Cottonwood Blizzard and a Hot Dash Home.

 

Cottonwood fluff coated every leaf, stem and branch at Willow Creek Campground.

We left Dinosaur National Monument on Thursday, 6/27, for our next campsite at Willow Creek Campground in Willard Bay State Park, UT. But we had one very important stop to make along the way. When we did our year on the road in 2016/2017, we had some of the best ice cream at a little walk-up ice cream parlor in Ohio called Handel’s. They had an enormous selection of flavors – I swear the list was three feet long! And they offered a four-scoop sampler for like $6. And those were four BIG scoops, not the tiny tastes I’ve gotten in some ice cream flights. For seven years we’ve been raving about it and always assumed they were just an Ohio thing. Well, happy dance – they have expanded!

Started in 1945 when Alice Handel began serving ice cream from her husband's gas station in Youngstown, Ohio, the company now has locations in 14 states. They still make the ice cream fresh at each location and have expanded the menu to over 150 flavors of homemade ice cream! Most are seasonal flavors, thank heavens, or I’d never be able to make up my mind! Lol. Anyhow, we were thrilled to find that we’d be passing by one of their locations in Riverside, UT. Mandatory stop, not up for debate. Lol. I got the sampler (no, I did not share!) and Rog got a two-scoop bowl. I had some of the same flavors, mostly variations of chocolate/peanut butter, that I’d had seven years ago, and it was just as good. Now if only they’d open one in Washington!

Handel's Ice Cream. Is there one near you?

The Sampler.  Mine, all mine!!

Rog got his own. Smart guy.

When we arrived at Willow Creek campground, situated on Willard Bay Reservoir, we had to deal with several minor annoyances. The dump station was closed, our campsite was so sloped we had trouble getting level, our neighbor’s tent blocked the closest water access, and within a few minutes of pulling in we saw a racoon trying to burgle into the neighbor’s tent. Instead of shooing him away, they were feeding him Chex cereal, encouraging the little panhandling trash panda. Then there was the cottonwood fluff. Now, we have cottonwood trees around our house and there were also some at the Green River campground that we’d just left. But this was ri-dic-u-lous!! There were ankle-deep drifts of cottonwood fluff and every branch, twig and leaf on the trees was so coated in fluff it looked like hoarfrost. When the wind kicked up, it truly looked like a blizzard. Poor Riley couldn’t figure out why the snow wasn’t cold. Lol.  

Lots of white stuff, but it wasn't snow!

There were drifts of cottonwood fluff nearly ankle deep.

When the wind kicked up, it looked like a snow storm.

We finally got settled in and walked the pups on the nature trail down to the beach. My only fear was Riley would get wet and then roll in the cottonwood fluff and I’d have a giant Yeti on my hands. Lol. We had some nice camp time, our ambitious plans to wash the rig and bathe the dogs got shelved. It was nice to just hang out and relax for a couple days.

The nature trail to the lake was lovely.

Willard Bay.

Plenty of fluff at the lake too.

Water pups in the evening.

On Saturday, 6/29, we went back to the Boathouse in Burley, ID a Harvest Host site that we hit at the very beginning of our trip. We had dinner at Portside Pizza again and the pups enjoyed another chance to cool down in the Snake River.

The Boathouse @ Burley is a great Harvest Host stop.

We’d reserved a lakeside site for three nights at Murtaugh Lake Park and Campground, a county park near Twin Falls, ID. We arrived on Sunday, 6/30, and were looking forward to getting the kayak out. We had a perfect site to launch from and I was hoping to get Raney into the kayak. We haven’t had a place with calm, shallow water near our campsite to give her time to get used to being on the water. Unfortunately, Mother Nature derailed those plans. We had strong winds the entire time we were there (a real showstopper in an inflatable kayak). One small silver lining, with the thunderstorms dancing all around us we had a gorgeous rainbow!

We had a great spot to work with Raney in the kayak,
but the winds didn't cooperate.

    

Riley enjoyed the camp time.

A rainbow frames the Short Bus. 

On Monday, we took the pups to Shoshone Falls City Park in Twin Falls. Directly above Shoshone Falls, the Snake River narrows to less than 400 feet wide and rushes over a series of rapids split by islands before plunging over a vertical, horseshoe-shaped cliff. Shoshone Falls are spectacular, stair-stepping in beautiful pools and powerful torrents, they are 925 feet wide and 212 feet high. Known as the Niagara of the West, the falls are actually 45 feet higher than Niagara Falls. The appearance of the falls varies significantly with the river's flow rate. During high water, the falls appear as a single block stretching the full width of the river. In low water, the falls split into four or more separate drops. We didn’t see them at their peak, but it was still very impressive.

Shoshone Falls.

The falls were impressive...

...and beautiful.

The view downstream was grand too. 

The pups enjoyed the car ride, the large grassy park adjacent to the falls, and playing in the springs that flowed into the Snake River. They also took a walk along the Canyon Rim Trail, but we cut that short. It was hot and Riley has been limping when he walks on hard or uneven surfaces. He does fine on grass or sand, so we’re speculating that he injured or bruised a footpad. We’ll keep an eye on him and schedule a vet visit when we get home if it doesn’t clear up. My gimpy boy scored high on the “Poor Pitiful Me” scale and got a pass on hiking.   

Riley got a reprieve from hiking in the heat.

On Tuesday we mostly hung around camp while Raney indulged in a new hobby – vole hunting! The campground was home to literally thousands of them! Although they look a lot like a field mouse, voles are actually more closely related to hamsters. They feed on plants and seeds and can cause quite a bit of damage. At the campground, there were holes and tunnels everywhere. They were most active just before dusk and it was like a giant game of “whack a mole”. They would pop up, thumb their noses at Raney, and then dive underground when she got close. Luckily, we do not have these in our yard at home and, no matter how entertaining Raney thinks they are, I’m quite ok with that.

Raney waits patiently for a chance to go vole hunting. Lol.

Cute little devils, but there were thousands of them!

We continued on our way home, moving to Three Island State Park near Glenn Ferry, ID on Wednesday, 7/3, for two nights. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Idaho State Parks management. They charged us a daily extra vehicle fee for the toad (which has never happened before) and then they made us wait in an overflow parking area until check-in at 2pm rather than go into our open space 30 minutes early. Insert eyeroll here. What a load of BS. The campground did offer hookups which enabled us to keep the pups cool, which they very much appreciated. Rog has been keeping an eye on the weather and it looks like a heat event will affect the Yakima River area where we intended to camp.  There’s no way we can dry camp in 106° heat and keep the pups happy, so we’re debating alternate plans including an option to just run for home. 

We grabbed a quick lunch while waiting for our space.
With the slide in, the pups did some double decker begging.

The state park has an interesting Oregon Trail History and Education Center highlighting the importance of the Three Island Crossing which enabled emigrants to ford the Snake River and dramatically shorten their route to Oregon. The crossing was not without its hazards and the travelers often relied on the native American tribes to help them navigate the river safely. Which just proves the maxim, no good deed goes unpunished.  

The Oregon Trail Three Island Crossing.
(Photo credit: Visit Idaho)

We had a fairly quiet 4^th of July, opting to hang out with the pups at the coach. We always look for a spot that keeps Riley away from the suburban war zone that we deal with at home. Although we heard a few booms and bangs from the nearby town, he did pretty well. One advantage of Riley “ahem” maturing is that he doesn’t hear as well. That, coupled with some CBD treats got him through the evening with minimal trauma and drama. Raney, thank the stars, seems to be oblivious. Fingers crossed; she stays that way.   

Walkies around the campground.

We tried to take the pups to the river, but we couldn’t find a good place to access the water. It was either a steep bank, completely overgrown, or mucky with thick green algae. Yuck. We’d just given Raney a bath, so I wasn’t thrilled about letting them get covered in river goo. Instead, we turned the pups loose on the sprinklers. Riley loved that and, as an added bonus, he washed all the river gunge off of himself. Lol. 

Riley in the sprinklers.

Raney preferred to lay in the shade and watch Riley's antics. 

As I mentioned, we’d been debating the wisdom of sticking to our itinerary, given the extreme temps. We finally decided to cut our trip a few days short and head for home. We spent one night at Hilgard Junction State Park in OR on Friday, 7/5. It’s a great place for an overnighter just off Hwy 84. There were no hookups, but lots of green grass and access to the Grand Ronde River. Riley enjoyed a repeat of his sprinkler antics. You’d never know he was slowing down when you watch him playing. Rog says, “Instant puppy, just add water.” Lol.

Relaxing on our last night on the road.

We got home late in the afternoon on July 6^th (Happy Birthday, Mom!) and immediately began unpacking. The mountain of post-trip laundry was even larger than usual since I’d decided skip the last wash day and wait until we got home. Getting back a few days early also helped take off some of the time pressure, we had Boondockers Welcome guests arriving on the 13^th and we needed to get the rig cleaned and put away by then. And it really did need deep cleaned! This was our longest trip with nearly 400 pounds of drooling, shedding puppy love. I swear we doubled the dogs and tripled the mess. Lol. That, along with all the home and yard work that needs done, will keep us plenty busy!  

Welcome Home!
A mountain of laundry and downed branches ripped the internet cable
 off the house. We were amazed it was still working!

I’m not sure if we’ll plan another RV trip this fall. We’ll keep our options open, but Rog wants to do some upgrades to the Short Bus. He installed lithium batteries before this trip and they were a great addition, now we want to replace the inverter and add some solar. Once that project starts, we’ll be dead in the water until it’s all wrapped up. I hear Yosemite calling, but it might have to wait until next year. We’ll see. 😊

Gratuitous pic of Raney taken by Brandon at the Escapade. 
Just got a copy, so I had to share!

Dinosaur Bones and White Water!

View across the Green River from our campground.

We moved to Dinosaur National Monument, near Jensen, UT on Sunday, 6/23. The route took us over a mountain pass and it was a crazy steep, windy road. We had planned on coming back that way to boondock in Flaming Gorge, but decided to rethink those plans. Lol.

And that was just one section of crazy! Lol.

We were in the Green River Campground and the pups loved being back near water. They insisted on multiple pilgrimages each day to the river for a little off-leash water sports. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the reflective jacket helps keep Raney cool. It was originally Riley's and we called it his "baked potato jacket". I think she looks like a caped crusader! Lol. 

During one of their play sessions, I managed to drop my compact camera, a Sony RX100-VII, in the water. Even though I quickly snatched it out and dried it off, it immediately started having issues. Sigh. This has been a bad trip for my cameras. First my waterproof camera died at Balmorhea and now my expensive travel camera appears to have bit the dust (or in this case, drowned. ☹). 

River time!

Raney and Ruby on the run!

Rog decided to take a dip, and Riley is very concerned. Lol.

Beach art.

Monday was our last full day with Bob and Carole, so we continued our breakfast tradition of strawberry pancakes and mimosas! Yum! With full tummies, we headed for the Quarry Exhibit Hall, which, in my opinion, is the highlight of Dinosaur National Monument. Where else can you not only see 1500 dinosaur bones, but actually get to touch them? It gives me chills to realize I’m laying hands on the femur of a Sauropod that lived 149 million years ago. That is just way too cool!

My new favorite camping tradition.

The Quarry Exhibit Hall.

The 2-story wall of bones is absolutely phenomenal, and...

...you get to touch real dinosaur bones.

In 1909, Earl Douglass a paleontologist from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, PA found eight tail vertebrae from an Apatosaurus here. Over the next 15 years, a section of sandstone 600 feet long and 40 feet high was removed, unearthing literally tons of dinosaur bones. A section of the hill and over 1,500 dinosaur bones was left in place so we could experience the wonder of his amazing discovery.

This graphic shows the scope of the excavation and
the remaining Quarry Exhibit.

Why are there so many bones in one place? The theory is that this was a site of an ancient river. A drought caused a huge die off with many dinosaur carcasses left along the dry riverbed. When the rains returned, the bones were swept into large piles, which were later silted over and eventually fossilized. Bones from ten different species and over 400 individual dinosaurs were found at the quarry site.

I'm calling this guy, Smiley. 

Fossils in the Quarry.

A logjam of bones is a good description.

The view from the Quarry wasn't bad either!

Later in the day, Bob and Carole drove down Cub Creek Road past petroglyphs and turtle rock to see the Josie Morris cabin. Josie settled there in 1914 and lived alone without modern amenities, raising her own livestock and food until she died in 1964 at the age of 89. Married five times, she ultimately chose to live alone. Quite the character, she was accused twice of cattle rustling (but never convicted) and was an alleged associate of the outlaw Butch Cassidy.

Petroglyphs.

Turtle Rock, yes it is. 

Josie's cabin and the box canyon where she corraled her livestock.

Bob and Carole and Ruby pulled out early on Tuesday, 6/25. We were sad to part ways, but they had a family commitment to make. They had a very long driving day ahead of them, with plans to make it all the way back home in three days and squeeze in a visit with Bob’s sister in Yakima. We will be taking a much more leisurely approach. 

In fact, we opted to stay another two days at Green River Campground and do a white-water rafting day trip on the Green River! Yay!! But first, we had to relocate to one of the first come/first served sites, since the one we were in was reserved for the next day. One advantage of already being in the park, we got a great site with easy river access for the pups.

We snagged an excellent site for the next two days.

We walked down to the river again and I had my second, too close for comfort, “wildlife” encounter on this trip. The first was at our boondocking spot in the Badlands, when I had a mouse run across my foot in the dark. I did the highland two-step thinking it was going up my pantleg. Well, down at the river I was walking Raney along the shallows and a snake darted out of the grass and slithered right across my bare foot. I really did break out ALL the dance moves this time. Luckily it was just a harmless garter snake, but geesh! No touching!

I had all the moves when this little guy dashed across my foot.

We scheduled our white-water rafting adventure for Wednesday, 6/26.  (Happy Birthday Tom! Wish you were here!!) We booked the trip with Adrift Dinosaur, a rafting outfitter that operates out of Jensen, UT. We met at their headquarters at 8:30am and after getting loaded up in the van, drove about 40 minutes to the put-in spot at Rainbow Park. We would be rafting through Split Mountain Gorge and taking out at Split Mountain Campground. Enroute to Rainbow Park we stopped to view petroglyphs left by the Fremont peoples who lived in the area 1,000 years ago.

We went with Adrift Dinosaur rafting outfitters in Jensen, UT.

Our route on the river.

While we have a little experience paddling in white water, when we floated the Colorado and Lower Salmon, we were usually on boats rowed by the guides. For this trip, the 11 guests were divvied up between two paddle boats. We had three guides, Maya and Bella steered the paddle boats and provided instruction, while Bill trailed along in his kayak to scoop up any accidental swimmers. Lol. We started off with a safety talk and some basic paddle instructions. The river was high, flowing at about 8,000cfs due to a recent release of water from the Flaming Gorge Dam. One downside of being in paddle boats, it’s very hard to take pictures! It seemed like every time I tried to grab my camera, Maya would tell us to paddle. Lol. (Oh, and one bit of good news, my waterproof camera seems to have resurrected itself!)

The water flows were moderately high - perfect for rafting.

We were only on the water for about 10 minutes before we hit our first rapid. There are several Class II and III rapids on the nine river miles we floated. The second rapid we hit, Moonshine, was the biggest roller coaster of the day.  On the calmer stretches, we enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous scenery in Split Mountain Canyon. The striated red rock and tortured anticlines were spectacular. In places, the dramatic colors and folded rock walls of canyon looked like pulled taffy.  

Entering Split Mountain Canyon.

  

Our guide, Maya, expertly steered our raft while
shouting instructions to us newbies. Lol. 

White water!

The scenery throughout the canyon was stunning.

Bill paddles his kayak through the canyon, and...

...tries to make friends with a family of Bighorn sheep. 

We stopped for lunch and our guides laid out all the fixings for build-your-own Split Mountain burritos with chips and cookies for dessert. We hit a few more rapids after lunch, with Last Chance (to swim) rapid not far above our takeout point. We exited the river and the guides quickly stowed and loaded the gear for the short drive back to their building. 

We pulled over for lunch around noon.

Bill, Bella, and Maya prep the ingredients for Split Mountain Burritos.

Back on the water.

Last rapids of the day.

Take out!

The weather was perfect for our paddle, warm enough that getting drenched by a wave or taking a dunk in the river felt refreshing, but with some afternoon high clouds that kept us from frying in the sun. While we floated the canyon, the pups were napping in air-conditioned comfort and had no complaints. An excellent day all around.

View from the overlook above the takeout point. 

We were glad we’d added a few extra days at Dinosaur, but it was time to move on. We headed out Thursday, 6/27, with several more stops planned before home and more adventures to come!