America by RV

Hiking Bowl of Fire and Fortification Hill

2012-01-18T22:36:00.001-07:00

January 18, 2012 Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Desert Bighorn Ram

One day last week we took Paul and Paula out with us to inspect one of our assigned roads as part of our volunteer assignment at Lake Mead N.R.A. They are able to go with us as they are also volunteers, however, they work for the visitor center.

We took advantage of the fact that we would be driving past The Bowl of Fire (B.O.F.) off Calville Wash Road (A.R. 94) and got in a short hike to the B.O.F.

Joyce and Paula coming across an obstacle on the way to B.O.F.

Like most of the trails in the park, the trail to B.O.F. was poorly marked and started off in a wash. We could see the Bowl in the distance and kinda just made our own way following the infrequent tracks of others who came before us.

Joyce and I in front of some red rock.

Once in or at The Bowl of Fire we had to find our way back. I climbed up to the top of some rocks to get a better vantage point and look for a trail back.

Searching for a way out!

Although I wasn't able to spot a trail from on top of the rocks, we did make it back to the truck without incident!

Yesterday, Paul and I left our lovely wives at home and decided to tackle a more challenging hike to the top of Fortification Hill on the Arizona side of the park. Previously, Paul had taken advantage of his duties in the visitor center to scour over their resource documents on hikes in the park. Unfortunately the information was limited and once again we would be forced to turn to the internet for directions.

Ultimately we got to the trail head off Kingman Wash and started off the hike trying to find our own way. We started up the wash below but later realized, that we should have been on the ridgeline to the right of the wash.

Start of the hike to the top of Fortification Hill in the distance.

Eventually, we found the ridge after the foot prints we were following in the wash disappeared! Once on the ridge the serious climbing began as we would eventually summit at 3700 ft. above sea level.

I'm usually a pretty strong climber, but I had to stop a few times on the way up to catch my breath.

As we approached the saddle, we came across a group of hikers from a local hiking club descending. It's good that we did, as we could see roughly where to go for the ascent up the rocks.

Hikers descending and crossing the saddle.

After Paul and I ascended the steep, slippery rocky saddle we caught our breath and prepared to assault the rock scramble.

From our internet research, we had learned that in November of 2008 a hiker fell to his death at this portion of the climb. A hiking club left this memorial at the site.

Memorial Rock to a fallen hiker.

Although I was forced to overcome my fear of heights, Paul and I both made it over the rock scaling ignoring the precipitous drop-off. Once on top, Paul pointed to my Jeep in the distance below.

From the top of Fortification Hill we still had another .6 miles to travel to the summit.

After reaching the summit, we signed our names in the book stashed in an ammo can at the top and enjoyed the views of Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.

A zoomed in shot of Hoover Dam and then new bridge from the summit of Fortification Hill.

After eating lunch on the summit it was time to start back down with the knowledge that we would have to scramble back down the rock scaling portion. We hiked back the .6 miles to the scramble/ scaling area and safely made it down without incident. I felt relieved that it was literally all down hill from there.

Paul taking my picture as I took his on the rocky slope.

It was a long steep hike down. It took us two and a half hours to summit and two hours to get down. It's amazing that neither of us fell on the way up or down as it was very rocky and slippery on the loose gravel. After about 7 miles round trip, we made it back to the Jeep no worse for the wear after having enjoyed a challenging hike!

Sam's Town Casino

2012-01-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

We have the next few days off. We decided to go with Paul and Paula to the theater at Sam's Town Casino located off the strip on Boulder Highway. Yea, these casinos are so big that many have huge theaters as well as restaurants. The pictures are of the casino atrium in the center of the casino taken with my Droid Razr phone.

Before the movie we visited the buffet and a few slot machines. Paul won some money!
We saw the movie, The Descendants. What a sleeper / chick flick!

Anyway we managed to kill the day! Looking forward to the Broncos vs Patriots game tomorrow.

Thanks to the reader who told me about the Droid blogger app.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.3

Droid Razor and Bald Eagle Survey

2012-01-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

January 10, 2012 Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

We've been staying busy, but I got to tell you that I've entered the smart phone world! Yesterday, I upgraded my Verizon account to include a Droid Razor, my first smart phone. Joyce has had a Droid X for the past year, but I've only had the basic phone.

So now, I have internet and text on my phone. Cool, but expensive at an additional $40 a month including texting. I've already learned that I'm able to quickly send updates and photos to our America by RV Facebook Page so, please stay with us and check out our link at the top right of this page for the America by RV Facebook page. Now if I could only learn to update the blog with my new phone...hmm.

We started the New Year out right with a hike along the North Summit Trail in the park. It gave me a good opportunity to check out the new red Osprey 30 Manta Pack that I purchased from the REI store in Las Vegas.

Bowl of Fire in the background.

Joyce

January 4th, I participated in the park's annual Bald Eagle Count along the lake and Colorado River. We set out in small groups in about 4-5 boats to survey portions of the river.

My boat crew!

It was a cool morning in the 40's as my crew and I headed up the Black Canyon towards the Hoover Dam.

Cruising up the Colorado River in Black Canyon towards the Hoover Dam.

We found a number of young eagles like the one below along our designated route. More young eagles than matures!

An Immature Bald Eagle

Of course, we also saw a number of Desert Mountain Sheep like the ram below.

Desert Bighorn

The eagles, hawks and sheep all provoked the same response from those of us in the boat which was to stop the boat and look!

The Crew stopping to admire and evaluate an Eagle

Our crew saw 15 Bald Eagles which was spectacular for me. However the best view was of the Hoover Dam and the new bridge from below on the Colorado River!

At the conclusion of the all day survey and a good 7 + hrs. on the water, the eagle count coordinator gathered up the results and pronounced:

This year's survey went well we had a total of 162 eagles (161 bald and 1unknown).

I thought the totals were amazing but apparently the numbers were down just a few from the year before. Some blamed the unseasonably warm weather we've been enjoying. Allegedly the birds like the colder weather.

Holidays at Lake Mead N.R.A.

2011-12-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Wow! It's been a while since I last posted. We've spent the last few weeks working at our volunteer job driving and checking out the back country roads. We've also managed to do a few hikes within the park with Paul and Paula and some other volunteers Laura and Sasha. One of the prettiest hikes was a 7+ mile hike in White Rock Canyon.

On a hike with Paul, Paula, Sasha, Joyce, Laura and me.

One of our work days took us back to Christmas Tree Pass. As you may recall we had been out there in the middle of a snow storm that had forced us to turn back. The drive over Christmas Tree Pass was beautiful as we entered Lake Mead N.R.A. from the BLM.

We did a short hike off North Shore Drive in Lake Mead N.R.A that gave us these beautiful views of the rugged red rock terrain. This part of the park is near the Nevada State Park, Valley of Fire.

Time has flown by! Christmas has come and gone and we look forward to the New Year. During the Christmas holiday, we left our fifth wheel in the volunteer park and drove to Mesa, Az. to visit with my Father and Karen. It was a nice drive in the truck of about 320 miles each way down highway 93 passing through the Joshua Forest. We had a very nice stay and enjoyed our time in Mesa. We also enjoyed a family get together and tamales at my cousin's home.

Christmas Day party at the home of Cousin Terry and Rick

Our supervisor, Dara has been very generous with allowing us to have time off for the holidays. It appears that most of the staff is gone for the holidays.

Las Vegas is expected to put on a spectacular fireworks display. So for New Year's Eve, Joyce and I plan to find a good overlook of the city skyline and watch the fireworks.

We hope that all of you have a safe holiday and a Happy Prosperous New Year!

4th Week Volunteering at Lake Mead N.R.A.

2011-12-03T16:15:00.001-07:00

December 5th, 2011 Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

At the start of our 4th week of volunteering at the park we began with some inclement weather. Two cold fronts pushed through. The fronts produced some rain and windy cold conditions. Joyce and I reported to our volunteer job on a rainy cold morning, ready to drive our assigned back country roads checking for disturbances, off road incursions and damaged barriers. One of the staff members suggested we change our assigned roads for the day due to potential flash floods. So on their suggestion we were assigned to drive Approved Road (AR) 20 in the park just south of Searchlight Nevada about 60 miles south of Boulder City. Driving south on Highway 95 we encountered snow along the highway as we gained elevation above 3000 ft.

Joshua Tree in the snow

After passing through Searchlight, NV on Highway 95 we turned onto a BLM road, Christmas Tree Pass Road and drove east towards the park boundary. Hmm.. the fact that the name of the road had the word Pass in it should have been a clue.

BLM road leading to Christmas Tree Pass

As we continued east towards the park boundary, the snow got thicker as we again were above 3000 ft. in elevation.

Snow in the high desert

Before long we found ourselves in an active snow storm and the road was quickly covered in snow. Because we weren't familiar with the road and the snow was making it impossible for us to look for "disturbances" let alone see the road, we decided to turn around and head back and work on some roads at lower elevations. However, it sure was beautiful to watch it snow in the desert!

Throughout the rest of the week we gave the park's Chevy 2500 Diesel a workout.

We traveled through sandy washes and over rock debris filled roads some barely wide enough to fit the truck.

The road below was particularly challenging. Although it's not real evident in the picture, the road AR 70A follows along the top of a ridge line with numerous hill tops. The truck we were driving sits high making it impossible to see the road as we came over the tops of the hills making it challenging and nerve racking as the road drops off on both sides. Often Joyce had to jump out to guide me as I couldn't see the road. Making it worse, the road was littered with eroded holes in some spots.

Highway 93 in Arizona in the distance near the Hoover Dam. AR70A follows the ridge to the left.

Driving the back country roads can be fun and challenging but it's also exhausting as we get bounced around for 6-8 hrs. each day often crawling along on rocks at less than 10 mph. On our final day of our rotation, we were assigned a road named Detrital Wash well out in the back country on the Arizona side of the park. Well, for sure it was in a wash area and the road itself was washed away. Without the GPS, Joyce and I wouldn't have been able to determine where the road was supposed to be. The sand was deep and eroded and we eventually had to turn around and just drive out the way we came in for fear of getting stuck in the sand out in the middle of nowhere.

Historic Railroad Trail

2011-12-02T18:05:00.001-07:00

December 5, 2011 Lake Mead N.R.A.

Inside the park from the Boulder City entrance and just before the fee booths at Lake Mead Recreation Area is a parking area for the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail head. It's a hike/ bike trail that follows part of the route that the railroads used to build the Hoover Dam.

Heading up to the tunnels to the left from the trail head parking lot

It's a gravel/ dirt trail that goes through 5 tunnels. It's only 3.7 miles from the trailhead to the dam parking lot.

A succession of two trails

The best thing about the trail is the beautiful views it provides of Lake Mead.

Lake Mead marina

Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail

Family hiking through railroad tunnels

Time Line & Facts

1931: Lewis Construction Company began construction under Bureau of Reclamation.
1961: Last year railroad in use.
1962: Tracks dismantled and sold for scrap.
1984: Nominated to National Register of Historic Places.
Length: 3.7 miles from trailhead to Hoover Dam Parking Garage.
One of two most difficult sections of track to construct.
Only remaining section of Hoover Dam Railroad system that is not highly disturbed or under water.
All tunnels are approximately 300 ft. in length, and 25 ft in diameter. The tunnels were oversized to fit penstock sections and large equipment being transported to Hoover Dam.
Nine steam and four gas locomotives and 71 people were used to operate the system. It was a standard-gauge, 90-pound rail construction that used Oregon fir ties.
This section was used in the motion picture "The Gauntlet" starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke for a sequence in which they were on a motorcycle being chased by an assassin in a helicopter.

Joyce emerging from one of the 5 tunnels.

From the trail head parking lot the trail would only give us about 7 miles of bike riding. I wanted to ride further so, Paul rode with me from our campground to the trail head and Joyce rode back to the campground with me from the trail head for a total of about 17 miles. Riding up to the trail head there is a long grueling 8% grade on the bike path. However, it makes for a very fast return trip!

Bike path in the park.

We enjoyed our little excursion to the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail. It seems to be a very popular stop for the locals and it sees a lot of use. It's worth the stop if you have the time and need a scenic hike or a short bike ride.

Hoover Dam

2011-11-27T14:18:00.001-07:00

November 26, 2011 Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

For the past month we've been living less than 10 miles from the Hoover Dam but until just recently had yet to pay a visit.

We started out by stopping at the parking area for the Mike O'Callaghan- Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

This bridge just opened last year and diverts traffic from actually driving on top of the Hoover Dam. It's my understanding that one of the reasons for the new 4-lane bridge was in the interest of Home Land Security.

Mike O'Callaghan, Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

From Wikipedia:

The bypass was constructed to improve safety, security, and traffic capacity. Through extensive studies, this bridge route was determined to be the best route for the bypass.

U.S. Highway 93, in conjunction with U.S. Highway 60 via Wickenburg, Arizona, is the primary highway between Phoenix, Arizona, andLas Vegas, Nevada, two cities that have seen great increases in population since the completion of the Hoover Dam. The section of U.S. 93 that approached and crossed Hoover Dam was not adequate for modern traffic needs. It was too narrow, with just one lane in each direction, it had many dangerous curves, including several hairpin turns, and it had poor lines-of-sight, especially at night.

Through highway traffic combined with sightseeing and pedestrian traffic at the dam, the traffic often came to a standstill. As a consequence of the heightened security measures following the September 11, 2001, attacks, truck traffic over the Hoover Dam was diverted south to a bridge crossing the river at Laughlin, Nevada, in an effort to safeguard the dam from hazardous spills or explosions. This disruption, however, did not eliminate the threat of a possible attack on the dam, since regular traffic still passed over it. Hence, the new bypass and the bridge are intended to improve travel times, replace the dangerous roadway, and reduce the possibility of an attack or an accident at the site of the dam.

More than 17,000 cars and trucks are using the new bridge daily, a number expected to grow by 50 percent over the next 20 years. This bridge is a key component of the proposed Interstate 11 project.

Marker on the pedestrian walk of the bridge.

From the Mike O'Callaghan- Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, the views of the Hoover Dam are spectacular.

Hoover Dam taken from Mike O'Callaghan, Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

After checking out the bridge, we drove down to Hoover Dam which is till accessible for tourists (yea, that would be us!)

Joyce on the Hoover Dam

Water intake towers

From the top of the Hoover Dam, the view is of the Mike O'Callaghan- Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

Mike O'Callaghan, Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

Joyce and Paula

Overflow release tunnel

Dam overlook from the Arizona side.

Good news for us, our friends Paul and Paula whom we have traveled with over the summer have recently secured a volunteer position here at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. So they moved into the VIP RV park near us. Paul and Paula will be working for the visitor center staff.

We've been staying busy and of course, I'm continuing to fall behind on the blog.

3rd Week of Volunteering at Lake Mead N.R.A.

2011-11-25T14:06:00.001-07:00

November 25, 2011 Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

We’ve completed our 3rd week of volunteering here at Lake Mead NRA. We’ve been averaging just over 24 hrs. a week each. Which is more than the required 16 hrs. each. The other day we drove 150 miles out one way to the Gold Butte area of the park in the Northeast quadrant. Most of the driving was interstate with about 20 miles of off-road through BLM land before reaching the park boundary.

The diesel 2500 4x4 we occasionally use.

The scenery through the BLM land was very beautiful as we climbed to an elevation of 4K ft. and the plants were more abundant. Because we would be working in a wash area we had to keep our eyes on the weather as the area is prone to flash floods.

We also saw large numbers of Joshua Trees of various sizes.

The Joshua Tree likes dry soils on plains, slopes and mesas, often growing in groves. Joshua Trees, Yucca brevifolia, grow in the Mojave Desert of southwest California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, at elevations from 2,000 to 6,000 feet.

The Joshua Tree, the largest of the yuccas, grows only in the Mojave Desert. Natural stands of this picturesque, spike-leafed evergreen grow nowhere else in the world. Its height varies from 15-40 feet with a diameter of 1-3 feet.

Originally thought to be members of the Agave (Century Plant) Family, the Joshua Tree and other yuccas have been reclassified as members of the Lily (Liliaceae) Family. Two variations of the Joshua Tree are classified as J. brevifolia var. herbertii and J. var.jaegeriana.

Joshua Trees (and most other yuccas) rely on the female Pronuba Moth (Tegeticula) for pollination. No other animal visiting the blooms transfers the pollen from one flower to another. In fact, the female Yucca Moth has evolved special organs to collect and distribute the pollen onto the surface of the flower. She lays her eggs in the flowers' ovaries, and when the larvae hatch, they feed on the yucca seeds.

Without the moth's pollination, the Joshua Tree could not reproduce, nor could the moth, whose larvae would have no seeds to eat. Although an old Joshua Trees can sprout new plants from its roots, only the seeds produced in pollinated flowers can scatter far enough to establish a new stand.

Mormon pioneers are said to have named this species "Joshua" Tree because it mimicked the Old Testament prophet Joshua waving them, with upraised arms, on toward the promised land.

Inside the park, we worked with a park employee, Kelly to re-install 4 metal barrier posts that had been pushed over by 4-wheelers violating the law to ride off-the designated (dirt) road.

Kelly and I re-installing metal posts.

We then inspected the remainder of the road, making sure it is passable, looking for abandoned vehicles etc. and restoring areas where vehicles had driven off the road by raking them out.

Getting home after 300 miles and 10 hrs. made for a long day. We’ve discovered that most of the days working this volunteer job have been long. We weren’t expecting the long hours when we accepted this job. We expected to do about 6 hrs. a day. We don’t like leaving Maggie and Rico home alone for so long. Long story short we’ve discussed the matter with our supervisor Dara and she plans to work with us and try to shorten our days. In fact since Joyce and I had already put in over 16 hrs. in our first two days this past week, Joyce took off and I worked our scheduled 3rd day with Dara which turned out to be another 9 hr. day! Part of the problem I think is that the regular staff works either a 10 hr. day shift or 12 hour shift. I feel confident though that we will be able to shorten our days as we move along.

Thanksgiving day, we had our friends, Paul and Paula over for turkey and all the trimmings. We (Joyce) made a 9.5 lb. turkey in our convection oven and Paula made a lot of the sides. We had a fabulous meal. We have much to be thankful for. We hope everyone enjoyed the holiday as much as we did.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the desert.

Catching up...

2011-11-13T10:03:00.001-07:00

November 13, 2011 Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

We moved to the Volunteer Park last Monday which is about a mile north of Lake Mead RV Village. It's a nice secluded park with currently only 5 RV volunteers and about 24 sites.

Our site 22

Our views are of a large butte out our door side and the rugged terrain out our back window.

View out the back window

We have a concrete door side slab and the rest of the site is crushed granite lined with poplar trees on a drip system. Our Verizon MiFi signal and phone reception is weak probably due to the large bluff on our west side.

We worked just over 20 hrs. last week learning how to use the large handheld GPS and navigating through the park on some of the "back country" roads. After the first day of orientation, we rode with Kelly one of the Resource Management term employees of the National Park Service (NPS). She drove us out into the park along some rough roads in a unmarked NPS GMC Sierra 4x4 extended cab truck, as we looked for "disturbances".

Joyce and Kelly plotting a "disturbance".

Disturbances are basically any vehicle tracks off the approved road, litter, barrier or sign damage. Having discovered some vehicle track "disturbances", we plotted them on the GPS and then attempted to obliterate the tracks by racking them out. Most of the ones we discovered were old or from vehicles turning around. The data is later downloaded from the GPS for various reporting indices.

The third day, I drove. Kelly again came along with Joyce and I. We did the same routine only driving on different back country roads. The driving on most of these roads is very rough and bumpy, forcing us to go very slow. It seems most of the roads we drove lead no where and dead end or take you to the edge of a bluff. The scenery on some of the roads is spectacular.

On others, not so much... picture driving on a bleak rock littered terrain with only small Creosote bushes scattered randomly about.

The two days out in the field were each in excess of 8 hrs. and perhaps a bit too long for us and our dogs Maggie and Rico back at the RV. I know Joyce didn't enjoy the long days bouncing along in the truck. Hopefully when we are out on our own we can shorten the days to an average of 6 hrs. and 3 days a week. Our obligation is for 32 hrs. a week combined between Joyce and I. This week we will continue our orientation training by riding along with our counterparts Mike and Barb whom volunteered in this position over the past two years and whom are parked next to us in the campground.

Our friends Paul and Paula are still in the park staying at Lake Mead RV Village. We've enjoyed their company on a couple of excursions to the Las Vegas Strip. On Joyce's birthday we enjoyed a buffet at the M Casino and walked through several Casinos on the strip. Last night we enjoyed a meal at a Mexican restaurant and then drove along the strip to the Fremont Street District where we enjoyed some live music and spectacular overhead (as in on the ceiling) music videos.

Fremont Street District is a "must see" when in Vegas.
We will keep you posted on our volunteer 'job' here at Lake Mead N.R.A.

On The Road: Hawthorne, Beatty, Lake Mead N.R.A.

2011-11-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

October 26-November 1, 2011. Lake Mead RV Village

We got rolling out of Dayton RV Park around 9:30. As always I had a full tank of fuel and I made sure to have my two 5 gallon diesel cans filled. Paul and Paula have a reserve 50 gallon tank in the bed of his truck. Such a tank would be handy on trips like the one we had planned. We were headed to Lake Mead National Recreation Area where Joyce and I are scheduled to volunteer beginning the week of November 7th. Paul and Paula planned to just hang out in the area for a month before separating from us and heading further south.
The plan was to just push through along Highway 95 with our first stop in Hawthorne, Nevada only about 120 miles drive on the first day. We would have liked to go further but between Hawthorne and Beatty Nevada, there just isn't much if any RV parks.

View Larger Map

The roads throughout the trip were some of the smoothest nicest roads we've experienced in our two years on the road. Not much to see out there in southwestern Nevada.

Our first overnighter was at Whiskey Flats RV Park on the north side of Hawthorne, Nevada. As we neared Hawthorne we passed a huge Army Munitions Depot that was really impressive after miles and miles of virtually nothing but a flat or rolling desert with mountains in the back ground. The weather had been mild with starting drive temps in the 40's and only reaching the 50's due to a cold front that had pushed through ahead of us.

Whiskey Flats was much larger than we expected but we got assigned sites 5 and 6 without reservations. Surprisingly the park was busy and seemed to fill quickly with travelers.

We paid about $25 with tax for our full hook-up site with WiFi next to Paul and Paula's. Both sites and I believe all if not most of the sites in Whiskey Flats are pull-throughs. The sites have a concrete pad for the Rv and gravel grounds. It was perfect for a stop-over with lots of room to walk our dogs. We both kept our trucks hitched to the fifth wheel and used our Bigfoot Levelers manually to level the rigs for the night.

The next morning we got an early start and got going around 9:00 with about 200 miles to go that day to Beatty RV Park in Beatty Nevada. Fortunately, I had called ahead as I discovered that an annual celebration "Beatty Days" was beginning that weekend. Beatty RV Park was able to get us in for just one night, (Thursday night) as they were filling up with vendors for the downtown event.

Again we paid about $25 for the overnight site and didn't unhitch. The site included full hook-ups with Wifi on gravel. However, the sites are a bit odd. Although our sites were pull throughs they were right behind each other. In other words, Paul and Paula were parked behind us facing the same direction in the picture above. Thankfully, they didn't need to unhitch and we were traveling together or they would have to back out of their site or wait for us to leave ahead of them! Also about 30 yards from the front of my truck was highway 95 making it a bit noisy but not bad. Beyond the highway was just open desert as we were a few miles north of Beatty. I saw wild donkeys on a bluff across the highway. Again it was good for an overnight stay.

The following morning, we got out ahead of Paul and Paula and filled up the truck as I had emptied my diesel cans the day before when we stopped for lunch in Tonopah, Nevada.

After filling up Paul and Paula caught up to us and we pushed on the 150 miles or so to Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Lake Mead RV Village. The drive through Las Vegas wasn't as bad as I anticipated on the Interstate. Once again, I was impressed with the smooth highways throughout this trip. After entering the manned gate for Lake Mead National Recreation Area I got our rig through with our Volunteer Pass but had to pay the $10 entrance fee for Joyce and the Jeep which was good for a week. Driving through the park towards Lake Mead RV Village the views of the lake were beautiful.

At Lake Mead RV Village we got registered without reservations. Joyce and I were assigned site 1204 and Paul and Paula took site 1103. The sites are full hookup pull-throughs with long sites and with outside views of the lake about a quarter mile away.There's a concrete patio pad and gravel everywhere else with the exception of the paved roads. Our site is in the same pull through row as Paul and Paula and we are parked ahead or behind each other in opposing positions. My truck in the picture below is actually parked in their space behind their rig. There's plenty of room in each space for our vehicles but parking my truck next to our pad provides us with some much needed extra shade as temps are in the low 80's but warmer in the sun.

The WiFi via coupon for TengoNet is virtually useless but our Verizon MiFi works well. There is also cable TV hook-up provided. The park is actually very nice but surrounded by older well kept mobile homes that I assume were here before Lake Mead National Recreation Area became a park in 1964. We paid close to $240 for 10 days at which time we expect to be moved to the Volunteer campground. Paul and Paula paid for a month.
Coyotes roam through the park at night and we can often hear them yipping and howling at each other. The park is dated in some respects and the sites aren't very level, at least ours wasn't but all in all not bad.
We will hang out here for the 10 days before beginning our volunteer assignment next week which was described to us in the following manner:

Most of the work will be in the backcountry driving along 4x4 roads, so 4x4
driving experience is necessary for this position. Lake Mead has some
rather remote, rough roads where you are not likely to encounter other
visitors. While driving you'll be looking for resource damage: off-road
tracks (any vehicle tracks: dirt bike, ATV, truck that are not along the
approved NPS road), trash, graffiti, missing barrier posts, missing signs,
damaged signs, downed cable. Depending on your ability and comfort level,
you may assist in barrier installation, graffiti removal, sign
installation, trash pickup and track obliteration. Track obliteration
usually entails raking out the tracks, but may also include plantings or
mulchings. Depending on the projects for the year, you may be involved in
planting plants, seed collection, and weed removal. You will be using
handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) units to record site location
information. My biggest concern is to make sure you are comfortable driving
along 4x4 roads in remote areas of the Park since most days you will mainly
be driving around in a 4x4 truck. This is not a pretty job, but it is an
important one for preserving Park resources.

It sounds like fun and should be interesting. As long as we are rewarded with a nice campground site we should enjoy our stay.

Dayton, Carson City,Virginia City and Lake Tahoe, Nevada

2011-10-25T22:02:00.002-07:00

October 19-25, 2011 Susanville, California to Dayton RV Park, Dayton, Nevada.

October 19 was a travel day from Susanville, Ca. to Dayton Nevada about 120 miles. We took our time getting ready as it was expected to be a short trip. If you are a regular reader, you know that we are continuing to travel with Paul and Paula. We got on the road around 11:00 with Paul and Paula leading the way. The road was good and we expected to stay on 395 through Reno and into Carson City before getting on Hwy. 50 for Dayton. However.....

View Larger Map

...Paul and Paula's gps took us on another route up route 341 also known as Geiger Grade a very steep and winding road that took us over Geiger Summit and into downtown Virginia City!

Geiger Grade is a 7 mile climb from Reno to a plateau about 3 miles north of Virginia City, NV. The earliest part of the climb is steep sometimes reaching 9-10%. The second third of the climb is not as steep at 5-6% grade. The last segment after a flat area is again at 9-10% grade. The climb ends at the Geiger summit (6,200 feet).

Of course, the descent from Virginia City down to Hwy 50 through an untold number of 25 mph hairpin turns was less than fun. After all that, we made it safely to our destination, Dayton RV Park and had a good laugh afterwards.

The workamper couple that manage Dayton RV Park were very nice and got us assigned to sites 30 and 31 which are long pull throughs. We were all interested in exploring the area so, we each paid $184 for a week.. We were initially shocked at how small this park is. Sure looks different on their web page.

What looks like grass is actually a type of astro-turf and I was surprised at how well it worked. Much better than trying to keep grass growing in the desert! The sites have full hook-ups to include very good WiFi and cable. Although the sites are narrow, the park was very clean and the residents were very cordial.

The day after arriving we drove into the Capital of Nevada, Carson City about 6 miles down the road and just explored and had lunch. Carson City has just about every major box store you can imagine.

On Saturday Joyce and Paula took a Ghost Walk tour through some of the historic homes in Carson City. (Check out Joyce's pictures on the America by RV Facebook page at the top of this blog.) Paul and I stayed at the campground and took advantage of the cheap breakfasts at the Terrible's Casino across the street.

On Sunday we took a ride in Paul's truck around Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is about 40 miles from our campground and about 130 miles round trip including driving all the way around the lake.

Boat Rental Fleet

Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of 6,225 ft (1,897 m), it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is 1,645 ft (501 m), making it the USA's second-deepest (the deepest is Crater Lake in Oregon, being 300 ft (91 m) deeper, at 1,945 ft (593 m). Additionally, Lake Tahoe is listed as the 26th largest lake by volume in the world at 122,160,280 acre·ft.

Joyce, Paula and Paul at Lake Tahoe

The lake was formed about 2 million years ago and is a part of the Lake Tahoe Basin with the modern lake being shaped during the ice ages. It is known for the clarity of its water and the panorama of surrounding mountains on all sides. The area surrounding the lake is also referred to as Lake Tahoe, or simply Tahoe.

Contrails in the sky over the blue waters of Lake Tahoe

Tahoe Queen

On Monday, October 24, we took the Jeep back up to Virginia City for some exploration. The roads in the city are very steep and the town is just full of history. We began our exploration with a walk to the local cemetery. We walked through the tourist shops on the old downtown boardwalks and explored some of the small museums and artifacts to include the Silver State National Peace Officers Museum.

View of Virginia City from the Cemetery

Virginia City is one of the oldest established communities in Nevada. Folklore indicates that the town got its name from a man named James Finney who was nicknamed "Old Virginy". Finney was credited with discovering the Comstock Lode. His real name was James Fennimore, and he had fled his home state of Virginia after killing a man.
Virginia City could be considered the "birthplace" of Mark Twain, as it was here in February 1863 that writer Samuel Clemens, then a reporter on the local Territorial Enterprise newspaper, first used his famous pen name.

Like many cities and towns in the state, Virginia City was a mining boomtown; it appeared virtually overnight as a result of the Comstock Lode silver strike of 1859.

During its peak, Virginia City had a population of over 30,000 residents and was called the richest city in America. During the 20 years following the Comstock success "about $400 million was taken out of the ground.

The current population of Virginia City is 1,000 people in the town. 4,000 live in Storey County. It has one elementary school (Hugh Gallagher Elementary School), one middle school (Virginia City Middle School) and one high school (Virginia City High School). Many locals work at the shops in town that cater to tourists, while others seek jobs in the surrounding cities.

During our stay we've seen lot's of wild horses in the hills and along the highways. This band of wild horses we discovered on the edge of town (Virginia City).
Nevada is home to most of the nation's wild horses and burros. In fiscal year 1988 the estimate was 26,160 horses and 1,318 burros. Many herds have grown significantly since then.

Okay...I just like this picture.

We really enjoyed our visit to Dayton, which is itself steeped in history as Nevada's first settlement. There is so much to see and do in this area which boasts relatively mild winters and summers. This is certainly a place that we will put on our list as a future home... when that time comes. Our week long visit just flew by and before we could get comfortable it was time to move on again.

We are all heading for Lake Mead National Recreation Area with a few overnight stops before getting there.

Joyce and I accepted volunteer jobs at Lake Mead National Recreation Area for the winter months. I'll explain more about it in a future post.

Susanville RV Park in Susanville, California

2011-10-23T19:58:00.001-07:00

October 17-18, 2011 Collier Memorial State Park, Oregon and Susanville, California.

We awoke to subfreezing temperatures. We were fine, but Paul and Paula's hose spigot had frozen overnight. We quickly got ready and hitched up for our trip into California and Susanville RV Park. A trip of about 200 miles.
As we hitched up I noted that my TST tire pressure monitor was sounding the alarm as one of my tires was reading 99 psi in the 30 degree temps. The others were 100 or 101. The norm is readings of 107 to 110 cold on our TST. Paul has the same system and tires on his rig. He reported the same pressures. We carefully pulled out of our sites avoiding the trees in the tight turns inside the state park. We got rolling down the highway taking it easy until everything warmed up to operating temperatures and our trailer tires pressurized to 110 psi and above.

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The trip south on Highway 97 took us along Klamath Lake through the city of Klamath Falls, Oregon and past views of snow covered Mt. Shasta in the distance.

On highway 139 we experienced a twisty bumpy up and down highway that often kept our speeds around 40-45 mphs. After several hours we began descending towards Eagle Lake and into the town of Susanville California. In fact, the downhill run into Susanville on Hwy. 139 was very steep and I did part of the downhill run in second gear with the exhaust brake to keep the speed down on the twisty road.

We pulled into Susanville RV Park in town and met with the friendly workamper who got us registered for $34 a night with our GoodSam discount. We were directed to sites 25 and 26. There wasn't room at the site for our Jeep so we were allowed to park it outside the office.

The sites were pull throughs in the middle of the park each providing full hook-ups including WiFi, Cable and 50 amp electric.

We were exhausted from a long day in the saddle and before long we all decided that we would spend two nights and just relax in the warm sun of the next two days. Something we had missed while in Oregon!

So the next day, the girls did laundry and some grocery shopping and Paul and I rode around Susanville on our bicycles enjoying lunch at a local Mexican restaurant.

We enjoyed our relaxing two days and made plans for our next destination: Dayton, Nevada outside Reno and near Carson City, Nevada.

Crater Lake National Park and Collier Memorial State Park

2011-10-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

October 15-16, Collier Memorial State Park Chiloquin, Oregon.

We got a late start on our travel day to Collier Memorial State Park from Casey's Riverside RV Park. However, we only had just over 100 miles to travel.

Once on the road we continued to enjoy the fall forest colors and the good relatively smooth roads. We did however unexpectedly climb over a small 5K foot pass.

Willamette Pass (5,128 ft/1,563 m) is a mountain pass crossing the crest of the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon. The pass is traversed by Oregon Route 58. The Willamette Pass Resort ski area is located at the pass.

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Our destination today was Collier Memorial State Park in Chiloquin, Oregon. This area of Oregon is relatively undeveloped and we later discovered groceries and fuel were hard to find. However, it would serve as a good base camp for a trip to Crater Lake N.P.

Upon arrival at the state park, we picked our own site and self-registered. The sites are first come first serve and in this off-season only $17 for full hook-ups including 50 amps. However, with our "extra vehicle" we had to pay an additional $5. Again, I don't think it's right to be charged more if it fits on our site. But, it is what it is. We took site B4 and Paul and Paula took B6.

We chose these two sites because we had a clear shot over the river in the back of us to the South sky for our satellite dish. There is no digital over the air television reception. All the sites are paved and back-ins with the exception of the curved pull-throughs like the one below.

We arrived on a Saturday so the park was busier than we expected for this late in the season. We were perhaps the longest rigs in the park and I had some difficulty maneuvering into my spot due to the proximity of the trees. The weather was fabulous and for a while I was tempted to put on shorts but, that quickly faded along with the sun. Paul and I explored on bikes the trail along the river behind our rigs and the logging camp museum on the park property.

The next morning, we woke to cool temps and got a late morning start for our trip to Crater Lake National Park about 40 miles away. As we drove to the park we gained altitude and the weather became cloudy, then rainy and sleeting. We used our "Volunteer Pass" and didn't have to pay the $10 entrance fee. We made a quick visit to the visitor center before continuing our drive up the steep switchbacks to the crater rim @ 7000 ft. We posed for pictures at the first turnout between rain drops. The temperature was in the upper 40's!

Joyce and I

Paula and Paul

We came across the Lodge on the Crater rim and decided to get out of the weather and enjoyed some hot chocolate next to the huge fireplace inside. The lodge actually closed for the season the next day. The weather cleared a bit as we continued our exploration. We drove 33 miles around the rim as the roads were all open. This is not always the case this time of year. In fact there was evidence of recent snow fall.

Wizard Island

Storm Clouds over Crater Lake

The Sun peaking through.

More storm clouds on the lake.

The sun finally appeared for a short while and we were able to see the famous deep blue waters of Crater Lake below.

Okay some facts about the park from Wikipedia:

Crater Lake National Park is a United States National Park located in southern Oregon, whose primary feature is Crater Lake. This National Park was established on May 22, 1902, and it is the sixth oldest National Park in the U.S. This park encompasses the Crater Lake caldera, which rests in the remains of a destroyed volcano (eventually named Mount Mazama) and the surrounding forestland and hills. This is the only National Park in Oregon.

The lake is 1,949 feet (594 m) deep at its deepest point, which makes it the deepest lake in the United States, the second deepest in North America and the ninth deepest in the world. However, when comparing its average depth of 1,148 feet (350 m) to the average depth of other deep lakes, Crater Lake becomes the deepest in the Western Hemisphere and the third deepest in the world. The impressive average depth of this volcanic lake is due to the nearly symmetrical 4,000-foot (1,200 m) deep caldera formed 7,700 years ago during the violent climactic eruptions and subsequent collapse of Mt. Mazama and the relatively moist climate that is typical of the crest of the Cascade Mountains.

The caldera rim ranges in elevation from 7,000 to 8,000 feet (2,100 to 2,400 m). The United States Geological Survey benchmarked elevation of the lake surface itself is 6,178 feet (1,883 m). This National Park encompasses 183,225 acres (286.29 sq mi; 741.49 km²). Crater Lake has no streams flowing into or out of it. All water that enters the lake is eventually lost from evaporation or subsurface seepage. The lake's water commonly has a striking blue hue, and the lake is re-filled entirely from direct precipitation in the form of snow and rain.

We enjoyed our visit to Crater Lake National Park even though the weather wasn't ideal, it did change from time to time and location around the park. We were surprised that we didn't see any wildlife as we drove around the lake. We brought our gear to do a hike in the park but the weather didn't cooperate. There weren't many visitors probably due to the late season and weather. We all felt that our one day visit was sufficient. Back home the weather was perfect and we enjoyed a relaxing evening.

The following morning on the 17th we awoke to morning temps of 29 degrees overnight. Paul and Paula's water hook-up froze overnight but we were fortunate. We got packed up and hitched up by 9:30 and hit the road after carefully pulling out of our sites. Our next destination was 200 miles away in Susanville, California.

Westfir, Oregon and Casey's Riverside RV Park

2011-10-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

October 13-14, Casey's Riverside RV Park Westfir, Oregon.

As you know we are still traveling with Paul and Paula and have been for most of the summer. Collectively, we decided that we had enough of the gloomy coastal weather. We enjoyed our visits along the beautiful Oregon coast despite the rainy weather. We decided however, to head inland towards Crater Lake National Park. But first, we would stop in Westfir, Oregon about 145 miles away.

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We took the time to stop along the coast at the overlook of another light house.

Over the side of the lookout point we heard a ruckus down below at the surf. Looking over we saw these seals.

After enjoying our break, we continued down the coast before heading east towards Eugene. The further we got from the coast the weather in general improved. Driving through Eugene was a bit challenging on the narrow busy multilane streets. However after leaving Eugene the forests revealed their fall foliage and it was a beautiful drive.

We didn't have great expectations so we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Casey's Riverside RV Park. It's a beautiful park on the Willamette River surrounded by the Willamette Forest. The sound from the rushing waters of the river was just beautiful. We were assigned pull through sites 48 and 49 facing the river.

We paid $74 dollars including tax for two nights with full hook-ups to include cable and WiFi. It was a bit more than we like to play at $37 a night with the GoodSam discount! However, the sites were beautiful as was the park.

Truly a beautiful park about 6 miles from the small town of Oakridge that has the necessary fuel and shopping amenities. After getting set up Paul and I drove into Oakridge to buy diesel fuel paying $4.05 a gallon. We also stopped at the Forest Ranger Office near the park to get information on hikes in the area.

The next day, we took the Jeep into Westfir, a very small town with minimal services. However, we were only passing through on our way to a hike driving through the covered "Office Bridge" built in 1945.

It was a beautiful day for a hike and it felt to good to be out enjoying nature as we did a hike along the North Fork of the Willamette River.

The Willamette Forest is very dense and moss grows everywhere and clings to the trees.

We got back to the Jeep after hiking 5 miles. Perhaps a bit too far considering we hadn't been hiking over the last few weeks. I know my feet were sore as my Plantar Fasciitis flared up. But you know...it kinda felt good! Later we explored some more of the town and did some grocery shopping in Oakridge.

The morning of the 15th we got hitched up and set out for a state park near Crater Lake National Park.

Exploring the Oregon Coast

2011-10-11T20:35:00.001-07:00

October 11, 2011 McKinley's Marina and RV Park Waldport, Oregon.

The weather has been miserable the last couple of days. Dealing with the wind, rain and fog makes us all yearn to head south and chase the sun.
We have made a new friend here in the park, Danine. She recently moved to Oregon and this park to begin a career with the local power company. Unfortunately she had to leave her home and husband in Arizona while they wait to sell their house and he searches for work in Oregon, unfortunate hostages to the current state of the economy and housing market.

Joyce and Danine

A couple days ago, Denine made an excellent Lasagna dish for all of us! She's a Full Time RV'er having now lived in her rig since January. However, unlike us, she doesn't have the freedom to move much. We've really enjoyed her company.
This morning the sun came out so we decided to take advantage and head to the shore to explore and take pictures. First the four of us (Paul and Paula, Joyce and I) stopped for lunch and by the time we got on the road, the clouds were beginning to roll back in.

Joyce and Paula

Seal Point

Fighting the wind at Rocky Creek

We continued north up the coast to the "World's Smallest Harbor" Depoe Bay.

Depoe Bay is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, located on U.S. Route 101 next to the Pacific Ocean. The population was 1,174 at the 2000 census, with an unofficial estimated population of 1,355 in 2007. The bay of the same name is a six-acre (24,000 m²) harbor that the city promotes as the world's smallest.

The waves were crashing against the seawall along highway 101.

Below is the actual harbor with the entrance under the Highway 101 bridge. There's a small Coast Guard contingent in the harbor. Today the harbor was closed due to rough seas (above), with no boats coming in or out through the narrow passage to the harbor.

Heading South back towards Newport, we stopped at Cape Foulweather and checked out the views.

Cape Foulweather was discoverd and named in 1778 by the famous British navigator Captain James Cook. It was at this Point that Captain Cook first sighted the mainland of North America on the Pacific Coast, and one of the sudden storms which greeted his arrival almost put an end to his historical expedition. The fierceness of the storm is reflected by the name he gave this rugged landmark - Cape Foulweather.

By the time we got home we had been thoroughly soaked at least a couple of times having been caught in sudden rain storms. Oregon and Washington have some amazingly beautiful coast lines, but I could never get used to the weather.

Camp Rilea to McKinley's Marina and RV Park, Waldport, Oregon

2011-10-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

September 6-8, 2011 McKinley's Marina and RV Park Waldport, Oregon.

We enjoyed our stay at Camp Rilea taking advantage of the great rate ($20) and free laundry. We explored the local towns of Warrenton and Seaside and sampled some of the local cuisine.
Thursday, Sept. 6 we awoke to one of the prettiest sunny days of our stay as it has rained almost everyday. The temps have been in the low 60's during the day and 50's at night. But on this day we prepared to travel about 150 miles south along Hwy 101 to Waldport a small town just south of Newport, Oregon.

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Turnout on Hwy. 101.

Rico and Maggie checking out the views

Hwy 101 is twisty and rough in many spots with some short steep climbs and descents. After driving about a third of the way we stopped at an overlook to check out the rugged coastline.

The rugged Oregon Coast in the ever present fog and mist.

Scenic Hwy 101

Just north of Newport we again stopped at a scenic turnout and checked out the shoreline views. We were lucky that our travel day was one of the very few days that it didn't rain here in the Northwest during our visit.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We soon arrived at our destination, McKinley's Marina and RV Park located on the water in Waldport, Oregon. We got checked in and had our choice of a few sites including a couple on the water's edge. However, it was breezier and cooler close to the water. Therefore, we chose a couple of sites near the center of the park. We each paid just under $200 for a week's stay with full hook-ups, strong WiFi and cable (even though we set up our satellites).

Our site: 32

The sites are designed to be buddy sites meaning we could pull in at opposing directions and thus have our doors opening towards the center of both sites. We took site 32 and Paul and Paula took site 33.

Paul and Paula's site to the left of ours.

Because of the nearly constant rain, we chose this park for the big concrete pads. Although it perhaps would have been nice to go to a scenic state park, we all thought the concrete pads would be much better for rainy conditions. We all got set up and enjoyed the rest of this rare sunny day. The RV Park is attached to a small marina and there are lots of recreational fisherman occupying the RV sites. Many are engaged in fishing for Salmon and setting crab traps for Dungeness Crabs.

The following day it rained but we drove into Newport to check out the grocery stores and to visit one of the lighthouses. Specifically the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Paul and Paula were interested in checking out this BLM location as they often advertise for volunteers. We checked out the visitor center and learned about some of the volunteer responsibilities. Perhaps not a bad volunteer job... in the summer!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

The weather wasn't cooperating as it was cold, windy and sporadically raining. However, we all managed to pose for a picture.

Joyce and I on the left next to Paula and Paul

The Oregon coastline is as beautiful as it is rugged. We will be here in Waldport for a week and if the weather gives us a little bit of cooperation, we shall get out and explore the area some more.

Travel Day Salt Creek to Warrenton, Oregon Camp Rilea

2011-09-30T11:40:00.002-07:00

Sept. 27, 2011. Port Angeles, Wa. to Warrenton, Or.

We woke to cloudy skies and threatening rain. We had extended one day (last night) here at Salt Creek Recreation Area in hopes of avoiding rain. It didn't look like avoiding the rain today was likely. In fact, after getting hitched up the rain started. We both moved over to the dump station to drain our tanks as the rain fell in earnest. I generally make it a rule to not to drive in the rain for a couple of reasons. A. It's more dangerous. B. It makes a mess of everything. However, we were already committed and the chances of avoiding rain west of the Cascades in the State of Washington for the next several days was almost non-existent.
Today we were pushing south on Hwy 101 for about 242 miles through Washington and into Oregon. We finished dumping and were on the road by 9:30. The hope was to move to an area with a better short term forecast.

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Highway 101 along the West coast of Washington is a very hilly winding two-lane highway heavily traveled by speeding monster log trucks. The highway travels through dense forests passing through just a few very small towns. It's rare to actually get a glimpse of the coast but, Paul leading the way, managed to find a turnout with a view for a quick break.

Rough Surf.

Lighthouse on the island in the distance.

The off and on rain finally relented as we approached the Oregon state line. After several hours @3:30 we finally made it into the outskirts of Astoria, Oregon. Our destination was Camp Rilea in Warrenton, Oregon along the West Coast.

Entering Astoria, Oregon.

We quickly got checked in and set up in sites 1 and 2 at the end of the RV lot. There were only two other RVs at the far end.

Paul and Paula's rig in site 1, ours in site 2.

Camp Rilea is a beautifully maintained National Guard and Armed Forces Training Center. It's only available to active duty and retired military. However, we were allowed to use the facility as a guest of Paul who retired from the Coast Guard.

From atop the berm behind our rigs, we could see this small herd of elk. I couldn't get all of them into the frame of this picture. The elk wander around and have been seen in the fields in front of the rigs after dark.

The Camp Rilea RV facilities are basically a blacktop parking lot with full 50 amp hook-ups to include 50 plus channels of cable. There is no WiFi. A very nice bathroom and bath house facility is centered in the 10 site lot.

We are schedule to stay till October 6th and paid $20 per night. The day after arriving we took it easy and washed the rig, truck and Jeep. Like I said, driving in the rain sure makes a mess of everything. We will use the location to explore portions of the coast and the surrounding areas.

Port Angeles, Wa. Salt Creek Rec. Area

2011-09-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

September 19-26, 2011, Olympia Washington to Port Angeles.

I've fallen behind on the blog due to a lack of internet/ data service this past week, so in the interest of catching up, I'm combining several days into this one blog post:

We got up early at American Heritage Campground with the hope of getting an early start for Port Angeles. Paul and I got started with hosing off the top of our fifth wheels as the roof and slides were covered with wet pine needles. Of course that made a mess on the ground turning the already saturated ground to mud.
I wanted to make note that while in Olympia, I had the truck serviced at almost 20K miles to include an oil change, fuel filter change and changing the fluid in the two differentials.

After our delayed start, we got rolling up Highway 101 past some beautiful scenery towards Port Angeles.

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Paul and Paula pulling their rig along the east cost of the Olympic Pennisula

After a few hours of driving on highway 101 we made it to Salt Creek Recreation Area just west of Port Angeles. This county park is right on the coast offering 50 amp electric and water sites ans well as primitive sites. There is a dump station. During the season, reservations are recommended. Paul and Paula took site 34 and we took site 36, both pull throughs. The sites are a bit close but we weren't expecting anyone in site 35 till Friday so we had some "extra room". We soon discovered after setting up that our phones were roaming and we were getting a message warning of international data rates. Apparently we were picking up the tower on the Canadian coast across the Strait of Juan De Fuca.

Site 36

We ended up shutting off our phones and MIFI to avoid international data charges at $2 a minute! We discovered later that local phone service for our Verizon phones was available at other spots within the park.

Coast line 30 yds from the front of our rig.

Steep cliffs on the shoreline

We each paid $25 a night for a site, but we also paid an additional $5 a night for our "extra vehicle" that fit in our site. The set-up is designed for self-pay with a print-out that indicates which sites are reserved or available. We picked our own sites. We stayed for 8 nights after extending a day because of rainy weather.

Speaking of rain, as you could guess, its a pretty common occurrence in this part of the country! It rained off and on for most of our stay but the temps were moderate with lows in the 50's and highs in the 60-70's.

The ever present fog.

The Strait of Juan De Fuca is part of the "Whale Trail" and whales and other marine life according to literature is often spotted in the marine sanctuary. We didn't see anything but ships, birds and kelp.

Tongue Point view of a small island.

Just a few miles from Salt Creek is the small town of Joyce. Well of course, Joyce had to pay a visit.

We did some sightseeing to include a trip with Paul and Paula to Port Townsend and this light house located within Fort Worden State Park.

Port Townsend downtown.

Paul, Paula and Joyce in Port Townsend

Of course, no trip to the Olympic Peninsula would be complete without a visit to Olympic National Park. We cruised by Crescent Lake inside the park, a beautiful long deep water lake.

On Saturday, we paid a trip to Hurricane Ridge inside Olympic Park to check out the visitor center. It was very windy on the ridge, thus the name...Hurricane.

Mt. Olympus just left of center.

We did a short 2 mile hike along the ridges near the visitor center. It was a beautiful but windy day for a short hike.

Puget Sound in the distance

Olympic National Park is very large with diverse ecosystems to include a rain forest. The forests in this area are so incredibly dense with foliage and trees that it's actually dark under the forest canopy. Trees literally have moss growing on their trunks and limbs. Beautifully damp and dark, perfect for Vampires and Werewolves.... Okay, we did take a day to go visit Forks, Washington, the fictional home for the characters in the Twilight books and movie series. You'll need to check out the Facebook link on the top of this page for the America By RV page to see some more pictures of Forks that Joyce posted.

And on another note: While staying at Salt Creek Recreation Area, we had the Jeep serviced in Port Angeles at just under 20K miles to include an oil change, PCM update, differential fluid changes and tire rotation.

Our next move should put us in Oregon!

2011-09-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

September 14, 2011, Wenatchee, Wa. to Olympia Wa.

We enjoyed our stay in Wenatchee, impressed by the fact that it was a much larger city than we expected. I guess they can thank the railroad for their growth. Remember, the railroad moved from Leavenworth to Wenatchee. Leavenworth almost died yet Wenatchee grew. We were able to find a Target and buy a replacement Emerson countertop ice maker.
We got an early start with calm warm weather. Paul and Paula took the lead. We had just under 200 miles to travel this day.

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As we approached The Greater Seattle Area, we noticed the low clouds covering the Cascade Mountain tops. It looked ominous and dreary.

We arrived at American Heritage Campground by early afternoon and got checked in. The campground is set in a forest setting with paved roads but dirt sites.

Site 41

We each selected sites near each other but with plenty of foliage between the sites. The temps were in the low 60's as we set up. The owner of the campground said it had been in the low 90's just last week.

View down the road in front of our rig.

The sites have full hook-ups but only 30 amps and a weak 30 amps at that. There was no WiFi in the campground. Fortunately there was no need to run the air-conditioners as the temps were very moderate during our stay i.e. 60's for highs and 50's for lows. We paid for 5 days at about $34 a day with tax. The forest setting was absolutely beautiful with plenty of places to walk the dogs. However, the last 3 days we were there it misted and rained causing the falling pine needles to stick to everything they touched. The ground also became wet and muddy.

Paul and Paula's site 43

During our stay we made a short visit into downtown Seattle by the waterfront. I should mention that to get anywhere in the Greater Seattle Area you had to travel on I-5 and that was absolutely no fun as it always seemed to be congested. Driving around Greater Seattle made us long to get away from the big city.

The downtown waterfront was a beautiful but noisy as road traffic from the elevated roadways was often deafening. We found parking under the elevated highway @ $6 for 1.5 hrs.

The city skyline is beautiful in its own urban concrete way. We enjoyed some expensive fish'n'chips and then walked around a bit checking out the urban market downtown.

After a few hours we were all ready to escape the city realizing that rush hour was soon approaching.

Paula and Paul

We got to the Jeep and out of the parking lot by 3:00 but still got caught up in traffic. In fact it took almost 3 hrs. to get home as traffic on the interstate was frequently backing up.

We enjoyed our visit to Seattle, brief as it was. Nice place to visit but I'm glad I don't have to put up with the traffic.

Our next stop will be in the Olympic Peninsula.

Wenatchee River Co. Park and Leavenworth, Wa.

2011-09-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

September, 12, 2011 Wallace Idaho to Wenatchee River Co. Park.

We got going by 9:00 having enjoyed our short stay in the historic town of Wallace Idaho. We had just over 250 miles to travel to Wenatchee River Co. Park (WRCP) in Monitor Washington. This would be another stop on our way to the Washington coast with Paul and Paula.
The drive through eastern Washington was less than scenic with miles and miles of rolling grass/ straw plains and very few services along I-90. The temps were expected to be in the mid 90's when we arrived.

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We made it to our destination without incident after driving over 250 miles. WRCP is a county owned and operated park. It's actually a beautiful park with well maintained grassy grounds and huge shade trees. We were assigned two sites that back up to the Wenatchee River. We quickly got set up in loop A sites 8-9. We paid $30 per night but could only stay for two nights as the park is booked after that for a rally.

The park has about 4 circular loops surrounded by sites that radiate from the circles. All the sites a very roomy and paved. However, we had to pay $5 extra for our Jeep and park it in overflow parking.

The amenities include 50 amps with full hook-ups and very good Wi-Fi. Directly behind our rigs is the Wenatchee River with a small path leading to the water's edge.

The day after getting set up, we made a short trip of about 16 miles to the town of Leavenworth, Wa. Once a rail road town, that supported the small timber community, the town started to decline in the 1920's when the railroad moved their lines to Wenatchee. The town struggled to survive until the 1960s when the town decided to transform itself into a Bavarian style community which became a tourist attraction.

We explored the town on foot wandering into several of the small shops. The attention to detail in the buildings is spectacular. We stopped for lunch in one of the many german restaurants. Not particularly, my favorite fare.

Walking around and shopping in tourist shops is not really my thing. But, it killed the day and a hot day at that with temps in the low 90's. By early afternoon we were ready to head home but not before stopping at a fruit and vegetable stand on the way home. We picked up some fresh fruit and apples that are grown locally in the orchards throughout this area of Washington.

The following day we are headed for the Greater Seattle area.

The Route Of The Hiawatha, Bike Trail

2011-09-17T11:35:00.001-07:00

September 10, 2011 Wallace RV Park, Wallace ID.

In our former working/ career lives, we considered ourselves avid cyclists. I was a "roadie" or road cyclists and participated in club rides and organized rides on a regular basis putting in over a hundred miles each week and sometime more just on a weekend. Joyce and I had also owned two tandem road bikes at different times again participating in rides with the club that I helped to found and organize, The Suncoast Cycling Club. Moreover, I trained and supervised a bicycle unit during my law enforcement career.

The point is that cycling has been a major part of my life since I was a kid. So, when another couple told me about the The Route of the Hiawatha, Bike Trail, I just knew we had to try and make arrangements to do it. We had met Jeanie and Eldy, the RV couple that told us about the trail, while staying in Missoula. Jeanie also does a blog,Where's Eldo and did a wonderful entry on the trail. Located on the Montana Idaho border we actually passed it on the way to Wallace. Thankfully Paul and Paula were also enthusiastic about doing the trail.
Today we prepared the bicycles and attached lights for our bike ride on the The Route of the Hiawatha, Bike Trail. Bike lights and helmets are required to ride the trail. In addition you have to pay $9 each for the privilege of riding and an additional $9 each if you want a bus ride back to the top. You see it's a gradual descent for the entire 15-16 miles.
We loaded up the bikes on Paul's truck as he has a hitch receiver on the front and rear of his truck. We joked that his truck was about 30 ft. long with all the bikes attached making it even more challenging to park.

We got on to Interstate 90 and then off at exit 5 for Taft and then followed the brown signs for the Hiawatha Trail down a dirt road. We found the dirt parking lot which was filling rapidly (Saturday) and unloaded our bikes. At the trail head we paid the attendants who then gave us a safety briefing reminding us that the first tunnel is 1.7 miles long, dark and cold at about a constant 42 degrees.

Lights, Helmet, sunglasses off...check!

He made sure we had lights and reminded us to remove our sunglasses before entering the dark tunnels. We soon got underway and were shocked by the cold tunnel even though we were warned before hand!

The 10 tunnels and 7 high trestles were once used by the Milwaukee Railroad so this has become the ultimate Rails to Trails. However, the path is not paved it's all dirt and not smooth dirt except for inside the tunnels.

We soon discovered just how "not smooth" the trail really is as it was a long jarring 15-16 miles even on All Terrain Bikes. But the views and the cool often cold tunnels made it even more interesting. Throughout the route are signs and stanchions explaining bits of history of the rail and the 1910 forest fires that devastated the area.

Paula and Paul

By the time we arrived at the bottom of the ride we were done with the jarring ride and had to make sure we hadn't jarred any fillings loose!

We had once entertained the idea of riding back up the hill to the beginning but one-way over washboard roads is enough for most folks! We took the shuttle buses back. The buses were converted school buses with hooks in the back for 24 bikes and seats for 24 passengers.

The buses climbed up narrow dirt roads before depositing us at the other end of the Taft Tunnel ensuring that we had to ride back through the 1.7 mile cold dark tunnel to the start. Actually the cold tunnel felt good on the way back for at least the first mile!
We had a great time and were glad that we had done it!

Our plans are to continue heading west towards the coast of Washington.

Wallace RV Park in Wallace, Idaho and The Hiawatha Bike Trail

2011-09-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

September, 9, 2011.
Okay, here I go again trying to catch up on the blog...

We got an early start and traveled to Wallace Idaho. The first leg of the Journey consisted of mostly two lane roads including pulling the rig through the historic downtown portion of Kalispell, a beautiful town that I wish we had explored. The route was both beautiful and hilly. The portion of interstate 90 from St. Regis was some of the worst in terms of a rough ride that we've traveled.

View Larger Map

After about 180 miles, we arrived in the town of Wallace Idaho and found Wallace RV Park, a small park practically in town but, just on the north side of the elevated interstate. The noise from the interstate wasn't noticeable.

It was warm close to 90 when we arrived. We got set up quickly but didn't run the A/C. The park is in a valley surrounded by tall pine trees. Others told us that we would have full shade by 4:30 and so it was. After setting up, we discovered that our two year old Emerson countertop ice maker refused to do anything but rattle and had bit the dust. I took it apart and determined to the best of my ability that the small compressor was toast as it rattled quite a bit. We will have to find a replacement because we really get a lot of use out of it.
The campground was nice but very tight. We talked to the owner at length who was very friendly. He purchased the park and a building on the south end of the park about a year and a half ago. He really wanted the building and the RV park just happened to come with it. He renovated the 100 plus year old former railroad depot building into a brewery, bar and soon a restaurant. The atmosphere inside now is that of a bar but they allow dogs to actually go inside. Somewhat interesting!

Wallace RV Park Bar with elevated interstate in the background.

The campground like I said is very tight and not very deep. I wouldn't consider it big rig friendly but more like big rig maybe, depending on how crowded they are as maneuvering could be very difficult. We literally had only a couple of extra feet from Paul and Paula's open slide with our awning open. However, each site has a patch of grass and we were backed up to a boisterous little babbling creek. There is no WiFi at the sites but supposedly available inside the bar (we didn't try it). The sites are all only 30 amp with sewer hook-ups. The temps during our stay were just right with lows in the 50's and highs in the mid to upper 80's but only for a couple of hours till we were blanketed in shade from the surrounding hills and forest. Our sites didn't feel the morning sun till about 10:30.

Our tight site next to Paul and Paula backed up to a creek.

We were so close to town that one morning Paul and I walked into Wallace and eventually around several blocks of the historic downtown area in search of a place for breakfast. We found a quaint little diner, Red Light Garage. There's also a small but reasonable grocery store in town. The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, a paved bike trail runs along the south border of the park just under the raised interstate.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Wallace RV Park and would probably return if we came through the area. Our purpose for stopping this time around was to ride The Route Of The Hiawatha Bike Trail.

Glacier N.P. Going To The Sun Road

2011-09-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

September 7-8, 2011 North American RV Park, Coram, Montana.

Okay, so I promised some photos of the Going To The Sun Road, the only East-West or vice versa road that traverses across Glacier N.P. While crossing Glacier N. P. it goes over Logan Pass and the Continental Divide. Going To The Sun Road travels 52 miles across the park.
One of the most amazing highlights of Glacier National Park is a drive on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. This engineering marvel spans 50 miles through the park's wild interior, winding around mountainsides and treating visitors to some of the best sights in northwest Montana.

Beginning the Climb to Logan Pass from the West.

Now I had done some research and read many blogs regarding the Going To The Sun Road and many lamented about how narrow and dangerous the road is. Some suggested only traveling from the East to the West so that you are on the mountain side of the road as opposed to the drop off side.

West side tunnel.

Yea it is narrow in some spots and vehicles over 21 feet and over 8 ft. wide are not permitted on the road when it starts climbing over the pass. However, those dimensions are smaller than most modern dually pick-ups and we saw just a few on the road. Allegedly the fines are substantial if an incident arises and your vehicle is outside of the restricted dimensions.

Although narrow and curvy the road was not as bad or scary as I had expected at all. In fact we've been over more dangerous roads and passes in Colorado.

Red Bus (Jammer)

The road is one of the most difficult roads in North America to snowplow in the spring. Up to 80 feet (24 m) of snow can lie on top of Logan Pass, and more just east of the pass where the deepest snowfield has long been referred to as Big Drift. The road takes about ten weeks to plow, even with equipment that can move 4000 tons of snow in an hour. The snowplow crew can clear as little as 500 feet (150 m) of the road per day. On the east side of the continental divide, there are few guardrails due to heavy snows and the resultant late winter avalanches that have repeatedly destroyed every protective barrier ever constructed. The road is generally open from early June to mid October, with its latest ever opening on 13 July (in 2011).

Love this part of the road with the lush garden wall!

Going To The Sun Road is in the 5th year of a 10 year reconstruction project. The road is frequently damaged by snow and avalanches. It was originally opened in 1932.

Be aware of construction.

Narrow blind curves.

One of the most expensive portions of the road.

Cinematic appearances

This road is shown in the opening credits of the 1980 film The Shining, as Jack Torrance's Volkswagen glides past Saint Mary Lake and up the road, underneath a small tunnel and onward, presumably going to the Overlook Hotel for his job interview as a caretaker. In 1982, leftover aerial shots from this footage were used for the closing moments of the original cut of the film Blade Runner.

This road is also seen briefly in the film Forrest Gump. As Forrest reminisces with Jenny, he remembers running across the U.S. and remarks, "Like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny.

Stopped for a few minutes for construction crews.

"Jammer" passengers taking advantage of the construction delay.

West Bound towards Logan Pass water falling down the cliff into the road.

Water fall from above over the road.

West Bound descending Logan Pass in construction delays.

Paul and Paula

We did take the opportunity to travel over Logan Pass to the East side of Glacier and the East side of the Continental Divide.

Joyce and I in front of St. Mary's Lake and Goose Island.

After descending Logan Pass into East Glacier the land looks like rolling grass prairies.

East side of Logan Pass on Going To The Sun Road.

We drove through the East side towards St. Mary where we left the park and got on Highway 89 heading north. We then traveled west again entering the park at Many Glacier.

At the end of the road in Many Glacier is a small restaurant. Behind the restaurant is a large mountain. We could just make out four brown specks about a mile away on the side of the mountain. Closer examination revealed a mother Grizzly and two cubs and a second mature Grizzly. Park Service employees soon emerged in the parking lot with a large spotting scope that confirmed that what we were seeing were Grizzlies apparently feeding on berries. I took several photos that after magnification are very grainy.

Four Grizzlies on the side of a mountain.

We were glad we had the opportunity to drive over to the East side of Glacier N. P. and to visit Many Glacier. Although we did finally get to see some Grizzlies, we were glad and yet disappointed that they were so far away!

In our opinion the West side of Glacier is more appealing but, it's all very beautiful.

Round trip we drove 160 miles that day and were gone over 8 hours. I think it took 2.5 hours to drive the 52 miles one way across the park and Logan Pass to St. Mary.

Hiking The Highline Trail in Glacier National Park

2011-09-07T23:43:00.000-07:00

September 6, 2011, North American RV Park Coram, Montana.

We did some research on the hikes in Glacier National Park as we were looking for something with some moderate distance, low traffic and great views. Our research lead us to The Highline Trail which begins outside of the visitor center at Logan Pass on Road To The Sun. The day of our hike was the day after Labor Day and some of the park amenities were now closed or shutting down to include the park shuttles. So we drove to the top of the pass in the Jeep taking some beautiful pictures on the Road To The Sun however, I'll save those pictures for a later blog as this blog will be bloated enough with pics!
We got an early start leaving our RV park with Paul and Paula at 8:30 a.m. However, it took us almost two hours to get to the pass so we started our hike around 10:30.

Joyce and I (I'm carrying a large camera bag)

Starting on the trail across the street from the visitor center.

The Highline Trail is one of the premiere hiking trails in Glacier National Park.
The Highline Trail begins at Logan Pass on the Going to the Sun Road and
then runs north, following the Continental Divide in the process.

About a quarter mile from the start, the trail began to narrow and we had to traverse some narrow ledges with steep drop offs down to the Road To The Sun.

Not suitable for those with a fear of heights!

More of the trail and the overlooks.

The trail follows the Garden Wall which seems to have gotten it's name from the lush vegetation and flowers that seem to grow out of the rock.

One of Glacier National Parks more prominent features, the Garden Wall, is an arête separating the Lake McDonald Valley from the Many Glacier Valley.

An arête (French for fish-bone) forms when two glaciers work on opposite sides of the same wall, leaving a long narrow ridge.

High above the Road To The Sun

The first half of the hike was in the shade of the mountain making it nice and cool at about 50 degrees at the start. However, as time marched on we all shed some layers particularly when the hike entered the sunny slopes.

(Paul) We all did a lot of this....

...and this (taking pictures).

We came across this Ram near the trail and I climbed some rocks for a better look and photos. Fearful that the bold Ram would attack, the girls fled down the trail (with our bear spray...LOL). We had seen some other Rams further up the mountain but none this close.

Rocky Mountain bighorns inhabit the mountains from Canada south to New Mexico. They are relatives of goats, and have balance-aiding split hooves and rough hoof bottoms for natural grip. These attributes, along with keen vision, help them move easily about rocky, rugged mountain terrain.

Wild sheep live in social groups, but rams and ewes typically meet only to mate. Rams live in bachelor groups and females live in herds with other females and their young rams. When fall mating arrives, rams gather in larger groups and ram fighting escalates. Usually only stronger, older rams (with bigger horns) are able to mate.

Joyce and Paula were getting tired and were ready to turn around. So they stopped to rest as Paul and I continued on for another 1/4 mile or so determined to get to a snow bank on the side of Haystack Butte.

Resting on a snow bank

Heading back we had to again walk along the Garden Wall cliff ledge. It looked like we were on top of the world. Again not for the faint of heart!

Portions of the cliff ledge have a garden hose covered steel cable attached to the cliff wall for those needing some support.

Joyce

Paula

Before getting back to the parking lot we came across some more sheep to include this large Ram that poked his head out of the forest.

Rocky Mountain Bighorn

We had walked at least 7 miles on this hike and enjoyed every step. We all agreed this had been one of the most beautiful hikes any of us had done. Pictures just don't do it justice and can't begin to capture the beautiful smells, cool drafts and cold waterfalls that we encountered. Thoughout the trail we encountered small ground squirrels and at least one Marmoset. Another hiker described seeing a Badger or Wolverine. We had hoped to see some wildlife and we weren't disappointed. The views were literally breathtaking. After several hours of hiking we were ready to get back to the Jeep. The nearly two hour ride home was pretty quiet after descending the pass as we were all tired!

The Highline Trail can be followed to a chalet and then down hill for 4 miles to another point on the Going To The Sun Road for a total of 11 miles. If the shuttles were running one could then take the shuttle back to their vehicle. However, 7 miles was enough for us and catching a shuttle back wasn't an option as they closed down on Labor Day. It seems that much of the park's services would be closing or severely cutting back over the next few weeks as they prepare for their fall/ winter seasons.

Glacier National Park and The Red Bus

2011-09-06T21:42:00.001-07:00

September 3-5, 2011 North American RV Park, Coram, Montana.

The last few days have been busy and again I've fallen behind on the blog. The day after arriving we made our first trip into Glacier National Park via the West entrance which is only about 5 miles from North American RV Park.

Paul, Paula, Joyce and I

On our first visit, we entered the park and stopped at the Apgar Visitor center which is really quite small. We picked up some maps and decided that we would treat ourselves later to a Red Bus Tour. So, we made a reservation for Labor Day on a 4 hour trip at $50 each. But, more on that later.
After making the reservation we decided to explore the park. We didn't want to take the scenic Going To The Sun Road as that would be our Red Bus Tour route. So we discovered the only off-road open to the public, the Inside North Fork Road which would take us by some of the lakes on the West side of the park. Apparently the road had just been opened last week according to a park employee.

Inside North Fork Road

The Inside North Fork Road is a narrow gravel and dirt road that travels north through the forests some of which had burned in a fire a few years ago. We traveled on this road for about 30 miles.

The Inside North Fork Road is the park’s oldest, built in 1901 when oil was struck near Kintla Lake. The Inside North Fork Road is a 28-mile narrow, bumpy, gravel road between Fish Creek and Polebridge, providing access to some of the park’s most pristine wilderness areas.

Recreational, towed, and low clearance vehicles are strongly discouraged from traveling this road. In ideal conditions, about two hours are needed to travel the whole road. Visitors may encounter downed trees, and therefore should have a hand saw or ax with them. Drivers should also use caution on blind curves and watch for oncoming vehicle and bike traffic on the narrow winding road.

Flathead River

After a bumpy dusty trip in the Jeep, we left the park and made it to the very small town of Polebridge and found the Mercantile/ Bakery shop that folks in the park had raved about. We enjoyed some sandwiches and pastries before moving on.

Polebridge Mercantile and Cabins. Open year-round. This unique outpost is located on the Inner North Fork Road, en route to the remote lakes of northwest Glacier National Park. Polebridge is located just outside of the park. The historic mercantile offers groceries and supplies, as well as fresh ground coffee and a variety of home-baked treats. Very inexpensive and very rustic "camper cabins" are offered with propane stoves and refrigerators, wood heating, and propane lights. Good way to access very beautiful and lightly traveled part of the park.

Back onto the bumpy dusty road and back through the remote park entrance gate and we traveled another 6 miles to Bowman Lake. We had thought that there wouldn't be many if any people at the lake but much to our surprise, the two or three parking lots were full and there was lots of activity around the lake.

Bowman Lake

Polebridge & North Fork of Flathead River

The remote northwest corner of Glacier National Park, the area drained by the North Fork of the Flathead River, offers the adventurous visitor a chance to enjoy a wilderness experience away from the tourist crowds. The North Fork features forests of lodgepole and ponderosa pine with a series of small scenic lakes, Logging, the Quartz Lakes (lower, middle, and upper), Bowman, and Kintla. The jagged peaks of the Continental Divide form spectacular backdrops on the eastern ends of the lakes. Wildlife is abundant is the area. It is prime grizzly bear habitat.

We spent a full day at the park just driving around and checking out some of the lakes. By the time we got home we were exhausted and questioning whether our 4 days in this area would be enough. There seems to be a lot to do and see. So, we decided to extend for another day giving us a total of 5 days.

The next day, September 4, we decided to check out some of the local towns and do some grocery shopping. Paul drove us all in his truck and we toured Columbia Falls, and stopped for some shopping and a terrific lunch at Buffalo Cafe in Whitefish. Later we traveled to Kalispell which had a number of larger box stores to include a Super Walmart. We did some much needed grocery shopping and then headed home with yet another beautiful day in the bag.

September 6, Labor Day. We arrived for our appointment with the Red Bus at 2:15 p.m. at the Apgar Transit Center. We were the first to board so we got to pick our seat row. The driver Matt was a very pleasant recent Ohio State graduate.

We made a couple more stops before filling the bus with guests. This particular tour would take us up the Going To The Sun Road to the Logan Pass Visitor Center and then back the same way. The trip was expected to take 4 hrs.

The buses used by the Red Bus Tour were built in the late 30's. Ours was built in 1937 and then rebuilt/ refurbished by Ford Motor Company in 1999 with a propane powered combustion engine and outfitted with an automatic transmission.
A quick stop at the McDonald Lodge to pick-up more guests and take a quick look around.

The Gang outside Red Bus 99

The White Motor Company between 1936 and 1939 built glacier’s red-with-black trim vehicles. This fleet of Red Buses is considered the oldest intact fleet of passenger carrying vehicles anywhere. These 17 passenger convertible touring sedans are more than a mere means of transportation for locals and visitors - they are cherished, elegant icons of Glacier National Park.

Paul and Paula

The bus trip was a lot of fun and provided great views of the high peaks through the open roof. The bus stopped at several locations along the route which allowed us to either get out and stretch our legs or stand-up and take pictures through the open roof.

Haystack Creek Falls

At the summit of Logan Pass, we stopped at the visitor center and spent about 20 minutes taking pictures and looking around.

Logan Pass Visitor Center

After leaving Logan Pass we returned back down Going To The Sun Road again making photo stops along the way. Overall, we each enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about the park. We would certainly recommend the tour.

Because we only drove to Logan Pass, we were still missing out on over half the park and the eastern side of the continental divide. Tomorrow, we plan to do a hike from Logan Pass.