28 June 2019 Fossils and Internmen

We drove over to Hagerman Idaho this morning. For almost the whole 107 miles we were crossing lava fields of various ages (some millions of years old and others only 2,000 years old). In Hagerman is the visitor center for Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument. The NM was created in 1988 by President Ronald Regan. We collected our 41^stPassport Stamp, explored the exhibits, and watched the park movie (not worth the time). As it turns out, the visitor center is the only part of the NM worth seeing. The fossil beds are renown for the Hagerman Horse fossils in the rock formations along the Snake River. But fossils of over 200 species were found. The Hagerman Horse fossils are from 3.5 million years ago. So after the last super volcano was in the area (10 million years ago) although there are lava flows from only 10,000 years ago. Back in the time of the Hagerman Horse, the area was on the shores of Idaho Lake. This lake eventually drained and the bones were preserved in the soil from the bed of the lake. The area was eventually covered by lava flows. These lava flows were subsequently washed away and the fossil layer exposed when lake Utah overflowed 15,000 years ago and sent a torrent of water and debris washing through the Snake River valley for over 8 weeks. The fossils were excavated 1929-1932 by the Smithsonian. The complete skeletons of over 20 Hagerman Horse, predecessor to today’s horse, were found. Three of these are on permanent display at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. The rest of the NM is on the other side of the Snake River from Hagerman. There is a road that runs up through it with two overlooks, one for the fossil beds (but has no explanation of what you are looking at and you can’t see where they excavated) and one overlook of some Oregon Trail wheel ruts (that you really have to use your imagination to pick out). So we can now claim we have seen ruts from both the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail. 

Entrance Sign

Hagerman Horse

From Hagerman we went over near Jerome Idaho and visited the Minidoka National Historic Site. We stopped at the temporary visitor center andcollected our 42nd Passport Stamp and explored the exhibits (no movie yet). Minidoka was one of ten interment camps where people who were either Japanese Citizens living in the US (Isei), or US Citizens of Japanese Decent (Nisei) that were in the west coast military exclusion zone, were interred following the declaration of war on Japan. It should be noted that several thousand German civilian citizens, Italian civilian citizens and American citizens of German and Italian decent, were rounded up by the FBI and INS and interred in other camps. Over 110,000 Isei and Nisei were rounded up between February 1942 and April 1942 and shipped out to these camps. Many of these citizens lost their homes and businesses when they could no longer pay the mortgages and the banks foreclosed. A few lucky ones had good friends and neighbors that took over their homes and businesses and ran them during the war before turning them back over when they were released. Most lost everything they had. On arrival at the camps, each was given an army issued cot, a mattress and two blankets. The barracks where they were housed were hastily built with green wood sides (which opened up and warped as it dried) covered with tarpaper. Each barrack building had six apartments, which housed 2-8 people per apartment. Initially toilets were large open pits. Can you imagine going through a Idaho winter under these conditions? The camp was not finished when they started moving the internees in and many were forced to help build their interment camp! At its highest point, over 9,000 were interred at Minidoka. Being the hardworking and industrious people that they were, the Isei and Nisei planted gardens, fixed buildings, made their own furniture and helped each other out. Starting in 1943, Nisei were allowed to join the military and help in the war effort. Some were allowed to move to other parts of the country to work in war factories or to go to college. There were eight guard towers around the camp but they were never manned. Minidoka was considered a quiet camp so the constraints on the internees were not as harsh as at some other camps. Internees could even travel to Twin Falls occasionally to shop or see a movie. Starting in October 1944, the internees were allowed to gradually move back to the west coast. By October 1945 the camp was closed. Each internee was given a one-way train ticket and $25. They were never reimbursed for the loss of their homes, businesses and lives. 

The lands the camps were built on were lotteried off in 1946 to returning veterans in 160-acre parcels, and as part of the parcel, each was given two portions of camp buildings to be used as farm buildings. So the barracks were cut into sections and moved to the new farms. The only remaining original building on the Minidoka site was the fire department building.

In 1988, a bill passed congress to pay reparations to the living internees (now down to ~70,000) $20,000 a piece for their unconstitutional internment. That same bill created the NHS.

The Minidoka NHS languished for decades but has recently started being upgraded. They have a temporary visitor center in an old farmhouse and are building a new visitor center (should be finished by the end of this summer), which will have exhibits showing the camp. The foundations of the entrance guard shack and the waiting room (where internees would be processed in and out of the camp) are still visible. The Idaho conservation corps built a replica guard tower and fence line near the entrance. They have managed to buy back two of the original buildings from the original camp and move them to the NHS, but they are still undergoing renovation and were not open to the public.

Entrance Sign with Guard Tower in the background

Foundations of entrance guard shack and waiting room

Plaque at the entrance

26 June 2019 Craters of the Moon National Monumen

We drove down to Craters of the Moon NM from Arco around noon. The Craters was designated a NM in 1924 and has been expanded four times since. We stopped at the visitor center at the park entrance. We collected our 40^thPassport Stamp, explored the exhibits, and watched the park movie. We learned something we did not expect, that the lava fields of Craters of the Moon are related to the geothermal formations in Yellowstone! Twenty million years ago, a hot spot in the mantle appeared near what is the border of Idaho and Oregon. That hot spot has been slowly moving east (2 inches per year) to its present position under Yellowstone. As it moved east, a series of super volcanoes have erupted so strongly that they blasted out the Snake River Valley out of the early mountain ranges. The caldera in the Craters area is from between 6 and 10 million years ago. The current lava fields and cones are along a 52 mile fissure called the Great Rift. The youngest lava in the park is from 2000 years ago.

We drove the 7.2 mile loop road and hiked the 5.5 miles of trails at the various overlook (only took 4 hours). The landscape is stark in most places with various types of lava formations. But it is very interesting with the different types of lava formation. This is very similar to El Morro NM in New Mexico. 

Entrance sign

Lava Formation

Leslie climbing the Giant Cinder Cone

Lava Field

Tree Impressions in the lava

Lava Tube

24 June 2019 Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, MT to Arco, ID

The drive down to Arco, ID was long but mostly scenic. Once we dropped into Idaho the mountains pulled back and we found ourselves in high desert scrub. A stark departure from the last few weeks. The temperatures climbed into the upper 70s which meant the truck was running warmer than in previous days but nothing extreme. We are staying in Mountain View RV Park ($42 per night with GSC) in Arco Idaho. It’s the closest RV park to Craters of the Moon NM. The sites are gravel, but mostly level with good utilities and high speed WiFi.  The sites are spread out nicely as well giving us plenty of room to stretch out. We will be here until 1 July to visit the two NM and one NHS in the area. We must say, it sure is good to have full hook ups again!

For the last three months we have been  crossing back and forth across the Continental Divide. On the drive south, we crossed the Continental Divide three times. We are currently on the west side of the divide, but we will cross back to the east side when we drive back north. Interestingly, the border between Idaho and Montana follows the Continental Divide for most of the border. 

Our new campsite

23 June 2019 Virginia City

The Ranger also suggested we visit Virginia City. Virginia City and its companion city, Nevada City just 3 miles down the road, were built during the Alder Gulch Gold rush in the early 1860s. The Adler Gulch gold find was the largest ever found in the US and was mined from 1860 to 1941. By the 1920s, the gold mines were winding down and the old buildings were falling into disrepair. Charles Bovey took an interest in preserving Montana’s Wild West heritage and began buying up the old 1860 buildings in Virginia City and Nevada City and repairing them to be turned into museums. He also built replica buildings where the old buildings could not be saved. His wife Sue, decorated the buildings in period wall coverings and furniture. After their death in 1946, their son held form the Montana Historical Preservation Society which bought up the old buildings and maintains them. In 1961 Virginia City was declared a National Historic Site. We walked the main street and looked in the various preserved building. We were a bit disappointed. The buildings and displays are in serious need of work to preserve them. The rest of the buildings were the usual tourist trap tee shirt and cheap gift stores. But some of the private Victorian homes off the main street were very well preserved and looked beautifully maintained. We drove through Nevada City but did not stop since it had the same character as Virginia City. On the way back to the Wanderer, we stopped in Ennis and walked the small historic downtown area. There were multiple outfitters since this is a big fishing area. Unfortunately we do not have time for fishing for now. But we did get a recommendation from the Orvis store manager, Justin (well informed about fishing, hunting and birding hunts, we enjoyed our visit with him) for an outfitter near Missoula for when we are in that area in a couple of weeks.

The solar system had been doing a reasonable job of charging the batteries despite the mostly cloudy and rainy days. But today the sun never came out and the batteries had been slowly discharging over the last three days. With the house voltage below 12 volts when we got home, David decided to drag out the portable generator to get us charged up for the evening. We rand the generator for a couple hours and brought the house voltage back up to 13Vs. We have done really well on water as well and still had 20 gallons in the fresh water tank after four days and nights. The worst things we missed with not having electrical hookups was not having the hairdryer for Leslie and the electric recliners not working for David! We know, were spoiled!

Original 1860 building in Virginia City

Virginia City

Downtown Ennis

22 June 2019 Gates of the Mountain

After our cavern tour yesterday, we stopped in the exhibits and talked with the ranger at the desk. We asked what else there was to do in the area other than the Caverns, and she suggested the boat tour of the Gates of the Mountain. After a bit of research, we decided it sounded like fun, as we like boat tours. The two hour Gates of the Mountain boat tour ($16 per person) is on a stretch of the Missouri River, 20 miles north of Helena,  that cuts a canyon through limestone mountains. This is the same limestone formation that the Lewis and Clark Caverns are formed out of. The canyon is flooded due to a couple of damns, compared to what it was in the early 1800s when Lewis and Clark rowed there way up the Missouri River. The canyon was so steep they could not tow the boats from shore and had to row up river against the current and through the various obstacles. As they rowed, the sheer rock walls closed in on them and seemed like they would fall in on them. Thus they called them the gates, as they seemed to open and close as they passed through. We only had to share the large tour boat with six other people (the boat was capable of handling over 100), three of which were noisy out of control kids. Brian, our tour guide and captain, pointed out several interesting rock formations, arches, Bald Eagle nests, and Osprey nests. We also were able to see a mature and a fledgling Bald Eagle. This area was also the location of the worst Smoke Jumper loss of life. Thirteen Smoke Jumpers lost their lives in 1959 in the Mann Canyon fire when the fire jumped behind them and trapped them against the canyon wall. The tour was very pretty and well worth the effort. 

View up the Canyon

Bald Eagle

Rhinoceros Rock (there is an Osprey Nest on the tip of the horn)

Gates of the Mountains

21 June 2019 Lewis and Clark Caverns

While researching the trip between Yellowstone and Glacier NPs, the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park popped up. It was originally designated a National Monument in 1908 after the land was donated by the Union Pacific railroad. Due to budget limitations, the park was not developed by the federal government. Sam Morrison, the original developer of the caverns before losing aownership court case to the railroad, continued to run illegal tours of the caverns until 1932 when he passed away. With the depression in full swing in 1932, the federal government divested several parks to state governments, Lewis and Clark Caverns was turned over to the Montana State Government to become the first State Park in Montana. From 1935 – 1942, the CCC made improvements to the roads, facilities and the trails and lighting through the caverns. The caverns opened to the public in 1942 and are the most visited State Park in Montana (60,000 people per year). 

The caverns were formed 2-3 million years ago. The cave is formed from 1400 foot thick limestone that was formed from a shallow sea 330 million years ago. The tour was a work out! These caverns were not like Carlsbad Caverns where you can stroll along. There were several hundred stairs up and down and places where you basically had to crawl or duck walk or slide down to get through. That was after a fairly steep climb outside to get to the upper entrance. There were two species of bats that were on the ceiling at the entrance to the cave. All in all, it was an interesting tour, but you better be in shape and limber if you take it!

Column in Lewis and Clark Caverns

View from the upper entrance to the cavern

Flow Stone in Lewis and Clark Caverns

20 June 2019 West Yellowstone to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park

It’s a short drive (108 miles) from West Yellowstone to the Lewis and Clark State Park. We took a slightly longer route around Hebgen and Quake Lakes (formed by the 1959 Hebgen quake) to avoid a steep climb through Targhee Pass, although we did have one big climb just north of Ennis. But the temperatures were in the low 50s and the truck did just fine. We are staying in the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park campground ($30.5 per night which includes a non-resident fee). The site we were able to reserve has no hookups. We were able to top the tanks off from the potable water source in the park, so we did not have to drag it too far. This is our first camping with no hookups (boondocking light according to David since there are bathrooms nearby if needed), which will provide a good test of the solar system and batteries. The site was barely big enough for the Wanderer and anything but level. The front end had to be jacked up high enough that the front tires came off the ground to get level. We did not even know the struts were that long! Sure make it easy to get into the basement! No bending over required!

Lewis and Clark State Park Campground (Yes, the wanderer is level, its the ground that is tilted. 

19 June 2019 Fairy Falls and Lower Basin

Knowing the crowds in the park were getting worse as the week went on, we got up really early and got into the park before 7am. We headed to the trailhead for the Fairy Falls trail, which is almost to the turn off for Old Faithful. When we pulled into the parking lot, there were only two other vehicles. But the area was very foggy due to the hot springs in the Mid-Basin thermal pools. As we got our selves ready to hike, the sun came out and burned off the fog. As we headed down the trail, we kept our eyes and ears peeled for any wild life. The trail initially followed and old road and then turned off into a heavily forested area. This area had been burned during the 1988 fires and there were a lot of trees on the ground, but the new (30 year old) saplings were 20 feet high and packed together, making it hard to see very far into the forest. We kept a close eye out for Grizzly Bears since we had heard they were active in the area but the mosquitoes were the worst pest. The trail was fairly level until the last quarter mile and we made good time (2.5 miles per hour). The falls were running very well and were very pretty. A good treat at the end of the hike (5 miles, 82 feet elevation, 941 calories). We only saw two other groups of hikers on the way out (we let one group pass us to act as bear bait for us), but on the way back there was tons of people heading to the falls or the mid-basin overlook. They were coming in by the busloads! When we got to the parking lot, it was packed with hundreds of cars and busses. We were very happy we were getting out of there!

We then went down to the Lower Geyser Basin and hiked the boardwalk. Parking was packed and we had to circle the lot a couple of times before a space opened up that we could fit the Behemoth into (David almost had to get out and have words with someone who tried to cut into the spot in front of us). Again there were a lot of people but they were fairly spread out so we were not crowded. After a week of seeing thermal features, we were getting a bit burned out and none of these features really stood out. Leslie wanted to take a shot at seeing the Grand Geyser in the upper basin again since we had missed it yesterday. As we got off the Grand Loop Road to the access road for the Upper Geyser Basin the traffic came to a screeching stop, two miles from the parking lots! We quickly did a U turn and headed for the Wanderer. Along the way, we took Firehole Lake drive and stopped to enjoy our lunch.

Returning to the Wanderer, we stopped off at West Yellowstone to pick up supplies to last us for the upcoming 4 days of roughing it. 

Fairy Falls

Lower Geyser Basin

18 June 2019 Upper Geyser Basin Repeat.

After David completed his work telecons in the morning, we headed back to the Upper Geyser Basin since Leslie wanted to see Old Faithful erupt one more time and maybe see Grand Geyer erupt as well. It was almost 2:30 when we approached the parking lots for the upper basin. The parking lots were packed and there were a lot of cars circling to get a spot. We got lucky and someone pulled out of a spot big enough for the Behemoth to fit. We strolled to the visitor center to find out when the next eruption of Grand and Old Faithful were expected. We had an hour to kill, so we walked over to the bar in Old Faithful Inn for a drink. While we were there, we checked on the possibility of dinner reservations at Old Faithful Inn restaurant and were told they had been booked up for over 6 months! We then strolled out to the viewing area. The times for Castle, Old Faithful and Grand geyser eruptions overlapped. So we opted to see Old Faithful and then make our way to Grand. Unfortunately, as we waited for Old Faithful to erupt, we could see in the distance Castle Geyser erupting and then through the trees, Grand Geyser, erupting. So much for our plan. We headed back to West Yellowstone and stopped at the Slippery Otter for dinner before heading for the Wanderer. 

Old Faithful

17 June 2019 Norris, Mammoth Springs and Tower Falls

Hi folks, sorry for the delay in posting but we have been boon docking and did not have internet access.

Hoping the crowds might be a little reduced, we figured we needed to get to the park earlier. We got up earlier, but dragged our feet getting ready so we ended up getting the park entrance only 30 minutes earlier. But we zipped through the entrance gate and drove to the Norris Geyser Basin parking area. Surprisingly, it was already fairly full, but we were able to find a spot pretty easily. We arrived just in time to catch a Ranger led tour of the basin.  Ranger Laura, is a second generation Yellowstone Ranger (her father was a Ranger at Yellowstone for the last 30 years and she grew up in Yellowstone). She led us through several features and explained their history and how their names were assigned.  We were particularly entertained when she explained that a visiting female guest in the late 1800’s was walking through the field and surprisingly the little geyser erupted, spaying her with the fallout and she shouted out…”Why you little vixen!”  Therefore her name. 

From there we drove up to Mammoth Springs, walked the boardwalks and drove the loop road. The flows at Mammoth spring were beautiful and very impressive. Definitely worth the walk! While working our way through the traffic and Mammoth Springs, there were Elk walking through the parking lots. Leslie jumped out to get a picture and got to hear her first Elk bugle.

We then drove the northern portion for the Grand Loop Road to Tower Falls. Along the way we saw a back up of cars and eventually could see two black bear cubs playing in the distance (too far to get a good picture). We knew momma bear had to be around somewhere but could not see her. Further down the road, another back up revealed a Grizzly Bear in the distance (300 yards from the road). With no place to pull off the road, we snapped a quick picture and kept the traffic moving. We parked and walked to the overlook for Tower Falls. After waiting our turn to get pictures, we walked to the trailhead and saw a sign that said the trail did not lead to any other views of the falls. We decided to hike it anyway but about half way down the steep trail, we could see it only took you down to the river and we turned back.

It had been a busy day, so we climbed back in the Behemoth and headed for Canyon. Along the way we saw another Grizzly Bear in the distance along with lots of Elk and Buffalo along the road. Lots of critters! Making it to Canyon, we completed the Grand Loop Road of Yellowstone. 

Ranger Laura at Vixen Geyser

Norris Basin

Norris Basin

Orange Mound Spring

Mammoth Springs

Mammoth Springs

Mammoth Springs

Black Bear Cubs Playing

Grizzly Bear feeding

Tower Falls

15 June 2019 Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Today we decided we needed to see something other than the Geothermal  sites (which is hard since they are everywhere in Yellowstone), so we headed for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone river. Once again, we got up early and hit the west gate around 08:15 thinking we would beat the worst of the crowd. The local merchants had warned us this would be the first really big weekend of the season. We surprisingly breezed through the gate with no line! Only to come to a screeching halt about two miles later in a miles long traffic jam. We crawled along for an hour and a half only to find out the huge traffic jam was caused by people stopping on the road to take picture of the buffalo in a herd that was close to the road. A ranger had apparently showed up to urge people along but not before traffic was backed up for 5-6 miles. Our first stop was at the Artist Paint Pots.  The small parking lot was full when we pulled in but a spot opened up quickly. People were parking all over the place and blocking the flow of traffic (later an Enforcement ranger showed up and wrote a lot of people tickets!). The hike up to the pots was easy and there were multiple geothermal features along the way (Hot pools, bubbling geysers) to keep us entertained. There were two pools of mud pots, one was pretty thick and provided delightful bursting mud bubbles and the other was soupier and not as entertaining. Fortunately there was plenty of room on the boardwalks so the crowds were not as bad as yesterday.

Then we headed for the Canyon area of the park and turned into the South Rim drive and then stopped at the Uncle Tom parking area. We did not have any problems finding a parking spot (the crowds were at Old Faithful). But it had taken us four hours to get to the canyon area. After eating the lunch we had brought with us, we strolled over to the Upper Falls viewing platform. The Upper Falls of the Yellow Stone river were pretty spectacular and the roar of the water reached all the way up to the canyon rim (Note: the Brink of Upper Falls and Uncle Tom’s Point trail were closed for construction). We then hiked the South Rim Trail around to get some beautiful view of the 308 foot tall Lower Falls (over 60,000 gallons a minute were flowing over the falls). There was a family that was hiking the trail at about the same rate we were so we kept taking turns taking pictures for each other. After hiking about half way to Artist Point we went back to the truck and drove up to Artist Point. The Parking lot was fairly full and there were a lot of buses dropping off hoards of people. The upper deck of the overlook was packed with people from all over the world. Most politely taking turns to get pictures both up the canyon toward the Lower falls and down the canyon with the river rapids and colorful canyon walls. It was very clear why this was called Artist Point, the views and colors were spectacular. After shuffling through the crowds (and yes, our friends from the trail were there and we again took turns taking each others pictures) to get our pictures, we escaped back to our Behemoth and drove around to the one way North Rim Drive. Again, the parking lots at the major over looks were chaos. We skipped the first over look since Leslie’s knee was not up to the hike down to the Brink of the Lower Falls overlook (a very steep trail down to a observation deck at the edge of the lower falls) and continued to Lookout Point. We think the views from the south rim were better.

Then we moved on to the visitor center at Canyon Village where we hoped to find the Park Series pottery cups that have been commissioned for all the National Park units. But they did not have them in the visitor center store. So we went over to the General Store next door and learned they only carried them at the Tower and Fish Bridge stores. Feeling the 4.5 miles we had walked already, we headed over to the Canyon Lodge for a beer before heading back to the Wanderer. At the bar we met another couple (from Missouri) that were also RVers that were thinking of going fulltime. So we had fun swapping stories from the road. Just as we prepared to leave, the skies opened up and torrential rains and sleet came down for about 15 minutes. We kept running into these showers off and on as we drove. Fortunately the sleet was soft, so there was no damage to the Behemoth. 

We decided to head back to the Wanderer via Fishing Bridge instead of the way we had come. This would allow us to see the Hayden Valley, Yellowstone River valley and Yellowstone lake areas of the park and yes, stop and pick up our Yellowstone Park cup. The Hayden Valley has a lot of wildlife. We saw many buffalo and elk along the road (the traffic stoppages were pretty minimal). The General Store at Fishing Bridge (where they used to allow people to fish for cut throat trout) did have the Park Series pottery cups and we picked one up for our collection. The views looking out over Yellowstone Lake toward the Absaroka Mountains were spectacular. We then followed US191 back to West Yellowstone and our Wanderer. A wonderful day!

Paintpot Erupting

Upper Yellowstone Falls

Lower Yellowstone Falls

Lower Yellowstone Falls from Artist Point

Lower Yellowstone Canyon from Artist Point

Buffalo in Hayden Valley

Absaroka Mountains across Yellowstone Lake

14 June 2019 Yellowstone NP

Having gotten a peek at the crowds, we knew we needed to get up early and get to the park early. We hit the west gate at 8:10 and the line to get into the park was already a half mile long. We went straight to the Upper Geyser Basin. We made our way to the visitor center near Old Faithful to check on the expected eruption times. We collected our 39^thPassport Stamp, explored the fossil exhibits, and watched the park movie. Then strolled out to the Old Faithful viewing area to await the eruption. Well, it was five minutes late but none the less spectacular when Old Faithful finally erupted. This was Leslie’s first geyser and she was thrilled. Following Old Faithfull’s show, we hiked the Upper Geyser Basin Trail (4 miles, 128 elevation change, 886 calories) and gawked at all the geothermal pools, geysers, and formations. Yellowstone is the largest concentration of geysers in the world (Other locations are Russia, New Zealand, Iceland, and Chile) and contains more than 50% of all the geysers in the world. The majority of the park is in the 640,000 year old Yellowstone Caldera. 

Following our hike, we strolled over to the Old Faithful Inn (built in 1904) and marveled at the beautiful architecture, had a beer in the lobby (in honor of Matt and Karen) while we waited for a table in the restaurant where we had a late lunch. Then, a bit of shopping before making our way back to the Behemoth. We stopped and walked the board walks at the Black Sands and Biscuit basins to view some more geothermal pools and geysers. By the end of the day, we were getting a bit worn out on thermal pools but still enjoyed the geysers. Jaded aren’t we! It is an amazing and unique place!

Old Faithful Geyser

Castle Geyser

Grotto Gyser

Cascading Pool

Morning Glory Pool

Turbin Geyser

Biscuit Basin

Biscuit Geyser