trip report: Colorado, Montana

[rgrugg]

I believe they were called jammers because the transmissions were unsynchronized and had to be double clutched when shifting. My experience with that was with a 1947 two ton Ford. Upshifting usually didn't require double clutching but downshifting always did unless you really enjoyed the awful grinding. I also believe those flowers are lupines. Several years ago Ford took them and upgraded them with new engines and transmissions and other stuff that they could be retitled as Fords of the year that work was done. We should be in Glacier in about 5 days with our Egg Camper. Hoping for a site in Two Medicine. Missed out last year.

[Adrian W]

Yep, on the flowers: "Wild Lupines (Lupinus Argenteus) are one of the most common wildflowers in Glacier National Park. It plays an important role in Montana state history as Meriwether Lewis collected the specimen and it remains one of seven still intact in the Lewis & Clark Herbarium."

A relative of the Lupinus texensis (common name Texas Bluebonnet) a species of lupine which is endemic to Texas and found in Oklahoma as well.

Desert Lupine (Lupinus shockleyi) can be found in the Big Bend Area.

In New Mexico, we have the Lupinus neomexicanus or New Mexico Lupine.

[Mike Magee]

Aha, so that is the Lupine I've heard so much about. It really is nice. I only got to see that one patch of it, unfortunately. Probably was just getting started.

While enjoying the west side of Glacier, I decided to hike to Avalanche Lake. This was a pretty big hike for me, about as strenuous as I would want.... something like 4 miles round trip plus about a 500 foot elevation gain, if memory serves. But I'd heard that the view was worthwhile, and it certainly was.

It was really neat to see several long cascades plummeting down the rocky slopes toward the beautiful lake below. The hike, although tiring, took me through a pretty forest and often alongside the busy, rushing creek with its churning white water.

The next morning I hooked up and left the Glacier CG, and took the highway that loops around the south edge of the park. Some of the highway around the SE side was rather rough and beat up. Turning into the Two Medicine area, I stopped for many photos and also found a picnic area and ate lunch.

Then I headed for Many Glacier to see if I could manage to get a campsite there.

[Mike Magee]

I had debated whether to get a spot at St. Mary CG or go on to Many Glacier CG. I'd heard good things about Many Glacier, but was concerned about getting a site. Past history of that CG at this time of year was that it often would fill up around midday. While at Two Medicine I asked the rangers what my chances were, and they said that for some reason Many Glacier wasn't filling till about 4:30 or so. Encouraged, I passed by St. Mary and hurried to Many Glacier. Although the map makes it look like a short distance, with all the curves and bumps it took longer than expected, and I arrived around 4 pm. But lucky me, there were a few campsites! I ended up (totally by accident) camping next to a nice couple from Michigan... and I grew up in Michigan, so we had a great visit.

Many Glacier is everything it's bragged up to be. Loads of steep mountain peaks all around, and plenty of great views for pictures. Here's a waterfall.
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The Many Glacier Hotel, with the mountain backdrop, shows why some folks call this place "Little Switzerland."




Ok you flower folks, what is the name of these puffy white ones?

[melissab]

WOW, Mike! Your Photos are amazing!!! Think I'll try your way of traveling next year when we head to WY again. Trouble is my folks want us to hurry up and get there so we can spend the entire time visiting. Driving 10+ hour days was just too tiring so I think I'll add a couple days to the trip at least next time. Sounds like you boondocked a lot. Did you use a generator to keep cool till you got into the higher elevations? Wish I was starting from more Central U.S. instead of the farthest SE corner of it. Takes so long to get out West and back that it eats up siteseeing time.
How long was your entire trip? Any more photos??????

[Mike Magee]

I saw this deer actually munch a couple of those white flowers! I guess they must be tasty. Some of you may recall in another thread that I mentioned this deer walking right through my campsite... actually directly between me and the Michigan folks. We all were marveling at the deer's fearlessness.


I was glad I came here for the night. I was able to ride my bike around on the paved roads (very little traffic, and it was moving slowly) and stop anywhere to snap photos.


Melissa, I have no generator. I have to spend one night around the OK panhandle, about 4500 feet elevation. Going out it cooled off to mid 80's by 10 pm, with a strong wind and no humidity, so I was ok boondocking. After that I was mostly in the mountains where it was cool. When in Moab, though, it was too hot and I paid for an RV park site for the electric so I could run the A/C. I was out about 18 days.

[Adrian W]

Beargrass - name is misleading, Bears have no use for it, nor is it a grass. It’s one of Glacier National Park’s most recognizable flowers and can grow at a wide-range of elevations. The Blackfeet Indians used to use the hardy leaves of Beargrass to create clothing and baskets. No matter what trail you hike, beargrass is sure to rise above the real grass and dot the landscape. They are four to five feet in height and are topped off with cream colored bulbs that look like an upside-down vase.

Seeing your photos makes me want to do another trip to Glacier. My son & his wife hiked to Avalanche Lake. He was greatly impressed with it. He liked the west side a lot. I believed they camped at Sprague Creek CG.

[Mike Magee]

Beargrass! I would never have guessed. Thanks, Adrian.

After overnighting at Many Glacier, my next move was to head for St. Mary. The Going to the Sun Road was finally open! I would get to drive to Logan Pass on the first day possible. This was, I believe, a record late opening date for the Sun Road... July 13. This is what they had to plow and cut through at higher elevations:


Some of you may have seen this next photo in the other thread, but to get things into one place I'll post it again here.

This big fella was standing right by the edge of the parking lot at Logan Pass. He was showing off his rack, I think.

Lower down, in St. Mary Lake there's a lovely turnoff to see Wild Goose Island. A person could sit there and enjoy the view for a long time.


Of course, with a backdrop like that I have to get in front of the camera myself, because too many of my past years' albums don't have any photos of the guy who owns the cameras, and I made up my mind to change that.


Before starting up the Sun Road, I dropped the trailer in the visitor center parking lot. There were several construction delays on the Sun Road. After Logan Pass I encountered a severely long line of cars waiting (about a mile long, I could see them), so I turned around and headed back. It was enough for me, I didn't need to go back to Avalanche. Back east I went, stopping for photos of course, and when I got back to the visitor center I discovered that some fool had backed and parked his 5ver within 3 feet of my hitch!

Well, what's a guy to do? I parked next to my trailer, got inside it and fixed some lunch, thinking about how I wanted to cuss out that guy. But when I saw the owner come to his truck, I got out and simply said, "I can't believe that a fellow RVer would do that to someone!" He looked mighty embarrassed and said, "I just didn't think." They got in and moved away, and I was glad I hadn't said more and maybe ruined their whole day and mine as well. Time to hitch back up.

The Michigan folks I met at Many Glacier had come in from the east along US-2 and they told me about a little municipal park in Malta, MT that they'd stumbled upon; no-frills camping was only $3 per night. It was 2 pm, so I set my sights on Malta and headed east.

[melissab]

How did you keep track of all the details of your trip? Did you journal every night? Maybe you could some how do a map that shows your route and stopovers marked. Cant wait to show your post/pix to Hubby!

[Sharon G]

This year I decided to take it easy, poke along, and try to enjoy the entire journey. I spent several days looking online at boondock locations that would likely be near the end of a day's not-too-long drive, and thinking about what I could do to relax and enjoy the area once I got there. So each campsite became a mini-destination for me. I tried to find a way to enjoy the place with a short hike or a short little side trip to look for photogenic spots. Oh, and I had some novels to read, too, when I didn't feel like doing anything else.

Mike, that's my dream style of travel. Soaking in the wonders of the present as they present themselves.

I hate to sound gushy, but I was moved to tears by your sensitive portrayal of the beautiful places that you discovered.

Thanks so very much for sharing them.

[Robin G]

Mike your photo's as others have said are fantastic!


Glad you enjoyed your time in CO.


Thank You so much for your pic's of Glacier! I miss it there and enjoyed seeing it's beauty thru your lens.

[Mike Magee]

Thank you, thank you. Uh, Sharon, are you sure you don't have me confused with someone else? Melissa, I tracked the trip details in my onboard computer with graymatter CPU and cranial case ... and hopefully I didn't forget and leave out any of the good stuff!

US-2 is a pretty good road through Montana, except somewhere (I forget where) there was a 1 or 2 mile stretch of dirt to drive on where they were doing construction. With all the drought conditions this summer, it should have come as no surprise to see that in many places they had cut and baled the grass that grew along the highway and in the ditches.

Malta is a pretty small town, but there's a sign for a "rest area" pointing north of the highway. I turned and went there... it's just a hundred feet or so off US-2. No camping permitted there, but just beyond the rest area... another hundred feet or two... is the town's park. Camping encouraged for the princely sum of $3 per night! Park anywhere. I pulled in and found just one other camper, and no others showed up that night.

Adjacent to this park (and east of the "rest area") were some corrals. Some folks were having a calf roping contest there, so I ambled over and watched for a while.

Unfortunately the pics I snapped here didn't turn out very sharp, but you can get the idea of what it was like.

The next day I continued east to Williston ND and then turned south on 85. This was an impromptu route change (planned to go back to Tetons, instead headed for Mt. Rushmore), so I had not looked for campsites along this route. And on this trip I had forgotten my big Trailer Life CG directory at home! I felt like knocking off kind of early this afternoon, so I stopped for gas in Bowman and asked a local fellow at the pump about campgrounds. He told me about the city CG just east of town, and I drove there. It looked ok but I think was $20 for electric only... no dump station, and I needed one... and then I heard a train go by and boy was it CLOSE and LOUD! No way Jose! Back to 83 southbound.

Just before the ND-SD state line, what should I see but a big sign about a "Bowman-Haley Recreation Area" 8 miles east off the highway! Headed over that way, and it turned out to be a diamond in the rough. A pretty lake. Dump station, a water spigot, and restrooms. The cost? If I wanted electric hookup, $12. Otherwise, Zip. Nada. Free camping!
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The weather was very pleasant so I didn't need electric. Park anywhere! I got a good level spot about 40-50 feet from water's edge. There were maybe 8 or 10 campers that I saw around the place, and oodles of space to spread out.

Next day was South Dakota, where I got onto US 385 south from Deadwood, heading toward Mt. Rushmore. Deadwood is a very interesting looking town, old-timey and very tourist-y. Looks like one could spend a lot of dough hanging out around here, not just in Deadwood but all through this region. I stopped at the visitor center by Pactola Reservoir...

...and inquired about the national forest CGs. Just a bit farther south I found a nice campsite in the big trees at Sheridan Lake, and unhooked the Escape. From there I took a dirt-road shortcut south for a half dozen miles, then in another 4-5 miles of highway I was at Mount Rushmore.

[Mike Magee]

After Mt. Rushmore, next was the Crazy Horse Monument. After paying $10 to get in, I felt like Crazy Coot. Not much to see here IMO. The mountain carving is only, oh, about 5% complete. They want another $4 to ride a hot bus an extra mile to the base of the mountain. There's a "museum" with some Native American art, which doesn't really interest me much, and a gift shop with prices higher than the mountain itself. $50 for a fleece throw? No thanks.

Then on to the Needles Highway through Custer State Park. This was definitely worth the state park admission fee.

Slow going with all the twists and turns, like maybe 25-30 mph much of the way, but plenty of interesting sights. Several tunnels, too.


Along the way I saw this fella in the field nearby; he seemed to be smiling at me as I took his picture. Not sure, is he an antelope?


Near the end of this route, as one approaches the Rushmore area again from the south, this tunnel frames the presidents quite nicely. I came out here again the next morning, with the light on their faces, to shoot this pic. Unfortunately I see that I should have taken two or three shots at various exposures with a tripod, and used HDR software to combine them; the faces are way overexposed in my picture. Hmm, or maybe if I had just taken the shot that first evening instead!


Oh well. Anyway, that evening I went back to the Sheridan Lake NF CG for supper, then rode my bike around the CG for a while. Spotted a 13' Scamp and introduced myself to the owners; turned out to be a nice couple from Minnesota. The man was a retired attorney. They had a deluxe and were eager to show off the interior, which had a front mini-dinette instead of the bench. They were glad to hear about the Bowman-Haley CG as they were going that direction on their way home in a few days.

When I came back for supper, I noticed that the campsite next to mine, plus the one behind it, had sprouted 9 tents during my absence. I thought, maybe some bicycle riders were out touring around. And I didn't think any more of it. Until about 10:45 pm, when suddenly I realized that I was hearing a roaring noise. It got louder, and I thought it must be a freight train. Then even louder, and I wondered if it was a tornado! Scared the $#&@ out of me, I wondered if the world was ending! I looked out the window... and saw about a dozen Harleys just yards from my trailer! Well, glad that's all it was, but doggone them anyway for coming in after quiet hours had begun.

The next day (Saturday) saw me reach Fort Collins, where I paid top dollar for a KOA with electric. Folks, never go into the metro Colorado area on a weekend without a campground reservation! Everyone is out camping on weekends. On Sunday I attended a bit of the National Stereoscopic Association (3D photo club) annual gathering, then headed to Westminster for the start of some business meetings. When they concluded on Tuesday, I headed for home. Down I-20 to Raton, then took a chance and explored an obscure route: NM hwy 72 to Folsom, then hwy 456 east to Kenton OK. This was a rather bumpy, little-used pavement plus about 16 miles of gravel in the middle, but I really enjoyed the scenery and felt like an explorer. The last night of camping was in the OK panhandle again, but this time it was too hot to do without A/C. So I camped at Black Mesa State Park... and other than the deer and other critters, I was the only one there.

I arrived home the next day, so I guess that concludes my trip report.

[Mike Magee]

In all it was 8 nights of free camping, 9 nights of paid camping, and 2 nights in a fancy hotel (which the company pretty much covered). Excluding the meetings, that would have been an 18 day, 17 night trip.

[Adrian W]

Enjoyed the report Mike, can't wait for your next report.

Yes, the antelope is what has been call an antelope for years and years, but in fact is a Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the Prong Buck, Pronghorn Antelope, or simply Antelope. As far I know there are no real native Antelope in North/South America.

http://www.gpnc.org/pronghor.htm

Did you not see any Bison?

Or Wild Burros?

[brian m.]

Thanks for the nice report Mike. On your tunnel/Presidents face shot exposure problem, if you shot it in RAW format you could "process" two different exposures and layer them together. Erase the the dark layer except for the tunnel area. Again thanks for the nice trip photos!

[Mike Magee]

Thanks, Adrian, for the wildlife info. Nope, no buffalo or wild burros, but I did see some rabbits FWIW.

Brian-- THANK YOU for reminding me. I had totally forgotten that my DSLRs were set to store both RAW and jpeg! I'm just getting a new computer set up, but after all the software is reinstalled on it I will have to play with that RAW file. I feel like Homer Simpson with a *DOH!* moment; can you tell that I never have done much with RAW before? I forgot it was even there!

[Sheryl]

Thank you for sharing your trip and your beautiful photos!

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by brian m.

Thanks for the nice report Mike. On your tunnel/Presidents face shot exposure problem, if you shot it in RAW format you could "process" two different exposures and layer them together. Erase the the dark layer except for the tunnel area. Again thanks for the nice trip photos!

Great timing on that tip!! Have 3 weeks of photos I'm working on and this will come in very handy on a couple!

[Keith Williams]

Sweeet stuff Mike,
Next time through Denver area, I'll buy you a cold one. All ya gotta do is call.

EKW