South Dakota to Oregon

We have not had connectivity (phone or wifi) since we left South Dakota.  It has been wonderful! 

South Dakota - Custer State Park

    We met Bob and Rochelle in Custer South Dakota and we became the new residents of Snoopy II, our travel trailer home for the next 5 weeks.  We tried to go to Jewel Cave but the power went out as we were standing in line for tickets, so I guess it was not meant to be.

    Instead we took a simple walk on the Sylvan Lakeshore Trail in Custer State Park.

 We took a branch trail, the Sunday Gulch (3.2 mi) which we now refer to as the trail from hell!  It was over huge boulders (downhill) so precarious that the park system had steel handrails on both sides to hold onto and let yourself down over the rocks.

 And it went on for a long time.  When we hit 'normal' trail, we were practically exhausted.  By the time we started back up on the return part of the loop, I was too tired, was having to stop too much, and began having leg cramps. (We had not brought water or snacks...duh!!) I stopped, and Sir Chick continued, fetched the truck, and picked me up on the nearby road.  Happily since then we have not had such difficult trails. I was quite embarrassed to not finish the hike.

Wyoming -

Devils' Tower National Monument

   We visited Devils' Tower National Monument enroute to The Grand Tetons. It is the  first declared United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, rising more than 1200 feet above the plain. There is a 1.3 mi trail around the base that is a very pleasant way to stretch your legs on a cross country drive. 

Jackson Hole/Grand Teton National Park

    Returning to the Tetons is like coming home, except we had never stayed in the southern part. We had a great RV park in the town of Wilson, outside of Jackson. Chick could just go down the road after supper and before breakfast and fish in the Snake River. The first full day, we took what we thought was a familiar hike to Swan Lake and Heron Pond, departing from the Jackson Lake/Colter Bay area. We managed to cover about 6 miles of terrain as we followed paths that seemed to reflect the map, but we never got to both lakes. Turns out the map showed the main trail on the wrong side of Heron Pond, so we were taking other trails we had not intended.  Alls well that ends well, however, and at the end of our wanderings we had ice cream at Colter Bay and celebrated the beauty of the Tetons.On the way back to the camp we stopped for Chick to fish the tailwaters of Jackson Lake, and at the Cattlebridge Access Point on the Snake River (below Mt. Moran) . Dinner was steak on the grill, salad, and portobello mushrooms.

    Day 2 at the Tetons, we explored the Death Canyon Trailhead access road on the Wilson/Moose road in the park. Beautiful! We then took the Taggart Lake Trail near the south entrance of GTNP, a 3.9 mile trail that is beautiful the entire way. We drove up to String Lake to eat our picnic lunch, and took a short after-lunch walk to Leigh Lake (1.5 mi).   We were now in the part of the park we had spent lots of time in before and found a dirt road across the plains that we had explored years ago...and had had to abandon because we had not had 4x4s.  This time it was not so wet, so we happily decided to try it again.  It led from the highway to a remote access to the Snake River, only 3.6 miles of bumps and rattles, but it took 25 minutes each way to make the trip. I got some beautiful pictures and Chick got some fish.  (We don't keep them, normally).  We ended the day's activities by taking the road to the top of Signal Mountain to once again take in the spectacular view of Jackson Hole and all the surrounding area. 

Idaho

     We headed from beautiful Jackson Hole area to Stanley, Idaho, across some of the most boring landscape we have ever experienced. We rank it right up there with Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. At Craters of the Moon National Monument we (the USA) actually celebrate the desolation with a visitor center/museum.  We did not stop.  Somewhere in the middle of nowhere was a picnic area on the side of the road, where we ate lunch. It was, near the only designated community in the area , Atomic City.  Apparently we were crossing a part of the state where the Idaho National Laboratory has been building nuclear reactors and doing studies of atomic stuff for years! Who would know? The best way to describe this part of the trip is "NOTHING".

     At last we began the uphill climb to Stanley, Idaho.  We passed through Sun Valley which is still in a very unimpressive area. The town of Hailey has the airport where we assume the rich folks fly in so they don't have to see how ugly the surrounding area is. The resorts must be really nice to make it so "famous", but they are off the road.  As we went through SUN Valley we were pounded with a severe thunderstorm and hail, that continued for miles and miles. When that final ended we found ourselves finally at the town of Stanley, Idaho, population 63....our destination.  It made up for the trip there! It is the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, in the Sawtooth Wilderness. Majestic mountains, pristine lakes, the Salmon River (where Salmon actually swim the 900 miles to spawn in the lakes here), and tiny towns full of friendly folks. 

     We explored the area around Redfish Lake south of our RV site, and Stanley Lake north of our RV site. We visited the McCoy Fly Shop for Chick, and the diner for me....cold, cold beer and big salads for supper. The next morning we took the Hell Roaring Creek Trail (3.2 mi). and had our picnic lunch at Redfish lake.  In the afternoon during another big thunderstorm with hail, we took naps, read our books, and ate supper. 

     The next day Chick cashed in his Christmas present from me,  a fishing guide, who took him out after breakfast for a full day of trout fishing on the Salmon River and the Valley River.  While he was gone, I did the laundry, took a long, long shower, indulged in a giant pancake breakfast/lunch at the cafe which is part of the RV park. (Great place by the way, laundry, showers, and coffee free! --terrific food, and really neat people!). The afternoon I went searching for pictures, and took a 4.8 mile hike departing from Stanley Lake to enjoy the forest, the magnificent Sawtooth Mountains looming above me, and to find the Lady Face Falls crashing down a crevass just off the trail.  After supper Chick drove me around to see the various spots he had been fishing. You cannot imagine how beautiful it is here, with the clear streams and the mountains above us.  

Oregon

Burns/LaPine

    Once again the set out for a long (475 mile) road trip with the destination LaPine, Oregon at the Newberry Crater National Monument. Our original plan was to break up the trip by staying overnight at Burns, Oregon, but it was only 2 pm when we got to Burns, and was only 3.5 hours more to La Pine. There was NO scenery, another boring, boring trek, so we decided to skip Burns, and see if we could get into LaPine's East Lake RV Campground a day early.  We were lucky (remember this is July 4th today!) and they could let us have one site for the night and we could move to our reserved one the next day.   We were so tired when we arrived, I don't even remember what we did, but we did not even unhook the trailer from the truck that night. We walked down to the lake, and Chick got a fishing license for Oregon just as the shop closed. The next morning he went fishing early, as he does whenever we are where he can fish. I sleep in awhile, get up and pack a lunch, and get breakfast ready for his return. After breakfast we just read our books, and I worked on my pictures awaiting our reserved site to open up.  We moved in by lunch time, and took off exploring. 
Sisters

    Our first destination was the town of Sisters just north of Bend, Oregon. It turned out to be an absolutely charming western type town. Imagine Blowing Rock made a little bigger, but with an western style. Since it is July 4th weekend, the Rodeo is underway each night, and there is a Quilt Show in process.  Watching over the town from above are the Sisters Mountains, three snow covered peaks each over 10,000 feet.  A little to the north and east are Mount Washington and Mount Jefferson, both snow covered peaks of greater than 9,000 feet.  Pretty rivers flow across the valley from the mountains and the valley is totally flat, with sagebrush, some tall ponderosa pines, and not much else. We were skeptical that we would like the town as we arrived, given the traffic (we have seen very few cars in many, many days), but are both in love with Sisters now. After exploring the town and shops, we quenched our thirst at the saloon with a local cold beer, and headed home.  

Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway

    We took the long way home, via the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, visiting yet another snow covered peak, Mt. Bachelor, which looks like it is a formidable ski area in the winter.   We passed three or four beautiful lakes on our way through the back country. The entire section of Oregon we are in is National Forest or National Wildlife Recreation areas or National Wilderness.  There are no towns, and in all possible scenic areas campsites are available on a first come first serve basis....dry camping generally.  Fishing, biking (strangely the roads are mostly flat and in the valleys) , some hiking (REAL hiking, not walking like we do), is what people do here.  The Cascade Mountains are beautiful as are the lakes they create.  Chick cooked steak on the charcoal grill, and we had steak/salad dinner, read our books, and went to bed. The temperature during the day had reached 75 degrees, 60 on the mountains, and when we awoke this morning it was 31 degrees outside!  Thank God for our heaters!.Chick is fishing this morning as I write this, and this afternoon we plan to explore the Lava Beds, Craters, etc. here around LaPine.