Friday 31st March – a massive drive

We awoke to a chilly grey Montana day, but thankfully no snow.  Having come to the conclusion that we would have to bypass both Craters of the Moon and Crater Lake National Parks due to the snowy conditions it has made our onward journey more straight-forward.  We are now making a dash for the Pacific coast again as fast as we can so that we can see more of the scenic route 101 up the West coast on our way to Astoria and then on to Seattle to meet the Baileys. 

We certainly did some mileage!  We’ve broken the 18000-mile mark today and traversed the rest of Montana, the whole of the Idaho pan-handle and we are now in Washington State, making 38 states visited in total!  And reviewing our mileage over the last few weeks – we’ve done 4000 miles in the last four weeks, so that explains where all the fuel has gone!  Again, despite sticking to the Interstate to cover the miles more rapidly, we can’t grumble about the scenery.  We were driving through fir tree-covered mountains next to babbling creeks for much of the day.   

We may not have seen much of Idaho but we did stop off a couple of times – once for a large Walmart shop to stock up for us and our guests, and then again at a Costco for yet more gas.  I know, that’s three times in the last four days that we have filled up there.  We are spending a fortune on petrol.  But we’re only going to be doing this once!  We opted to do these menial tasks today as we gained an extra hour when we crossed the Stateline into Idaho, so what better way to maximise our time?!

The winding road to our remote ACE site

Having already spent our weekly budget in two days I was adamant that we must manage to have a free night somewhere in Washington state.  There seem to be limited BLM sites in the North-East but Simon found one in the Juniper Dunes Wilderness so we started heading there.  I was dubious.  Reading the instructions on how to get there I was afraid we would be ending up off-roading on sand again.  Not ideal.  We’d also noticed some sites labelled as ‘ACE’ sites by the Snake river nearby.  We only found all of these sites via the Allstays App that I have mentioned before – an absolute must for anyone RV’ing over here. A little internet research informed us that ACE stands for Army Corporation of Engineers.  Well, it’s very nice of them to equip some camp grounds in South Washington State with benches and fire rings AND to not charge any fee at the Devil’s Bench camp ground.  Less than a twenty-mile detour from the main road and not a single other soul there.  We arrived in daylight making finding it easy and picked a riverside plot.   

 

We may not have phone signal or electricity but we did have pizza and beer.  An ideal Friday night in an idyllic spot, watching the odd otter swimming by.

Thursday 30th March – Yellowstone

We agreed last night that we should get started early this morning – more chance of seeing some wild animals before the Park gets too busy.

I was awake about 6am due to some heavy rain waking me up, but I waited until it got light around 7am before making the coffees to take on the road.  By 740am we were creeping out of the campsite and in towards the park.  There was a fresh dusting of snow on the mountains opposite and as we drove further along it began to snow more heavily.  I was worried that if it started falling really solidly then we could end up getting snow-bound and stuck in the Park.  But, there are worse places to be stuck!  However, this road is maintained to be kept open throughout the year, so I tried to relax, take it slowly on the road and just enjoy the winter wonderland we found ourselves in:

It didn’t seem to be an issue for the numerous bison that we saw along the route.  It is so lovely to see so many of them living wild after their population was nearly wiped out by hunting over the last couple of centuries. They certainly rule the roads around here. They say that ideally you need to experience Yellowstone in each different season.  We could argue we’ve definitely experienced winter and maybe a little spring at times today, when the sun managed to force its way through the clouds.

The snow was deep enough for a snowball fight at times

We only drove about 20 miles on from the camp ground and Mammoth.  With the inclement weather, we were not embracing the thought of a long hike today and whatever distance we covered heading out we would need to do again for the return journey.  However, we stopped off for a short walk to the petrified tree (below) which I had misunderstood.   

 

Not a tree with a shocked expression worked into its branches!  What is left of this redwood, from approximately 50 million years ago(!), is a tree frozen in time and turned to stone by volcanic activity catching it in a flow of larva and preserving it. Don’t ask me how they know how old the tree is and why it’s not just a dead tree…. I am also a doubter! 

Then we found the Undine waterfall which is conveniently next to the road: 

The undine waterfall

But we had been camped right next to the best bit of Yellowstone that you can reach at the moment – the Mammoth hot springs.

The steam coming off Mammoth hot springs from a distance

A plan of the hot spring terraces

We parked up and followed the boardwalks - as you are warned not to step off the wooden platforms in case the ground suddenly gives way and you are ‘scalded to death’ like the dozen or so poor souls who had been previously!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen hot springs in person.  Apart from the surrounding air being a little ‘eggy’ at times, it was really fascinating how this natural phenomenon continues to alter and form this landscape.  Hot water from deep within the earth rises to the surface, bringing with it calcium carbonate which it deposits above the ground, creating these ever-changing terraces. The forms and colours were incredible:

 

Bridge over the Gardner river

We saw this sign on the way out of the park

We dragged ourselves away via the gift shop just after noon as we planned to be back on the interstate for 1-ish to make some ground.  We stopped in Bozeman, Montana briefly to do the Costco cheap gas trick again and have lunch before carrying on west through the odd rain or sleet shower.  There is more snow predicted tomorrow so we’ll see how we get on.  We needed to get a full hook-up for the first time in 4 nights (I think that’s a record) so we opted for a Good Sam Park in Garrison for $31 and bedded in for the night. 

Wednesday 29th March – The best laid plans…

Our intentions of driving into National Parks one way and leaving via a different scenic route keep being scuppered!  Take today for example.  Leaving Cooney State Park, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I figured we were roughly an hour and a half from the North-East entrance of Yellowstone.  We headed through the town of Red Lodge, waiting to hit the beautiful scenery of the 212…. When orange flashing lights ahead alerted us to a possible problem – the road ahead was shut in 12 miles.  Handily, there was a ranger station we could visit to have our fears confirmed.  The only route into Yellowstone at this time of year was via route 89 through Gardiner.  From this point it would take 3 hours to reach that entrance – back up to Interstate 90, west for about 70 miles, then back south again.  So much for having the whole day to explore the park!

I was getting resigned to missing out on Yellowstone.  Was it too much of a detour and too much gas for a brief glimpse of only the North road of the park? For example, would we be able to reach one of the most famous parts of Yellowstone, the Old Faithful Geyser? But we may only be here once, and Simon was adamant that I should be more positive - so we must fit it in!

The Roosevelt arch

Off we drove.  Stopping for a brief lunch and battling with gusting winds (again, while I was driving!) we finally reached the North entrance by the Roosevelt arch at 345pm.  Straight away we saw numerous deer and our first bison, close-up.   

Wild bison... they are LARGE!

Only issue – our grey tank was overflowing and our water tank was near empty because the sneaky park last night had put padlocks on all their taps so we were unable to fill up today. The lady at the entrance station confirmed that the Mammoth camp ground is open but didn’t think there were any facilities for dumping or topping up water tanks. Yikes, we parked up to take stock of our position.  I could cope without a shower (as long as Simon didn’t mind) and we had plenty of bottled water so we would not go without essentials like tea and coffee.  It was the only RV site available to us.  The two in Gardiner were closed and when I tried my charms with the owner of one of them over the phone I failed.  I offered her $10 for us to top up on water and use her dump station, but no, she wouldn’t open, even though she is due to on 1^st April – that’s in only TWO DAYS! 

Never mind.  The situation improved when we reached Mammoth camp ground, just five miles into the park.  There was water available, phew! And also, plenty of space.  So, we selected a spot away from other campers and reviewed the map of Yellowstone.  What to do – go for a drive this afternoon to explore the North road and leave first thing in the morning? Or settle in for the night and do the touring in the morning?  Ominous clouds and freezing winds, plus the fact that we felt we’d driven enough today, helped us with the decision.  Tomorrow it is!  So, instead of visiting Yellowstone on Tuesday afternoon as originally planned, we were now doing it on Thursday morning.  Hmmmm, our plans for the next week may have to change to facilitate this delay.  This time next week we need to be picking up guests from the airport in Seattle!  We had a planning meeting, but it may all still change, so I’ll just let things unfold.

Having been stuck in the RV driving all day I needed a leg-stretch despite our decision.  I managed to guilt Simon into coming for a walk into Fort Yellowstone with me because he would feel terrible if I got eaten by bears of kicked by an elk, wouldn’t he?!  We were out for just under an hour in the biting cold but saw some bits that we now won’t have to factor in during the morning.

View from Fort Yellowstone across to Mammoth hot springs

Back at the RV, generator use is only allowed until 8pm.  So, we got dinner on, I had the hot shower I was secretly hoping for and we got the heating on in preparation for an early night without power.  In fact, we had another movie night as there was no chance of any TV channels or blogging happening here in the middle of the mountains.  But I like being off the radar like this.