No End in Sight: Colorado north to Canada

Northbound: June 27,2016-July 17

I'm calling this blog "noendinsight" because, right now, I don't see one. I'll keep this blog going as long as I'm out there, rather than starting new ones each time. My prior blog links are my trip to Central America back in 2010-11 http://kevinstropicdriveabout.blogspot.mx/ and my last trip to Mexico and the American west in 2015-16 http://ksemexicootravez.blogspot.mx/.

As always, I'm kinda winging it. So, after a month in Golden, Colorado of taking care of loose ends and visiting friends, the road is calling and the beat goes on!

Columbines (Colorado's state flower) at Dumont Lake

My first stop was a small campground at Dumont Lake on Rabbit Ears Pass on the way to Steamboat Springs. The Continental Divide Trail goes right by here and on one of my little hikes I ran into four guys who were doing the whole thing. It took them two months to get to Steamboat from the Mexico border and they expect to be at the Canada border in two more months. Seems pretty quick to me, but then again they were all in their twenties. The CDT is one of the big three hikes (the 'Triple Crown'), the others being the Pacific Crest Trail of 'Wild' fame (decent movie, great book, imo) and the Appalachian Trail.

the Chinese Wall, east edge of the Flattops

Bear Lake, looking west

Next I drove down through Steamboat and south to Yampa and then west up to the edge of the Flattop Wilderness. The next three days, at over 9000', were a mix of rain, hail and temperatures in the 40's and 50's, with very brief glimpses of the sun. Not my favorite weather to crawl into a tent, but by the fourth day it cleared.

camping above Vaughn Lake

I made my way over to the north side of the Flattops to a place called Vaughn Lake and a little six site campground where I was the only one for two days. It and the weather were perfect.

along the scenic drive on the north side of the Flattops to Buford

petroglyphs at Dinosaur, near Green River

Colorado from Denver heading west

From the mountains to the high desert of the Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah side for the Green River Campground. This is one of those campgrounds that I'll stay in as a matter of convenience and location, but it's too expensive at $18 and full of kids. My favorite campground of the Monument is still Echo Park on the Colorado side.

Josie's log cabin and front yard

Josie's story

A cool place to see in the Monument is the homestead of Josie Morris. She got divorced when she was 40 and moved there in 1914, staying until shortly before her death in 1964 at 90! Amazing oasis that she created, largely on her own. Very impressive, and it makes me feel sooo lazy.

free campsite, Norway Flat

peaceful stop in the Wasatch Mountains

West and north into the Wasatch Mountains of Utah where I found some quiet dispersed (free) camping for a few days in the national forest. And, no mosquitos!

buying shakes in Garden City, one of several spots

the Utah portion of this trip

Further north to another Bear Lake on the Utah/Idaho border. This large natural lake was a rendezvous point for trappers and the Shoshones around 1825-1840. The main town on the west shore is called Garden City (kind of a lame name, I think) and I found that a major summertime obsession for locals and tourists are the raspberry shakes. Turns out it's simply softened vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberries blended in. It's very tasty, but I'm not sure it's worth standing in line for, even at midnight! So I'm told.

arch made of antlers. Afton and this whole stretch of Wyoming

is gorgeous ranch country

falls along the Snake River, Idaho

I met Bob and Marilyn in Mexico last winter and they had a home in tiny Victor, Idaho that they were selling this summer and they were gracious enough to let me stay a night while they were otherwise pretty busy with yard sales and general packing, etc. Bob cooked up a nice dinner of fish, home fries and a salad. He also made killer margaritas, below is the recipe...makes one.

1 shot tequila
1 shot Triple Sec
splash of Cuervo Margarita mix
juice of one lime
lots of ice
coarse salted glass

mix, drink, make another (or double it for a tall glass!)

north of Victor, Idaho

eastern edge of Idaho going north

Leaving Victor the next morning it was rainy, but it started to clear the further north I went. I skirted the west edge of Yellowstone (I'll catch that going back south) and headed into Montana...Big Sky!

Red Mountain campsite

these guys were also fishing the river

I found a good campsite for $8 at the Red Mountain C.G. As you can see, I was right on the shore of the Madison River, which was fairly busy with fishermen floating the river. The campground host came by to tell me to be on the alert for a "problem" bear in the area. So, whenever I woke up I could swear I heard things. Thanks, host person.

just west of where I camped, outside of Norris, Montana

Bleu Horses (39 in total)

From here I had a long driving day up to the Flathead Lake area, about 340 miles. But, it was beautiful scenery all around, including the horse sculpture called Bleu Horses.

I remember driving by and glancing in the direction of the "horses" and not realizing until I had passed that those weren't real horses. So I turned around to get these so-so pictures. You can read the story and see lots of great pictures at http://www.bleuhorses.com/.

closer view

later the same day, west of Helena

My drive took me around the west shore of Flathead Lake where there were lots of roadside stands selling cherries (for some unknown stupid reason I didn't stop once) and I finally ended my day at a campground named after another lake, Swan lake. The next day I drove up to see Whitefish and marvel at how much it has grown in the last 20 years. We're running out of elbow room! Even in places like Montana.

the Hungry Horse Reservoir

Huckleberry Patch...since 1949, if memory serves

More water, this time the Hungry Horse Reservoir, led me to another campground. And the next morning in the small town of the same name I had a cup of joe and a warm slice of huckleberry pie...perfect.

told you it was tiny

Bowman Lake, Glacier NP

Hungry Horse is just west of the western entrance to Glacier National Park, which is actually in the town of Apgar. No surprise, the visitor's center was very crowded. On the west edge of Glacier you can drive up to tiny Polebridge and then to Bowman Lake and campground. Of course, being a part of one of the great national parks, it filled up soon after I arrived...phew! I got a spot. The lake itself is a classic glacial lake and it's mesmerizing to watch as the light changes by the hour. A ranger stopped by my campsite to talk to me about my tent and he told me of some great dispersed camping just north and west of here (and a great bar in a one-horse town up near the border). Filed away for future visit.

along the road

No visit to Glacier is complete without driving the Going to the Sun Road. Built during the Depression, though impressive in it's own right, it's painfully too narrow and slow for all of today's traffic. A ranger told me they are considering banning most private vehicles, the pressure is so great. Sad, but probably necessary. When I was here 30 years ago, the crowds weren't near this bad. Today, however, I got to drive the road once again and it was a glorious day!

the road

at Cut Bank in the southeast corner of Glacier

After a night at the Cut Bank Campground, I then made it north to the Many Glaciers Campground for two nights. This is an even busier section of the park as there are also two hotels nearby. Again, I was extremely lucky to get a spot, in fact it was the last available out of over 100 sites, half of which are reserved, anyway. One of the hotels is called Swiftcurrent Inn and it's right next to the campground. They have hot showers! A token costs $2.56 and it was 8 minutes of hot water heaven.

I woke up at 5:30am to the sounds of hopeful campers already trolling for campsites. Once I got out of my tent several slowed down to ask "you leaving?". It's all a bit much, but again, for the sake of location and convenience it's what you have to do.

black(?) bear at Glacier

one of many trails

There are many hiking options available from this campground, and on one hike I and several others came across this bear not 20 feet off the trail eating berries. This bear inspired me to finally buy bear spray when I got up to Banff N.P. in Alberta! Everywhere I went on this trip there were bear warnings, from Colorado to Alaska and back down through New Mexico . Obviously, they're out there.

ducks taking a break

On another hike around a nearby lake I saw this family of ducks. Plus, there are impressive views everywhere, which makes dealing with all the crowds worth it when all is said and done. There's a reason they call this park "America's Switzerland". Unfortunately, what glaciers remain will be gone by 2030, by some estimates.