From the Hiawatha to Home!

Palouse Falls plummet 200 feet into a basalt basin.

We had one more stay in Montana, arriving on Monday, 8/3, at Jim and Mary’s RV Park in Missoula. What a spectacular private park! The park employs a master gardener and several helpers. And it shows!! I’ve never been to a park that was so beautifully landscaped and meticulously maintained. There are flowers everywhere! And not just flowerbeds, but super cute, themed vignettes. I only took a few pictures, and I could have taken dozens. The pups loved it and took full advantage of the soft, cool, green grass. The RV sites are nice too, lots of long pull-throughs with full hookups. I’m not usually a fan of private RV parks, but for Jim and Mary’s I’ll make an exception. Lol.

Soooo many flowers!

The pups loved the cool, green grass...

...especially, Riley. Lol. 

Our next stop was Albert’s Landing RV Park in Kingston, ID. The park is located right on the Coeur d'Alene River; we had four nights scheduled and some fun activities planned. We arrived on Wednesday, 8/5, and decided to kayak part of the river on Thursday. We loaded all the kayaking equipment into Bob and Carole’s car and drove to a put-in spot several miles upriver. After a leisurely two-hour float, we took out at the campground. Then Rog drove Bob back to pick up their car, it really is an advantage having two cars. The river was beautiful, although a bit shallow in spots. I swear it went from 3 inches deep (yes, my butt was dragging) to 20 feet in just a few yards. We saw an amazing number of trout, I’m surprised Rog didn’t come back with his fishing rod. But the real highlight of the float…drum roll please… was a MOOSE! She was standing in the water as we rounded a bend. We pulled to the side to give her space and (of course) took some pictures. I was absolutely thrilled!

Bob and Carole on the Coeur d'Alene River.

An aquatic version of Where's Waldo.
I counted 28 trout in this photo, how many can you find? Lol.

Mermaid hair?

A peaceful float down the river and then...

...we saw a MOOSE! 

To say I was thrilled is a real understatement. 

She didn't seem too concerned about us and
was happily munching on the willows as we paddled by.

A excellent float with a special guest appearance. Lol.

On Friday, 8/7, we set out for our last mini-adventure of the trip. We’re going to bike the Hiawatha Trail! Rog and I did this in 2021 and we were eager to share the experience with Bob and Carole. The ride is roughly 15 miles on a gentle downhill slope on the Old Milwaukee Railroad route. And there’s a shuttle back to the top. The trail features ten railroad tunnels that range from 178 feet to 1.66 miles long! Another incredible feature is the seven railroad trestles with spectacular views of the Bitterroot Mountains. The Kelly Creek trestle is 850 feet long and 230 feet high!

Route of the Hiawatha.

And we're off on another adventure!

After getting our tickets at Lookout Pass we drove five miles to the Eastern Portal trailhead in Taft, MT. The first part of the ride is through the 1.6-mile tunnel, by far the longest tunnel on the route. It is dark and cold and wet and not for everyone. Rog and I flew through it and then turned around so I could get pics of Bob and Carole coming out. We waited a while and then Bob rode out to let us know that Carole had found it disorienting and had opted to walk her bike through most of the tunnel. I went back and walked with her and then gave her some pointers for the next tunnel. None of the others were nearly as long and she did fine, riding through the rest of them without a problem.

St. Paul Pass (Tunnel 20) is 1.66 miles of cold, dark, and wet! 

Bob rides out of the tunnel, Carole opted to do it the hard way. 😬

One of the trestles with the Bitterroot Mountains in the background.

Riding across the Small Creek Trestle.

Carole conquers the tunnels!

And we're on another trestle.

Spectacular view of Clear Creek Valley.

Another cool tunnel.
Tunnels or trestles, can't decide which I like most. Lol.

On the Kelly Creek Trestle, looking down 230', and then...

...looking out at the Bitterroot Mountains.  

There are lots of information boards along the route telling the history of the railroad, the towns, how the route was built, and the devastating 1910 fire. We stopped frequently to read the signs and also just to enjoy the views. Smoke from the wildfires made the mountains hazy, but overall we were pleased that the air quality wasn’t worse. It was a beautiful day and a lovely ride!

Ride completed, we queue up for the shuttle ride back. 

After kayaking and then biking, we chose to hang out in camp on Saturday. We needed several hours to clean and put away all our toys. Lol. The pups had a fun time in the river and also enjoyed camp time with Mom and Dad.

The pups enjoyed the water, but Riley was not a fan of the rocks. 

Dinner together, and then...

...Happy Hour(s)! Lol.

We did take one short trip Saturday afternoon to the nearby Snake Pit Restaurant and Bar. The Snake Pit has been a local landmark for over 140 years, tracing its history back to 1879. It has served as a boom-town bar, railroad layover, hotel, house of ill repute, and starting point for loggers and miners. We had a drink at the bar and enjoyed the rustic décor featuring lots of interesting artifacts, memorabilia, and huge cedar and pine burls. We didn’t stay for dinner even though the Snake Pit is known for its Rocky Mountain Oysters. Nope. Not happening. 😖

A historical landmark that serves alcohol, what's not to like? Lol.

Sadly, we parted ways with Bob and Carole on Sunday, 8/9. They did a marathon drive (340 miles!) home, while we had a few more stops on our itinerary. Palouse Falls has been on my wish list for a while, and we found a COE (Corps of Engineers) campground not too far away. Ayer’s Boat Basin is a fishing access point on the Snake River with several dry camping sites. The drive there took us up and down several steep grades and through a recent range fire that had burned between 20,000-30,000 acres.

The copilot is bored, bored, bored. Lol.

 

Fires blackened the golden hills.

Loved this railroad bridge...

...driving over this, not so much!
(Barely two lanes wide, so luckily we didn't meet any oncoming traffic.)

The campground was completely deserted, there were a few folks fishing on Sunday, but no other campers. We had the entire place to ourselves all day Monday. Luckily, we had driven out of the triple digits, but it still hit the 90’s so we ran the generator to keep the kids in air-conditioned comfort. Riley made it into the river (of course), but it was too rocky for him to really enjoy the water.

We had the whole campground to ourselves!

Both of the pups enjoyed some off leash time.

Although Riley preferred his air-conditioned comfort. 
One of his favorite spots to lay, where he's most in the way. Lol.

The area has a desolate beauty.

Golden hour lights up the landscape.

This tree has no leaves, those are all birds!

You go through the tunnel (railroad underpass) to the Snake River.

Enjoying the peace and quiet.

Palouse Falls is the official waterfall of Washington state. Designated in 2014, its legislative status was championed by local elementary school students from nearby tiny town of Washtucna (population 198). Good job, kids! The Falls plunge nearly 200 feet into a basalt basin. We read that the best time to go was either sunrise (not happening) or sunset. The evening light at Ayer’s Basin was perfect from about 7-7:30pm, so I timed our trip to the Falls for then. Unfortunately, the Falls are in a deeper valley, and we got there just a bit too late to see them illuminated by the evening light. Dang. It was still gorgeous though and I’d love to come back when the spring runoff makes them even more impressive.   

Palouse Falls.

The view down the canyon was also stunning.

One more shot of the Falls.

Our last stop was a Harvest Host site in Cle Elum on Tuesday, 8/11. Dru Bru Taproom and Brewery is one of those fun places to hang out. They have a nine-hole mini golf course, corn hole, shuffleboard, a firepit and the outdoor seating is pet friendly. They also have 20 beverages on tap including German-style beers, IPA’s, seasonal small-batch releases, sours, ciders, partner wines, and house-made non-alcoholic sodas. They are co-located with the Cle Elum Pizza Co. which offers fresh brick-oven pizzas and salads. Dinner is served. Lol.

Beer, pizza, mini golf - all the things! Lol.

Smoke from the Three Queens Fire was clearly visible.

We had debated skipping Dru Bru and driving straight home, but I’d much rather avoid rush hour traffic and time our return for early in the day. After one of these long trips, the amount of laundry, cleaning and rig maintenance that needs done can be overwhelming. I’d much rather get in early and be fresh enough to start tackling the chores right away.

Clouds wreath Snoqualmie Pass.

I know the house will be in fine shape. Our house sitter, Jess, has done a stellar job of taking care of things.  We were so grateful to have a reliable person at the house to handle the mail and deal with any issues that came up.  I’m just sorry we’ll miss seeing her. She left Tuesday to stay with a friend and deal with a medical issue. Her rig is still at the house, so I know we’ll see her soon. She’s planning on putting her RV, a 24-foot Winnebago View, up for sale so let me know if you’re interested!

Wednesday, 8/12, and we’re baaaack! I did not lie about the mountain of laundry. Lol. After five months there were a few (not so) fun surprises – a leak under the kitchen sink, a skylight that quit working, plus all the stuff we expected – weeding, watering, and general yard clean up. And the rig needs a deep clean, inside and out. Sigh. Maybe we should have stayed on the road. Lol.

And this isn't even all of it! Ugh.

Riley would like to speak to management about the lack of A/C. 
Although he did find the coolest spot in the house to nap. 💗

Here’s a quick recap of our trip: We traveled 10,035 miles over 163 days (a little over 5 months). Oh, and we hit 100,000 miles on the Short Bus somewhere between Idaho and Washington! It only had 22,172 miles on it when we purchased it in 2013, so that’s a lot of miles together in a 33’ box. Lol. We stayed at 69 different places in 24 states (and drove through several more). We visited six new (to us) National Parks to complete our list of all 51 National Parks in the continental United States. Woohoo!! We also saw several National Monuments, many State Parks, and revisited a few National Parks. Trust me, once is never enough! We still need just ONE state to fill in our map of the lower 48; Iowa we’ll be coming for you. Lol. All in all, it was an epic trip. We feel very lucky and grateful to be able to travel like this and thankful for every one of you that came along for the ride.

So, is the Short Bus parked for the year or do we have more travel plans in the making? Hmmmm. That’s a definite maybe. If we do go, you’ll be the first to know. 😊

Makoshika State Park – Badlands, Bridges, and Hoodoos!

Near sunset at Makoshika State Park.

On Wednesday, 7/29, we moved to Riverview RV Park in Glendive, MT for two nights. Again, we had to cancel our state park reservation because it was dry camping and our streak of 100+ degrees has continued. Ugh. The drive was an adventure all its own. As is often the case, extreme heat can birth some monster storms. We had to drive straight through a severe storm with thunder, lightning, heavy rain, and strong winds that were pushing the coach all over the place. Both Rog and Bob considered pulling over, but it was a big system and they opted to soldier through rather than try to wait it out. It was a white-knuckled ride for sure.

Yeah, isolated showers was a bit of an understatement. Lol.

Riverview was fine, it had some shade trees and most importantly power, but wasn’t anything to write home about. But it was only a mile from Makoshika State Park and that’s what we’re really here to see. At over 11,500 acres, Makoshika is Montana’s largest state park preserving over 20% of the state’s badlands. The land was set aside as a state park in 1953 and is a world-renowned place to study paleontology, geology, and archaeology. Makoshika’s badlands expose 65-million-year old clay and shale from a time when these dry lands were a tropical paradise where dinosaurs roamed. Over ten species of dinosaurs have been found in Makoshika including T-Rex and Triceratops.

Dinosaur bones and fossils are often found in the area.

The dinosaurs are cool, but I was more interested in the amazing landscape. I just love the multi-colored layers of the badlands, hoodoos, and ravines. The lower sedimentary layers erode much faster than the sandstone above, leaving caprocks precariously balanced on delicate spires. With their other-worldly formations, whole valleys look like they were lifted from a science fiction movie. We did the scenic drive through the park at sunset on Wednesday evening stopping at several overlooks. There are lots of trails throughout the park, so I was also scouting out where I wanted to hike.

The colors are caused by the mineral composition of the layers,
iron is red and yellow while coal seams are black.

I love the capstones and bizarre erosion patterns.

View from Capstone trailhead. Yes, I'll be back!

Always fun to make new friends.

Dramatic sky.

While the storms have reduced the temps, it’s still waaaaay too hot to be out and about midday. My furry alarm clock (thank you, Raney) nudged me at 5:59am on Thursday morning. Instead of pleading for just a few more minutes, I dragged myself out of bed so we could get an early start on the trail. I’d picked two short ones, Caprock Trail which included the Natural Bridge and the more difficult, but also short, Kinney Coulee trail. I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite! Caprock was a half-mile loop, but there was so much to see that it sure felt longer. I may go a little crazy with pictures, so scroll through quickly if you’re not a big a fan of badlands topography. Lol.

We descend into a wonderland on this rickety staircase.

The trail winds through a maze
of hoodoos and intriguing formations.

Badlands Bunny. Lol.

One advantage of hiking down into the valley, you can focus on the details.

One of the highlights of this trail was a natural bridge. Do you see it on the right?

Photo op on the bridge!

Orange and black stripes.

Climbing up out of the valley.

One last look back at the playground.

The Kinney Coulee trail was about a mile long and listed as one of the more difficult hikes. It also packed a lot into a relatively short distance, and included a little more climbing on, shall we say, less than well-developed trails. It was all great fun and we managed to beat the rain, which was a good thing. Both of the trails had signs posted that they are impassible when wet because of the bentonite mud, which they called “gumbo”. Lol.

And down we go for our second mini-hike this morning.

Giant rock snake?

Caprock and mud slumps.

Mud ghosts and a balancing act. Lol.

Aren't the textures and patterns fascinating?

Rog hikes past a huge spire. 

Through the gate. Lol.

We managed to avoid the gumbo. Lol. 

We finished our hike and were on our way back to the RV, when we saw Bob and Carole’s car at the Visitor’s Center. We stopped and I was going to do the one-mile Bluebird Loop trail with them, but it had started to rain. We ended up coming back around noon, it was still spitting rain but, honestly after all the heat, a breeze and little bit of rain felt like heaven. Lol.

A greener vista from the Bluebird Trail...

...but still plenty of badlands beauty.

We had several one-night stops next on our schedule. The first was the Wagon Wheel Campground in Forsyth, MT on Friday, 7/31 (Happy Birthday Tim and Diane!). We found out that the area is known for moss agates, so Carole and I waded into the Yellowstone River in search. Let me just say it was not nearly as pleasant as rockhounding on the Great Lakes! The river was slow moving with lots of algae and a bit smelly too. Lol. On the upside, I do believe Carole found a moss agate and we both came back with more rocks to add to the “to be tumbled” pile. 😊 

Yellowstone River.

The search is on!

From there, we made our way to Billings Village RV Park in (you guessed it) Billings, MT on Saturday, 8/1. Rog finally was able to get his hair cut, he’s been trying for weeks and it got to be a running joke because all the places he tried were either booked or closed. He was nearly resigned to having Covid hair until we got home. Lol. We also visited Big Dipper Ice Cream, which turned out to be a real find. The website said they had flights, one of my favorite things. But when I asked the girl at the counter, she gave me a totally blank look. She had no idea what I was talking about or even what a “flight” was. She asked her coworker who told her it was six scoops. I told her what flavors I wanted to try and she started dishing up full size scoops! Even my eyes got big. After a couple, her coworker looked over and whispered, “kid sized scoops!”. Lol. She finished up the order with smaller scoops, but even so it was an impressive amount of ice cream. Have no fear, I was up to the challenge.

Big Dipper lived up to its name.
(And no, there is no such thing as too much ice cream! Lol.)

Our final one-night stay on Sunday, 8/2, was a Harvest Host site, Bridger Brewing in Three Forks, MT. By now the temps had dropped into the 90’s, so we decided to forgo the power pole and keep our reservation at the brewery. They had several areas for RV parking and we chose a spot next to a big open field where the pups could have some play time. 

Bridger Brewing, another excellent Harvest Host site.

Rog is outstanding in his field. Lol.

The pups loved some leash-free play time.

As Rog observed, every mile we drive is one closer to home now. But keep hanging with us, we still have some fun activities planned including an epic bike ride on the Hiawatha Trail coming up next!