Washington south to Colorado

Washington: September 8-15

the Washington route

I crossed back into a part of Washington near the coast that was flat rural country with dairy farms, corn, blueberries and other tasty stuff.

along the east side of North Cascades

That afternoon I headed west towards North Cascades N.P. Beautiful and lush...and rainy. It dropped down to about 45 degrees at the highest elevations so I went further east until I hit sunshine and 60. Good enough for my first night back.

historic marker

Grand Coulee

Some 30 years earlier I had visited the Grand Coulee Dam and it sounded like a place worth seeing again. The closer I got the warmer it got, into the 70's! After all the chilly, rainy weather over the 1500 miles between Whitehorse and Washington nothing could have been more welcome.

south of the dam

After watching a film and walking around a bit, I kept south then west to Wenatchee which is right in the heart of apple country. I was looking forward to this, dying to sink my teeth into a Honeycrisp right off the tree. This turned out to be harvest season and you could buy 10 pounds for $10. And the peaches! As sweet and juicy as any I've ever had.

Wenatchee Lake

The town of Wenatchee has gotten noticeably larger in the last 30 years, like a small city, but the area around it was overflowing with orchards. The touristy, Bavarian town of Leavenworth was just to the west and it was quite busy on the day I was there. It was an excellent day, though, and even I couldn't resist some window shopping and some free tastings in the various culinary shops, including one called 'Cured'. After that I found a free national forest campground up near Wenatchee Lake, primitive and peaceful.

Silver Springs Campground

The next day I continued west, cutting south before nearing Seattle. As long as I was in the neighborhood, why not check out Mt. Rainier N.P? I spent the night in the Silver Springs Campground minutes north of the park. Big, big trees.

gorgeous day to view Mt. Rainier

Being a Monday, the park wasn't too terribly busy and the day was crisp and clear. Perfect for viewing the mountain from anywhere.

a common sight in this area of Washington

Further east I made my way into Washington wine country. Wine tastings were my mission for the day. From Yakima to Walla Walla there are now countless small boutique wineries and one day wasn't nearly enough to do it justice. Three or four days might take care of it, but I did my best.

me, two guys, the owner

My third stop was Cooper Estates. When I walked in the owner was there tasting wines with these two other guys that are in the picture. No one seemed to be feeling any pain and I had no trouble joining in the fun (I already had a bit of a buzz going from my first two stops).

5 wines, 4 wineries. The Portteus Zinfandel was 

was my fav. check them out on-line

The wines I was tasting along the way were not cheap, some going easily over $50 so I was trying not to go crazy with purchases, but buying something at each. Anyway, the cheapest they had at Cooper was a rose for $25 so that's what I bought. The guy in the white shirt asked me as I was leaving which of the wines I liked best. I said, well, the cabernet was really good ($50+). He said, I'll buy you a bottle! No, I can't take that, I protested meekly. Then the owner said, hey, I'll pay for half. Okay, then. So, that was cool.

the Whitman Mission land. The Oregon Trail cuts right thru

east of Walla Walla, hops was being harvested

I grabbed a room in Walla Walla but decided against more tastings...it was an expensive habit.





Nearby is the Whitman Mission, a national historic site (stamp). The Whitman's came out to "save" the Cayuse Indians. After half the Indians died from measles in 1847 they killed the Whitmans and some others. The end.



Idaho: September 15-20

Nez Perce museum

My first stop in Idaho was the Nez Perce National Monument where they had an interesting movie and museum with many great artifacts.

Idaho south over to Yellowstone

I spent three nights camping around the Dworshak Reservoir, one night paid and two for free, though I kind of paid for it with more rain. There is a visitor's center at the dam of the same name where the ranger was able to set up a short film about Lewis and Clark. I love their story.

looking south at the Salmon River valley

More rain as I drove south to the lake resort town of McCall. After that, I got some good weather on into Ketchum (way too rich for my blood) and Hailey (probably also too rich, but very pretty. I wouldn't mind living there).







So many rivers and canyons in this part of Idaho, all of them worth a roll of film, metaphorically speaking.

looking north, Sawtooths on the left...awesome!

Silver Creek camping

I ended my day at a free campground called Silver Creek West. There are clean pit toilets here and several camping spots cleared out in a meadow-like area next to the stream. Silver Creek is legendary for fly fishing and the only other people staying here were Ross and Rose, a young couple from Coeur d'Alene, who happen to be fly fishermen-people and guides. We shared a beer as they told me how they've been traveling and spending every dime before going back to work...whenever. Kindred spirits! They said even Hemingway fished this creek back in the day. I would come back here anytime, especially if I ever learn to fly fish.

this is a sculpture

a view from atop one of the cones

The next morning I took a couple of hours to tour the Craters of the Moon. They have a nice loop drive and I hiked up a couple of the cones and craters.

The sculpture is called Homage to the Limber Pine by Jason Middlebrook. Made of steel and slate, it was an unexpected sight but very well done.


Wyoming back to Colorado: September 20-23


I entered the town of West Yellowstone around 4pm. By September 20, about half of the park campgrounds had been closed for the season so I was directed up to a national forest campground called Rainbow Point. Very pretty next to a lake, but fairly crowded, unfortunately.

the Madison River

big daddy...I was way too close

Once it warmed up enough I started my Yellowstone-Teton whirlwind tour. I saw many, many buffalo in several areas of the park, but the only other large animal that day was an impressive bull elk. The elk, which was across the Madison River some distance from the road, actually stopped traffic. Having lived with elk in Evergreen for 16 years, I kind of shrugged it off.

Gibbon Falls

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone

I was able to enjoy several of the falls, including Gibbon Falls and the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone.

the Tetons

Zipping on down the road into Teton the skies got a bit clearer making for some beautiful views of those awesome mountains. To live in a place like that would be heaven.




















The Teton visitor's center had a forecast posted calling for 4-5 days of rain so I drove south through Jackson Hole ($$$) to a roadside campground. Where the rain caught up to me, anyway, and it dropped to 38.

back home

a forest road in Colorado

From here the goal was to get back to Colorado. Which I did, the skies turning Colorado blue before finding a campground just north of Granby.

I was back in Golden the following afternoon, ending my first trip north to Alaska. 13947 miles in 90 days. Almost $90/day. Gas was in the neighborhood of $35/day for the time I was in Canada and Alaska. One, it's more expensive in both places, but I also put in so many miles in so short a period of time. A combination of starting too late and having lousy weather kept me moving.

summer trip up and back through the northwest U.S.

I would certainly go back, as I'd love to see more of the glaciers and wildlife, and maybe do some overnight camping to get a better feel for the immensity of nature up there. But not every year...I'd go broke!

My initial thought is to take the vehicle up to Prince Rupert and hop the ferry along the Inside Passage, jumping off at various points to camp and explore. Then get off at Haines to drive the rest of the way. Dawson Highway, for sure. Maybe Yellowknife again. Anyone interested...maybe in a few years.

Oh, this is not the end of the blog. As I stated at the beginning of this trip, this blog will keep on trucking as long as I do, as the name implies. Next up, south into both New and Old Mexico.