Category: roadtrip

Wednesday was the day to depart Grand Tetons National Park and begin our travels west to California. I was unsure about the best route to take. In hindsight, I should have asked around a bit more to get a better idea of what route to take.

US 29/89/191 heads south out of the park following the Snake River. After passing an elk preserve, US 191 leads right down into Jackson, Wyoming. After making my way through Jackson, I took Wyoming Hwy 22 west. Wyoming Hwy 22 is called the Teton Pass Highway. The road crosses west over the Snake River and then starts making its way up.

I think what I should have done is have driven south through Jackson, staying on US 191 until it branches off west and becomes US 26, generally heading west, and passing the Palisade Reservoir as it passes into Idaho. Heading over the Teton Pass from Jackson to Swan Valley, ID is about 46 miles. Heading south and west on US 26 is 65 miles. The Teton Pass reaches a height of 8,400 feet with a grade of up to 10%. Hoback, Wyoming, which is along the south and west route, looks to be at about 6,000 feet. Again, all great data I should have really looked at before.

I made my up way the Teton Pass. The road was in good shape and the Tundra was doing a solid job hauling the trailer up the mountain. I reached the top of the pass and pulled over. After a brief walk around the truck and trailer seeing that everything looked okay, I continued my way west a down the pass. Needless to say, I was using my lower gears and brakes. At one point I could definitely smell my brakes. I found a place to pull over and rested the truck for a bit. I had my trailer brake controller maxed out. Wyoming 22 turns into Idaho 33 at the state border. Eventually I made my way down to Victor, Idaho got gas and checked the truck and trailer again. I had survived the Teton Pass.

After Victor and heading west on Idaho 31, the highway turns into a two-lane roller coaster. Despite blind corners and double line medians, I still had vehicles passing me. Crazy. I took my time… drive to arrive. Idaho 31 leads to US 26 which makes its way to Idaho Falls and Interstate 15. After hitting I-15, it was easy driving to Pocatello and I-86 – making my way to I-84 and Twin Falls. In all it was 289 miles and took about 8 hours. We stayed at the KOA outside of Twin Falls which had a pool. I took the girls to the pool because they had done a great job putting up with my stress over the Teton Pass. For dinner: Pizza Hut wings (delivered to the trailer). With an early start the next morning, we headed to bed shortly before sundown.

I continued to enjoy my morning routine. The campground where we were staying (Bridge Bay) was quiet. All the campers were respectful and kept excess noise to a minimum. The bathrooms were nice and clean. No showers. The closest showers where either at Fishing Bridge (not too far away) or back up in the Canyon area. Each campsite had a metal grate and circular area for fires. The individual sites were pretty close together and compact. Tight quarters but comfortable.

My ham radio equipment was able to monitor the park ranger’s radio communications. Most of it was traffic stops (and most of the traffic stops were foreigners – they would call in their driver’s license info). The girls had a FRS radio that we used for communication as they explored the fringes of the campground. There were not a lot of other children around. I guess it is still early and they might still be in school.

Today we headed back to the Yellowstone River to view the Lower Falls. The hike I wanted to take didn’t happen because a bridge for the trail was being rebuilt. The ranger we talked to advised us to duck under the roped off area to view a nearby waterfall, which we did. Then we drove to another nearby parking lot and I decided that we’d hike down to the top of the Lower Falls. The hike was short but the decent was steep. The hike back up was a serious work out which Emily (the soon to be 1st grader) did not enjoy. But she made it. And I made it too. My performance on this hike did speak to my lake of physical preparation for the trip. Lesson learned is that I need to establish a pre-trip walking/exercise program to “get in shape”.

As a celebration of our surviving the harrowing accent of the trail back to the parking lot, we went to the Lake area’s general store for ice cream. Emily enjoyed that. I also began to notice a reoccurring theme of the easy access to ice cream in the national parks. This would continue.

The initial plan was to leave Bridge Bay Campground on Thursday and head to Madison Campground (near the western entrance and West Yellowstone). I learned quickly that there is much to be said for staying one place compared to jumping camp sites every day or two. I was able to extend our stay at Bridge Bay for an additional night and was glad to be able to do it.

I had a few books I was using to help me select activities to pursue at Yellowstone. One book mentioned a short and level hike that would take us to the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River. Getting there is a direct route out of the Yellowstone Lake area, through the Hayden Valley, and with a trailhead just south of the Canyon Area.

Hayden Valley is beautiful and contains lots of wildlife. It is easy to see buffalo here, as well as an elk or mule deer. The Yellowstone River flows out of Yellowstone Lake north through the Hayden Valley.

Following the instructions we looked to park near the trailhead but the parking lot was roped off to be repaved. We ended up parking on the road but was able to pull well off. The trail we took north towards the Upper Falls was actually an old road, the original road that used to take visitors via stagecoach to see the sights. We made it quickly to the Upper Falls and enjoyed the view.

Further expanding our dinner possibilities, we headed to the Lake Lodge’s dining room which is pretty much a cafeteria. The Lake Lodge is a beautiful building with a large front porch allowing for guests to sit and ponder the spectacular Yellowstone Lake. The food was good. I was beginning to feel guilty about not preparing dinner myself back at camp. It is hard to look yourself in the mirror and attempt to convince yourself you are “camping” when your dinner meal isn’t coming off a campfire or Coleman stove.

We took it easy today. I got in the habit of waking when the sun was peaking up (~5:35am). Coffee is the first priority. Without electrical hook-ups, coffee is done with a plastic, cone-shaped container that holds a standard sized coffee filter. Add coffee and fill with boiling water (heated on the trailer’s propane stove). Let sit for 15 minutes. Then set the contraption on my coffee mug and a depressed lock allows the coffee to travel through the coffee filter and into my travel mug.

The girls still asleep, I set my chair up outside the trailer facing the rising sun. The temperature was cool but comfortable wearing my long pants and camp shirt.

After an easy morning, we explored a bit. An easy nearby trail took us to Natural Bridge. This was to be somewhat of a trial run as the girls had not been on any significant hikes before. They did well and we enjoyed the hike. To celebrate this early victory, we went to the small general store by the marina and got ice cream. Outside the store were comfortable rocking chairs where we enjoyed the ice cream and watch the boats come and go from the marina.

For dinner, we headed to the Lake Hotel’s bistro where fancy sandwiches were available. On our way out of the hotel I saw a phone booth. We stopped to call the wife and check in. We had not cell service here around the Yellowstone Lake area and the last time we had checked in was Sunday from Livingston. I called collect – which ended up being a costly mistake. Lesson learned… buy a calling card.

Was feeling slightly better. Really considered spending another night. Decided to push on to get back on plan. It was Sunday and I was suppose to be in Yellowstone National Park come Monday.

I spent the day behind the wheel listening to NPR stations. Saturday is a great day for NPR radio and help the miles go by. That was good because by stopping in Gillette, I did not get a lot of miles in. I wanted to get back on my schedule and that meant a 350 mile day.

I made it to the Livingston, MT and the RV park but did miss the turn-off for the campground three times.

The owners of the park were very nice. The girls liked exploring down by the river. The Yellowstone River followed right along the edge of the campground. Full hook-ups is great. I still didn’t deliver a great dinner meal. This was becoming a pattern.

Woke up early. Quickly came to the realization that breakfast is much easier to prepare than dinner. My wife had a great idea of packing shelf-stable milk. This was a common item we drank while in the Army during field exercises and deployments. The milk comes in quart-sized boxes and can be stored at room temperature. We keep a box in the travel trailer’s small refrigerator (3 cubic feet). Breakfast options are either cold cereal (with milk) or oatmeal. While staying at an RV campground with hook-ups (electric, water, and sometimes sewer), the 110v plugs inside the trailer provide juice. This allows the use of a coffee maker – a nice convenience in the morning. For oatmeal preparation, it is just a mater of using one of the two propane-fed burners in the galley to heat water in a tea kettle. Clean up of the dishes is aided by the hot-water heater. The heater can warm about 6 gallons of water. The water heater also uses propane for heating – the process takes about 25 minutes.

Breakfast completed, dishes cleaned, we packed up, dumped the gray water holding tank, and hit the road.

Flat and straight along I-90. Until we hit the Missouri River. West of the river, the terrain started to roll a bit – but still easy driving.

Arrived at Badlands National Park. I started to not feel well.

I stopped first at the Cedar Pass Lodge to get directions to the campground. It was nearby (just down the road). At the entrance to the campground there was a board to indicate what campground site campers are assigned – but the board was not in use. I just started driving the loops, looking for the tag with my name on it.

Side note: for our stays at national park campgrounds, I tried to get reservations at each campsite. Each national park has their own method for reservations (and not all campgrounds take reservations). For some campgrounds, you can pick the exact campsite for your stay. Usually the website gives you specifics on each individual campsite: does it offer hook-ups (water, electricity, etc…. almost no national park campsites offer hookups), is the site a pull-through or a back-in, width of the site, and other specific information to let you know if your rig will fit).

Our site at Cedar Pass Campground was not level. Why is that a problem? Besides allowing the RV to be level on the inside for comfort and ease of use, a proper level is important for use of the refrigerator. If the RV is not level, the refrigerator will not work properly and may get damaged.

I was able to level the trailer using heavy-duty plastic blocks that look like large Lego bricks. On the side that needs to be raised, I place the blocks under the tire and then pull the trailer up on the blocks. I keep a level in the galley and place it on top of the refrigerator during this process to let me know when I am good to go.

With staying just one night, life is easier if I leave the trailer hitched to the truck. However, being tired from the drive and trailer setup, as well as dispirited from the failure of dinner the night before, I unhitched the trailer and we ate at the Cedar Pass Lodge’s restaurant. The food was good but none of us could eat that much.

After dinner we did a bit of exploring at the Visitors Center. At this point it may be noted that I did not take too many photographs early in this trip. I am going to attribute that to a combination of keeping my attention focused on the safety of my daughters (and being tired). If I am looking through a camera lens then I am not paying attention to much of anything else.

The campsite did not have any hook-ups (as per the norm in a national park). There was a dump station. But I knew that if I didn’t put any water in the fresh water tank, I would not have to worry about dumping the gray water tank if I didn’t put water in the fresh water tank. When I have hook-ups, water flows directly into the trailers water system. After the water is used and goes down the drain, it fills the gray water tank. When I don’t have hook-ups I can fill up the fresh water tank… it will hold up to 33 gallons.

Here is the deal with water. A gallon of water weighs almost 8.5 lbs. If I traveled with the fresh water tank full, that would be an extra 275 lbs. Weight I just don’t need to haul.

So – if I don’t need to use water for cooking or cleaning, then I don’t need to fill up the fresh water tank and I don’t have to worry about dumping the gray water tank before I leave. Most national park campsites that have spaces for RVs also have a dump station. However, if you do need to use the dump station, chances are that others need to use it as well and that means there might be a wait. That just means you can’t get on the road as soon as you wanted to.

I found out that most national park campgrounds do not have showers at all campgrounds. Cedar Pass at Badlands is an exception. They had showers but the showers actually took quarters to work. I had never seen anything like that before.