W.a.T. Northern Trip to National Parks  - June 10 - 26, 2007


Trip Collage

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Our route took us along  I- 15 through Las Vegas where some of our group stopped off for lunch and a look-see; it was too hot and congested there for some of us.  Lou, Chet, Mati, and I elected to continue on north for an overnight in Beaver, UT where at 6,000 feet it was much cooler.  The others stayed in a motel in Cedar City. Bob and Tom were flying into Salt Lake City and meeting us in Grand Teton National Park.

Next day we pushed on north through Salt Lake City where Kelli, Ron, Margo, and Louise stopped off to have lunch and visit to the cathedral and the camping group of four pushed on ahead to Bear Mountain Campground in Garden City arriving around 5:15.  There was quite a beautiful view coming into Bear Lake where we were greeted with cool breezes.  We rustled up dinner for the group here then got to bed to be ready for our push into Colter Bay on Lake Jackson.

Our ride gave us some fantastic views as the Grand Teton came into view.  The campground there is very pleasant complete with several pretty good restaurants, so after the rest of the group arrived, we went to the Chuck Wagon for an excellent dinner.

The next morning we took the Lake Shore two mile hike; we were enjoying perfect sunny,  cool weather.  During the late afternoon we donned our life jackets for a three-hour float trip down the Snake River.  Our guide, a quite amusing young man, gave us a running commentary as we viewed eagles, osprey, blue heron, and a moose grazing along the banks of the river.  We all enjoyed this trip immensely.  In the evening, we had a chicken BBQ with a small steak for Ron..

In the early morning the women took a hike with the Ranger around Swan Lake to view the wildflowers, forest, and a few scampering squirrels and chipmunks.  We were thrilled when one of our group spotted a huge, black bear sauntering along through the woods.  We all stopped and tried to get a good picture of him while the Ranger tried to keep us from getting too close.  He—the bear—eventually just got into the lake and swam away; how exciting was this?  We were all a bit jittery because there had been a bear mauling in the past few days by a grizzly at Jackson Lake Lodge.  Later in the afternoon, we went as a group of ten to Jenny Lake where we boarded the ferry for a ride across the lake for the Inspiration Point/Hidden Falls hike.  Some of us made it to the top and others dropped out at a point that was comfortable.  It was quite a nice view even if one did not go to the very top. 

For dinner we could not find hamburgers in the camp store so we had sausages and sloppy joes.  At this point, we decided that cooking at the campground every night was getting to be too much of a chore, so we all decided to eat out at the park restaurants for the most part.

We took a bike ride over to the park store before setting off to Yellowstone Canyon Campground.  It took us only 90 minutes to get to our A Ring campsite.  After lunch some of us walked down to the canyon area where we got to see the Lower Falls, quite a spectacular sight.  At night we had a delicious pork chop dinner at the Canyon Lodge dining room.  They were very good about allowing us to split a meal, which was helpful because the meals were so large.

We continued to sleep well, but it is a bit colder here so we got out our –20 degree sleeping bags.  We spent the day driving in two cars around the lower loop heading towards Old Faithful where we had a nice lunch in their dining room.  Afterwards we hiked all around the geysers and hot pots adjacent to Old Faithful.  We got to see the steam rise two times while we were there; quite a display!  Later continuing around the loop we stopped at West Thumb for a look at the hot pots  some of which were along the lake front and some actually out into the lake.  An enthusiastic ranger was talking about the wonders being discovered at the bottom of these hot pools.  As it was getting late, Ron suggested that we eat dinner at the Yellowstone Lodge, a quite upscale restaurant featuring elk, bison, lamb, and steak dinners.  On our drive back to camp, we stopped numerous times to check out the wild life in the fields along the road.  There are some people who set up long-range scopes so they can hone in on animals that are some distance away.

It was freezing sleeping but our trusty new bags kept us warm. The temps had descended to the high 20’s overnight. In the morning, we invited Chet and Lou over for hot oatmeal so they could warm up.  Today we took a hike to Artists Point and got a fabulous view of the reds, oranges, and browns of Yellowstone Canyon and a far away view of Lower Falls.  We hiked about two hours ending up at Lily Pond Lake. After the rain let up in the afternoon, Ron, Kelli, Lou and Chet went on a drive going north and east to Lamar Valley looking for wildlife. They lucked out seeing hundreds of bison, many pronghorns and the topper was a young black bear feeding in a ditch along the roadway. Also they stopped and saw the beautiful Tower Falls.  Then, the weather turned really cold, dark and threatening so we went into the Lodge lounge to play bridge and Scrabble while watching the rain, sleet, and snow come down.  We went out for dinner in the Lodge with Louise and Margo splitting a yummy roast beef dinner.  Bob and Tom have caught up with us again; they are always a few days behind us.

Another freezing night, and in the morning we spent about an hour discussing what we were going to do as well as our change of plans on going to Glacier a day earlier than planned.  Once we got the talking done, we took a short walk to the Upper Falls.  After this Mati and I relaxed at the campsite, went shopping, visited the science exhibit while the others went off on another driving trip.   Later Bob and Tom hosted a cocktail party in their huge room after which some of the group made a ride north to see if there were any animals out in the fields.  Having had enough of driving around, we kept warm in our sleeping bags and read our books.

Another really chilly night, and we are glad to be leaving the cold for our ride to Glacier.  It was a long, uneventful ride up to Choteau KOA Campground where we ate hot dogs and got a much warmer nights sleep.

We left around 9:30 getting to Many Glacier Campground about 12:15.  We needed to get here early as there are no reservations; it is first come first served.  This is one of the most attractive campgrounds we have ever been in with sites that are curved drive-thru with new  picnic tables and substantial fire rings.  This is Louise’s birthday and we planned a big steak dinner with baked potatoes to honor her.  Everyone but Tom and Bob are here: Ron, Kelli, Margo, Louise, Chet, Lou, and us.

Next day Lou, Mati, and I took off for a ten-mile hike to Iceberg Lake, a spot way up the wall of the mountain and into the back country.  Along the way, the climb was steep for about half a mile then leveled out with streams spilling out over the path, lots of colored rocks dotted the path, and at each elevation different wildflowers grew in profusion.  It took us a few hours to get to the lake where there were several fields of snow to traverse as well as rocks to climb over. Once there, we saw the carcass of a goat that had fallen into the water and died of hypothermia…a wolverine was enjoying a good meal there on the ice.  The ranger had walked on ahead of us to decide if he needed to close the path due to the possibility that bears might find this a delectable snack.  It is wise to keep humans away from such a site where the animals might feel threatened and attack.  It took another few hours to hike back to camp, and we were exhausted on return but exhilarated by our feat. I got lots of ideas for drawings of wildflowers along the way. While Lou, Sue and Mati were hiking, Ron, Kelli, Louise and Margo drove to St. Mary where they took the "Going to the Sun" road up as far as Logan's Pass. Here the road was closed because of winter damage. More beautiful scenery. After a delicious Italian dinner with all present at the Swift Current Lodge, we slept very well! 

In the early morning we all set out for a boat trip down Swift Current Lake, took a small hike over to  Josephine Lake and then a ride to the end where we got off for a Ranger-led hike.  We saw big piles of fairly fresh bear scat but alas no bears materialized.  We had a nice walk with lecture on to a waterfall and small lake.  That was mild enough for me as I had not quite recovered from the 10 miles I put in the day before.  Once back at the hotel, we had a nice lunch there and then  Louise and I took the wildflower hike back at our campground.  Actually I saw much more interesting flowers on the trek of the day before, and I was really beat from all the walking.  At night we had dinner in the Lodge and a campfire back at camp till 10:30.  We kept the two guys awake till then, hurray (Lou and Chet).

Next morning, June 23, we left Glacier around 9:00 a.m. on our drive back to civilization heading past Flathead Lake, along Route 93 and the Salmon river to a idyllic spot where we camped overnight.  We were parked along the swiftly running stream, and enjoyed our meals with the perfect view.  The proprietor was able to fix Mati’s computer malfunction, so we were both happy campers.  The following morning we continued the ride down 93 experiencing the inspiring views of the huge, rolling mountains on either side of the road until we got to Nevada where the beautiful scenes left us.  We stayed overnight in Elko, a really ugly town along Route 80 where we walked down to the Casino for a go at the slots.  We lost about $10 and quit when I won a big jackpot that balanced out our losses.   Our next stop was Lone Pine, CA, which we reached about dinner time having skirted Reno and the Lake Tahoe fires by taking Route 95 through the most God forsaken country of Nevada that we had ever seen.  We did drive through the Lake bypass to see June Lake, Gull Lake, etc. and thought that might have possibilities as a future camping trip in cool weather.  Lone Pine Campground was quite nice (except for the dirt campsites) and we would definitely try that again in cooler weather.  The next day we got home fairly early around 12:30 missing any big traffic tie ups on the 405.

On Saturday after Lou, Chet, Sue and Mati departed, the remaining group, Louise, Margo, Kelli and Ron piled into Bob and Tom's rental van and all headed to Waterton Canada, in the upper portion of Glacier Park. After having a drink in the famed Prince of Wales Hotel the group found a cute little place for lunch in the village. Crossing back into the States all our passports were carefully checked and we all had a laugh when the border patrol agent, reading out the names on the passports, called out the name of Eleanor. Bob and Tom both yelled "ELEANOR???!!!" Apparently they did not know the real identity of Kelli.

by Sue Kuuskmae with additional inputs from Kelli Young, July 2007

Grand Teton - Collage