Glacier National Park

Enjoy our "Going to the Sun" Slideshow:

After getting our alignment done this morning, we spent the rest of the day enjoying the scenery! We drove through Glacier on the "Going to the Sun Highway" - beautiful! It is a narrow, winding, mountain drive that hangs on the edges of cliffs, goes under and over waterfalls, up above timberline at Logan Pass, and is generally gorgeous. Highlights were seeing Mountain Goats - even if they were right in the road, surrounded by tourists, licking water off the road (instead of drinking from pure mountain streams nearby - I guess they liked the saltiness? The "Weeping Wall" where we drove under misting waterfalls with the top off the Jeep and I got a little shower, views of Bird Woman Falls and numerous others, beautiful mountains, and , yes, even some glaciers. We also enjoyed the area behind the visitor center at Logan Summit - meadows full of Glacier Lilies, snowfields, and scanning for wildlife.

I mentioned previously how Devin stayed in a cabin in Glacier years ago, and read "Night of the Grizzlies," which happened right in the area where he stayed. I read it, too, so I could share in that memory with him, and we drove by Lake MacDonald on our way out and looked at the cabins in "Kelly's Camp" area where he stayed. Though we kept our eyes out, we didn't see any grizzlies today, though.

The weather was VERY warm - it was 100 degrees in Kalispell, and not all that much cooler in Glacier - no wonder the glaciers are melting at such a rapid rate! Glacier is still a beautiful National Park, though it will be sad to see its namesake glaciers all retreat into tiny snowfields as world temperatures rise. In places like this, as well as above the Arctic Circle, Global Warming is a very real and very serious threat. Here it is to scenery and the local ecosystem, but other places it is to people's very way of life and even ability to live there. No one in Alaska is arguing about global warming - they see it up close and personal. But more on that later...

After our long day's drive (and yes, we are contributing to carbon emissions that contribute to global warming by doing so, as is everyone who drives - we have bought carbon offsets through TerraPass, however, and we hope that helps), we returned to Kalispell by way of Whitefish and the UPS store, where we picked up packages in the nick of time - we walked in just as they were about to close! Now we are ready to head north.

Back to Kalispell to get ready to head to Canada tomorrow!!

Kalispell - Legacy Timber Town

Saw a sign in a store window that said "We Support the Timber Industry" and it reminded me of Humboldt County, where I went to college. It made me sad, because it reminded me of the divisiveness and polarization of that community around forest management issues. Politicians like to reduce complex issues into simplistic sound bites and talking points, like "jobs vs. owls" which is SO untrue - but gets people elected as folks fear for their livelihoods. Logging is an old and time-honored profession, and I hope there is still logging hundreds of years from now - because of course, that'll mean there's still forests big enough to log. Sustainability isn't just for forest ecosystems, wildlife, fisheries, watershed, and recreation, but also for the economy and jobs. If loggers want to retire and have the next generation also able to retire doing what they love doing, we can't cut down the last remaining forests!

Kalispell is a "legacy" timber town, because although the timber industry still seems important here, there is a large amount of growth and new construction, shopping malls, and suburbs sprawling out from the town's center, which is also beginning to see renewed growth.

It's a beautiful area, obviously undergoing some difficult changes in economy, but I see lots of hope there for it to become a really wonderful place to live and enjoy.

Bozeman to Kalispell

We headed up to Kalispell today, on the way to new tires, alignment, and a visit to Glacier National Park on the way to Canada.

On the way, we took a side trip into Butte (or "boot" as the nice lady on the Ford referral switchboard called it ;-), which is a neat old mining town. It reminded me a little of Santa Rosalia in Baja, but bigger; it was very historic, on the side of a hill, with lots of neat old brick buildings. And a HUGE copper mine, bigger than the town. Apparently, Butte is the place to be on St. Patrick's Day - lots of Irish in the town and the whole town goes nuts. Sounds like fun, if you're into that sort of thing. We just liked the view from the Butte Hill.

Other sights along the road:

A big smelter chimney - according to Josh it was once the tallest freestanding building in the country. All brick.

As we turned to follow the Blackfoot River from Missoula, we saw Bighorn Sheep - a herd of ewes right on road! Our first bighorns of the trip.

The road paralleled the river, and we saw a raft full of girl scouts waving - and giving the "honk your horn!" sign. We honked and made them very happy :)

Lots of tubers and flyfishers on the Blackfoot - nice river!

Devin saw a bear at Big Fork, our second for the trip (and Devin said maybe his best bear sighting). I missed it, so I can't confirm that he wasn't just making it up (kidding). He said it was standing up to see and when we came by it ran back into the woods. Good call, bear!

We passed Swan Lake (and several others along the road) full of lily pads - beautiful!

The Kalispell area is a nice combination of hayfields, rivers and lakes (like the HUGE Flathead Lake), forests and farms.

Once we got to town, we took a tour of Kalispell RV Parks - they all look pretty nice, but those long-term residents... the "neighbors" can make all the difference in your experience.

We went with a beautiful park right on the river with big trees and green grass, but apparently we chose poorly... we immediately were treated to a screaming foul-mouthed rant argument by guy who must be an announcer for Monster Truck Rallies or Wrestlemania - I could hear the veins bulging out on his neck... I was shaken and a little scared - worried about getting caught in crossfire! THEN... we were given an overflow spot on someone's yard with a regular (20amp) extension cord and a garden hose for water - ewww. At the regular price.

We went across street to another park that was mostly visitors, nice folks, had a spot with full hookups for same price! The first park was really nice, actually - the people that worked there were very friendly and they really tried to make it right, but the only other open spot was next to another motley looking group - cue banjo music - eek! Some spots at the first park were great, but taken. In good "neighborhoods" and on the river, very cool and shady, grassy - nice. Too bad about the redneck crack ho's and meth addicts that live there....

Today was a really long day of driving (over 300 miles) and we are getting new tires tomorrow, and alignment on Friday (...the 13th... dun dun DUN).

Speaking of tires,

"Tire-O-Drama," continued...

The 40 mph shudder, the one that disappeared after getting the new wheel, reappeared today. WTF? We also had a 60 and 70 mph shudder. Devin says they've always been there, but I wonder. Seems our alignment is getting worse by the minute. Hoping the alignment is the cure-all! maybe we've got major suspension problems - but we do have that Continued Service Plan from Good Sam that should help, if so!! We also bought oil and fluid for hydraulic levelers. Devin decided to change the oil himself, and we are having an oil drain quick connect shipped to arrive Friday also. AND, we are also getting an air compressor for our tires, and a new battery for my laptop. So Kalispell/Whitefish will be business days!

We do hope to get a trip through Glacier National Park in, too.

Mo Tires

OMG - our tires were almost bald!! the left front WAS half bald, and it wasn't when we started out yesterday morning!!! So in one day, we had an inordinate amount of wear. These tires have only about 5,000 miles on them!! Bad alignment can really mess with your tires when you weigh 9 tons. No wonder my feet hurt... ha.

We are going to check to be sure we don't have worn king pins or the like that would allow the tire to wobble, but we think maybe it was just cumulative - the tire was so unevenly worn that it pressed even more on the worn side - like driving with it on the side almost. We'll find out when we get our alignment in the morning.

WOW - what a difference!!! The alignment was WAY off and is now fixed, and with new tires, inflated properly, it's like gliding on ice it's so smooth!!! Well, in comparison anyway.

All's Well That Ends Well - no more tire drama! Hooray!!

Tire-O-Drama

We moved up to an RV Park in Bozeman, but ended up having to deal with motorhome stuff instead of visiting my brother-in-law like I had hoped we would do. The main thing I regret on our trip are the people we've missed - I wish we could do this forever so we could take the time to visit everyone! But since this is the only year we'll have to do this huge of a trip, we do feel a bit of pressure to get places like Alaska before winter so we'll have time to get to all the places we want to see.

Wheels, Tires, Aligment - Oh My!

Background:

First, we developed a shudder at 40 mph - this happened after we replaced our spare and flat (from Baja) in southern California. At first we thought maybe the wheels had been moved around, since we did a tire shuffle to make sure we had matched sets, and maybe the wheel that was out of true had been in the back where we didn't feel it. Now we are starting to suspect that it was the alignment we got in San Dimas. I think it was a really, really bad alignment.

But then again, the wheel ~was~ out of true and couldn't be balanced (we found this out in Grand Junction at the Big O Tire Store). Anyway... in Arizona (Dead Horse Ranch State Park), we noticed there was this black residue on the sides of the RV and we couldn't figure out what it could be... we now think it was tiny shreds of our tires being grated by the road and the really bad alignment... the tires looked fine then, on the outside, and they still do. We got all the left side tires balanced in Grand Junction and found out about the wheel.

Now:

We bought a new wheel in Bozeman, and got it put on - no more shudder! yay! But they pointed out that our front tires were really worn. Upon inspection, they were right - they are badly worn on the insides, indicating a very poor alignment. Maybe they couldn't align the tires properly because of the one being out of true, and maybe it was moved from rear to front, which is why we didn't have the problem before, so maybe it's not particularly anyone's fault, but the combination of these things has eaten up a pretty new (and really damn expensive) pair of 19 inch RV tires.

So now we need new tires and an alignment.

Devin called everywhere and no one seems to do alignments on RVs! Not the Ford Dealer, not the RV service center, not the tire store that replaced the wheel and pointed out our bad tires and need for alignment... Tire-o-Rama in Belgrade could do it, but not until Friday. We've already been here almost two weeks, and would really like to move on, before it gets too late to go to Alaska!

And not only this, but no one in Montana, apparently, sells (or has in stock) the Goodyear RV Tires we want!

Finally we found an alignment shop in Kalispell - still no appointments till Friday, but at least it is near Glacier and we can move on a little closer to Canada.

The reallly funny thing about the tires is Devin was searching on the RV.net forum and found a guy that was having the exact same problem about a month ago - he was in Missoula, and was looking for the exact same tires! He finally settled on Michelins and had them installed in Kalispell, so we may end up doing the same thing.

Beartooth Highway

What better way to celebrate our country's birthday than to visit its first National Park? The National Park idea and system is something that makes me very proud of my country! Today, we went on a drive through the northwestern part of Yellowstone and out over the Beartooth Highway, the longest stretch of alpine highway in the lower 48 which Charles Kurault called "America's most beautiful highway," through Red Lodge, Montana, and back through Livingston to our Yellowstone River campsite. What a fantastic day!

We crossed the Blacktail Plateau in Yellowstone, and the Petrified Tree near Roosevelt, and on through the Lamar Valley. There, we saw a huge herd of Bison, which was crossing the road, grazing alongside the road, rolling in the dirt, and generally enjoying life in the Park. We also saw Pronghorn, a little too far away to photograph. Click here to watch a little video from our pocket camera of the Bison.

Coming through the Lamar Valley, we enjoyed spectacular scenery, a few geysers like Soda Butte, lovely brilliant green meadows, and rugged mountains. The road exits the park through Cooke City, Wyoming, and continues on through more gorgeous scenery to climb toward Beartooth Pass. Pilot and Index Peaks were a spectacular sight near Cooke City, which you could also see from up on Beartooth Pass.

Once we left Yellowstone, we began the official Beartooth Highway Scenic Byway, and the scenery kept getting even better as we climbed higher and higher. We stopped at Beartooth Lake, at the top of one grade, which was spectacular. The lake comes up so suddenly we almost crashed the car in our awestruck surprise! Okay, I exaggerate, but it was quite beautiful and too sudden to get a photo of that first view from the road. We pulled into the campground by the lake, which was nice, got some photos of the lake from the boat launch area, and we saw a moose in a meadow. The views were very nice as we climbed, but there was so much more! According to the Scenic Byway website, "The Beartooth area is one of the highest and most rugged areas in the lower 48 states, with 20 peaks reaching over 12,000 feet in elevation. Glaciers grace the north flank of nearly every towering mountain peak." This statement is no exaggeration!

We began to see snowfields and the vegetation changed to tundra. Wildflowers were filling the alpine meadows and flowers I've only seen when I've climbed high mountain peaks were lining the road! Sky Pilots are a beautiful purplish blue flower that are unusual for tundra species because they grow taller than the usual mats and "belly flowers," and I always get excited to see even one or two of these alpine beauties, so you can imagine my delight to see them as roadside bouquets. Beautiful little glacial tarns - small lakes - dotted the hillsides along the road. And we kept going up!! We kept thinking it must be the pass, but no, the road seemed to go over the top of the mountain instead of a pass. What looked like a natural pass had vertical cliffs going down the other side for thousands of feet - oh, okay, so that's why the road keeps going up! It's amazing a road was built here at all, and for those who can't hike up to the alpine life zone, this road offers a rare opportunity to enjoy life at these great heights. It really made us excited to get to the Arctic Tundra we hoped to visit on our trip, in Yukon/NWT and Alaska!

Finally we got to the pass - there are two summits to the pass, and we went to the west summit. There were dark clouds threatening an afternoon thundershower and some early fireworks, but we enjoyed the view for quite a while. We met some guys on motorcycles who were just as excited about the tundra as we were, and who knew about the Dempster and Dalton Highways (one was from Canada) and told us how much we'd love them, and that in August it will be autumn on the tundra and is just like New England with lovely fall colors, only a foot tall! We can't wait.

After the pass, the road descended a winding steep grade into a steep, avalanche prone canyon with a viewpoint looking back up toward the pass and down the canyon. There was a campground at the bottom that looked really nice for future reference.

The road then led out of the mountains through Red Lodge, which we hit at sunset - a great little town, home of Crazy Creek Chairs (we like ours!), with flags lining the charming main street. We cut over to the main highway through fields of wheat and hay in the rolling hills, and headed home. This was the part of the road where the bugs were so bad that we ran out of window washing fluid - we were running it constantly just to be able to see. We had to pull over at a rest stop and use Windex, which we happened to have in the car. A family in a minivan saw me doing that and asked if they could use some - it was bad out there! A few minutes later, it didn't even matter. We bought a gallon of windshield fluid when we got into Livingston before continuing back to the RV Park. Happy Independence Day bugs! Be free of our windshield!

Along the highway, we saw lots more fireworks - it seemed every little ranch and small hamlet along the way had huge fireworks going off!! What a fourth of July!! Enjoy the slideshow of the day below:

Livingston, Montana

We arrived at the "Yellowstone's Edge" RV Park on the banks of the Yellowstone River north of Yellowstone National Park, just south of Livingston, Montana in the Paradise Valley today. It's a nice RV Park, though we like to call it "Highway's Edge" since it is as close to the highway as to the river, and the highway makes more noise. We ~could~ potentially, put kayaks or rafts in the water here and float to Livingston to visit Josh and Nikki, but we just drove the Jeep in, successfully dodging leaping deer and unsuccessfully dodging the prodigious hatches of stoneflies and other bugs - no wonder there are so many flyfishermen in the river! Leaping Trout, Batman! But I digress... the bugs were so thick on the highways at times that we had to refill our washer fluid, since we had to continually use the window washers to be able to see at times! At least they weren't mosquitoes or deerflies.

Josh, of course, gave us the Grand Tour of Livingston - he is so proud of his little town and loves to show it off in all its western classic glory. It IS a great place, with just enough culture to be really interesting, but not enough to make it snooty. It's a real place, a railroad town with the railroad still the centerpiece. But also with some great restaurants, cafes, shops, and theatre, downtown right alongside the Montana classics like The Stockman and Bob's Outdoor sporting goods. The light was especially good because of a fire in Yellowstone making the sky a little smoky, and giving everything a beautiful glow in the late afternoon light. Lest everyone think of moving there after seeing the pictures and hearing about the town, it does get cold there in the winter!

After we were settled in, we went on a drive in the Jeep - Josh took us up to the Bridger Mountains over Flathead Pass, and we explored almost every side dirt road that led up the mountains on either side of the road. Josh was funny, getting all excited every time we saw another road that looked promising! We found a few really nice little side roads that led up to meadows or views, and some "interesting" dead ends where we all got out to help Devin get the Jeep turned around safely. At one place, an open mountainside meadow with a view of the surrounding countryside, Josh tried to fly a kite, "tried" being the operative word there - ha. There were so many deer flies or meat bees Devin and I stayed in the Jeep to watch, laughing hysterically at ourselves sitting inside watching Josh and his pitiful little plastic kite fight the bugs between small gusts of light breeze - ha. The bugs weren't as bad at all on the other side of the pass, where we found a great road that led up to a fantastic view in the other direction and had a tailgate picnic lunch. Then we went across a little creek where we had to stop and wait for a deer who was getting a drink. Devin and Josh had a laugh coming back on that trail, as they went up the steep side of the trail that I wouldn't "let" them go down - ha. Lots of beautiful scenery and a little Jeep adventure and of course good company - it was a fun day!

Click here for more photos of Flathead Pass

The next day, Devin wasn't feeling well on the day of the parade for the annual Livingston roundup - Josh had told us how great the parade was, and how everyone in the town is either IN the parade or watching it. Sadly, we didn't make it this year, so we'll have to come back again someday.

We did, however, make it to see the Livingston Roundup Rodeo! Devin had never been to a rodeo before!! The rodeo has been a 4th of July tradition in Livingston for something like 75 years. Nothing like going to a big rodeo in a small Montana town to celebrate the 4th! It was one of those all American experiences that take you back to younger days and simpler times. We got tickets for July 3rd, or rather, Josh got us tickets, which was great. The clown was also really funny and sort of like the emcee for the rodeo. For a small town, Livingston puts on a pretty great rodeo, but even more than the calf roping, trick riding, barrel racing, bronc and bull riding, their fireworks display eclipses every other fireworks show either of us has EVER seen! The Pasadena Rose Bowl bills its display as the largest in Southern California, but the one in Livingston was MUCH bigger and better. It just kept going on and on and on... spectacular! We enjoyed it quite a bit! Since it was dusk and we were sitting behind a fence, our photos didn't turn out all that great, but you can still get the feel for the excitement - we were so close that we had to watch out for dirt clods getting thrown from hooves of bucking broncs and kicking bulls! Click play on the slideshow below to see more bronc bustin' action: