done! The rest of the day we spent buying groceries and making campsite reservations. Shelly also pulled out my beard trimmer and gave me a buzz-cut. All ready for the return trip!

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Saturday evening, Shelly's niece took us on a drive through Turnball Wildlife Preserve, and we saw six moose, two pairs of mama and calf, and two bulls

Since we did a loop, at first we thought it was the same mother and calf, but the ladies (the human ladies) looked at the markings on the photos and decided it was two separate pairs.

Pretty good since Shelly hadn't seen a moose before and stated that as an objective on this trip!

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

From Spokane, we drove to Spring Gulch National Forest Campground near Sula Montana. Typical National Forest campground: The host and hostess kept the pit toilets clean and smelling reasonable. No showers or shore power. However the campsite has Ponderosa Pine which does not grow over the sites, so we could use our solar panel.

From the sign, you can guess how close we were to the highway. It was right up on that rise, but the cars generally couldn't see over into our site. Noisy in the day, but it did quiet down in late evening.

The pads are asphalted so there was little dust. Also, we were on the East Fork of the Bitterroot River; no doubt the campground is there for fishermen.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

The next day we drove down to Salmon Idaho to have lunch with several of it's leading citizens: famous author and teardrop builder Tony Latham and his wife. We also explored the town.

We saw a museum of the local region and dropped some books and DVDs off at the Humane Society thrift store.

Some of the folks in Salmon have a laid back attitude about being paid: I bought a few books at the thrift store, and was told to pay whatever I wanted for them. Later in the afternoon we stopped at an antique store and the proprieter told us that if we didn't like the price, to name our own. I bought a high school shop text on machining there, and also got some advice on our route to our next campground. Overall, a very friendly town!

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Our second day at Spring Gulch Campground, we drove over and explored the Big Hole Battlefield site, now maintained by the Park Service.

This was a battle between the US Army and the Nez Perces, in August 1877. The Nez Perce had made a treaty with some white settlers a short time before, and assumed the war was over.

But the soldiers surrounded the campsite (shown by the tepee poles in the 2nd photo above), and fired low, killing mostly women and children, then entered the campsite. Despite the surprise ambush, the warriors drove the soldiers back to the site where the monument now stands, and held them surrounded. There was one piece of artillery, that fired two ineffective shots before the indians captured it.

Tony recommended the book "Yellow Wolf, His Own Story" by L. V. McWhorter, which is sold in the visitor center. A very good account of the entire war by the warrior Yellow Wolf, as told to the author in the mid-1930's.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Our next stop was McCree Bridge National Forest Service Campground, in Eastern Idaho, North of Ashton. We couldn't quite take the most scenic route, as we had to stop at a Walgreens in Butte Montana to refill prescriptions. (Getting old sucks--except that's the only way we would have had time for a 10 week camping trip!)

As usual, pit toilets no showers and no shore power. We were there over a weekend, so it was somewhat crowded, but not a problem for us as the sites are large and there is a lot of ground cover between sites.

We started to make friends with a ground squirrel, but he started nibbling on Shelly's heal. Not sure what he was thinking, but he realized he'd made a mistake. From then on, whenever he saw us he ran into a hole. (No damage to Shelly.)

The next morning, we went to a local community festival (flea market). There was construction on the only road out of the camp which was annoying. The pilot car that had preceeded us the whole trip was there, and there were significant waits. Actually, he may have been the fellow we waited for in Texas two trips ago!

That afternoon, we drove up to Sawtaile Peak (there seem to be alternate spellings--something like that), hoping to eat a picnic lunch at the peak. A bit cold and windy for that. Another day would have probably been better.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Our second day we drove to Upper and Lower Mesa Falls. It was Sunday, and busy, so we went back to camp to eat lunch.

On our way back we saw yet another moose (bull) (no-it's true!) drinking in the river. I'm a bit ashamed to say we didn't circle back to get a picture--we must have been getting tired.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Our next stop was Bear Lake State Park in Utah. (There is another state park with the same name on the same lake on the Idaho side.) This was a nice place, though busy and with no ground cover between sites. It does have shore power, flush toilets, and showers. It was just an overnight stop for us, but since we hadn't had showers since Spokane, was nice just for that.

It also has a nice big lake.

As it was in the nineties when we arrived, we got out our camp chairs and took them into the water. Turns out to be a very shallow beach. 100 feet out or so, and not deep enough to swim in.

Large though. I think the Idaho State Park was somewhere over the horizon.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

The next day we drove to Fossil Butte National Monument, in Western Wyoming, on our way to our next campsite. The best (only) fossils are at the visitor center. There are several hikes, but they are in the open, and on a hot and windy day, did not appeal to us.

There was an ancient lake in the area (I think it also covered Bear Lake--our last campsite) and left bunches of fossils in the stone in the area. I do recommend the stop if you are traveling through that area.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Our next stop was Cedar Springs Campground in Flaming Gorge Utah.

This area is always one of our favorites. We've been there twice in the past tent camping; this was our first time with the tear. We were right above the marina at the reservoir. Pinyon and juniper forests again! Our first time since Nevada.

It is a Forest Service campsite, so again pit toilets and no shore power. It wasn't until the next day we discovered the Forest Service campsite next door (Deer Run) has a shower! So we had to drive to it, but it was totally worth it! As it turned out, those were our last hot showers this trip.

Tom

 

[Tony Latham]

Glad you made it to Sawtelle!

The Nez Perce have an event every year at the Bighole Battlefield. I think we'll try to attend next August. I think it's a chilling place.

Tony

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Glad you made it to Sawtelle!

The Nez Perce have an event every year at the Bighole Battlefield. I think we'll try to attend next August. I think it's a chilling place.

Tony

Thank you for recommending each of them Tony.

I find battlefields disturbing, but feel a personal need to try and understand them, and the mind-sets of the people involved. Big Hole is particularly disturbing because of the civilians, and the soldiers' behavior towards them. 19th century actions would clearly be war crimes today.

I can't help but reflect on the changes in the rules of war in the US military, even during my career. I think we are better; I hope so.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

We rented a pontoon boat for the day to tour Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

The next day, after showers, we drove to Colorado National Monument (Park Service). Stayed at the campground in the monument, which we were able to reserve over a weekend (that says alot!) However, it was inexpensive, particularly with my Veteran America The Beautiful Pass. The rules keep changing. Used to be that didn't get us anything for campsites; now we seem to be able to get half off on both Forest Service and Park Service sites. Seems to be more like the Senior Pass these days.

We were right on the road, and in fact we had a little trouble with people walking through our site to reach the bathrooms. I politely explained camping etiquette to them.

There is no shore power, and no showers. There are flush toilets, and outlets in the bathrooms. They are not air conditioned, and, by the way, it was in the mid-nineties during the day while we were there. It was also warm at night. That was the point on the trip where we wondered if we should have stayed farther North, or at least higher in the mountains, for a few more weeks!

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

We drove a little over half of Rim Rock Drive--a 23 mile drive through Colorado National Monument--when a thunderstorm hit, hard enough we pulled over for a while.

Typical of Colorado that time of year: Not a cloud in the sky in early morning, temperatures rapidly rising, and before you know it, the cumulo-boomis clouds have built up, and there it goes! Been caught out hiking more than a few times that way!

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

The campground is at the western side of the drive, a picnic area is at the eastern side. By the time we got there, the storm had receeded enough that we ate our lunch under the shelter. Got to see a waterfall from the storm.

The eastern entrance is near Grand Junction, and we spent the afternoon in town, buying our last set of groceries, and checking out the used bookstores. The latter charge too much in Grand Junction.

The campground was under a fire restriction (not even charcoal allowed) so we ate dinner in Grand Junction (too hot to want to cook on the stove).

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

The next day, we decided to drive around the park to the Eastern entrance and do the part of the Rim Rock drive we didn't pay attention to the day before, because of the storm.

The only problem is that it was a Saturday, and we had to drive near some neighborhoods, and we have a garage sale problem. The one we stopped at happened to be more like an estate sale, with the widow selling her husband's workshop at "just get it out of here" prices. I wanted to buy the floor standing planer, and maybe one of the two floor standing lathes, but settled on a Craftsman tool cabinet, full of stuff, and a Harbor Fright sander. Took us a half hour to take everything out of the Tundra, put the cabinet and sander in the back, and repack so we could get at what we needed for the last few days of the trip.

I think Shelly and I may need professional help at this point. We are seriously thinking of joining a garage/estate sale anonymous group, particularly if we can find one near a good thrift store.

Oh, by the way, we didn't get any pictures of it, but when we entered the neighborhood, someone had a home-made tear painted like a Swiss Army knife. Think I may have seen pictures on this forum in the old days, but couldn't find it with the new structure. Curious if anyone knows?...

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

The Eastern half of the drive is as nice as the Western.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Our last campsite on this trip was in Brightstar Campground, a private campground in Cortez Colorado. A little desolate looking at first

But the sites are far apart, and they have a really nice common area, with a kitchen everyone is welcome to share

The kitchen includes a microwave, toaster oven, refrigerator/freezer, hot plate, and hot water for dish washing.

We had shore power, but it was just cool enough in the evenings that we didn't need to use our air conditioning.

Pit toilets, but with electricity and a cold water sink in each side. There are showers, with in-line hot water heaters. A young couple have just bought the campground, and were trying to get the hot water to work, but we didn't actually have any luck with that while we were there. Warm enough days that it didn't matter too much to us.

They also have a laundry building, though we didn't need it at this point in our trip.

They have RV and tent sites, teepees, and I think a few cabins for rent.

They have some good plans for this place, including adding some shade, maybe some gravel to keep the dust down, etc. As Cortez is a one day drive for us, we will likely be back and will stay here. I rate it nicer than the campground at Mesa Verde (just down the road). For one thing, you can walk to the showers from your site here.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

We saw pretty much all of Mesa Verde on the way out, so this time from Cortez, we went to ride the Durango-Silverton Railroad one day, and to see the Canyon of the Ancients Museum and Cultural Center in Doloras Colorado the other.

This was our first time taking this train together (we both did earlier in our lives before we met) and this time we did it first class (literally). Fine for us, but the folks in the open cars have better picture opportunities.

The ride is 3 1/2 hours each way; much longer than our other train rides this trip. We ate lunch in Silverton. When we approached Durango on our return, it was a warm afternoon, and there were lots of folks playing in the river. Shelly tells me she saw a woman flashing the train. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough, so have to take her word on that one.

The Canyon of the Ancients Cultural Center is the visitor center for the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. (And maybe Hovenweep National Monument next door. I'm not sure about that--one may be run by the Department of the Interior and the other the Department of Agriculture, or something; it's confusing.) Anyway, at the center, we picked up some maps of driving tours of ancient ruins in that part of Colorado and nearby in Utah. We didn't go out on this trip, but someday plan to come back, probably in a shoulder season where we can camp in cooler weather.

Tom