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Northern Trek June - July 2018Northern Trek June - July 2018
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Starting in Los Angeles we will visit California, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Oregon, and back to Cali. This time in a car we are looking forward to creating a whole lot of new memories with our travelling friends Carl and Paola. Read more
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  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    Day 9

    On Safari, Grand Tetons

    June 23, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    5.50 AM pick up in an 8 seat off road van, equipped with high powered binoculars and spotting scopes all from Jackson Eco Tours. From the outset it appeared that we had a great guide Chelsea, extremely welcoming and knowledgeable. We picked up another couple Paula and Tome from Jackson Lodge and we were on our way.

    These guide are in 2 way comms with each other so they can compare and share locations of the very elusive wildlife. Our first spotting was pronghorn (Antelope) and we were truly lucky to see the doe in full flight chasing a Kyote away from her fawn. This was a very rare event and something that Chelsea had not even seen. In the same place a lone Bison.

    We received a call to get to a second location where there were several moose. A Bull feeding on cress in the creek and several cows, one with calf grazing. We saw seven of these in total. Next were a pair of Elk beside the road very close up. We saw Prairie Dogs, ground Squirrels, Crane and dear, but the Grizzlys and Black bears eluded us much to Carls dismay.

    We hunted up hill and down dale and even sacrificed ourselves to Mosquitos, Chelsea went to extraordinary lengths to find them but just not happening today.

    Light breakfast was supplied and we had a great picnic lunch provided when we stopped on the shore of Jackson Lake. On our last stop I offered to photograph to guys touring on mountain bikes. As it turned out it was an aussie father and son who were competing in the Bamff to Mexico Great Divide bike ride. What an amazing feat.

    8 hours of value and information, we had some great laughs with the other couple exchanging various stories. Thanks to Eco Tours for a spectacular day.

    Back in Jackson we caught the free shuttle back into town for some shopping, browsing and a coffee before a light meal.    Read more

  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    1
    Day 10

    Beary good day, Teton Village

    June 24, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Our last day in Jackson and we decided to start early and retrace our steps from yesterday’s safari and see if we can find some interesting wildlife. It was very different without binoculars, but we did find Elk, Deer, and we found a moose and her calf, and she was only 20 metres away. I carefully got up close being aware that a moose with calf is very dangerous. Using a tree as cover I got to about 10 metres from her, when she looked straight at me and took a step in my direction I retreated with staggering speed. Our search continued in all the likely haunts but sadly no bear.
    On return from the wilderness we went back to the visitor’s centre, had lunch and checked out the shops again. We took a stage coach ride around town, which was a relaxing way to take in the sights. We are really getting into the cowboy way of life. Laundry was on the agenda so Noela took care of that whilst I stayed in town before the 2 – mile walk back to the motel, should have caught the shuttle.
    Late in the day at around 5.15 we drove around to Teton Village. Carl and Paola had checked this out earlier in the day and discovered that the Gondola to 9000 plus feet is free after 5 PM. The Traam to the top is $40 and goes to 10,000ft so we opted for the cheap seats on the gondola instead. As we were boarding another passenger told us of a bear at stanchion 19 or 20. Well hello bear, a black bear cub directly below us. Cameras went crazy and to make sure we did another circuit, yes, it was still there, Carl was a happy man and we were all pretty stoked as well.
    We celebrated with a light meal and a cold beverage at the Piste Bar at 9250 ft. We were not really dressed for the late afternoon shadows and the chill as the temperature plummeted to single digits. But dinner was great, the beer super cold and the company awesome.
    We again boarded the gondola for the ride down the mountain and our bear was still there, so we did yet another lap. The lift attendant must have wondered what these grown adults were up to riding around and around on the lift.
    Finally, back at the car we fuelled for tomorrow and bid 3 great days at Jackson goodbye. Tomorrow Yellowstone and probably more bear hunting.    Read more

  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    Day 11

    Geysers and geesers, Yellowstone NP

    June 25, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    Jackson is some 50 miles South of Yellowstone NP so we got an early start as there was plenty of things that we wanted to see on this visit. Our first encounter for the day was a group of Bison right next to the road, several cars were parked too close to them and the Bison soon spooked. We can see why people get gored by them given the amazing turn of speed and agility that a couple of them displayed, one even jumping a fence,
    We continued into the Teton NP and then to the South entrance of Yellowstone NP in good time. We again were thankful for the annual park pass that we purchased on day one this pass has saved us a couple of hundred dollars already.
    Our first stop was at West Thumb where we walked a board walk around a collection of small pools of geo thermal activity. This site bordered the lake and these vents were even in the lake bubbling their hot water into the freezing lake water. We were pretty amazed by this but there was bigger to come.
    We headed into Yellowstone village where most people just go to see “Old Faithful”, I had read about another location at the back of this geyser, so we took that boardwalk that went for about 1.5 miles. Absolutely stunning views and geology with water filled vents bubbling and boiling with different colours based on the bacteria or minerals present. There literally hundreds of these and they all had views to old faithful which as an added bonus erupted whilst we were there.
    Our trip continued taking in other sites like Black Sand basin, Fountain Paint Pot, Grand prismatic Springs, The Mud Volcano, The Sulphur Caldron, Firehole Canyon Drive along with other stops to view water falls, rapids and canyons. All of these sites offered something different and were on the southern loop road. We stopped for a late lunch at Canyon Village and then moved into the Hayden Valley our exit road to Cody Wyoming. Bison grazed in the fields, more photos were taken and we ooed and ahhed at the vistas. We came around a bend with a group of vehicles parked and all of a sudden, the car exploded with the shout of GRIZZLY and eagle eyes Noela spotted the elusive beast on a distant ridge. It was a long way off but still close enough to identify. After 15 minutes of bear gazing we continued and soon enough we exited the park.
    Our drive continued, and we recapped the day like kids on a school excursion just near the town of Witica it happened, another innocuous group of cars. There she was another Grizzly along with her two cubs blissfully feeding with the cubs playing. This time though she was 50 to 75 metres away, close enough to make sure that while taking photos you had a clear escape path. We must have been there for about 45 minutes until some peanut drove his car up to them and upset mum. Carl did not want to leave but we dragged him kicking a and screaming back to the car.
    Finally, we got to Cody at around 6.45 feeling pretty happy with the days events. But guess where Carl and Paola are going back to tomorrow morning………….Yawn, see you tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    1
    Day 12

    True Wild West, Cody WY

    June 26, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Cody is a wild west town steeped in history and named after Buffalo Bill Cody who developed the town and poured significant amounts of money into it. The hospitality here is second to none and the towns people are extremely proud of what they have.
    Noela and I started the day with breakfast at Granny’s a great traditional diner with really wholesome and good value meals. From there we singlehandedly tried to add to the Cody economy as we found some great western outfitters for shoes , boots and clothing. A mandatory visit to Cody Harley Davidson and a coffee at a genuine espresso coffee shop.
    Carl and Paola headed back into Yellowstone to Mammoth Springs and Roosevelt to chase down more of the elusive bears in the area and returned having seen 3 bear at various distances.
    We all joined a tour at 3.00pm that ran for an hour. The tour was on a trolley bus and gave a very informative talk on the history, the population and the economy, again highlighting the pride that the locals have in their town.
    Tonight, we will witness a mock gunfight at the Hotel Irma Bill Cody’s old Saloon and hotel before heading over to the stampede stadium to see the daily Rodeo. Cody claims to be the rodeo capital of America.
    Then its time to hit the road again and move into Montana and Washington state.

    More to come on the Rodeo.    Read more

  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    Day 12

    Rodeo Time, Cody WY

    June 26, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Shoot out at the hotel Irma was a bit corny but they re-enacted a shoot out with Butch Cassidy and Wyatt Earp. There was a big crowd and it certainly entertained the kids.

    One of our things to do in Cody was the rodeo that is held every night in summer. We were picked up by the Cody rodeo bus and taken to the rodeo grounds on the western end of town. We had great sets directly over the shoots.

    It was an entertaining night with several Aussies competing so they received a special cheer. If you ever go to Cody this is a must do event.    Read more

  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    Day 13

    Montana Hospitality, Willsall, MT

    June 27, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    After a great breakfast at granny's, we left Cody behind, driving north along the Chief Joseph Highway. This is an amazing road with awesome scenery and telling history. It was here that the Nez Perze were pursued by the US army with orders to take no prisoners. This was 12 months after Custer and hundreds of US cavalry soldiers were killed at Little Big Horn.

    The Indians were being closed in on but they threw in some clever diversionary tactics and escaped. We stopped at an overlook today called dead Indian pass. The battle that raged here in and around 1877 was bloody and vicious.

    We continued on and detoured to Silvergate a small town that we stayed in 4 years ago it is a beautiful place on the beginning of the Beartooth Highway. From here we followed the Beartooth out of Wyoming and into Montana, again with spectacular scenery, snow and green rolling hills and the ever present Beartooth Mountain nearby. We stopped at the scene of my wrong side of the road fopar of 4 years ago. I got it right this time. Some snowballs were thrown, our country name carved in the snow wall and plenty of laughs at Carl trying not to sink in thee snow with thongs on. The Beartooth is a great road to ride and driving a car just di not do it justice. That said it was worth it just the same.

    We reached the town of Redlodge at lunchtime had a bite to eat and planned the afternoon drive. To ease the drive tomorrow we pushed on via Roscoe, Columbus and Springdale before turning right and heading for Sulphur Springs. We decided that we would just happen upon a small lodging at one of the small towns, and that was what happened. After a couple of towns with nothing we drove into Willsall and feeling satisfied with todays effort we have stopped at Fort Willsall Motel Willsall is a a 2 horse town with a motel designed as a fort, complete with log cabins.

    Its going to be a very peaceful night.    Read more

  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    Day 14

    Blackfeet Nation, Browning MT

    June 28, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Dinner Last night was at the Bank Bar, an old bank complete with vault now operating as a bar and restaurant. Whilst it sounds flash Wilsall only has a population of 200 or so but it is a friendly place and we can thoroughly recommend the motel known as Fort Wilsall Motel run by Dick and May. As predicted our little log cabins were very quiet so it was a restful night.
    We pushed on this morning to Sulphur Springs and stopped at Dori’s for breakfast, she was a hoot and loves getting Australians through. She armed us with some local knowledge and off we went heading for Great falls on the Missouri River. We can see why they call Montana big Sky country, it is open with sweeping plains and rolling hills, blue skies and fields full of premium feed for the beef cattle raised here.
    The falls in Great Falls were spectacular and even though the river here was dammed in 1915 the old falls still remain below the dam wall. As the river was in flood the dam was spilling. Whilst there we met a group of kids on summer camp. They were very impressed to meet some Australians and they warned us of a Water Moccasin nearby.
    The country we passed through again today has a savage past, but it seems to have been dominated by the Black Feet Nation of American Indians. Tonight we are in Browning Montana the Blackfeet reservation centre and gateway to Glacier National Park.
    The weather is still holding but that may change tomorrow but glacier and thee road to the sun promises to be a great day.    Read more

  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    Day 15

    Glacier National Park, MT

    June 29, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Well Browning was a strange place, it had all the hall marks of a town that had been forgotten and yet it is a gateway to one of the most scenic and popular National Parks. Fireworks going off all night, police sirens, hoards of mangy dogs wandering the streets and dilapidated houses and buildings.
    The Blackfeet are trying to make a go of it but like many native American populations they seem cut off from the mainstream.
    We got going after an inhouse included breakfast, heading North on Hwy 89 and into the Glacier National Park, “Going to the Sun Road”. Only several miles out of Browning we had to stop for roadworks. The stop/go guy was taking off his jumper down to a T Shirt with the outside temp at 8 degrees Celsius. As we pulled up he saw our flag and came over and said howdy. Jeremy Jones Horn, stood and talked to us about his life and ours his heritage his family and everything in between for the 15 minutes before the pilot vehicle guided us through the road works. The roadworks were the most confused and messy construction site we have seen, but it’s obviously creating employment for a lot of people.
    The run into the park was brilliant, the roads demand to be ridden on a bike with sweeping well cambered corners and awesome scenery. Soon enough we arrived at the park gates, showed our magic park pass and entered our 7th National Park. Our first stop was the visitors centre, it was now down to about 6 degrees and windy. The visitors centre again was informative and we gained a great insight into what to look at.
    It did not take long to see what all the fuss was about, this was another park that was just amazing with spectacular views and geology. Extinct glaciers are all through the park with waterfalls around every corner. There was still plentiful snow at the top of Logan’s Pass, where we stopped for a walk in the snow and to buy a souvenir or two. I think we were all grateful for the light weight layers of Kathmandu and Mountain Design clothing that we have procured over the last trip and this trip.
    Now we were in the thick of Bear country and whilst we did not see any today we are on high alert as we walked through narrow paths bordered by thick under brush. I nearly climbed a tree when Carl having walked ahead jumped out from behind a tree. It was the closest thing we saw to a grizzly today, but the b.s…d scared ten years off my life.
    From the park we descended quickly and followed the Flathead River through to West Glacier where we stopped for lunch, warmed up and prepared for the end of day drive.
    During the afternoon we continued through spectacular country, past and over fast running rivers and massive lakes. Classic Montana style log cabins and old barns dotted the landscape. Montana has it all from vast open plains as described yesterday to mountain and glacier country. The people we have met are so friendly.
    We have finally made our way into Bonners Ferry in Idaho, 23 miles from the Canadian border, Carl and I have the domestic duties (laundry) under control. Its wet and cold outside and we are looking forward to a nice dinner tonight.    Read more

  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    Day 15

    Bonners Ferry ID

    June 29, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 13 °C
  • TravelerNorthern Trek June - July 2018
    Day 16

    Wenatchee to Seattle, Wenatchee, WA

    June 30, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Hi all sorry a couple of big days and no time to blog, trying to Catch up tonight.
    A reasonable early start to the day from Bonners Ferry, the plan for the day was to get to Wenatchee. We had a really restful night and a great breakfast at a diner just down the road. We expected the drive to not hold to much in terms of views or landmarks and that is just what we got.
    The countryside quickly changed from the pine laden hills of the Idaho panhandle as we moved South West towards Spokane. Ahh… Spokane where we planned to have a look around, we found on arrival that they were having an event called Hoop Fest and the city streets were diverted. We attempted to find a lookout but no good on that score as well. We paid Spokane off as a bad joke and it was chewing up time, so we continued, that said what we did see indicated that it is a lovely place.
    From Spokane, we continued west through miles and miles and miles and did I say miles of wheat fields with very little change. The scenery changed briefly when we hit a huge expanse of water and Coulee Dam, and just after a large gorge where two tectonic plates meet. We went through many small towns all seemingly a day’s ride from each other.
    One standout was Waterville where we stopped by chance and saw a museum. This museum was on of the best that we have seen with rock displays, pioneering displays, a 45 star 1900 US flag, farming implements and more. Finally, we reached the Wenatchee River and its abundant stone fruit crops. Cherries, Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, Apricots. We stopped and picked up a punnett of the best cherries I have ever eaten.
    The accommodation was scarce, and we learned that there was a state baseball championship being held. The rooms that were available were very pricey. We drove back to East Wenatchee and same applied. A decision was made to continue, but we also new that the fact that it is summer holiday we had moved into an alpine region again and the July 4 holiday might conspire against us. It did we checked hotels in Cashmere, Leavenworth, Coles Corner, Skyomish, Gold Bar and Sultan. Even Monroe had nothing. All of this meant that we had driven through what was our Saturday plan Stevens Pass. Stevens Pass was amazing again following a fast-moving river and climbing through this alpine region. The town of Leavenworth is named with all Bavarian and Swiss chalets and resorts.
    We stopped at Monroe to regroup all feeling shattered from a long day, we ate at a diner and checked the accommodation situation. Our decision was to push on into Seattle rather than to stop on the outskirts. And so, it was that we navigated in failing light into Washington states largest city, with being in Seattle a night early we formulated a new plan and turned in for the night.    Read more

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