October 11, 2020. We found a lovely spot on the Salt River near Thayne, WY. It was a state fish and wildlife river access for fishing. Not a designated campground. We found a similar problem when traveling in Calliope: if the anchorage is listed in the guidebook, avoid it; look for small places that are not listed or advertised. It’s harder than it looks. Anyway, we stayed here almost a week. Partly because we liked it and partly because Alan developed a toothache. We were lucky that a local dentist could see him right away and we got an appointment that same afternoon in Idaho Falls, Idaho (90 miles). We recuperated here at the Salt River.

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While we were at the Salt River we ran out of drinking water so we went up a canyon to get water from Strawberry Creek. On our way back, we saw this:

October 9, 2020. We wanted to camp in the Tetons but, like Jellystone, half were closed and the other half were full. It felt like they were closing and locking the gates both in front of and behind us. So we just took pictures as we drove by. We passed Jackson but kept going because it had signs that said masks were mandatory everywhere, countywide. No thanks. We came into the Snake River Valley and stopped at a campground called East Table Creek. Pine trees and the Snake River. It was actually nice, with some road noise. But then several RVs arrived around dusk, turned on their generators and kept them on ALL NIGHT. Uggh. Didn’t see that coming!

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October 5, 2020. We tried to see all the waterfalls but we missed a couple where we had to hike over a mile to get there. We did hike to Wraith Falls, which was only about a mile and a half, but we were still having trouble with the high altitude. The others were short hikes, or viewing from the road.

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Finally, there was a cliff made of basalt. Sign said this basalt was traded by the native Americans all over the western continent.

October 5, 2020. Of course you know that Jellystone has many, many geysers. We didn’t even see them all, but we tried. I have put together a photo collage where I tried to capture the spouting and all the various colors. Many of the geysers spout continuously, others have a period of anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 years. It was fun to wait for the shorter ones to erupt, but once, as we were walking past the one called Vixen in the Norris Valley, she erupted just as we were passing, almost giving us a heart attack!

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October 5, 2020. While in Jellystone, we saw a bear, antelope, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, buffalo and elk. We did not get pictures of the antelope or the bear for technical reasons (couldn’t find a place to pull off).

The first place we came to from the North Gate was Mammoth Hot Springs. There is a herd of elk that hang our here on the streets, the lawns, pretty much anywhere they want.

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Just past Mammoth HS are the HooDoos, a bunch of cool rock formations.

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And just beyond the HooDoos are high cliffs where mountain goats hang out.

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Buffalo are pretty much everywhere.

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The bighorn sheep favor the hills around the Gardiner River just north of Mammoth Hot Springs.

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October 6, 2020. Half the campgrounds in Jellystone were closed and the other half were full by 9AM so we camped just outside the north gate in Eagle Creek Campground. There weren’t any eagles (nor pine trees, nor trees of any kind), but there was a creek that we could neither see nor hear from Harvey. Well, we weren’t there much anyway, spending all day in Jellystone for the next two days.

I’m splitting Jellystone up into four entries: the intro (this); the geysers; the wildlife; and the waterfalls. Now, you won’t hardly believe this but we swear it is true. We kid you not. We pulled into the parking lot of the lower geyser basin where Old Faithful is. We got out our bicycles out and headed toward Old Faithful. On our way we saw two HUGE BUFFALO, also heading toward Old Faithful.

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They obeyed the ONE WAY signs, pushed through the crowd surrounding Old Faithful and took the best seats.

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And there she blows!

October 5, 2020. As we left Elkhorn Hot Springs,we found ourselves in the middle of a cattle drive. We think they were taking the cattle from the open range high country down to the lower, winter pastures. We followed them at about 5 mph for at least 10 miles.

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We then headed toward Jellystone, passing through Nevada City and Virginia City (duded up in old west style like Winthrop, WA), and staying one night on the Madison River in a little town called Ennis. This was mainly a fishing access spot, unremarkable but pretty and quiet.

October 3, 2020. After Lodgepole, we followed the Wise River-Polaris Rd. south. It was a narrow, but good road through some beautiful mountains and I think we crossed the divide again. There was a pass at 8,000 feet anyway. After a while we got to Elkhorn Hot Springs, which we didn’t even know was there. Of course, we stopped. It was Friday and the place was booked (campground and cabins). They had a Covid rule that only guests could use the hot pools. We couldn’t sneak in because you had to have a band on your wrist. Sadly, we walked back down the hill where we had parked in a huge Forest Service parking lot next to a creek. Hey, I said, why can’t we rent a tent spot in the campground, stay here in the parking lot and go in the pools? Paying guest. So I hiked back up the hill and it took a while to get the guy behind the desk to understand my scheme, but finally he agreed. Two days of hot pool for $25. I’ll take that deal anytime. It was actually cheaper than paying the daily, non-guest fee! The parking lot was free and we could see and hear the creek from Harvey! We are on a new mission to find hot springs.

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On the way to Elkhorn Hot Springs, we passed a place called “Crystal.” It looked like your average, garden -variety campground with pine trees and a creek, but there was a huge parking lot filled with cars and trucks. We found out from people in the hot pool that it was a place where anyone can go and dig up quartz and amethyst crystals. We figured we should give it a try. An entire hill was full of holes where people had already dug, like monster gophers. Choosing where to dig was kinda like choosing a slot machine in Vegas. Eventually, we just went for it. We weren’t entirely successful. Below is a photo of our best finds. We also have a basket of rocks with tiny crystals poking out. Not terribly impressive, but I’ve spent worse mornings.

Another nearby attraction was the ghost town of Elkhorn, former home of the Coolidge Copper Mine, but now just a bunch of falling down buildings. We drove up a terrible dirt road for several miles and had to walk the last mile to get to the ghost town. This was difficult for us at 7,000 feet of elevation!

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September 30, 2020. We left the Bitteroot Valley on 9/28 but Roger has been coming and going in fits and starts. Mostly going. We headed south, kissed the Idaho border, then headed east across a high plain called the Big Hole Flats. We stopped at a small campground called May Creek. Pine trees and a creek. Nice, but nothing to write home about.

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We zigged and zagged across the lower bit of Montana on back roads. We have lost count of the number of times we have crossed the Continental Divide. We ended up in a delightful campground called Lodgepole, on the Wise River. You guessed it: pine trees and a creek. But in this one we could see and hear the creek from Harvey which hasn’t been true in the previous campgrounds. There were creeks, but they were off in the bushes a ways. We stayed there three days. The only drawback, which we didn’t foresee, is that in these small, Forest Service campgrounds with no electricity, other RV’s run their generators. It wasn’t too bad, only one offender and they only ran the generator during the day, off and on.

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Thursday, September 24. We ended up not going up to Bonner’s Ferry as planned because a map of the smoke and fires showed the wind blowing in that direction. Instead we continued east at Sandpoint, ID and into Montana. Just north of Sandpoint, on lake Pend Oreille, is a little town called Ponderay. Gotta love those Idahoans.

We travelled some 200 more miles, staying on the Clark Fork River in the Lolo National forest and then in the Black Bear campground on Skalkaho Creek in the Bitterroot National forest. We could not get out of the smoke. Finally, it rained last Saturday and Sunday and the air mostly cleared. What a relief. We were able to hike around a little which we hadn’t done since Lost Lake because of the smoke. Both of these camping spots were boondocking sites with not much to recommend them. They were quiet and peaceful (except for a train every now and then at the Clark Fork), but not particularly beautiful. Just a creek and pine trees.

We are now hanging around waiting for some parts that we ordered. We went to a campground near Florence, MT called Charles Something-or-other and it was full at 4 PM on a Monday! The camp host said we could go half a mile down the road to a group camp (Larry Creek) that is not currently in use. We did that and had the place to ourselves until today when two other guys showed up in vans. One from NY, one from NJ. We figure they are escaping.

This Larry Creek camp is also just pine trees with a creek. Some squirrels and chipmunks, not very many birds but we did hear a moose calling last night. There is a nice vista from the entrance road that I tried to capture.

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