Get-Together at Mom's Sunday Afternoon

Bobbi & John



Larry & Rosie arrived on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we had an informal get-together at Mom's to celebrate their arrival and to fete Bobbi - who has a birthday coming up next week. Here are a few photos:





Rita & Bob


The boys The Girls

Hiking in the Gorge

Went on an intermediate hike the other day to the Columbia Gorge - on the Washington side. It's part of the Pacific Crest Trail that starts in southern California and goes all the way to the Canadian border. We did approx. 10-11 miles round trip.
This route was fairly level, ie not the straight up & straight back down stuff that characterizes the hikes on the Oregon side of the gorge as soon as you step out of the parking lot. Not as dramatic as the other side, but a good test for us. Rita was checking out her foot from the surgery she'd had back in April and I was testing a knee I had injured on one of the steep hikes on the Oregon side last month. Both seemed to be OK.
Weather now cooling off a bit - better for tramps in the mountains, and we noticed that the first leaves were just starting to turn. Should be spectacular for the next several weeks.
Once the soreness wears off we'll be heading out again - trying to get back into decent hiking shape for the New Zealand trip in November.

Here are some pics from a previous hike in the same area.
















The view down the Columbia River

Homeward Bound

Sept. 11 & 12

Departed Jackson Hole on the 11th for the trip back home to Vancouver. Stopped along the way at Shoshone Falls in Idaho, which apparently is quite a gusher in the Spring, but as you can see there isn't much to it in the Fall. The Snake River valley thru which it flows is quite dramatic, however, and it made for a nice break from all the driving.

Shoshone Falls

On the 12th we stopped off at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center near Baker (eastern Oregon). Really well-done. Guess there are about 14 miles of the original trail that run thru the area, and the ruts from all of the wagons that passed this way 165 years ago are still visible in places. Made for an interesting hike down into the valley and back up to the visitor center.




Pioneer Woman on the Oregon Trail

Finally made it home late the evening of the 12th after spending about 90 minutes stuck in traffic on I-84 east of Portland - they had closed the highway because of a forest fire near the road. Managed to extricate ourselves at the town of Hood River, crossing the bridge over the Columbia and continuing via Rte. 14 into Vancouver.

All in all a great trip - even the weather cooperated for the most part. Looking forward to our next sojourn to Valdosta, Georgia in about three weeks to visit Jennah, Mike, and the grand kids. After that it will be off to New Zealand for 3 months starting in mid-November.

Meanwhile we're back home, doing laundry and refolding the maps in preparation for next time.

Teton Village, WY

Bob and I both have contributed to this little travelog through Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Until now, I had never been to Glacier, Yellowstone or Grand Teton National Parks, and they are really something to see. It is so good that these wilderness areas are set aside for millions to enjoy. The rangers really do a good job in the delicate balance of protecting the animals, yet allowing the visitors to see them. 50 years ago when Bob visited Yellowstone, for instance, the black bears were all over the cars. Now the "moocher" has been bred out of them and they are rarely seen, which is far better for the bears. As of this year hikers in the backcountry of Grand Teton now have to carry an food-aroma proof container to discourage them.

And then there's the acres of trees. 80% of pines in Yellowstone are lodgepole pines, which have 2 kinds of pinecones. One type is shed during non-forest fire years. The other needs a fire--heat of at least 130 degrees-- to open. 20 years ago the park had a terrible fire, but nature has reseeded itself with thick carpets of baby trees, far more "planted" by nature than would ever be planted by man.

Crossing the prairies, forests, deserts and mountains that we travelled comfortably by car, I was in awe of the forbidding country that faced those going west. The West represented hope and a new life to so many Americans, but to the natives who lived there for a thousand years, it also meant the death of their way of life.

The side trips were well worthwhile. To see William Clark's name etched on a pillar of rock, or the markers of where Custer, his men and the Indians fell on the Bighorn Battlefield site is something I won't forget. When I see a certain shape of hill covered in yellow prairie grass, I'll think of Fetterman and his men riding into an ambush. Or is I see a magnificent lone Buffalo sitting on a plain, I'll remember the one we saw as we hiked the same trail Chief Joseph did as his led his little band of Nez Perce Indians towards Canada in an attempt to hold onto their way of life a little longer.

Now as we gaze at the incredible peaks of the Grand Tetons and were gifted with the sighting of a couple of moose on our last day before returning to Washington State, its the culmination of the profound beauty this part of the country has. Brings me back to my childhood, living most of it within view of 14,126 foot Mount Shasta in northern California and all the summers spent in the Marble Mountain wilderness area with my Mom and Dad and brothers and sisters. Bob and I would be walking along on a pretty hike and there would be a certain smell in the pine forest which brought it all back. This was Bob's birthday gift, this trip. I turned 60 this year and consider it the best birthday gift I could ever have had as well.

More Yellowstone Enroute to the Grand Tetons

Sept. 8 & 9

Left Yellowstone on the 8th. Stopped on the way to hike part of the Nez Perce trail thru the park. In August of 1877 Chief Joseph and his band of "non-treaty" Nez Perce passed this way on their flight from the Army - the route that started in the Wallowa Valley of eastern Oregon and ended a couple of months later in northern Montana. The group entered Yellowstone thru what is now the west entrance. The area had only been designated a National Park 5 years before so it was still pretty remote. Nevertheless, one of the advance scouting parties came upon a group of tourists camping along this stream. One of the men must have said exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time, because the indians shot him, left him for dead, and took the other 4 members of this "world's worst camping trip" hostage. They were later released unharmed, but undoubtedly wrote a strongly worded letter to the Secretary of the Interior about the whole experience once they returned home.

Our hike took us along part of Nez Perce Creek for several miles. Beautiful open prairie next to the river as you can see. Felt like walking thru Jurassic Park at one point when we came across a couple of (big) buffalo bulls, one of which was just sunning himself near one of the thermal springs bubbling up along the hillside. Not the best pic but you get the idea. Trust me, the camera makes him seem a LOT further away than he looked to be when on foot.

Also have included a picture of Rita at Yellowstone Falls, a scene along the creek during the hike, and Bob acting as advance scout/bear bait along the way.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone, established in 1872, started the whole national park thing, not only here in the U.S., but all over the world Bob chose a perfect time for us to visit, after Labor Day. The summer crowds were down, the weather cool, and we lucked out with only cool winds to deal with and a little flurry of snow the first day while driving. It's actually possible to see the highlights of the park without ever leaving your car. You can have a whole adventure just doing that. You will be highly amused (well, that isn't the word Bob would use) with your fellow tourist ahead of you on the road.

This also might not be your idea of a wilderness experience: Sitting on a bench with a thousand other people waiting for Old Faithful to spew, but we did it, and as Bob says, "checked the box." It really was quite nice, although she was late by 14 minutes. Old Faithful isn't always on time, I suppose. The boiling water pits, various steam vents, and geysers are really quite something to see, and that is what most people are intrigued about. I do have an appreciation for all that activity, but for me its the wildlife I love the most.

Thousands of visitors spot wildlife every year, but I loved that it happened to us. Most of the critters are spotted without even getting out of your car. The first day, we went around a bend and saw a GRIZZLY BEAR on the bank, happily munching grass, then a buffalo walking along the road, another day an entire little herd of the majestic guys along the Yellowstone River, 4 or 5 bighorn sheep too far up to really capture on camera, and a giant elk with his entire harem (entourage of female does)!!!

And then there's the hiking. Less than 10% of the park's visitors venture into the backcountry. On this morning's hike, we didn't meet a soul, but we did see a gorgeous bald eagle, some buffalo bones and tracks, big horn sheep tracks, and bear poop!---all equally exciting to me. Then we went on an after-lunch hike to the grand canyon of the Yellowstone--really it was, with a spectacular waterfall, and stairs you could climb down (385 of them down, and then you have to come back up)--and at 8,000 feet elevation, there was a lot of heavy breathing in the woods.....

We're heading out for the Grand Tetons tomorrow, so the adventure continues.

Devils Tower, Wyoming

Sept 4th

Today we hiked around Devil's Tower--a monolith rising more than 800 feet. It is sacred to the Indians. The Kiowa have a story that explains its existence in the Black Hills of northeast Wyoming: Seven little girls and their brother were playing in the woods, the brother pretending to be a bear. Somehow, magically, he turned into one and chased his sisters who ran for their lives onto the stump of a tree which grew and grew as they climbed it. The "tree" is today's Devil's Tower. The ridges in it are the still visible bear's claw marks as he tried to reach the panicked girls. The story ends happily as the 7 sisters were taken into the heavens and became the 7 stars of the Big Dipper , or Ursa Major - the Great Bear. If you're a Spielberg fan and remember "Close Encounters", this is the place...

A few years ago we hiked around another sacred rock to the native people. Half a world away, in the outback of Australia, Ayers Rock is just as important to the aborigines there.

Critter sighting as we exited the area: a prairie dog town along the Belle Fourche River. The little guys were scampering around, some standing up and chirping to warn their buddies of another onslaught of tourists with cameras. When Lewis and Clark traveled west in the early 1800's, they succeeded in capturing one to send back to President Thomas Jefferson, and reportedly capturing one occupied an entire afternoon.

Side trip number 2: You may have heard of buffalo jumps. Usually in autumn, often out of a desperate attempt to have enough buffalo meat for the winter, the Plains Indians would sometimes drive them over cliffs or into deep depressions (this was in the days before the horse). It was out of our way a bit, but we visited one such site where bones of 15,000 buffalo (bison) have been found--and that site discovered accidentally when roadbuilders came across it while working on what was to be Interstate 90.

Northeast Wyoming is one vast grassland - beautiful vistas that just seem to go on forever.

Had dinner in the town of Sundance, near where Butch and the Wild Bunch used to hang out. The town actually gets its name from a nearby mountain, below which the plains indians once conducted their Sun Dance - a ritualistic ceremony by which the young braves cleansed themselves to their principal deity - the sun.

September 2 & 3 in Wyoming

Spent the past few days in and around Story, Wyoming (halfway between Buffalo & Sheridan - got it?). Beautiful area - saw scores of deer and antelope on the grassy plains as we drove sround the area. The deer in particular appeared to think they were immortal - not afraid of anything.
Lots of Western history took place in this area: Fort Phil Kearney was the centerpiece of a string of Army forts constructed in 1866 to guard the Bozeman trail (in direct violation of an existing treaty) and protect American miners as they made their way to the Montana gold fields (also in violation of the treaty). In December 1866 a company of cavalry under Capt. John Fetterman (who once boasted that he could "ride thru the entire Sioux nation with 80 men") departed the fort to relieve a wood-gathering party that had come under attack from some extremely inhospitable locals led by the Lakota Chief Red Cloud. Ignoring the direct orders of his Commanding Officer to stay within visual contact of the fort, he instead fell for a ruse concocted by the indians to lure him into an ambush. His 80 men were quickly surrounded by around 1500 Sioux warriors who were hiding along a river bank and even more quickly made to pay the price for Fetterman's arrogance. None of the soldiers survived.


Walking on Massacre Hill







The following summer of 1867 another wood gathering party (guess that qualified as hazardous duty back then) came under attack by 800-1000 warriors and likely would have met the same fate except that a month before they had received modern repeating rifles (Spencer Carbines) and so were able to hold off the attacking indians until a relief column arrived from the fort. It was called "The Wagon Box Fight". A year later the Army abandoned the forts along the Bozeman trail, which the Indians then unceremoniously burned to the ground. It was one of the few high points for the Plains Indians in their losing struggle against the Americans - in what became known to history as "Red Cloud's War".

Wagon Box Fight Memorial


The fort was just down the street from our mountain cabin. The Fetterman massacre site was another 3 miles away.

Side Trips Enroute to Wyoming

On Sept 2 the weather cleared so we could finally see how big the sky really is in Montana. The land was beautiful - from plains of just-harvested wheat and apricot-colored prairiy grass to stands of cottonwood trees hugging the rivers in the ravines of gently rolling hills.
Two planned side trips were well worthwhile: First was a stop at Pompy's Pillar - a limestone rock discovered by William Clark in 1806 during his return from the Pacific and named for the baby of Sacagawea - Lewis & Clarks's teenage Indian (Shoshone) guide. Clark carved his name & the date into the rock - the graffiti is the only mark the Corps of Discovery left upon the land to note their passage. BTW, Pompy is the Shoshone word for "Little Chief"...just in case you were wondering.

W Clark, July 25 1806


In SE Montana a must-see stop for us both was the Little Bighorn Battlefield, where Gen. Custer made his famous last stand - part of the Army's summer campaign against the Cheyenne and Lakota in 1876. We walked the site and drove it as well. The 7th cavalry had approx. 600 men on those hillsides, while the Indians had around 2000 warriors in the field that day. Once the dust cleared Custer and about 241 troopers with him had been annihilated. It was touching to see the markers placed where each soldier and Indian fell that day. The site is really quite well done. We
recommend it to anyone with an interest in this part of US history.

Looking towards Indian Village from Last Stand Hill

On to Glacier Park and Montana

View up the Valley in GNP
Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton

Getting caught up on this after no internet access for several days:
From Idaho we drove on to Glacier Park in Montana. Here are Rita's notes: Driving over the Rocky Mountains through the heart of Glacier National Park was stunningly beautiful. The "Going to the Sun Road" travels up the steep slope of the continental divide and over 6600 ft. Logan Pass. We stayed in the (very) rustic Rising Sun Motor Inn inside the Park - on the Eastern side of GNP. During a short hike we saw signs warning of recent grizzly bear activity in the area as well as cautions about mountain lions. There was also a notice regarding a solo hiker who had gone missing the week before - made me a little nervous but Bob was armed with his trusty bear spray, so we pressed on without incident. It snowed over night, and the weather turned generally nasty the next day, but we proceeded on to Waterton Lakes Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada...about 40 miles from our hotel in Glacier. Not much to see or do on a rainy day, but we did see lots of local critters (deer & Elk) and had lunch and a pint at the Prince of Wales Hotel.

Visit With Bob's Sister Karen in Idaho

Spent 27th thru the 30th in Bonner Springs, Idaho visiting my sister Karen. Also had a chance to see her daughter Deanna, whom we hadn't seen in around 16 years. Had a good time reminiscing about our childhoods growing up in South Gate, CA, and some of the marathon vacations we took with our parents to Texas (where our Dad's family lived) and Wisconsin (where Mom's side of the family was from). Have included a couple of photos of the place we stayed for a few days...up on the rim overlooking the Kootenai River Valley. Killer View, and had deer in the yard every Morning






Bob with Sister Karen & Niece Deanna