Day 128 - 2015-08-26
Smoke still sucks!
Calgary was thick with it this morning.
Worse than yesterday. We are
heading southwest, toward the Washington state fires, so we didn't expect for
this to improve much until we get well south.
Turns out that prediction held true, as we drove all day in thick smoke.
241 (15,412).
We headed out of Calgary on AB 2 and stopped at the little
known, but truly exceptional, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Head Smashed-In
Buffalo Jump.
Yes, this is an actual buffalo jump where thousands of
buffalo lost their lives by being driven over a 60 foot cliff. UNESCO has erected a sensational 5 story
exhibit building that leads you from the top of the jump to the bottom of the
ravine below.
The exhibits in the building explain everything from how the
jump was planned and orchestrated to how the Indians used and preserved the
buffalo. Really, quite an intriguing
experience. We had to do some searching
to find out about this place, and how to locate it. Too bad it’s not better known. It’s worth the trip to see it.
We made our way from HSIBJ through Pincher Creek, then south
on AB 6 to Waterton Lakes National Park, the Canadian component of the
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park complex. On the road into the park we got our first
view of the Prince of Wales Hotel on Waterton Lake – only our view was clouded
by the smoke.
We got our campsite with a view of the lake and then set out
on some sightseeing. We got a better
view of the hotel up close. It overlooks
the lake from a tall knoll.
We had time for some scenic drives. First up, a nice set of falls right in the
Townsite of Waterton Lakes.
Second, Cameron Lake, a 9 mile drive up a poorly maintained
two lane blacktop hung on the side of a canyon.
This was a fun drive, but I wouldn’t recommend it on a 2-wheeler – very
rough. Cameron is a gin-clear mountain
lake with a glacier at one end. If you
use your imagination, you can almost see it in the picture. Damn Smoke!
Last stop was Red Rock Canyon, a steep rocky canyon and
creek located at the end of another bad 10 miles of road – but the reward is
worth the effort. Figure for yourself how
it got its name.
On the way back to town we stopped at the Prince of Wales
Hotel and went out on the back lawn overlooking the lake. Somewhere down the lake, obscured by smoke is
the USA.
We will leave here tomorrow as the forecast is for
continuing smoke. Hope we can make our
way out of it soon.
Day 129 - 2015-08-28
The smoke up here is just awful! We drove today from Waterton Lakes NP down
the east side of Glacier NP, then turned west and skirted the south side of the
park until we arrived in Kalispell, MT.
212 (15,624). We were in smoke
all day long and visibility was limited to ¼ mile max.
The drive down the east side included 6 miles of gravel
road, water truck, and pilot car action.
We thought we were back in Alaska.
We stopped in East Glacier, MT at the Two Medicine Café for a piece of
the best huckleberry pie and vanilla ice cream known to man!
Continuing west around the bottom of the park we encountered
another pilot car delay – only this one was for the purpose of taking us
through an active forest fire zone. We
didn’t see any flames, but there were obviously a lot of hot spots on the
mountain.
We camped tonight at the Rocky Mountain “HI” RV Park and
Self Storage. Actually, it’s a pretty
nice place and has great services. After
setting up, we drove to Whitefish, MT for a look around. It’s a very well done 1905 downtown that is
now full of tourist shops and related businesses. It’s a real nice place and would be a good
base for spending some time in the park.
After touring Whitefish, we drove into downtown
Kalispell. It too is full of early
century downtown buildings and makes for a nice environment. We stopped in at the Kalispell Brewing Co for
a couple of coldies. Bettie had the
Dunkel and I had a 4 beer sampler. None
were particularly noteworthy, so we passed on seconds.
Good thing, because we made one of the best food stops of
the entire trip on the way back to camp.
The Los Caporales Mexican Restaurant.
I’m happy to report this was some of the best Mexican food of the entire
trip – maybe absence makes the taste buds grow fonder, but maybe not – this
stuff was darn good. The Double Eagle
has been seriously challenged if not bested.
The air quality today is rated as dangerous – small
particulates. We are back at camp and
staying indoors. We may be forced to
change our return trip itinerary because of the smoke. We’ll evaluate over the next couple of days
as we head south and see how things shake out.
Day 130 - 2015-08-29 - Mileage 231 (15,855)
Today looks like a bust. We got up to very dense smoke in
Kalispell. We took off south down the
west side of Flathead Lake. The road
promised great views of the lake. We got
the great viewpoints, but the lake was impossible to see – maybe an eighth mile
visibility. From what we saw, Flathead
looks to be just as spectacular as other big mountain lakes we have seen. Too bad we couldn’t enjoy it to its fullest.
Oh well, we are headed south and east, hopeful to escape the
smoke. We turned off US 93 on to I-90
East and headed toward Missoula, MT. We
got off the interstate at Drummond MT and turned south on MT 1 toward
Anaconda. This is a scenic drive
according to the map. The first several
miles made us wonder why, but it finally took us up a canyon, on a curvy road,
up and down the side of the eastern slope, over a 6,000 foot pass to Georgetown
Lake. It looked like a very nice
lakefront area – reminded me a bit of Lake LBJ the way the rolling hills
dropped into the lake – but the smoke was too thick for any pictures.
As we arrived in Anaconda, the smoke lifted a bit and we
found an interesting town from the late 1800’s.
Pretty well preserved buildings and a nice ambience. We checked into the Big Sky RV Park and
learned that there was a street festival downtown tonight.
We made our way to “Alive After 5” to check it out. There was one block of downtown that was
closed off for the party. There were
many vintage cars and hot rods on display, a not-too-bad local band, and one
booth where we were able to get a corn dog.
Not the culinary event we had hoped, but it seemed to fit the occasion.
The locals here make the clientele at our hometown Walmart
look pretty sophisticated. But, this is a superfund site (heavy metal contamination
from copper mining and smelting), so that makes sense. It really looks like the people here have
been affected by it – too bad.
The good news was that Thompson’s Bar was on the closed
block and cold beer was available. Their
motto refers to the frigidity of their beer, and their logo supports it! Now THAT’S some COLD beer.
We’ll overnight here then move southeast to Gardiner, MT –
just outside North Yellowstone. We
continue to be hopeful we will get south of the smoke, but as I write this at
8:00 PM in Anaconda, the wind has shifted from the west and smoke is much
heavier than it was earlier. We can only
hope.
Day 131 - 2015-08-30 - Mileage 187 (16,042)
Mostly a driving day today.
We left Anaconda, MT and picked up I-90 East. The smoke in Anaconda was real thick this
morning and got worse as we travelled – it became much more acrid and irritated
our throats and eyes as we drove.
Finally, around Butte, MT, we started to get clear of it. We turned south on MT 89 at Livingston which
took us through the Yellowstone River Valley.
This was some kind of scenic – and we could actually see some of the
sights. We arrived at out campsite in
Gardiner, MT just outside the north entrance to Yellowstone mid-afternoon. Thankfully, the air is mostly clear and we
were able to run a few errands and give the truck a MUCH needed wash. Tomorrow we sightsee.
I’m constantly amazed at how many RV’ers are from
Florida. At our campground in Gardiner
MT about a third of the plates are from Florida. We met couples from Weeki Wachee, Palm Harbor
and Panama City, and I had a conversation at the grocery store with a woman
from Key Biscayne. I’m not sure what
that says about anything, but I sure find it interesting.
Day 132 - 2015-08-31 - Mileage 281 (16,323)
Today we drove the Beartooth Scenic Loop. We entered Yellowstone at the North Entrance
and took the road on the east side of the park to the Northeast Entrance. From there, we were on the Beartooth Scenic
Highway, bound for Red Lodge. At Red
Lodge we circled back to the south and west and came back into the Beartooth on
the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. We are
definitely back in sightseeing mode, and this was one of the top 5 most scenic
drives of the entire trip. To our
motorcycle friends, this is a MUST DRIVE for you. You’ll see why in a minute. The road, for the most part, was good
asphalt, that took us up to 11,000 feet through more switchbacks than we could
count. And at every turn, the views were
some of the most magnificent we have seen anywhere on the entire trip.
Here’s the “Beartoooth”.
We saw falls
And, from the summit, a gorgeous mountain lake and vista
above the treeline.
Here’s the “theory” and the “practice of our driving day.
The road “up”.
The road “down”
The road “circling back”
We saw buffalo, elk and a grizzly on the trip today, but no pictures to share. Quite
an outing.
Day 133 - 2015-08-31 - Mileage 281 (16,323)
Up early this morning to get the oil changed in the
truck. Success! Many thanks to Derek and Wylie at the NAPA
Service Center in Gardiner, MT for getting me in first thing without an
appointment. Then off to Fishing Bridge
RV Campground on the southeast side of Yellowstone. We made camp by noon then drove the “lower”
loop of the park roads. This took us
through the geothermal areas, to the Yellowstone River falls, and through the
Hayden Valley, where most of the evening animal viewing is available. We scored a LOT of buffalo, some elk, and
another grizzly on the drive. The park
is a joy this time of year. The
campground is not full, we pulled into every stop and were able to get a
parking place without any problems, and the crowds, while still large, were not
oppressive like they were in Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. What a much better experience. I won’t even begin to describe the amazing
sights this park has to offer – I’ll just put up a bunch of pictures. Hope you enjoy.
Day 134 - 2015-09-01 - Mileage 141 (16,634)
On our last trip to Grand Teton NP a couple of years ago the
smoke was so dense that we never actually saw a teton. We say a shadowy outline of something on the
horizon, but to say it was a teton would have been total conjecture. So, we were thrilled to awake to a glorious
clear day today. We broke camp and drove
straight to the Signal Mountain Campground about half way down the west side of
the Grand Teton Loop Road – first come first served – so we didn’t want to waste
any time getting there. We secured one
of the few remaining sites and took off on the loop road. I couldn’t recount the many overlooks we
stopped at, or the view from each one. So,
here’s a few shots that pretty much tell the story.
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