Back in Washington State

20090914—Back in Washington State

I drove pretty steadily today, initially on US2, then, after crossing into Washington at Newport, generally following SR20 (except for ~40 miles on an unnumbered road between Usk and Chewelah) until eventually arriving at Twisp.

Much of this, like yesterday, was through National Forest land (the Colville NF, the Okanagon NF and the Paysaten Wilderness). This went over several passes (Sherman, Wauconda and Loup Loup), so was kind of slow going and needed a lot of attention. There were a lot logging trucks on the road, bringing shorter (8 foot?) toothpick size logs (for pulp or chipping) to two larger Simpson operations enroute. The drive was full of memories of the week or so that Patt and I spent in NorthEast Washington several years ago. We also spent a nice cross country skiing weekend in the Twisp area about 20 years ago.

I was able to pick up NPR for classical music, Terry Gross interviewing about Ted Kennedy's True Compass, and a call in program from National Native News discussing the National Park System in the USA, giving the perspective that these, among other things, have served to create 'conservation refugees' (given that he native populations who once lived there have been banished or at least prevented from using them in traditional ways). This later discussion was not a rant, but thoughtful, and brought up situations now developing in Canada, Africa, and South America where 'American style' National Parks are being established. This was an interesting and thought provoking viewpoint for me. See more detail at http://www.firstpeoplesworldwide.org/publish/MaasaiPressRelease08-27-2009.pdf

I'm spending a warm night at a nice commercial RV site with a great view of the Methow River.

Goodbye Montana

20090913—Goodbye Montana

I did a little more exploring at Glacier this morning, taking a quick look at the Fish Creek campground area, then heading North, just inside the park on the “inside west side road” . Fish Creek campground is a lot more to my taste than Apgar, with no commercial adjuncts and it is right on the shore or Lake McDonald. It was closed for the winter a few days ago.

The West Side road stayed low and flat on the perimeter of the Park. It cut through almost 10 miles of the area that burned in 2001 or 2002. The blackened trunks, most with some branches still on, and most with bark peeling off permitted open views of the rugged terrain to the East. The blackened trunks made a nice contrast with the emergent evergreens, now 4-6 feet high. There were a few isolated living older trees and even fewer isolated living clumps that even now are making some habitat diversity, but in general the feeling I got from the area reminded me of the visits I had to the Mt.St Helens devastation zone. While interesting, it was a relief to get back off that road and back to the greenery.

Leaving the Park, I traveled West on US2 most of the day. The road goes through National Forest and other protected lands, with some private inclusions, so, for much of the time, I had the feeling of driving in a natural area. A lot of this is pretty rugged and follows stream beds, paralleling the railroad (the Amtrak route) that I had traveled earlier. There were signs that there had been a few frosty evenings already, with some of the lower shrubbery in bright yellows and reds.

I left US2 for about 10 miles at Hope, ID for a RV site that was shown as a POI on my GPS. This was on the lake shore and had a lot of “permanent residents”. I had a welcome shower and am off to bed.

Glacier--Day 3

20090912—Glacier-Day3

I reluctantly pulled myself away from Two Medicine this morning. It was another chilly morning, but the birds were very active. In particular, there was an 1.5 hour squabble among two adult male Belted Kingfishers who seemed to be vying to stake out a ~300 yard long section of the creek leading into Two Medicine Lake. I mistook them first for a bunch of chipmunks because they were making their rattling call constantly. Early during my time watching them, there was a third bird involved, but, without binos at that point, I could not tell if it was a male or female. They were fascinating-- one would land on a perch and rattle and extend his wings, the other nearby chiming in. Then they would exchange places or move to another area and repeat.

Finally I left them to sort it out on their own and headed out of the park to East Glacier and US2 which I followed South and West over Marias Pass to the south tip of the park. At that point there is a feature called Goat Lick Overlook where I pulled off to watch a mountain goat licking the goat lick (which is a steep rock face they use to lick up minerals that accumulate from seeps there).

I re-entered the Park at West Glacier, and got a site at Apgar Campground, after being told that all the other campgrounds short of Logan Pass were closed for the season. After lunch I drove the Going to the Sun Road till Avalanche Creek where signs warned me to go no further with my “long” vehicle. I complied, even though there was no enforcement apparent at that point. I walked the Trail of the Cedars and took in sights of Lake McDonald on the return trip.

The Park was a lot busier here than I experienced in the past few days—whether because of the weekend, or because it is more accessible somehow, I'm not sure. I suspect it is the weekend, since there are kids everywhere. However, it is still easy to go a few hundred yards on a trail and escape the crowds.

Still no cell phone coverage. Others have spotty coverage here, but not me with my AT&T 'service'.

Glacier--Day 2

20090911—Glacier--Day 2

I woke up to frost on the picnic table and enjoyed coffee watching a beautiful sunrise light up the side of the mountain right across the stream. That firmed up my plans for the hike, so I packed the daypack and took off about 9:00.

The hike was to go around Two Medicine Lake. I started off, going clockwise and took all the “add ons” available: 0.6 miles to Paradise Point, then 1.8 miles to Aster Falls and Aster Park overlook (the later being quite steep). I had part of my lunch there. Then continued, getting pretty tired, with half the hike still to do. About 2:00 I skipped a short add which went down to the lakeshore. Then took another add on to Twin Falls. I still had 4 miles to go after that, and limped into camp about 5:15, after about 12 miles total for the day. My feet hurt—technically it was not that hard a day, but I was not in great shape for it.

I saw lots of chipmunks during the hike, a cow moose grazing in a beaver pool between Paradise Point and Aster Falls, and some fresh Black Bear scat on the trail along with some newly ripped up logs, about two miles before the end of the hike. Throughout the day I had been making a lot of noise, as recommended, to keep from surprising a bear and getting into trouble that way. I think it worked since I did not actually encounter any bears, but this also tends to put off the smaller wildlife and birds. The scenery was grand and the forest smells wonderful.

I had a can of soup for supper, commiserated a bit with the neighbor, looked for but did not spot any bears on the mountain side, and am now heading to bed early at 8:45.

Glacier

20090910—Glacier

I intended to explore the park from the “Going to the Sun” road, but the Rangers stopped me a few miles in and checked the length of the RV by lining me up with some lines painted on the road. I flunked the test—exceeding the length limit by almost a foot (technically by 8 inches). I knew that Bob and Yvonne had taken this vehicle over the road and it would be OK, but I think the park is extra careful with limits right now, because there was (per report—I did not see it) a lot of construction going on above that point. At first I was disappointed, then soon realized that there were a lot of other ways to see the park. And I remembered taking that route through the park many years ago in the VW Bug with Jill and Stephan.

I headed to the Many Glacier access and looked around there. The campground had a lot of open sites, so I could have stayed, but drove back a few miles, pulling off to watch a Black Bear browsing the chokecherrys on a slope above the road. A few miles later I took one of the short hikes—to Apikuni Falls. This was very nice. It felt good to be outside and stretch, it smelled wonderful and the falls were a great lunch place. I took some pictures, then headed back out of the park, heading South, through St. Marys again and re-entered the park at the Two Medicine entrance. This was also very nice, with open campsites right up against the mouth of a stream feeding Two Medicine Lake, with the steep rocky side of 9500' Rising Wolf Mountain on the other side.

I had some chats with a neighbor who had been there a few days. He recommended a hike for tomorrow, that I think I will do. Later we watched a Grizzly Bear on the slope of the mountain above us. The spotting scope provided some great looks. There were also Goats much higher up, the scope being essential to seeing any detail at all.

The campsite was very clean and, especially considering that it was now at the end of an intense season of use, had an untrampled quality to it. Other campers seemed very respectful of the grounds. The rigs averaged smaller than those at Many Glacier, and there were a lot of tent campers, using the place as a staging area for back country destinations.

Glacier's Front Door

20090909—Glacier's Front Door

The campground was really cold this morning, it had no additional campers, and the few birds I saw last evening either had left or were staying snug abed awaiting the sun that would clear the east ridge in about 2 hours. I left. The Teton Canon Road out (to the East) was paved and faster than the Bellville Road I took West yesterday. I was back to Choteau by 11:00.

There were some peaches for sale at an organic food store. With them in the bag I headed North on US89 to Browning, then to St. Mary. The park entrance is a few blocks from the commercial RV site I took for the evening. I felt that I needed a shower.

St. Mary has no cell coverage for me. The RV campground promises Internet, and I will try that later.

The drive today was another one through spectacular country. Rolling hills to the West, with few trees (only in the stream beds), great lenticular cloud formations, long stretches without power or phone poles, and the Rockies rising in the background. There was a little wheat land, although most was open range for grazing cattle. Much of this was badly overgrazed. Near the end, approaching St. Mary I entered the foothills themselves. There were great swatches with standing skeletons of the firs and pines that burned back in 2002 or 2003.

Tomorrow I'll enter Glacier.

The Front Range of the Rockies

20090908—The Front Range of the Rockies

I left Choteau with the early traffic this morning after filling with gas for a trip to the outback. I was driving West, on Bellville Road with the sun behind me and illuminating the fields and the front range of the Rockies ahead. It looked great, so I stopped a lot for pictures. There were a few birds: Vesper Sparrows, a Merlin, some Prairie Falcons, Western Meadowlarks and American Kestrels.

I was able to locate a few spots that I remembered from the Wings over Big Sky field trip, and actually see the things that were mostly hidden by the snow and mist back in May. The area is spectacular and very sparsely populated. It abuts the Lewis and Clark National Forest, several Wilderness Areas (the Bob Marshall being the largest) and a large holding by the Nature Conservancy.

I pulled into the Cave Mountain Campground and was the only camper there through the night. It was chilly, in a steep canyon where the sun disappeared early. I practiced my fire building, and had a pleasant evening. Robins and Cedar Waxwings were the only birds I saw at the campground.

Choteau

20090907 – Choteau

I spent most of the day driving US87 from Lewiston through Great Falls, then US89 past Fairfield and Freezout Lake to Choteau where I took a campsite at the city park. It was a day of beautiful scenery: larger fields, mostly wheat, now golden after the harvest and littered with straw bales. The land was rolling and open and there were always mountains on the horizon. These were the Snowy Mtns at first, then later the Little Belts, and now, this evening I am almost at the foothills of the Rockys. This was all punctuated by sunbreaks and showers and ever changing cloud patterns.

I plan to spend another day or two in this area before heading a little North to enter Glacier National Park. Part of my attraction to this area resulted from the Wings Over Big Sky birding festival during which Patt and I took a field trip here. That day was cold and blowing snow with very limited visibility. But there was enough to show that this area is quite undeveloped, and has great potential for viewing wildlife, and fab scenery. So – here I am.

Another Day on the Prairie

20090906—Another Day on the Prairie

This morning there were 21 Turkey Vultures visible, roosting in the cottonwoods. They left shortly after being counted, before I got on US12 headed for Roundup. I poked along slowly for the first 30 miles, stopping often to be sure that the sparrows I was seeing were all Vesper or Savanna sparrows. They were, I think. There were so many crossing in front of the RV that I had to slow often going thru small flocks of them. I saw a lot of Western Meadowlarks as well, plus Turkey Vultures and had a real good look at a Swainson's Hawk and a pair of Loggerhead Shrikes.

After the first ~20 miles that paralleled Porcupine Creek, the land rose a bit to dry flat grasslands mostly used for grazing. There have been some better days in these parts. US12 once had a railroad track alongside that has now been removed. There was a brick schoolhouse at Vananda, almost the only remnant of that town. That building had a strong resemblance to the old Rice schoolhouse, only larger (maybe six rooms?) and of baked red brick. The next town, Ingomar, had a 6-10 abandoned buildings and one apparently operational store. From a distance it looked like a ghost town. Close up it was not that attractive, being of tarpaper and plywood vintage rather than the old board buildings that age more gracefully. Sumatra was on the map next, but was only a couple of completely flattened garage size buildings. Along the way I spent some time fantasizing about getting permission to return here to roll up the ~25 miles of 4 strand barb wire fence that was collapsed between the railroad embankment and the highway. By the time I reached Roundup I had gone 112 miles without available services. Thankfully I didn't need any. At Roundup I took advantage of the first roadside espresso stand (12oz double soy latte) I've seen on the return trip.

From Roundup I headed North on US87 to Grass Range, then West, still on US87 to Lewiston, enjoying the slightly higher, still arid, grasslands with the Snowy Mountains visible on the horizon to the East. Along the way I was able to tune in to Prairie Home Companion being broadcast from the Minnesota State Fair grandstand. And later to a program where a 45 minute short story was being read.

At Lewiston I checked into a commercial RV site, to get WiFi and do laundery. Which came after a 45 minute nap.

Along the Yellowstone

20090905—Along the Yellowstone

I followed the Yellowstone River all day today, mostly along I94 heading West thru Miles City to Forsyth. All this passed through grasslands with a lot of irrigation (sprinklers and canals) from the river. This is generally rolling topography with larger fields (owned by large ranches as well) of wheat, hay, some grazing and some sugar beets.

At the confluence of the Powder River with the Yellowstone and there is a sign saying that the area had been the site of Gen. Custer's camp a couple of weeks before the Little Bighorn battle. There is a lot of Custer info in this area.

I followed frontage roads at some points, with signs pointing out that it was Old Highway 10 which seemed to give me some connection to the land. The day was very hot, reaching 95 along the way. I was thankful for the investment in repairs to the AC we had made back in April.

I pulled off for the evening at a Montana State 'fishing access' site knowing that these usually also serve as undeveloped campgrounds. This one was almost full, with the ~30 sites occupied by the residents of Forsyth, only seven blocks to the South. This was less attractive than most, with at least 4 rigs running generators constantly. One was being used to power a household oscillating fan to cool some (fellow) geezers in lawn chairs. There was also a yapping dog, the joy of someone's life, I'm sure. And an incident around 12:30AM involving some kids on bicycles doing some (not quiet) racing around the campground. There were also a lot of families thoroughly enjoying the outdoors, swimming and fishing, despite the heat.

I sat at a breezeless picnic table and finished “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver. I was sorry when it was over -- I loved the characters and wanted to live more of their lives with them. There was some quiet movement toward dark in the large cottonwoods around my site. I identified the source to be a roosting collection of Turkey Vultures.

There was no Internet access, of course, but I did get in a short conversation with Patt at home.

The Yellowstone River to Glendive Montana

20090904—The Yellowstone River to Glendive Montana

This morning I woke with an idea that I could get back to the higher parts or Theodore Roosevelt National Park before the construction workers arrived and caused a slowdown. Well, by the time I got to the road from the camp site, they had already started, but the pilot car had just departed and the flagger let me go. So I didn't have any delays after all. I got to a nice look out spot and went through my morning routine there, starting with a couple of cups of coffee. It's nice to travel in an RV.

From there I saw a single bison, an older bull, coming across a small meadow way below me. It grazed it's way along and eventually disappeared in a tree lined gully. It had not reappeared in an hour or so, so I decided to take a hike across some plateaus. Eventually I did spot it lying down and chewing its cud. The walk was refreshing, and, like last evening, gave me the feeling that I had that whole park to myself. I watched other bison from the road for a while after that, then drove slowly down, reaching the park entrance about noon.

Lunch was at an USFS picnic area and campsite just outside the park. I was attended by a downy woodpecker, vesper sparrows, cedar waxwings, mountain bluebirds and mourning doves. I was also entertained there by a guy practicing with his archery gear, aiming at a turkey target propped against a campsite marker.

From there I headed North to Watford City, then West, then took some State highways crossing to the West into Montana, after ~40 miles, near Sidney. MT16 took me ~70 miles into Glendive for the evening. Most of the route after lunch kept me along the Yellowstone River which flows Northeast to join the Missouri just North of Watford City. The Yellowstone is the color of milky coffee here. I saw irrigation equipment that certainly depends on the water from that river, but none was running. It is probably late in the season for irrigation, with a lot of wheat harvest and hay cutting and baling underway here.

Northern Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

20090903—Northern Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

I Headed North on US85 this morning after an eventually successful search for a propane refill. Although frustrating at first, I came to see that the difficulty in finding this made it all the more important to do so, since I need it for both refrigeration and cooking and I expect to be another week or so in Southwestern North Dakota and Southeastern Montana where availability might continue to be a problem.

The ~ 50 mile route North passes near and in a few places through designated USFS National Grasslands. These are parcels, sometimes contiguous with another, of a section of land, or sometimes half sections. I pulled into a picnic site on one of these for lunch and saw that they do not require fees to use them. That site had a restroom and several resident tent campers--six males in hunting garb. Several appeared to be carrying concealed sidearms (bulges in the right places under their T shirts). I don't remember what the regs on that are here, and also do not know what hunting seasons might be open, although it seems early for hunting season just now.

After lunch I arrived at TRNP and got a site for overnight and a nap. The camp ground is 5 miles in along the park access road. Starting up the road later, it was, as I had been warned at the entrance, under construction. I waited 20 minutes for a guide car, then followed that for ~4 miles. During that stretch I could not pull off anywhere to take in the fabulous sights. After that stretch there were ~eight beautiful miles of road, with some nice overlooks and a lot (~100) of bison. One other car had come in with me, and that couple left (turned back) after reaching the end of the road. For the next three hours I had the upper half of TRNP to myself as far as I could tell. I hung out, and as sunset neared I tried to capture some panoramas with the camera. Then heated a can of soup for supper and headed slowly out. Traveling as dusk showed me some wildlife that had not been visible on the way in—a couple of wild turkeys, 6 deer, some rabbits.

I'm finishing this to a nice night insect sound chorus in a way underused campground. Perhaps the warnings about road construction are prompting potential visitors to go elsewhere.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

20090901 and 02 -- Theodore Roosevelt National Park

I've spent the last two days in the park. I spent several hours driving slowly past bison (who were unconcerned by a car, even an RV, just a few feet from them. Think driving through a herd of cattle on the road), wild horses (just a few) and prairie dogs. I hiked in the cooler part or the day today, seeing a few towhees, goldfinches, sparrows, and a Turkey Vulture and watched two Golden Eagles bathe in a stream and groom afterwards. Not a very busy birding place this season. I enjoyed a thunderstorm, took pics of a sunset and sat a lot at the campground where human sounds were virtually drowned out by the insects.

Despite the short post, this is one of my favorite places. I love the quiet ambiance. Pleasant valley is the name of one of the attractions here. The whole place is quietly pleasant, a great place to forget the cares of day to day life. I'm carefree just now, but thoroughly enjoying it anyhow.


Check out the attached link to get the details on this wonderful place:
http://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm