Volcanic Landscapes and Unusual Museums

We stayed at Buffalo Meadows RV in Ft. Hall, ID. It's just above Pocatello on the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Reservation and is conveniently located next to the casino and hotel right along the interstate.  The campground was a surprisingly good base for the area and reasonably priced. 

The first thing we did was slip over to Craters of the Moon National Monument. At around an hour and a half driving time, it was the furthest out. Along the way, we drove through Arco, the first town to be powered by atomic energy and home to the "submarine in the desert" and Number Hill. Much to Harold's dismay, the EBR-1 Atomic Museum had already closed for the season. 

Arco's Number Hill and "Devil Boat" sail

Later in our stay we slipped up to Hell's Half Acre, just west of Idaho Falls. We took the short loop trail, scrambling over fallen lava tubes. For some reason, I had thought the short trail was going to be an ADA compliant trail. It wasn't. If you have kids, they'd probably enjoy this area more than Craters because there are fewer restrictions to scrambling around. We also noted a couple of campers boondocking at the trailhead. 

Not ADA compliant - Sandals not recommended!

Now to the museums. First up was the Museum of Clean, which is also a Harvest Host site as the founder was sure to point out to us. The museum is not about how to clean, but a repository of all kinds of things that clean. There's an entire floor of vacuums. There's all kinds of cleaning supplies and tools turned into quirky art, and to Harold's delight, home to a muffler man. We found ourselves smiling and grinning throughout the museum. 

Don, the world's biggest janitor 

One of the first walk behind vacuums

Brooms from around the world

"Every museum has to have a dinosaur." Don Aslett, founder

Our last day took us to the Idaho Potato Museum, where there are "free taters for out-of-staters." With museum admission we received a potato bag with a bag mix of instant Idaho potatoes. Bingham County produces more potatoes than any county in the United States.  The museum, besides housing collections of potato mashers, potato peelers, and the world's largest potato crisp, was educational as to the harvesting processes then and now. Speaking of now, we saw quite a few harvests underway while we were in the area. Idaho grows approximately 30% of the potatoes in the United States. The numbers of potatoes are somewhat mind-boggling.

We thought this was a clever Eagle Scout project. 

The selfie from the Eagle Scout project

Largest potato crisp

By the way, did you know Thomas Jefferson is credited with being the first person to introduce french fries to the United States? He served them at a state dinner. 

Clark Canyon Reservoir Stopover

 Leaving Jim and Mary's RV Park in Missoula, MT, we stopped  at a rest stop near Anaconda. The Anaconda smokestack is quite the landmark, a holdover from the Anaconda Copper Company. It's one of the tallest freestanding brick structures and is the center of Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park.  

Coyote sitting pretty at the rest stop

Anaconda Smoke Stack

We traveled further down the road to stay a couple of nights at Clark Canyon Reservoir. There are seven campgrounds around the reservoir.  All are first come, first serve. We stayed in the only one that had hookups, Lewis and Clark. It was also the only one that charged a fee. The rest are dry camping and free of charge. As much as we had to block up our tires to get level, I wonder if the free campsites would have been better. 

Clark Canyon is the site of Camp Fortunate, one of the stops for Lewis and Clark. It's also home to the 45th parallel. 

We took a day trip over Lemhi Pass. It's a scenic route that crosses the continental divide and generally follows an old stagecoach route. It was nice to have the Jeep for the dirt roads.  

One of the stage coaches

At the top of Lemhi Pass

"Except for that one turn, I really think we could have driven this in the motorhome." 

Bonus!

Two nights at the reservoir was the right amount of time for us since we don't fish. It would have been a star gazers delight too had it not been for the bright moon. 

Relaxing at Clark Canyon Reservoir

Glacier National Park

We had wondered if we should wait to visit Glacier National Park. The east side of the park that adjoined the Blackfeet Indian Reservation was closed. The iconic red bus tours were not operating this year, and the smoky haze from the west coast wildfires was thick.  We decided to go for it since we were reasonably close and it was shoulder season.

We picked up Harold's sister, Annette, in Missoula, MT, and off we went. We stayed at North American RV Park in Coram, MT. The RV park was around eight miles to the west entrance of Glacier.  Yeah! Our Passport America discount, which is offered only in the shoulder season, was an extra blessing. 

What an amazingly beautiful park. Glacier quickly became one of our favorites. Going to the Sun Road up over Logan Pass is quite the drive. I asked Harold which road had a higher pucker factor, Going to the Sun or Needles/Iron Mountain in the Black Hills. He picked Going to the Sun because of the closeness of the rocks and the number of people who couldn't seem to stay on their side of the yellow lines. 

I also appreciated the amount of green in the local landscape. It seemed like it had been awhile since I saw moss, ferns, green grass, and lots of full-sized green leafy trees and evergreens. The Trail of Cedars at Avalanche Campground is the best ADA wheelchair compliant trail that I have seen. The .8 mile boardwalk and paved loop walked you through a dense forest and past a small gorge. You actually felt like you were on a trail, not just a few yards from a scenic overlook.

Then there was the wildlife. Our first day we saw a moose with her calf. On our next trip we saw a mama black bear with her three cubs crossing the road. Then, we saw a grizzly high on the mountainside. In that same area on another trip we saw a black bear. Our last sighting was of mountain goats high on the mountains above Lunch Creek.  "Did that white speck up there just move?" 

So despite the closures, it was a great park to visit. We're so glad we did. We returned Annette to Missoula and stayed a couple of days to get caught up on the never ending laundry. 

Lake McDonald

Traffic stoppers

The three little bears

Camera zoom maxed out

Chokecherries and Elk

After a busy week in Yellowstone country, we were ready for a little more of a relaxed pace. I caught up on the laundry, even going to a commercial laundromat to wash a comforter and bedspread.

We were in Lewistown, Montana, because of the Chokecherry Festival. I had read about it and the elk bugling season at Charles M Russell NationalWildlife Refuge in Country magazine. Harold has fond memories of his grandmother making chokecherry jam, and we figured that there would be lots of chokecherry goodies available at the festival.

While we suspect that Covid19 played a role in the somewhat lackluster crowds and resulted in a fewer number of vendors, we enjoyed our masked stroll through the blocked off main street. We bought chokecherry jam, chokecherry syrup, chokecherry fudge, and chokecherry cordials along with fry pies, a rhubarb pie, and a couple of handcrafted items.

Chokecherry goodness

Once you were through the vendor section, there was a car show. I’m starting to think a car show is a requisite for festivals. One of the more intriguing displays was a coal delivery vehicle that had been in the same family since purchased new in 1915.

The day before the festival we drove the Montana Bale Trail. I had read about it from the Lewistown Visitor website. The bale trail was officially cancelled this year, not because of Covid, but because of a lack of volunteers. A few ranches had put out last year’s displays, and we certainly smiled when we’d come across them. I hope that they get enough volunteers in future years to continue. From the photos of past years, there are some creative people out here.

That one minion looks rather suspect

On Monday we fortified ourselves with coffee and a frappe from The Coffee Cup before venturing out on a day long trip that would culminate at the Slippery Ann Elk Viewing area. We had met the owner of the coffee shop at First Baptist Church the day before. He offered a couple of ideas for our trip.

Our first stop, the overlook at Judith Peak, was a bit of a bust because of all the smoke from the West Coast. On a clear day you can see to Canada. We were lucky to see nearby peaks, let alone Canadian mountains.

Next, we drove to Winifred to catch the Knox Ridge Road over to the James Kipp Campground. At first, the road was like any other dirt road through ranch grazing lands. As we approached the Missouri “breaks” the road became more dirt than gravel, the hills a little steeper, and the views a little more interesting. Yes, I was glad we were in the Jeep and that it hadn’t been raining.

Along Knox Ridge Road

Smoky skies

Missouri River

Then we hit the self-guided auto tour in the Charles Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Again, I was glad for the Jeep. Even though we didn’t need the four-wheel drive, the extra clearance was comforting. Just as we were beginning to wonder if we were going to have to consider cattle as wildlife, we rounded a corner to see a flock of wild turkeys. I think it was the biggest flock of wild turkeys that I had seen. Harold counted around sixteen of them or so.

Finally, we made it to the Slippery Ann area. Cars were already parked along the road at 5:00 p.m. We found a spot and pulled out our chairs. We watched as the elk slowly made their way out of the trees and into the grassy area. We heard the elks bugling, which I personally think sounds a bit high-pitched for such big animals. Even so, had I not known what it was, I would have been scared hearing that noise. Often you can’t see the elk in the trees.

The herd was still rather small in number, only around a hundred or so. In another couple of weeks, the herd should be around five hundred.  I imagine it’s a sight to see.  We’re so glad we read that Country magazine article.

Yellowstone Country

From Dubois, we traveled to Buffalo Bill State Park, just west of Cody, WY. It was an electric only campsite. We got some practice monitoring our water usage with fewer showers and less toilet flushing. We made it without any problems and had plenty of water to spare. Granted, the laundry basket was well overflowing by the end of the week.

Early morning at Buffalo Bill State Park

Our first day there we decided to head to Yellowstone National Park. About forty miles to the west was the east entrance. It was the Thursday before Labor day. We figured that that would be the least crowded day until after the holiday. Yellowstone is amazing. We did see lots of hot thermal springs and pools and of course, Old Faithful. However for both of us, the highlight was the Beehive Geyser.

Immediately after Old Faithful’s eruption, we headed to the ranger station to get our national park passport stamped. As we were leaving, a ranger came out, all excited. They had received an indicator that the Beehive Geyser was about to erupt. They get a five to twenty minute heads up, and it doesn’t erupt every day. They encouraged everyone to head over. It was only a couple of minutes away.  Wow!  We filmed the last couple of minutes of the eruption. You can watch it here.

Old Faithful

Beehive Geyser

Continuing on around the drive, we took a short walk to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook. The colors are impressive – blues, oranges, whites.

Grand Prismatic Pool

By now we were about halfway through the bottom loop. We opted to go ahead continue around to the northeast entrance as opposed to retracing our steps. The main roads in Yellowstone roughly form two loops, a top loop and a bottom loop. On both loops the east side was shut down. One because of construction, the other, a fuel spill. We decided that we’d make one long day of it and then do other things closer to our campground as opposed to two days in Yellowstone on a holiday weekend.

Things were going good until we got caught up in a traffic jam trying to exit the park at the west entrance. Whew! We can only imagine what the traffic would be like in the height of summer. We were starting to get tired. We didn’t even stop at Mammoth Springs. We were both thinking that the next time we came to Yellowstone, we’d stay in West Yellowstone area. It seemed to be closer to a lot of the Yellowstone biggies.

After we passed the north entrance, we saw warning signs that Beartooth Highway would be closing at 8:00 pm for night road construction. Yikes! We knew we had to go on a small portion of the highway to get back to Cody. We just didn’t know if our turn off was before the portion that would be closing. With no cell reception, I was getting very nervous. It was doubtful that we were going to make the 8pm cutoff with, not one, but two buffalo jams.

I did not want to backtrack several hours to get to our campsite. We were starting to look for vacancy signs on motels. I did not relax until we got to our turnoff for Chief Joseph Scenic Byway.  It was almost dark then, and we still had a good hour plus of driving to get back to Cody.  It was dark by the time we wound our way to the top of the mountain and back down into Cody. Both of us were exhausted. It was a thirteen hour day following a travel day and a long day of sightseeing prior to that.

The next day, we kept it simple. We simply went down the road to the Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir and into Cody for some shopping. The canyon area around the dam is very scenic and popular with rock climbers.  The road next to the dam has three tunnels. Two are pretty short, while the third is somewhat longer. According to the guidebook, it’s actually the longest tunnel in Wyoming.

Below the dam

Buffalo Bill Dam

On Saturday, we decided to do some more driving. We took the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, in daylight this time, to Beartooth Highway and looped back to Cody. Yet another day of spectacular overlooks, canyons, rivers, and lakes.  A full day, but at least we got back before dark this time.

Chief Joseph Highway

View from Sunlight Bridge

Sunlight Bridge

Wild goats and the Beartooth Mtn in the background

On our drive home Harold thought our Jeep was broken when the outside air temp gauge read 102°, but he stuck his hand out the window, and yes, it was that hot.

We attended Cody Cowboy Church on Sunday. Yep, there was a lot of western wear and a few open carry cowboys, similar to Mountain Grace Church in Dubois the week prior. The lesson was on humbleness and obedience, using the account of Naaman and his healing from leprosy.

Afterwards we headed to Heart Mountain. This was the location of an internment camp for Japanese Americans in WWII. Most of the original buildings are gone. They have done a decent job of displays and telling the story. I kept thinking about what one of the internees said in one of the films, “we endure.” That’s what they did. They endured. Harold commented on how they went along with what the government wanted them to do due to the Japanese philosophy of Shikata ga Nai, meaning “it cannot be helped,” or “nothing can be done about it.”

Monday, Labor Day, saw a winter storm warning. Knowing that the weather was supposed to be rather cold and windy, we saved the Buffalo Bill Center of the West for then. The Center is actually five museums under one roof. They allow you to split your visit over two back-to-back days. So, that’s what we did. We covered the Natural History Museum and the Firearm Museum on Monday and the Plains Indian Museum, the Art Museum, and the Buffalo Bill Museum on Tuesday. Relaxing days to round out our week in Yellowstone country.

Tuesday morning, we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground and 30° air temps.  Talk about a wide temperature swing!

A little chilly one morning

Well, it is off to Lewistown, Montana, for the Lewistown Chokecherry Festivall which is currently not canceled!!!!!