Yellowstone

The North Entrance Gate to Yellowstone just outside of Gardiner.

Our last stop was Gardiner, MT at the north entrance to Yellowstone Park. We'd learned from some trial and error that Autumn was the best time to visit...especially after Labor Day when the crowds thin out a bit. Stayed in a rental house we'd stayed in on an earlier trip here a few years ago. Had elk grazing thru the town and just on the other side of the property fence. The owner had several plum and apple trees on the lot which were all bursting with fruit at this time of year. He was in the habit of just tossing the fruit over the fence and into the little alley that ran next to the house...which attracted the elk every afternoon. It also attracted a black bear one evening. As I was sitting in the living room of the house I heard a commotion just a few feet away and looked up to see a mature cinnamon black bear trying to scale the fence to get at the trees. We alerted the owner who walked outside, clapping his hands and generally making a lot of racket to chase the bear away - which he finally did. Guess this particular bear had been seen in and around the town of Gardiner for the previous several days searching for a free meal. Made for a little excitement for us anyway - didn't even have to go into the park for our first wildlife sighting.

We experienced some great and scenic hikes on this trip, but I must admit that Yellowstone Park really is the gold standard when it comes to tramping thru the bush. Didn't hurt that the Aspens were just starting to turn - made for some spectacular walks on crisp September mornings.

One hike was well off the beaten path into the back country near the northeast entrance. As we plopped down at a remote camp site for lunch this Mule Deer came walking out of the forest towards us. At first I thought she didn't see us, but when I cleared my throat to alert her to our presence she just glanced over at us as she ambled on by (within 20 feet) to graze in the area. 

The hike went over a ridge and then down the other side into this broad valley that you can just see ahead. Never saw another soul the whole 5 hours.

The scenery in the back country is truly spectacular here, with the added attraction of coming upon thermal features like hot springs and mud pots in out of the way locations. On this hike, which parallels Nez Perce Creek, we came upon a small herd of 8 buffalo grazing near the trail and detoured up an adjacent hill to give them plenty of space. You tend not to realize just how huge these things are until you meet up with one (or more) on foot. They're also probably the second most dangerous animals in the park (after the grizzlies), but usually only threatening if you get too close and violate their "personal space"...like maybe a tourist getting out of a car to take a close-up photo for example.

Our last hike was supposed to loop around the Beaver Ponds, located just above the Mammoth area, but we only made it about 2/3rds of the way when we happened upon a small grizzly cub skittering off the trail just ahead of us. Didn't see the sow, but didn't stick around very long looking for her either. Just wanted to get the heck out of there before the mother saw us - didn't want to risk a charge from an enraged mama bear, even with the bear spray at the ready, so we hoofed it out of the area....warning several groups of other hikers as we exited. Surprising how many of them had no bear spray - a pretty basic, and necessary, precaution on any hike in the park.

I swear, there must be a special place in hell reserved for Yellowstone drivers - or at least for the type of drivers some people become when they visit the park. First of all let me just say that I have no problem with folks driving slowly and cautiously while they enjoy the beautiful scenery and wildlife that the park has to offer. I really do understand completely, and even have been known to do the same thing on occasion.        However, if you find yourself going 20 mph in a 45 zone, with cars backed up behind you in a line stretching to oh, say, infinity, and unable to pass you on the twisting and narrow mountain roads, you may want to consider using one of the handy pullouts provided every half mile or so for just this very purpose and GET THE BLOODY HELL OUT OF THE WAY! (There, I'm feeling much better already.)

Our timing turned out to be pretty good - the weather was crisp and sunny all week until the last day when the sky opened up and the rains came. So, we packed up the car and pointed the car towards the west and home. Drove out of the deluge within a couple of hours and had smooth sailing for the drive back to Vancouver.

Today is moving day. In fact the movers are packing us out even as I write this...standing up since they've just loaded all of the tables and chairs. Plan is to head out of town this afternoon and get into Colorado Springs on Saturday or (more probably) Sunday afternoon. 

The Black Hills

After collecting Rita at the Denver Airport we headed up to Sheridan, WY for a couple of nights before continuing on to Custer, SD and the Black Hills. Drove up to Little Bighorn Battlefield NP to spend a couple of hours, then retraced our steps and visited historic Fort Kearney just south of Sheridan. Had been to both places before on previous visits but the individual sites are so evocative of western history, and represent such a significant chapter in American westward migration, that we usually stop by whenever we're in the area.

Since the drive over to Custer was a short one we opted for another side trip enroute to visit Devil's Tower, mainly to break up the drive a bit, stretch our legs with a short hike around the base of the monolith, and have lunch.

Still an impressive impressive place. Can see why Spielberg used it as the setting for Close Encounters.

The Prairie Dog village down at the base of the hill has expanded into a Prairie Dog city since our last visit a couple of years ago. The little guys are still cute, but there were signs cautioning visitors to keep their distance since it's been discovered that they can carry fleas infected with the plague virus... of all things.

When you think of all the scenic wonders that America has to offer your mind doesn't automatically turn to "South Dakota", but I think the Black Hills have to rank right up there with anything else the West has to offer. Amazing scenery, terrific hikes, and animals all over the place.

Custer State Park in the Black Hills has to be one of the prettiest in the US. Planned to do a short local hike on our first morning there, but this herd of Bison came wandering over the hill and into this meadow just as we were arriving at the trail head, which is located just the other side of this broad lawn.

Instead we hiked along one of the rivers nearby. Chanced to look up as we were proceeding along and saw this mama mountain goat with her calf looking down at us from the rocky outcrop above. One negative about the hikes here, especially along the river bottoms, was that they had the most luxuriant crop of poison ivy I've ever seen - absolutely fields of it in some places. Fortunately I recognized it from my previous encounters with poison oak in the Gorge, but I pity the casual hiker who wanders into the area unaware and unprepared (and in shorts).

Another risk encountered on hikes into the back country is the likelihood of meeting big bull bison like this one. Meeting one on foot is always guaranteed to recalibrate your startle reflex as you mentally rehearse your exit strategy should he take exception to your close proximity and start after you. While the herds tend to stick together in the meadows and open valleys, these rogue bulls are the ones that came in second in the annual competition for the females and thus are exiled into the woods for the season.

On days we rested our legs we drove around the Black Hills and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery. While Mt. Rushmore is the big tourist attraction in these parts, fact is that the granite mountains that give the Black Hills their unique character stretch over several hundred square miles, forming picturesque formation like these - the "Cathedral Spires".

We stayed near the little town of Custer in this farm house originally built in 1895 during one of the Gold Rushes that swept thru the area. Started out as a boarding house for visiting miners, and was the center of the little community of Kiddville. Some of the other outbuildings are still there (that's the assay office just to the right) but are boarded up now - we had the whole pretty little valley all to ourselves for the week. Even had deer come down in the mornings and evenings.

On one of our early morning drives to get to one of the trail heads we came upon this group (gaggle?) of wild turkeys in the middle of the road. Slowed to a stop to let them get out of harm's way only to have them start milling about and generally going in circles (gobbling the whole time) as they tried to figure out what to do. Am told that it's rare to see them, but I swear these birds were as dumb as a bag of hammers - I finally passed them slowly on the left, and in the process basically herded them off the road and back into the woods to safety.

One of our last hikes was up to a local feature called Sylvan Lake. Not a breath of wind at sunrise made for a neat mirror-effect on the lake.

Sylvan Lake was the trail head for a hike up to Harney Peak which, at 7,000 ft is the highest mountain in the Black Hills...and the highest peak east of the Rockies. Local lore has it that Gen. Custer himself made the hike up to the peak during his Black Hills expedition of 1874. I think I made it to the top a lot faster than he did and the view, as you can see, was worth the effort.

Our last day trip was to the Pine Ridge Indian reservation a couple of hours to the east - specifically to visit Wounded Knee, site the massacre of 1890 that ended the Indian Wars. The monument marks the burial pit of the hundreds of old men, women and children killed that day.

After a most enjoyable week in the Black Hills it was on to Gardiner, MT and Yellowstone.

Estes Park and RMNP

Our next stop was back in Rocky Mountain National Park for a week. Stayed in the same cozy cabin we had rented last year just outside the town of Estes Park and close to the east entrance. What an amazing place - spectacular scenery at every turn and some the prettiest (and most challenging) hiking trails you'll find anywhere.

We warmed up the first day with a nice hike that started just outside our cabin door, and which wound its way along this beautiful meadow - home to a semi-permanent herd of Elk.

Like I said - beautiful scenery at every bend of the trail. This little meadow was along the trail to Black Lake...well up in the hills at an elevation of 10,500 ft.

This is the outfall from Black Lake, and is the last thing you see before you crest just to the left of the photo and behold the lake in all its glory. I happened to be first out that morning and so had the place all to myself for an hour's worth of well deserved rest.

Looking down the valley from the outfall.

One of our lunch spots looking down on Cub Lake.

Since the upcoming move to Colorado Springs was much on our minds, we both decided that it would be a good idea to take advantage of the close proximity of Denver airport and have Rita fly home to Vancouver for a few days to interview movers for our late September pack out. So, that's what we did. She's just finalized the contract with one of the moving companies today and will be rejoining me here in Denver later tonight to continue the trip...to the Black Hills and then Yellowstone Park before we return home. Lots of peace of mind for both of us having it done - good work Rita.

Since I was on my own for the last few days in Estes Park I had a chance to channel my inner John Denver and go on some mega-hikes into the back country. Am pretty leg sore today after a long 13 miler yesterday - most of which was above 10,000 ft. - and decided to give my legs the day off while I wait for Rita's plane to arrive later tonight.

Heading for Sheridan, Wyoming tomorrow before spending a week in Custer, South Dakota in the heart of the Black Hills.

Mesa Verde, Albuquerque, and Colorado Springs

Have had a lot of things going on the past couple of weeks. Here goes with an update:

After Canyon de Chelly we continued on to another of the lesser-known National Parks (at least to us), Mesa Verde in Southwestern Colorado. Turned out to be another of those unexpectedly lucky discoveries for us - we didn't expect the park to be as terrific as it was. This area of the Southwest has a lot of old cliff dwellings dating back about 1,000 years, and Mesa Verde is the home of a high concentration of extremely well-preserved examples of the Pueblo culture. The park is just a pleasure to visit too - easy to get around on good quality park roads, lots of great scenery, plenty of parking, good hikes, and even an efficient tram system and guided tours of several of the ancient sites. Gotta return soon.

Looking down on one of the many cliff villages that dot the landscape here. It's assumed that the Indians built these sites as protection from enemies, but exactly why they were later abandoned remains a mystery.

Several of the ruins require pre-booking for a guided tour, mainly to keep the touristas (meaning us) from overrunning and possibly damaging the sites, but this one was easily accessible and, early on a pleasant summer morning, made for a nice side trip. 

These little niches were all over the place.

Then it was on to Albuquerque to visit Mike, Jennah and the grand kids. They had just arrived themselves about a week earlier from Valdosta, but had already organized the household so that there was really nothing for us to help out with. It happened that it was the first week of school for Makenna and Shane, however, so Nana and G'pa assisted in getting them to and from their new schools the first week of the term.

Off to school with Makenna on her first day of the 3rd grade.

And a nice shot of Jennah with Makenna.


After a pleasant 10 days with the family we pushed on to Colorado Springs for a few days. We had been here during last year's Great Western Tour and sort of fell in love with the place. Fact is that the idea of maybe relocating here started percolating in our minds, and now that Mike & Jennah are only a 5 hour drive away really got us thinking..

One of the features we like about the city is the fact that the Garden of the Gods park is located virtually smack in the middle of it. It's a beautiful area of red rock sandstone formations with numerous hiking and walking trails all around...and access to it is free, thanks to the gift of the land to the city by a local philanthropic family many years ago.

The city is located in a beautiful setting, with the mountains of the Front Range framing it prettily to the west. The fact that there are several military bases located here didn't hurt either. The Air Force Academy is located just north of the city and certainly must occupy one of the most dramatic settings of any campus in America.

Long story short: we started looking at apartments, condos and townhouses - casually at first as we idly entertained the idea of how nice it would be to actually live here. After looking at a number of neighborhoods and finding nothing of interest we chanced upon an ad on a website specializing in military rentals, made an appointment with the owner... and found a place that was ideal for us. So...we signed a contract and will be moving to the little townhouse below on October 1st. It's been a bit of a scramble for the past week or so trying to sort all this out while we're in the middle of a summer trip, but Rita flew back to Vancouver the other day to interview movers for a prospective pack out at the end of next month. Once everything is resolved and we've contracted for the move she'll fly back to Denver (we're in Rocky Mountain National Park at the moment), I'll collect her at the airport, and we'll continue with the trip. We're supposed to get home around Sept 16 after a week in Yellowstone, and then will have about 10 days to gear up for the big move to Colorado.

Told you there was a lot going on.

Our new townhouse in Colorado Springs. 

To The Grand Canyon

From Escalante we made the long drive back thru Bryce and then on to Northern Arizona and the Grand Canyon where we spent a few days. The crowds weren't as bad as I expected, and the weather cooperated for the most part - ie. not too hot - although the fact that we were up and about pretty early in the day (out the door by 7:30) helped a lot on both counts, and we were able to avoid the late afternoon thunderstorms too. 

Driving around southern Utah is always a treat, with one amazing vista after another opening up as you round every bend in the road. This was a pretty typical scene just driving along the highway near Bryce - not in the park but just along one of the many scenic byways in the state.

This was Rita's first trip to the Grand Canyon. I had been here years ago (actually, a lot of years ago) when I was a kid during summer vacations with my parents. I also had the opportunity to fly thru the canyon (below the rim) when I was a young Naval Aviator back in the early 70's...back when that sort of thing was legal (sort of). It's still an impressive place.

We had no sooner checked into our accommodation when we looked out the back window and saw two big bull elk grazing just across the street. They were pretty acclimated to people, and kept returning to the same area in the afternoon to feed.

The canyon really is one impressive hole in the ground...5,000 ft. at this point down to the Colorado River below. There was a nice, level rim trail that paralleled the canyon drive for about 8 miles, and which you could access via a very nice shuttle bus system that was essentially a hop on, hop service for us. It helped that we caught the bus at 7:45 one morning - no problem with crowds at that hour, although I noticed as we were walking back to the starting point that the buses were pretty stuffed with tourists by about 9:30.

Rita hanging on for dear life at one of the overlooks.

And she about passed out watching these rangers doing a practice rescue during a training exercise that we happened upon as we made our way along the rim trail.

I wanted to do some hiking, so early one morning (5:45 at the trail head to beat the heat) I set off on the Bright Angel trail. Here's a look at the start of it from the top of the rim. Wasn't too bad, and I was carrying plenty of water, but I was a bit leery about overdoing it and starting back up the trail too late in the morning - there were lots of warnings posted at the trail head about it so it was much on my mind. As it was I only walked down to the 3 mile point where they had a rest cabin erected so you could replenish your water supply and generally take a break out of the sun, which really does get intense in a hurry as you descend. Although it was only in the 60's when I departed, the forecast temp that day down at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon was a sultry 104 ...so I was taking it real easy. Interestingly, most of the people I encountered on the trail going in both directions seemed to be foreign visitors and their families. I heard smatterings of German, French, Italian, Dutch and Japanese as I passed.

After an enjoyable few days we proceeded on to a couple of the lesser-known National Parks in this part of the country - Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde. Both are elements of a rather extensive complex of ancient  Pueblo Indian settlements that stretch from northwestern Colorado to southern Utah.

Along the way from the Grand Canyon to Canyon de Chelly we stopped off at the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert National Monument. Nice place to stretch our legs and have lunch.

Canyon de Chelly really was a terrific place. Guess there are still Indian families farming and ranching the valley floor below so access is restricted, but the views from the rim were extensive.

There were pueblo-type cave dwellings dotted all around the canyon. Near this spot there was a sign board describing an encounter between the Indians and a band of Spanish Conquistadores in the early 1500's. The Spaniards chased a group of about 115 Indian men, women & children down into one of these declivities, then stood near this spot on the rim and shot them. We Americans have a lot to answer for regarding our treatment of the Indians, but at least we can take some comfort in the fact that, compared to the Spanish, we were gentle and enlightened.

After a couple of days exploring Canyon de Chelly we headed up the road a bit to Mesa Verde. As soon as I figure out what Rita did with the photos I'll update the blog.

Southern Utah

Our next stop was the scenic little town of Cedar City, Utah, which sits close to both Zion and Cedar Breaks National Parks. Plan was to do a lot of hiking in both places, but Rita sprained her ankle our last day in Great Basin so we shifted to Plan B which was to exercise the Outback on several scenic drives in the area. I did a couple of solo hikes in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion - starting at dawn so as to beat most of the heat of the day. 

Kolob Canyon is sort of the "back door" of Zion, and is located about 45 minutes from the main entrance to the park...but only 15 minutes from Cedar City. Most people tend to overlook it since it's a bit out of the way, but it's a terrific destination in its own right. My first solo excursion was early one morning - an attempt to make it to a remote feature called Kolob Arch about 7 miles into the back country. Didn't quite make it - had to turn around when the route became impassable due to a lot of debris washed down and blocking the trail thanks to a rain storm the night before, but I did find a nice place to have lunch and take a short snooze in the shade before turning around and heading back up the canyon. 

As I approached this spot on the return leg I looked over and saw a bushy black tail paralleling my route - just on the other side of the log on the left. All I could see was a tail sticking straight up in the air - couldn't see the creature it was attached to. It took a few seconds for my fatigued brain to register exactly what it was, but I finally noticed that the bushy black tail had a white stripe running down its length - Skunk! Since our paths looked like they might converge a little further along I quickly decided that the prudent course of action would be for me to retreat and give the little guy plenty of room to maneuver - didn't want to startle him and get sprayed for my trouble. So...I backed off about 10 paces and just watched him for a few seconds, at which time he reversed his course and started walking back down the trail...ie directly at me. At that point every newspaper clipping I'd ever read about rabid skunks returned from deep within my subconscious, and my concern shifted from getting sprayed to getting bit. I was imagining the article in the Salt Lake newspaper - "Rabid Skunk Bites Hiker in Zion: after doctors refused treatment because of the smell the man, aged 66 (but whom nurses all agreed looked at least 20 years younger) dies a horrible, lingering death."  Just as I was debating whether to retire back up the trail at a much quicker pace than I'd just been coming down it, the skunk finally saw me and crawled into the hollow log on the right to hide...much to my relief. After waiting a few seconds to make sure he was well inside (and wasn't about to re-emerge) I hustled on by and put as much distance between us as I could. Such was my critter encounter of the week.

Rita's ankle was still pretty swollen after a couple of days, but she was feeling well enough for a short excursion along the back roads and scenic byways of Southern Utah - of which there are plenty.

Our first stop was at Cedar Breaks National Park, located at an elevation of 10,000 ft and sort of a "mini Bryce Canyon", with colorful formations and hoodoos spread along the amphitheater below.

We continued along the scenic loop to Brian Head - a well known ski area in winter and a very pretty place to stretch our legs and have lunch.

The locals were out to meet us - several fat little marmots living in the rocks nearby.

The shelter was apparently built by the CCC back in the 1930's. The temperature on the plain below was 90+, but up here at 11,000 ft it was pretty brisk - especially with a fresh breeze blowing.


We continued the loop and returned to Cedar City via Zion - coming thru it from east to west for the first time after previously doing the drive in the other direction. Don't know if it was just our imagination but it seemed to us that the views were even more spectacular coming this way. We thought about stopping near the main entrance but the crowds were just too immense - couldn't even find a place to park - so we continued up the road a piece.

Next day we headed over to Escalante, which really is in the middle of nowhere except that it sits near the entrance of Grand Staircase National Park and Utah scenic route 12, both of which turned out to be terrific. The scenic route in particular was worth exploring at length, which we tried to do as best we could during the couple of days we were there. They had a gravel road off the main route called "Hell's Backbone" that of course we had to try with the Outback. Turned out to be not quite as bad as the name suggests. It wound about 45 miles thru some high mountain forests before re-emerging onto the paved surface of rte. 12. Had it all to ourselves. One of it's attractions was a cantilevered bridge at the top that spans the chasm between two peaks. Wanted to stop for a photo but Rita would have none of it.

Along the way to Escalante we stopped off in Bryce Canyon again (had been there last year) just to marvel at the beauty of the park drive. Surprisingly few cars on the road - guess it was still too early for the main horde of tourists. On one of our drives near Excalante we spotted the first Badger we've ever seen in the wild.

This was one of the scenic spurs off of route 12. The road snakes its way about 45 miles along this series of back-country canyons. The formations rivaled anything we've seen in Zion or Bryce but with about 1/100th of the traffic - a nice excursion on a sunny day.

Noticed on the map that there was an unpaved road cutting thru the middle of the park which looked like it might save about 60 miles of travel as a shortcut. Asked the lady in the visitor center about it and she assured me that was "usually passable" except when it was wet. Actually thought about giving it a try until I previewed it one day on one of our excursions. Looked like something out of the Aussie Outback and, since it had been raining the day before, we decided to save it for another time and take the long way (paved) around.

One of our last side trips was to Kodachrome Basin State Park, which is notable for all of the "Sand Pipes" littering the valley floor. Must have been 25 or 30 of these things, in various shapes and sizes, within the small area. For some reason Rita insisted on having her picture taken in front of all of them. Said this was her favorite. Not sure what the big deal was, but she really liked it here.

After exploring Southern Utah for a week we're headed for the Grand Canyon. Will be staying in Tusayan, AZ just outside the south entrance for a few days.