Russ and Rob's Travels

Continuing on our Rocky mountain journey leaving Yellowstone National Park we find ourselves in Montana for a short distance before we arrived in Idaho. “The state of many lakes and rivers” although our first stop was at Atomic City in the Arco desert where we took a tour of the National historical Landmark EBR1 where in 1951 the world’s first usable amount of electricity was generated from a novel nuclear creator.

We then passed through Craters of the Moon National Park which encompasses the largest lava field in the US on through the heart of the famous “Idaho potato’s “area. It was then across Galena Pass at an elevation of 8701ft following the mighty Salmon River known as one of the best white water rafting rivers in the world until we found a great camp site in the National Forest Campground. Again we had snow overnight and it was snowing when we left the next morning. The snow plough had been through on our upward climb clearing the road through Challis forest but he stopped at the peak as that is where the boundary finished so our downward trip was a little scary but with everything white it made for a beautiful picture. En route we passed through Stanley, which is situated at the junction of three of Idaho’s best scenic byways, a great rustic and welcoming western town. Aptly named after my dad. Old bushy through and through with three of the best off spring from it. At a roadside stop we purchased an amazing home made cherry pie which became desert for us for two nights.

Along this section of our trek we reached the lowest altitude we had in 2 weeks of our trip and also crossed the 45^th Parallel which is half way between the Equator and the North Pole.

At Lolo summit we left Idaho behind and re-entered Montana. It was time to restock and fuel in readiness for our camps in Glacier National Park so Safeway and Walmart were visited. As we followed Flathead Lake through Flathead Indian reservation we came across this amazing Museum “Miracles of America”. An amazing display of memorabilia and by far the best museum we have ever visited.

Now that we have reached Glacier National Park we have visited 4 of the 5 top rated National Parks in the USA and even though we could not drive the full “going to the sun” road as clearing of the snow had not yet been completed the beauty of what we saw within the Park certainly did not disappoint us. We entered the park from three different entry points so we could experience as much of this 100 year old parks dramatic, rugged alpine terrain, the crystal clear lakes and rushing waterfalls as possible. Our camp areas within the park were very well equipped having drinking water, restrooms with flushing toilets but no hot Showers which did not matter to us as we made use of the RV and then the disposal stations supplied and all for a very reasonable fee of $20 for the site which held both our vehicles. The spotting of another bear within 300 metres of our campsite topped off our US National Park experiences.

Our next update will not be from the US but from Canada. Catch you on the other side of the border.....

along Avalanche Trail

American Museum

Avalanche River

Mcdonald Dam at Sunset

Avalanche Trail 7.2km return walk

Cedar Creek Falls

Boys toys at American Museum

craters of the moon

deer walked past us on our walk on Avalanche trail

Disposal stations in National Park

EBR 1 Historical Landmark

Glacier National park Entrance

Salmon River

Glacier National Park

Is troopy really a muesum item

Leaving our camp site covered in snow

Many Glacier Waterfall

Drive through snow through Challis Forest

Western town of Stanley

Welcome to Idaho

Avalanche Lake at end of our Trail

RV at American Museum

View from RV after heavy snow fall overnight

View along Galman Pass

Day tour vehicles for Glacier National park

The black bear close to our campsite

Stopped on road alongside snow

On outskirts of Stanley Village

"Old Joe" at Coffee Shop in Indian Reservation

Many Glacier National Park

Lolo Summit

Wendy at Glacier National Park

The Northwest corner of Wyoming “Yellowstone National Park” – our next two days are best described as a story book of stunning mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, forests and geysers in the nations first ever National Park.

The national parks cater well for the RV traveller with regular dump points and water supplies so before leaving the camp site area we made use of these facilities. It was not too long before we entered Yellowstone National Park and had a stop at Grant Village for updated information on road conditions and closures. As the road to Old Faithful was open we continued our travels in the snow storm to the village where we enjoyed a browse in the shop biding time waiting for “Old Faithful Geyser” to do its stuff. Every 92 mins or so it puts on the display of steam, then a full burst of boiling water 135 ft into the air while a world of people like us look on. After our stint in the cold and snow we headed into the spectacular 110 year old Faithful Inn for some warmth and a magnificent hot Chocolate.

Back on the road we followed Fish Hole river, passing geysers, and bison grazing in the fields to the very well designed camping area at Madison where we spent our two nights. Being the first pleasant night in a while we took the opportunity to go for a walk along the Madison river where more Bison grazed and geese swam.

Snow fell again overnight but we woke to a glorious day that was spent exploring Yellowstone National Park. The RV stayed parked and we all piled into Troopy to travel most of the figure 8 loop road system from where we could access the parks major attractions. The colours of Yellowstone Canyon with its 308 ft drop waterfall into the base of the canyon, Norris Geyser basin, the parks oldest and hottest thermal area, and the impressive array of terraces and cascades at Mammoth Springs together with Fishing Bridge, twin lakes and the iced over waters of Yellowstone Lake made for one fantastic day. Every trail we walked lead to somewhere remarkable. Every bend we turned was breathtakingly beautiful.

Mid afternoon topped it all off.... What we had all been hoping for happened... We saw a BEAR wandering between the trees, eating the grass without a care in the world that he was being viewed and photographed by the many people from the cars that lined the sides of the roads.

As they say " Yellowstone country is a little bit like facing a gourmet buffet table laden with your all time favourite foods. With so many mouth watering choices how could you choose just a few items to put on your plate."