Wyoming is a place with wide open plains filled with Pronghorn and beautiful mountain ranges. It’s said there are more pronghorn in Wyoming than people. They are a beautiful animal and while we’ve seen quite a few all over the west, we’ve seen more herds in our travels through Wyoming.

A pronghorn mom and her two kids are a pretty common sight.

We traveled into southern Wyoming and the Medicine Bow National Forest. We camped the first night at Lost Creek CG and then made our way west to Snowy Range Pass at 10,847 feet. The alpine vegetation, stark mountains and beautiful lakes make it a great place to visit, even if you are two miles up.

From the lookout at the pass we could see a couple of fires near the Wyoming – Colorado border to the south. We dropped down out of the mountains and into Laramie, WY for a bite to eat and to explore around.

We visited the historic Wyoming Penitentiary that housed many of the early criminals in the west, like Butch Cassidy.

The 6 by 8 foot cells were not much to call home. They put many to work making brooms in the factory on the premises.

We then drove back up to the pass and camped at Surgarloaf CG, near the pass. It was a beautiful spot when you looked to the north.

But when you looked to the south, the wind had whipped up the fires so that the skies were filled with smoke. We thought we would wake to a smoky site, but it rained nearly all night and created a crystal blue sky in the morning.

We hiked around the area, which gets to be tiresome quickly at 2 miles up.

The crispness in the air and the fall colors on the ground let you know that this area will be under snow again soon. We saw that the campground didn’t even open until 21 July this year due to snow.

We dropped out of the mountains again and traveled to Como Bluff, WY, where in the 1880s a huge amount of dinosaur bones were uncovered. The walls of the museum there are actually made out of dinosaur bones. Every paleontologist must just cringe when they see this – lol.

We then headed north and passed by Sinclair, WY and the Sinclair Oil refinery. Being in the middle of dinosaur country, I guess that’s why Sinclair gas has the green dinosaur, an environmentally friendly gas.

We made our way to Seminoe Reservior and the North Red Hills CG in the Seminoe State Park. This time of year it’s pretty easy to get a great spot.

In the evening, the wind began to howl and the clouds at different altitude were moving in opposite directions. I can imagine what a winter storm must look like in this part of the country. I cooked some great bison burgers outside and we had a cozy evening in the warm Roamer listening to music. Glad we weren’t tent camping.

In the morning, the clouds were still wrapped over the mountains.

The road north towards Casper, WY was beautiful.

The wind was gone so the clouds were more like an eerie fog bank as we climbed through the mountains. We lost count of the number of pronghorn, deer, turkey and other animals that were out along the dirt road.

Once the clouds began to break up, we stopped at Alcova Reservior and Black Beach CG, just south of Casper, WY. Again, it’s hard not to find a great spot.

We’ll be heading north for a little while before we turn south and head home for the holidays.

With our truck back in working order we dropped into the Colorado side of Dinosaur National Monument where the Green and Yampa Rivers meet. We wanted to go down last year but the clay in the road makes it impassable when wet, and it was raining when we arrived.

This year, the sun was out and the skies were blue so we headed down the hill and into the beautiful valley.

The dirt road runs through the Yampa River valley to the east for 40 miles.

Once in the valley, we turned to where the rivers meet. The land near the river confluence was purchased when they made the national monument, and the original homestead buildings are still there. It’s a pretty spectacular place for a home, but it is nearly 100 miles from any town.

There are petroglyphs high up along the canyon walls from the Freemont Indians that date back a 1000 years when the canyon floor was 30 feet higher, washing out more with time to their current level.

We camped at Echo Park CG for the holiday weekend, along the Green River, just downstream from where the Yampa River joins.

The campground sits at an 180 degree bend in the Green River. We hiked up both sides from the campground. The right side leads to the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers.

The left side is the outflow of the Green River into a beautiful canyon that continues into Utah and eventually joins the Colorado River. The campground is in the trees at the bend in the river and the road in is through the slot in the canyon wall.

Afternoon storms rolled in for the weekend so we left Echo Park after a couple of blustery nights. The Ranger suggested we not drive out the way we wanted on the 40-mile Yampa Bench Road due to the rain and the fact that we would probably rip the muddy road up pretty good with our rig, so we’ll have to come back at least one more time to do that route. We easily drove out the way we entered and camped the night at Steinaker State Park outside of Vernal, CO again. They too had a lot of rain, where a few campsites became mud washes, causing a change of plans for a few holiday tent campers and creating an open spot for us.

We met up with Lou and Nancy at Flaming Gorge, which is also the Green River about 50 miles upriver of Echo Park. They are now full time RVers and were arriving from a week or more of fishing and biking in the Grand Tetons area after selling their house. It was good to see them both again.

We all stayed at the Red Canyon CG, which is a beautiful spot right next to the rim. The campground was nearly empty being post-Labor Day and mid week. We were treated to some spectacular sunsets over the gorge after sharing some pretty good meals together.

We even caught a bighorn sheep family making their way over the rim at sunset. Their coats are the color of the rocks so you need to look closely to find them.

Lou and Nancy headed south on their next adventure while Pam and I followed the Green River downstream back into Colorado.

We drove the back roads along the Green River to John Jarvie’s Historic Ranch. Jarvie was a Scot who immigrated to the US and eventually opened a store along the Green River in the 1880s. His first house was a dugout that he later used to hide notorious outlaws and friends, like Butch Cassidy. While the outside doesn’t look like much, the inside was roomy and fully furnished with a kitchen, sitting room and bedroom.

He then built his home and store out of railroad ties that were floating down the Green River. The railroad company floated them down the river as an easy transportation means to get them where they needed for the railroad. I guess they never noticed the 100 or so missing ties that made his house. He was eventually shot by robbers in 1909, but his place marked the crossroads for this part of the country so it’s maintained now as an historic site on this beautiful spot of the river.

Just south of Jarvie’s Ranch is the north side of Dinosaur National Monument and the Gates of Lodore.

The Gates of Lodore is a beautiful rock canyon that the Green River cut through on its path south into the monument.

The campground there is also the launching point for rafting trips on the Green River. We saw a group heading out down the river while on a hike.

Maybe another river trip is in our future….

We also ran into the owners of another EarthRoamer there and got some great ideas for storage and organization. We then said goodbye to the Green River and headed north into Wyoming.

We made our way to Fossil Butte National Monument near Kemmerer, WY. Pam has a couple of framed fossils from her Dad that were from here so we decided to check the place out.

The area used to be a huge lake and the fossils are found in what’s referred to as the “18-inch layer” that was created many millions of years ago from the sediment of the lake bottom.

There is an interesting point the Rangers make about the recovered fossils. Unlike dinosaur bones that are in a museum together, and may span millions of years, the recovered fossils of fish, plants and other animals from the lake bed are more a snapshot in time of both the flora and fauna since they are all relatively close in age.

When they split the rock to get at a fossil, there is a layer of rock still covering the fossilized remains that must be painstakingly removed with a wire pick to expose the fossil. The commercial fossil hunters harvest the fossil rock slabs in the summer and finish the removal process once the snow covers this part of Wyoming.

We hiked to an ongoing excavation in one of the park quarries. Here a Ranger was documenting all the fossils in a section of rock before they chipped off the next layer and continued the count. She was on 4300 and something when we arrived. The fossil fish were small but easy to see. The largest fossil imprint we saw in the rock turned out to be a turtle turd – go figure.

We camped the night up a dirt road just outside the park on a stretch of BLM land. The spot was up at about 8,000 feet and had a pretty amazing view in all directions.

The next day we hiked to the original quarry where most of the early fossils were found. It was the 100th anniversary of the national parks so there were many folks at the visitor center, but nearly none on the trails. It seems if you hike a couple of miles out along any dirt trail, especially if there is a hill, you will run into less than 1% of the people in any park. I’m glad we’re still part of the 1%ers on the trails.

The old quarry trail passed by the original camp house that the fossil guys lived in while they dug for the fossils.

The last section of the climb into the original quarry is steep so there is now a beautiful staircase of pressure treated railroad ties that lead you to the spot.

We needed to stop back into Salt Lake City to pick something up at Pam’s brother’s house. Pam was having some vitamins she ordered online shipped to his place, while more importantly, I was picking up a section of railroad track that Pam’s brother uncovered during a fall garage cleaning that will be a future blacksmith project.

We camped in the Unitas, just into Utah from Wyoming, and a little further south than where we camped on our way out of Salt Lake City about a month ago. It’s getting noticeably cooler at night and the leaves on the trees are turning already at the higher altitudes.

We had a great view of a meadow from our camp spot and saw a young bull moose come out of the trees in the evening to munch on a willow in the meadow. He then walked across the entire meadow the next morning as we were having our coffee. There were also two Sandhill Cranes that I surprised in the morning and squawked their disapproval across the meadow as they left.

We just spent the one night in SLC, but had a great dinner Saturday night and a tasty Sunday brunch at the Alta Lodge up Little Cottonwood Canyon before we hit the road again. This was the view from our table on the deck at the Lodge.

We thought we would make our way to Dinosaur NM next, but stopped for the night at Starvation State Park in eastern Utah. The Indian Bay CG there was nearly beach camping and very beautiful.

No lengthy trip is going to go without any issues and ours happened as we climbed into Dinosaur NM. A truck coolant line blew and drained all of our coolant out of the engine, which rapidly overheated in the climb. We coasted back down to Dinosaur, CO, isolated the hole in the line, refilled the cooling system with something and limped back 30 miles to Vernal, Utah and the nearest Ford dealer.

They were able to get us back on the road after a coolant drain and service, and even fixed a recall notice for the truck we had not seen yet. We ended up in the local Steinaker State Park for a couple of nights due to their maintenance schedule, but it was a nice place with water and a dump station (it’s the little things in life).

While in Vernal we discovered the Vernal Brewing Company that made some pretty good beer and food. I went for the Allosaurus Amber (had to given the area), while Pam preferred the She’s a Peach, peach wheat ale.
We toured the Utah Field House of Natural History, with its collection of dinosaurs and fossils found in the local area.

We didn’t want to take the rig into a remote area until we were sure it was truly fixed, so we camped at Green River CG in the park for the night just to be safe. Had a good Ranger talk on rattlesnakes and even got a pipe cleaner, bug-eyed snake as a parting gift from the talk.

We’ll head out tomorrow to where we originally were heading when we lost our coolant. It should be nice there for the holiday weekend, if there is a spot left.

There were several forest fires in Yellowstone NP and the smoke would settle in the night to blanket even the west side of the park, including the Hebgen Lake area. Therefore, we headed southwest into Idaho to visit some recommended places that we missed on the way north.

Our first stop was Upper and Lower Mesa Falls on the Henrys Fork River. The Upper Falls was a single drop of 114 feet onto a slab of solid rock that made the river bottom.

The Lower Falls, about a mile away, was a beautiful 65-foot cascade of water.

We then headed into Wyoming and the southwestern corner of Yellowstone NP to see Cave Falls along the Cave River. As we drove in we noticed huge plumes of forest fire smoke in the distance from the east near Grand Teton NP.

Cave Falls was a series of picturesque falls down the river where this was the largest single drop of about 20 feet.

We camped the night at Cave Falls CG, which was in the forest just outside the park. I think we were the only ones there. We had a nice spot next to the Cave River. Mornings are not too rough with coffee and a good book to start the day.

We saw several cows grazing on the way into Cave Falls, but ran into a wall of bovine blocking our way out.

Cows are always a little weary of the Roamer so I just pulled over and turned it off until the lonesome cowboy and his two dogs drove the herd past. He offered a trade, his horse for the Roamer, and while his horse was a nice chestnut Pam said she doubted it could carry all of our stuff. He gave us a fire update on the smoke we saw the previous day that now blanketed the area, and then trotted on his way after the herd.

We continued south through Idaho to Palisades Reservoir and Calamity CG, near the Wyoming border. The reservoir is on the Snake River and is well below its highpoint that must have been a few years in the past.

A previous user of our campsite left a hummingbird feeder so Pam cleaned and refilled it. Pretty soon we had a lot of customers. The host knew the previous person so we left it there for her to give it back.

There was another forest fire about 20 miles west of this campground, near Idaho Falls. The winds were light, coming out of the north and predicted to stay that way through the night, but around 9pm a police officer knocked on our door and told us to be ready to evacuate if required. Luckily it was not required, but by the next morning the skies were filled with smoke.

We seemed to be blanketed in smoke throughout eastern Idaho and northwestern Wyoming so we decided to head for the blue skies over Fossil Butte NP and the more sparse vegetation in southwestern Wyoming.

We have been exploring Montana for about a month, but had not made it to Bozeman, so off we went. Bozeman is a nice college town and could be on our list of places to settle down, if that ever happens. College towns are always vibrant and Bozeman has a nice, small downtown with a thriving main street. We would have to resolve the Bobcat vs Grizz issue with the Missoula relatives before we could move to Bozeman to keep peace in the house – lol. We visited the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman.

They had an exhibit on Pompeii artifacts, including this huge strong box that required a complex order of movements of the heads on the box to open it up. Pompeii was considered relevant for this museum due to Bozeman’s proximity to the Yellowstone volcano caldera. Given the size of the caldera, when it blows again within the next million years, volcanic dust will cover the US similar to Pompeii all the way to Chicago.

The museum also had a huge collection of dinosaur bones from all over the Rockies. The best were contained in the “Hall of Horns and Teeth”. What a great name.

We did what we do in all town visits – laundry and grocery shopping, and then headed south along the Gallatin River towards Yellowstone. We camped the night at Spire Rock CG with a great view of the spires.

The next day we found ourselves in West Yellowstone again, and decided not to wait until sometime in the future to camp along Beaver Creek. There are several dispersed campsites along the water so we picked one for the night.

We parked our chairs next to the water and enjoyed the sound of rushing water. One of the greatest advantages of this lifestyle is that our backyard is awesome and different every day.

I was just about to walk out in the morning when we spotted a young bull moose in our campsite. He was real skittish of any sound and especially of our chairs next to the water. His antlers were just taking shape, but he was easily 500 pounds of skittish so we watched until he crossed the creek and disappeared into the willows.

We saw a lot of Montana this trip and visited a lot of great places. I still think the treasure is there so we’ll be back – lol.

Montana is known as “Big Sky Country” and “The Treasure State”. More interested in the later of the two, Pam and I headed to Virginia City and Nevada City, two gold rush towns that are now just tourist attractions containing treasures past.

The buildings were all kept as they were and the stores stocked and made to look as they would have in their heyday.

We spotted a two story outhouse behind the old hotel. There were noticeable gaps in the ceiling when you looked up from the first floor. I was glad no one was above me then.

We made our way south and camped for the night at Ruby Reservoir, along the Ruby River. This is in the area, give or take 1,000,000 square miles, of where I think Forest Fenn’s treasure is hidden. This river was called out in his book in reference to another book he read as a kid, “Journal of a Trapper” by Osborne Russell. I also read Russell’s book and it gives a factual account of what his life as a trapper was like in the northwest during the second half of the 1800s. It’s an interesting read if you want something new to read. It puts our current daily inconveniences in perspective.

The BLM campground there provided an incredible view over the reservoir and the American Pelicans on the water. A storm blew through just as night fell and our alcove sustained another structural failure, it bent and snapped in the wind. It’s the same alcove that went airborne at Hovenweep NP in May, snapping then around a juniper tree. It is still usable, given enough duct tape, until we can order more replacement parts – lol.

We then headed through the back country towards the Madison River and West Yellowstone. We passed this old national forest sign along the road.

We missed a turn among the intersecting dirt roads and ended up seeing more of the back country than intended. It was a beautiful drive so there was no great loss since we have no schedule.

When we realized our navigational error we also realized that the route we were on would get us back to pavement – until we hit this sign.

Back country bridges are always a concern when your rig is over 5 tons. I’m always thinking if a fire truck or cattle trailer would need to get down this road then it’s probably ok to cross. However, a 2 ton bridge limit is a definite no-go. We didn’t even waste our time to look at the bridge (probably 2×4 construction), but just turned around and drove the hour or so back to where we had missed the turn.

We saw some really healthy pronghorn in the fields, and this male decided to give up a pose in the middle of the road.

We camped next to the Ruby River that night near the missed turn and did a little fishing. If you have to be lost it’s nice to have a beautiful sunset.

The next day we found the right road and headed over the mountains towards West Yellowstone.

Our truck’s navigation system was a little confused where we were driving – “Driving on Hwy 357” – seriously? Montana’s definition of a highway must be a little different than most states.

We climbed to about 9,000 feet into the low morning clouds only to find more Montana Angus bears grazing all around.

We camped the night at Beaver Creek CG, along Earthquake Lake. The lake was formed in a 1959 earthquake that caused a landside at one end, blocking the Madison River, and tilted the local Hebgen Lake at the other end. The landslide and resulting lake wave from Hebgen Lake killed campers that were along the river. We camped a little higher up after reading the account.

We drove into West Yellowstone to restock and saw the smoke from the forest fires in the park.

We hiked Beaver Creek, looking for Fenn’s hidden treasure. There were some beautiful camping spots along the creek that we’ve put in our plan for the future.

The hikes along the trails were beautiful.

We have now eliminated about 10 square miles from the 1,000,000 square miles where the treasure could be in the Rockies. We’re closing on it!

Next stop is to check out Bozeman before we start our migration south for the fall.

We left Missoula again, heading east towards central Montana and the capital of Helena. We camped in the Aspen Grove CG, just outside Lincoln, MT next to the largest ant hill constructed out of pine needles. Luckily they couldn’t get into the Roamer.

We then stopped at the Tizer Botanical Gardens in Jefferson City, MT.

It was a very whimsical garden with a lot of unique things on the grounds.

The original homestead’s log cabin was refurbished for possible overnight stays in the garden. The owner, from Flagstaff, AZ, has been in Montana with her husband for a couple of decades now creating the gardens.

To get back on the Lewis and Clark trail we re-engaged at the most logical place, The Lewis and Clark Brewery in Helena, MT. They have some very good beers, including a Scottish ale that Pam enjoyed. We ate, drank and gathered up a few of their 32oz “compasses” for the future, in case we got lost.

While the beer was very good, the brewery had the best design for urinals that I’ve seen yet. It’s kind of like salmon, where the beer wants to return to its source.

We then headed out for a hike to refrigerator canyon in the hills outside Helena. We passed through Nelson, MT that claims to be the cribbage capital of the world. There’s a story there, but we didn’t stop to find out.

Refrigerator canyon was a short hike into the hills. The slot area is said to create a region nearly twenty degrees cooler than the outside temperature. It was hot out and felt really good in the canyon. Folks hiking in front of us saw a mountain goat family bolt up the mountainside just before we arrived.

We camped outside York, MT at the Vigilante CG. Someone built a nice rock water break in the stream next to our campsite that created a nice babbling brook noise.

We then headed south to the headwaters of the Missouri River. The Lewis and Clark original plan was to head up the Missouri River, cross a small distance over some small hills and jump onto another river on the other side that would take them to the Pacific Ocean. This place must have been the place where “plan B” took shape in 1805. The mighty Missouri is created from 3 rivers: the Jefferson, the Madison and the Gallatin Rivers that come together here at the base of the Rockies. From here they crossed the Rockies and jumped onto the Columbia River, several hundred miles to the west.

The confluence area is very beautiful with large grasslands and many rivers flowing all around. We camped there that night at the headwaters.

The Lewis and Clark expedition followed the Jefferson River west, so we did as well. We stopped at the Lewis and Clark Caverns to camp next. They hunted for game all around the cavern according to their account, but never found it. It was discovered later. This view is from the cavern entrance looking down at our campsite and the Jefferson River below.

While Pam and I are not “cave folks”, we have now seen a lot of caves in the US. These were limestone caves with a lot of water, and therefore a lot of beautiful structures everywhere. The lighting used was really good in these caves. These photos are with no flash.

The most unique cave feature was a slide to get through a tight section. The slide in the natural rock looks like beautifully polished travertine.

We ended the day with a beautiful full moon at the campsite there.

Lewis and Clark then continued west at this point, while Pam and I headed south in search of treasure.

After the canoe trip down the Missouri River we decided to stay in Missoula for the week because Pam’s birthday was coming up at just about the same time James McMurtry was playing at the Top Hat Lounge again. The show was great. The warm-up band, Ticket Sauce, some young college kids, rocked Hendrix’s version of Izabella and other blues songs. McMurtry played late into the night and we had an awesome spot for the entire show. Getting to bed at 2am and up early the next morning used to be a lot easier.

While in Missoula we took a day trip to Glacier Lake in the Mission mountain range and Holland Lake in the Swan mountain range for some good hikes and to snag the last of the wild, ripe huckleberries along the path.

We had a delicious dinner at Holland Lake lodge at sunset.

Pam and I took off again to explore the northwest part of Montana. It’s a very beautiful, mountainous region with a lot of lakes and rivers. We camped the first night along the Flathead River. It rained that night and there is nothing better than sleeping in the Roamer during a nice rain, unless maybe near a babbling brook.

The next day we visited the Ross Cedar Grove, which is a hidden grove of old growth cedars that are just incredible to see. They tower up 200 feet tall and the entire forest looks like a lush wonderland.

The cedar grove also had a unique cairn garden. The river runs pretty high when the snow melts based on where the displaced trees lie on the banks, but the garden is right in the river bed and even across the logs. It extended over an area much larger than this shot. It was just jaw-dropping to see in the giant cedar grove. I guess folks want to be able to find their way back here in the future.

We then visited the Kootenai Falls along the Kootenay River. The river flows down over these massive, layered rock slabs through the gorge.

The “swinging bridge” that crosses the river really does swing when you walk across it. It’s a cable and wood structure that is probably way too flexible for some folks. It’s limited to 5 people at a time on the bridge and it’s only two planks wide.

We hit Eureka, MT, which is only about 10 miles from the Canadian border and turned south. We stopped in the HA Brewing Co, which is located out in the middle of nowhere. The beer was good and we chatted with a carload of Canadians that were down for a golfing getaway. However, clouds overhead were looking ominous so we took off.

We camped at Dickey Lake for the night. A huge lightning storm was crackling overhead when we arrived. It rained most of the night, and we were glad we had the Roamer to sleep in. In the morning the clouds were blanketing the surrounding mountains.

Given the rainy weather, Glacier NP was relatively quiet when we arrived. Having been there a few times before, we can now skip the main attractions that most folks want to see and instead head for the more remote areas. We headed up the western side of the park, and about 30 miles of dirt (mud) road to one of the remote campsites on Bowman Lake.

The lake is about 4 times in length of what you can see here as it snakes through the mountains and into the fog. The lake water is crystal clear and while I was fishing with a flannel shirt and jacket there were others swimming in the lake.

The next morning the clouds started to lift to reveal the mountains of the park. It was our first time to Bowman Lake. We’ll have to go back and see it on a clear day. We tried to go there last year, but had to turn around due to a forest fire along the road.

We dropped out of Glacier NP and needed to head back to Missoula for an oil change on the Roamer. We stopped and picked up a Huckleberry pie for Pam’s sister’s family and camped at Placid Lake State Park on the way there. We had plans to stay there last Labor Day, but plans changed. So we figured we’d give it a second try. When we arrived the sign said “campground full”. The camp host said we could look around and we said we were really looking to spend the night. She then surprised us by saying that she had open spots and we lucked out getting one with this beautiful sunset view.

We ended this northwestern loop at Missoula again. This time for truck maintenance, but we spent the night catching up on the Olympics and eating some great grilled burgers and huckleberry pie.
 

When we left home in early June we only had three things scheduled for the summer: a couple of nights at Fire Point on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on our way out of Arizona, the July 4th weekend with our boys at Mt Whitney in California, and a three day river trip down a section of the Missouri River with Pam’s sister’s family. Their youngest son had done it last year with another group and convinced us all to go.

We camped at the Coal Banks put-in spot the night before so we could get an early start. It has been awhile since Pam and I have been tent camping.

The seven of us loaded the three canoes and kayak with all of our coolers and dry bags, which contained all of the equipment and clothes, and took off down the river. It’s amazing how much stuff a 17-foot canoe can hold and still float. Unfortunately, they can’t hold the Roamer so we had to leave it behind.

Luckily, Pam and I had two recent river adventures on our way here so we had enough practice to stay afloat. The river was wide and smooth, but running at about 3 miles per hour. We didn’t encounter any fences either. Pam’s scratch is all healed now and not looking so colorful anymore.

This section of the Missouri River is part of the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument and becomes a geological wonderland quickly as you head down the river.

Sections of the river are still privately owned by ranchers and farmers. We saw many herds of Montana Angus “bears” in the wild.

We had a boater’s guide map that noted many of the interesting items along the way. The Corps of Discovery, Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the west, traveled this route where their camps in May of 1805 heading west and July of 1806 heading east are noted and the spots are still used today due to their beauty.

Our first night’s stop, after covering 15 miles on the river, was one of these historic locations, Eagle Creek Camp. There were hikes into the local slot canyons that were very beautiful.

Sunsets are always nice on the water. There were many birds and deer along the river to keep us busy looking as we floated along. Several huge eagles and osprey were hunting along the banks. We ran into some BLM rangers heading down the river and they had seen some beavers. One of the older, cranky rangers was quoted as saying the baby beaver was “adorable”. Who can resist a baby? There are otters, muskrats and nutria as well, but we didn’t spot any.

There was a lot of volcanic activity in this entire area long ago, where the ground split and igneous rock flowed up through the fissures to create vertical walls of rock. This looks really interesting in the horizontal layers of white sandstone that also dominate the area. One of the more interesting vertical rock structures is call hole-in-the-rock.

The hole eroded through the rock, creating a distinct geological feature. The kids climbed up onto the rock wall, while the older folks relaxed in the shade of a huge cottonwood tree during the afternoon sun.

Our second night was at Slaughter River, another Corps of Discover camp along the river in a nice cottonwood stand. That name was given to the place due to the buffalo carcasses found there on their way up the river. They assumed it was a “buffalo jump” used by the local Blackfoot Indians, driving the herd over the cliff to their death.

That night we had some serious card playing until sunset. We didn’t bring camping chairs or a cooking table with us, but they will be a nice addition the next time we do this.

There was a forest fire well south of Missoula, but the smoke was blowing east and began to cover the evening sky a few hundred miles away where we were.

The morning was clear and the calm wind made the river look like glass. We rowed the last 13 miles into the take-out point at Judith Landing to finish our river adventure.

Pam and I made a couple of stops to visit with some friends on our way to Montana. First, was a stop to see Bert and Leigh and their place along the Wind River in Wyoming.

They are retired cattle folks from Wisconsin that have a beautiful place along the Wind River, with some large pets.

We rubber-rafted the river once we arrived there, which was fun, but an upstream neighbor had strung a barbed-wire fence across the river. Our raft encountered the wires first, and with Pam in the front. She ended up with a pretty good scratch as we attempted to deflect and duck under the wire. My scratch was not nearly as colorful. Luckily her wound was not deep, she had a recent tetanus shot and the beer was cold at the campfire that night, so all is good. They raft the river frequently with visitors so I think Bert may have a talk with his neighbor about his recent fencing change.

Bert gave us a great tour around their place, and into the adjacent hills that included an amazing mountain view.

He also took us to a nearby Petroglyph wall in the area.

Biscuit, their heeler puppy, was sad to see us go, and is closing the gap on running down one of the many rabbits that live around their place.

We then took off west, heading towards a forest fire near Dubois, WY. Bark beetles had killed many of the trees already, and a recent lightning strike sparked the fire that is helping to clear the mountainside. Hopefully, no folks or buildings will be lost before they get it under control.

You could barely make out the Teton range to the west through the smoke haze once we jumped over the Togwotee Pass.

We made our way through Teton National Park, Jackson, WY and then over Teton Pass to visit with some other friends on the west side of the Tetons in Idaho. Allan and Laurie also had a beautiful place in the basin on the west side of the Tetons. We did a relaxing canoe trip with them on the Teton River – no barbed-wire this time. We had a great hike up into Teton Canyon.

We also went up to the Grand Targhee ski area where you had an unbelievable view of the grand Tetons from the west side.

Heading north again, we stopped at Big Springs CG after leaving Allan and Laurie. Big Springs is the headwaters of the Henry’s Fork River, where over a million gallons of crystal clear water comes out of the ground per day to start the river.

There was an old homestead house there that has been preserved due to its unique construction. Johnny Sack built the place starting in 1929 using just hand tools, and using bark as the finishing trim like I’ve never seen before.

He even built a small waterwheel house to run the electrical generator and water pump for the cabin.

We then hit the Madison River outside West Yellowstone and followed it west into Montana. I now have my Montana fishing license so we’ll be heading back there during this trip. Again, we cut across some dirt roads that ran through some beautiful country.

We also drove through some small towns that we’ll have to stop in when we have more time. We were heading to Pam’s sister’s place in Missoula so we had something of a schedule to keep for once.

We did stop at the Big Hole National Battlefield to see and read up on the history of the place. The battlefield was one of several battles between the US 7th Calvary and the Nez-Pearce Indians prior to their surrender later that year in central Montana. What started as a morning attack on the Nez-Pearce village did not end so well for the 7th Calvary.

We’re now in Missoula, getting reading for a three-day river trip. Hopefully there is no barbed-wire across the Missouri River down through the Missouri Breaks. We’ll see.