Category: National Park
Glacier National Park And A Ranch

Glacier National Park And A Ranch

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Hey Guys!! We spent two weeks in West Glacier so we could explore Glacier National Park!

Confession: We didn’t want to like Glacier National Park.

It’s true. For years, we’ve heard so many people say how awesome Glacier NP is. We heard the same things about a couple of other parks that are wildly popular and…well…we’re not too fond of those particular parks. So, when we headed to Glacier, we’d already made up our minds (but tried to stay hopeful) that Glacier was going to be another dud for us. I should tell you here…the entire east side of the park (according to most, the east side is the best side) was closed so that also factored into our feelings that this park was going to be a miss for us.

And honestly, after the first day…we thought maybe we’d been right…that Glacier was a dud for us. Our first day was filled with super grumpy Rangers, so many people we felt like canned sardines, and some pretty spectacular views.

We also saw an alarming number of tourons (tourist+moron) trying to get selfies with wildlife. Guys, don’t be a touron. Just don’t. It’s not cool…wild animals don’t like it…and Ranger’s will have to step in and try to save your life while putting their lives in danger. Please remember to stay 100 yards from bears and wolves and 25 yards from all other wild animals.

The next time we went into the park we decided to head out to Kintla Lake to hopefully get away from the crush of people. We had a relaxing day at the lake with about twenty other people. We just about had the place to ourselves. The boys spent about an hour or so floating around in the glacier fed lake before we headed to Bowman Lake to check it out. Bowman was super crowded so we walked to the edge, got a look, then left. On the way out to the main road we got our first glimpse of a black bear in Glacier NP. It was off the side of the road, up the hill, gorging on berries. He knew we were there (there was a group of us), but couldn’t have cared less. He was more interested in the fresh berry bushes.

The next day, we drove Going To The Sun Road and stopped at all of the stops we could find a parking space. It was ridiculously busy but, we found a spot at a few key pull-offs.

When Glacier National Park was established in 1910 there were over 100 glaciers within the park boundaries. Today, there are 25 active glaciers. So, what makes a glacier a glacier? A glacier forms when an area of snow doesn’t melt over the summer then accumulates layers of snow over the years. Eventually, the bottom layers will compress under the weight of snow and turn to ice. The weight of the snow mass along with some of the yearly melt will cause the bottom layers of ice to become flexible and slick and the snow mass will start to move downhill…becoming a glacier. A glacier has to have enough mass to “flow” downhill under gravity due to it’s own weight.

Most of the trail-heads we wanted to stop at were full by 9am so we found ourselves pulling into any pull-off that had an available spot. That’s how we ended up at the St. Mary Falls trail. We hadn’t planned on doing this hike, but we were there and y’all know I love a good waterfall. We were checking out the trail-head sign when we met a couple of ladies just finishing up so we talked to them about the trail and if it was worth the mileage with the 90­°+ temps. You can see in the picture above that there had been a fire and all of the trees for most of the trail were burned which means…no shade. The ladies who were finishing up insured us that it was worth it so…we headed down our first trail in Glacier NP.

We made it to St. Mary Falls (in the pic above) without any trouble and decided to head on to Virginia Falls. We saw so many small waterfalls along the trail! It was kind of amazing… Now, having said that, y’all know I like to keep it real for you…a couple of us really struggled on the way back to the car. It was right in the heat of the day, it was 93°, there was zero shade or cloud cover and there was a pretty good incline we had to make it up to get back to the car. We had taken our water and we were all wearing hats, but the heat just zapped us. If we were to do this hike again, we would be on the trail by 7am if not earlier to escape the heat of the day. It was a great trail, and I would highly recommend it…just be prepared for the heat and the lack of shade. But Guys, look at the color of that water!! We decided after this hike that maybe…just maybe…Glacier NP was going to be ok.

Speaking of waterfalls… Oh. My. Goodness!! There were so many waterfalls!!

So. Many!

Glacier National Park has a whopping 200 waterfalls scattered throughout the park. You’ll see everything from a trickle making its way down the side of a cliff to a full out gushing beauty. I think I might have taken more pictures of waterfalls than anything else in this park.

The big trail I wanted to get in while we were there was the Highline Trail. The Highline Trail is said to be the one trail in Glacier that you have to do. You start at the Logan Pass Visitor Center. We learned from our friends at the St. Mary Falls trailhead that if we wanted to get a parking spot at Logan Pass, we would need to be there by 7am at the latest. So, we got there at 6am and scored a spot. I wanted to start this trial early because the temps were still brutal and the only shade on this trail is provided by the shadow of the mountain. Starting mid-day, there’s zero shade and I’d made that mistake once…I wasn’t going to do that again.

The Highline Trail begins on the Continental Divide where you follow it for a while. This section of the trail is known as the “Garden Wall” and is roughly 100 feet or more above the Going to the Sun Road which means you get some amazing views right from the beginning of the trail. We started our trek as the sky was starting to lighten up with temps in the high 30s. We froze, but none of us complained. We prefer to hike in the cold rather in the sweltering heat.

About a quarter mile or so from the trail-head you get to the part of the trail that gives anyone with a height issue some problems. In some places along this portion of the trail, the trail is only about four to six feet wide with steep drop-offs on one side. The park has installed a cable for people to use. I noticed a couple of us holding pretty tightly to that cable…this part of the trail seemed pretty tame to me after hiking Angel’s Landing in Zion last year. Until, we met up with a mountain goat. He was coming at us down the narrow trail, but seemed totally unfazed by our presence. He politely got off the trail when he got to us and perched precariously on some rocks along the steep drop-off while we scurried by him.

Remember all of those waterfalls I told you about? Well, you get to hike through the tops of several of them while on the Highline Trail. Between the morning dew and the slick wet rocks and the mud…well, I had a few little moments of panic while going through the waterfalls. None of them were deep. We were all wearing regular hiking shoes and none of us got wet feet or anything, but every time we would walk through one of the waterfalls, I would look down, down, down, and down to how far we would slide if we happened to slip right then. There wasn’t a ledge to catch yourself. This aspect of the trail is the only part that would give me pause about doing it again. But let’s be honest, I’d still do it again…some moments of panic are worth it.

I’ll also confess to you that I did slip and fall on some mud. It wasn’t on a waterfall crossing (thank goodness) but it was in front of several people and on some slippery rocks. It happened so fast I didn’t even know it was happening until I was on the ground with a sharp rock trying to wedge itself somewhere I’d prefer it not be. I had a humongo bruise that lasted three weeks and I messed up my forearm from landing on it (that only lasted a couple of days). Honestly, I think my ego was hurt worse than my body, but it did make me slow down when walking over those slick rock areas and hesitate even more before walking over a waterfall crossing.

We had planned on only going about two or three miles into the hike then turning around. The entire hike is anywhere between 13 and 30 miles depending on how far you go and any trails you take off on that meet up with the Highline Trail. When we got to the two mile point none of us were ready to turn back. When we made it to three miles we could see the switch backs up to the pass and decided to push on to get to the view so, we ended up hiking up to the Haystack Pass. Haystack Pass sits at an elevation of 7,024 feet and has plenty of great rocks to sit on and have a snack.

While three of us decided to hangout at Haystack Pass and watch all of the Colombian Ground Squirrels scurry around (there were so many), two of us headed on down the trail for another half mile or so just to see what they could see. Alex took this picture when he and Jerl explored a bit farther down the trail. We spent about an hour hanging out at the pass before making our way back to Logan Pass.

On our trek back to the trail-head, the crowds started to show up and we had to stop several times to let people pass on the narrow trail. We ended up seeing four different mountain goats and met back up with our mountain goat friend from the morning. He had taken up a spot right by the trail and was posing for all of the paparazzi snapping photos of him.

We also spotted some longhorn sheep. We saw a group of them way up on the hillside chilling out, avoiding the people…but one was romping around right by the trail and seemed a little panicky. He busted out of the trees onto the trail right as I was walking up and we sized each other up for a minute before I started yelling for Jerl and the sheep took off. Ha! I’m not sure which of us (me or the sheep) was more startled to see the other.

We had a great morning on the Highline Trail! We’ve decided it’s on our list of top five hikes and we all agree we would do it again. Between the views and the wildlife, I can see why this trail is so popular.

A couple of the trails we wanted to do were closed due to bear activity. We heard a couple of stories about bears and mauling and stealing backpacks… If you visit Glacier NP make sure you are prepared for bears. Educate yourselves and be bear aware.

OK…let’s talk pretties. I know y’all are here for the pictures of flowers and Glacier National Park did not disappoint. Most of these pictures are from the Highline Trail. I was in flower heaven the entire hike!

And…the foodies! We had our first huckleberry pie and it was pretty darn good! You can find huckleberry flavored everything in the Glacier area and yes, we totally had to try as much as we could. Our faves were the pie, ice cream, and preserves. We also found a great burger place called Mudman and a really tasty Mexican food truck called The Wandering Gringo that we ate at twice!

I guess Glacier National Park is called “Crown of the Continent” for a reason. We had our doubts, but in the end…the park won us over and easily earned a spot on our top ten list. We will definitely go back to explore the east side.

Bonus Park! We had two days to kill in between our Glacier reservations and our Yellowstone reservations so we stayed in Deer Lodge, MT for two nights just to see the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site.

Grant-Kohrs Ranch was once the headquarters of a 10 million acre cattle empire. Today, this National Historic Site preserves the history and memory of two of the biggest symbols of the American West…the cowboy with his vast herds of cattle out on the open range. Grant-Kohrs Ranch was founded in 1862 by John Grant, a Canadian fur trader, and then expanded by a cattle baron named Conrad Kohrs. Dwindling bison herds and the growth of eastern cities led to a demand for beef.

Returning Civil War soldiers came back to Texas to find millions of unbranded cattle roaming around. There was too many cows in Texas which made the price of cattle go down to $2 a piece but the quickly growing cities in the north would buy a cow for $30. Nelson Story and his group of twenty-five cowboys made the first cattle drive from the open lands in Texas up to the rich grazing ranges of Montana in 1866.

By 1885, cattle was the most lucrative industry on the High Plains but, it only lasted for three decades. Between a couple of extremely harsh winters and the Homesteaders Act that split up the open range into 160 acre barb-wired plots, the big cattle barons had to find a different way. Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS helps preserve and tell the story of the Open Range Era. Today, it’s still a working ranch and you can see some cows, horses, chickens, and learn about a chapter of America’s history.

We learned a lot about cowboys and their life on the range. Most cowboys were teenagers who were willing to work long hard days and nights for very little pay. Chuck-wagons like the one above was home for cowboys out on the range. One of these wagons could carry enough food and supplies for ten to fifteen cowboys to live on the range for one month. The chuck wagon was where the cowboys would gather for food, sleep, and companionship.

One of the most memorable things we were able to do while exploring Grant-Kohrs Ranch was try Cowboy Coffee. The volunteer at the Chuck Wagon made up a pot of it the same way the cooks would have made it out on the range. The cooks would get the coffee in the same packages you can see above. Since the coffee came in whole beans, the cook would always ask for a volunteer to grind it all and he never had to ask twice. The cowboy who volunteered to grind up the coffee beans got to keep the sweet surprise hidden in the coffee package…a stick of peppermint. They sell packages of the coffee in the visitor center at the park. It’s from the same company that sold it to the Chuck Wagon cooks way back then for life on the range.

“Cowboys are smaller and less muscular than wielders of ax or pick, but they are as hardy and self-reliant as any man who ever breathed — with bronze, set faces, and keen eyes that look all the world straight in the face without flinching as they flash out from under their broad-brimmed hats. Peril and hardship and years of long toil, broken by weeks of dissipation, draw haggard lines across their eager faces, but never dim their reckless eyes, nor break their bearing of defiant self-confidence…” ~Theordore Roosevelt, 1888

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour

Battlefields and Ghost Towns

Battlefields and Ghost Towns

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Hey Guys! We spent one week in the Dillon, MT area as we were making our way up to Glacier National Park. This stop was basically just a big hopping point between Ketchum and West Glacier, but I chose it specifically so we could visit Big Hole National Battlefield and Bannack State Park. I figured…we might as well make the best of the week, right? Let’s stop someplace where we can continue our National Park Tour.

Every single National Park Unit tells a story. Battlefield stories are usually hard to hear, but I feel like they need to be remembered. History should never be forgotten…our history reminds us of how far we’ve come and how far we could fall if we make the same mistakes. Learning our history…all of our history…not just the history that’s pretty or makes us feel good… helps keep us from making those same mistakes again. We’ve learned. We’ve grown. Let’s not forget it.

Every story has two point of views. We’ve found that the National Park System is excellent at portraying both sides of the story equally and without prejudices. Our school system could learn a thing or two from the National Park System about teaching the true history of our country.

Like so many battlefields, Big Hole National Battlefield is considered a sacred place…a place where blood was spilled and life was extinguished. This National Park Unit tells of the battle between the Nez Perce (nimí•pu) and US Army troops. But really, it’s the story of the Nez Perce’s struggle to survive. The Nez Perce can trace their heritage and their life on the land back 9,000 years. They were one of the biggest tribes in the US with around thirteen million acres of land spanning across what is now Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and up into Canada. As the US struggled to find it’s footing as a new nation, the Nez Perce lost most of their land and conflicts began to occur.

In 1855 the US government proposed a treaty. The Nez Perce would give up over half of their traditional lands to the growing US nation but they would still keep the right to hunt, fish, and gather on those lands. Everything seemed to work for five years, but then gold was found which led to an influx of over 15,000 miners and settlers and once again conflicts started to occur.

In 1863 the US government met with all of the leaders of the different Nez Perce bands to try and come to an agreement that would cut the Nez Perce lands by another ninety percent and the Nez Perce would go live on specified land reservations. During the meetings the leaders of five bands were so disgusted by what they were hearing, they got up and left the meetings. The meetings didn’t stop though. They continued with the leaders who stayed and in the end the leaders who stayed agreed to the treaty because it didn’t affect their bands as much. Those leaders signed the treaty for all Nez Perce…even the bands who had left the meetings. The bands who left refused to acknowledge the new treaty and would become known as the non-treaty Nez Perce.

The US government gave the non-treaty Nez Perce thirty days to move onto the reservation or they would be put there by force. The Nez Perce had lived on this land for thousands of years and didn’t see what gave the US government the authority to tell them where they should and shouldn’t live. In the end, the non-treaty Nez Perce gave in and started the long process of gathering all of their things and livestock to make the journey to the reservations. Before they could reach their destination though, conflict and fighting broke out as they were going through land that had once been theirs, but had since been claimed by settlers. This started the the long chain of events that would be known as the Nez Perce War.

On August 7, 1877 around 800 non-treaty Nez Perce made their way to a place they knew well from past buffalo hunts. They called it The Place of the Buffalo Calf (Iskumtselalik Pah). They knew there would be fresh water, a big field for their horses to graze and the nearby forest would provide trees for the tipi poles. They had been relentlessly pursued… fighting and fleeing for several long weeks and they were all weary and worn. The leaders of the five non-treaty Nez Perce bands believed that by moving across the Idaho border into Montana that they would leave the war behind.

The next day, August 8, they spent the day setting up camp. Eighty-nine tipis were set up throughout the field. They spent the day hunting and gathering food and water, looking after their tired horse herds (close to 2,000 horses), and planning the next step.

In the early morning on August 9, a Nez Perce elder went down to the river to check on some horses. What he didn’t know, was that during the night the US Army, led by Colonel Gibbon, had caught up with them and was positioned for an ambush at the river front. What happened next was pure chaos. One of the military volunteers got itchy and shot the elder. The Nez Perce woke to gunshots and screams. At one point soldiers started setting fires to tipis with women and children hiding in them.

I should point out that this particular unit of the US Army had just come from Little Bighorn where they saw what was left of Custer and his unit (not much). They were worked up and scared for their lives. Most of this unit was new to fighting. I don’t think you can ever really justify the brutality of what they did though.

When it was over, 90 Nez Perce and 30 military/civilian volunteers had been killed. The US Army had expected the Nez Perce to be surprised and to quickly surrender, but that’s not what happened. The Nez Perce fought back to protect their families and pushed the military back across the river and up the bank. The military retreated and dug shallow rifle pits to hole up in. Several Nez Perce volunteered as sharp shooters to hold the US military troop pinned down so their families could quickly do what they could for their dead and then flee.

After the sharp shooters left, the unwounded soldiers did their best to help the injured. There wasn’t a doctor and they really weren’t sure if the Nez Perce would come back or not. With no medical supplies, equipment, clothing, or food Colonel Gibbon decided to camp where they were until reinforcements could arrive.

This was just one battle in the Nez Perce War. From Big Hole, the Nez Perce eventually made their way up to the Canadian border where some of them crossed over and continued to fight and some chose to stay and surrender. It had be a long hard journey stretching over 126 days and close to 1200 miles that spanned over 4 different states. Today, the Nez Perce visit the Big Hole Battlefield to honor the memories of those who were killed on August 9 and 10 of 1877.

We only spent a few hours at Big Hole Battlefield, but what we learned will stay with us for the rest of our lives. We remember and we honor all those who fell.

On the way to Big Horn Battlefield, we kept seeing these unusual structures out in the fields. Being the inquisitive nerds we are…when we got to the National Park unit, we asked a Ranger if she knew what they were. Luckily, she knew exactly what we were trying to describe. Which…look at that structure, how would you describe it?

They’re called beaverslides. Yup, you read that right. A beaverslide is a hay stacker. Invented by two ranchers in the Big Hole Valley in 1910, the ranchers of this valley used them to stack hay up to 35 feet high and contain close to 20 tons of hay so they could feed their cattle from it all winter. There was a time when the Big Hole Valley was known as the Valley of 10,000 Hay Stacks. Most ranchers in the valley have switched to more modern methods, but there are still a few who are using the beaverslides.

The other place we wanted to explore while in the Dillon area was Bannack State Park. Bannack is said to be one of the best preserved ghost towns in the US. We’ve been to our fair share of ghost towns and I have to agree. Bannack is the best we’ve seen.

One of the best things about this ghost town is that you actually get to go into the buildings. And I don’t mean go in and look through some plexiglass at a few decorated rooms…nope…you can actually go in and explore. The Hotel Meade was one of our favorite buildings to go through. We were able to go through the rooms downstairs and then venture upstairs to see most of the actual rooms that guests stayed in. They’ve been left alone, but preserved…if that makes sense. Montana Fish and Wildlife oversees Bannack and has done an excellent job of keeping the buildings authentic but as safe as possible. Quite a few buildings had a sign at the entrance that warned people to enter at their own risk. They are old buildings…

This building, built in 1874, served as both a school and the Masonic Lodge. The first floor was used as a public school for grades K-8th while the second floor was used as Masonic Lodge Number 16. We were able to go into the first floor school, but the second floor was closed off the day we went.

Like so many towns of that time, Bannack (named for the Bannock Indians who frequented the area) started as a mining camp when gold was found in July of 1862 at the nearby Grasshopper creek. The camp grew from around 400 people that fall to over 3,000 people the next spring. During the winter of 1862, Governor Sidney Edgerton named Bannack the first capital of the Territory of Montana. The Post Office was established in November of 1863.

And, like most mining towns of that time…Bannack wasn’t a safe place…especially after dark. We found a hidey hole in the floor of every building we went into. And…there was a rumor that Sheriff Henry Plummer and his posse were actually a gang of thieves and murderers called “The Innocents”.

Most people came to Bannack to find their fortunes in gold mining. Some, came to start businesses like butcher shops, saloons, craftsmen, and ranching. Any supplies had to be brought into Bannack from a great distance and at a pretty big expense. While the town of Bannack wasn’t exactly hard up for money…the residents found that most of their earnings were going to the high cost of goods and services. $500,000 in gold was mined in the area by the end of 1862.

When World War II started, all non-essential mining was prohibited. Bannack’s existence was dependent on the mining of gold. Mining did start back up as soon as the war was over, but the price of gold was so low that the mining town couldn’t survive. People went elsewhere to find jobs and by the late forties, most of the population had moved on. The Post Office closed in 1938, the school closed sometime in the early 1950s and just like that the mining town of Bannack became a ghost town. The gold rush is over, but the spirit of the old west can still be found at Bannack State Park.

We spent a few nights trying to see the Neowise Comet that was visible at the time. We were so far north and the comet was so bright that we didn’t have to wait too long each evening to try and spot it. We think we saw it one night. I circled it in the right picture…It’s not the best shot, but it’s all I got.

Our week flew by. We didn’t really do much of anything else since we’re still trying to avoid going out too much. We mainly just go get groceries and stay home…when we’re not out adventuring in the wild places.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Lava and Mountains

Lava and Mountains

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Hey Guys! We stayed in Ketchum, ID for two weeks and had some pretty cool adventures! Originally, before the whole CV 19 thing, we hadn’t planned on being in this area. I couldn’t make it work around getting to the other places we had planned. We’re still bummed to have missed out on some of the other adventures we’d planned, but being able to make it to this area takes some of the sting out of it.

At this time, CV 19 numbers were on the rise again and some states were starting to close back down. In Ketchum and the surrounding areas, face masks were required anytime you were out and couldn’t socially distance or anytime you were in a store. We were worried that we’d have to miss the rest of this travel year.

Because we were worried about National Parks closing back down (some of them were), the first thing we did was go to Craters of the Moon National Monument. There were more people there than I thought there would be, but it was by no means crowded. Pretty much everyone wore a mask when in close proximity to other people.

Craters of the Moon National Monument is a collection of three major lava flows with cinder cones sprinkled here and there created between 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. The NP Monument was created in 1924 and then expanded in 2000. Lava tubes, tree molds, lava rivers, spatter cones…there’s a lot to explore at this National Monument.

You can see some of the cinder cones in the picture above on the left. There are a couple of trails that lead up to two of them where you can look down into them. We were surprised to see snow in one of them since it was close to 90° the day we were there.

We also made it out to see some tree molds. We’ve seen these before and they never cease to amaze us. The lava here didn’t erupt out of volcanoes like Mount St. Helens, but rather oozed out of fissures and occasionally spewed out of vents. A tree mold is made when lava flows through an area with trees. The lava coats the outside of the tree and cools just enough to make a cast or mold of the tree, but the tree inside burns up.

We were surprised to find flowers in an old lava flow. The flowers and trees offered a vibrant pop of color in an otherwise monochromatic landscape.

We spent an entire day trying to soak up as much of the Sawtooth Mountains as we could. We stopped several times to ogle the Salmon River.

Guys, we found some geothermal hot-springs coming right out of the side of the mountain! Right across the road from the river. People have used boulders and rocks in the river to make soaking pools. It was really cool to see. We didn’t have our swimsuits so we didn’t try any. We did walk up to where the water was coming out of the ground and let me tell you…that water comes out HOT!! Wowza!

When we headed out that morning, we had two specific destinations in mind. Both of them are part of Land of the Yankee Fork State Park. The first one was the Bayhorse Ghost Town. Y’all know we love to explore ghost towns. We go to as many as we can. Bayhorse is probably one of the better ones we’ve seen. Tucked back in a narrow, rocky canyon, the old mining town of Bayhorse was built on steep slopes. Only the most determined prospectors ventured here to make a life.

During it’s heyday, the Bayhorse Mining District produced ten million dollars worth of different metals. In the end, a horrible fire and dropping silver prices doomed the town of Bayhorse. For a long time, the town was closed to visitors due to hazardous conditions, but in 2006 Bayhorse became part of the Idaho State Park System and they began to clean it up and make it safe for people to visit. When we arrived we were handed some info pamphlets…one of them was a safety brochure about all of the hazardous minerals still found in the town-site. So, if you go…don’t lick anything or crack any rocks open and you should be just fine. 😉

The second place we were hoping to see that day was the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge…which is another unit of the Land of the Yankee Fork State Park. Yankee Fork is a tributary of the Salmon River. Due to the sever winters, this area was called “Land of the Deep Snows” by the tribes who hunted there. The dredge is 112 feet long and weighs 988 tons. They brought it to the Yankee Fork in pieces starting with the huge pontoons it sits on.

From 1940 to 1952, the dredge worked non-stop. In the end, they’d dredged up over a million dollars in gold. Today, the dredge is one of the best preserved in the lower 48. When we were in Fairbanks, AK we went to Gold Dredge No. 8 and toured it. We found the two dredges to be extremely different. Maybe that was just our novice eyes? There were a few volunteers stationed around the dredge the day we went and they all did an amazing job educating us about the daily workings of the dredge.

After spending an entire day in the car, we had to talk the boys into getting back out the next day for a hike. We tempted them with a trial through an ancient pine forest to Titus Lake. The info we had said this hike was an easy trail with only a 500′ elevation gain. It sounded like it was going to be an easy peasy walk in the park…it wasn’t. When you start your hike at almost 9,000 feet…it doesn’t take much to feel winded. Honestly, I was too busy swooning over the flowers to mind the work. I was in summer wildflower heaven and stopped frequently to take pictures. And breath. The views were spectacular, the flowers were vibrant and the lake was a brilliant emerald color! What more could you ask for?

We celebrated Charlie’s birthday while we were in Ketchum. Our oldest is twenty years old. Twenty! Guys…how is that even possible? I mean, I’m way too young to have a twenty year old, right? He got a new board game called 7 Wonders for his birthday and we love it. It’s quickly become one of our faves.

We went out for some foodies a few times. Surprisingly, we found a bbq place called Smokey Bones that was pretty darn good! Nicholas, of course, had to hit up a pizza place during our lunch date.

I know y’all only come to see the pictures of flowers…that’s why I leave them for the end. You have to make it all the way though the post to see the pretties. Ha!!

We had a great time adventuring in the Ketchum, ID area! We’re a fan!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

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Hey Guys!! We spent five days in the Wilson, WY area so we could explore Grand Teton National Park. If you can believe it…we actually took a vacation. Zero work was done. It’s a shocker…I know.

We haven’t taken an actual vacation in…well…I honestly can’t remember the last true vacation we’ve had. It was kind of weird and oddly exhausting all at the same time. Who knew vacations were so tiring? By the end of it…we were all ready to get back to our normal nomad routine.

Grand Teton National Park was formed in 1929 to protect the forty mile long Teton Range, but it actually protects closer to 310,000 acres. People have been coming to the Tetons for more than 11,000 years. The first people to call this area home were nomadic tribes who would stay in the Teton area during the summer months to hunt and then move to a different area for the winter.

Our first day in the park was cold and rainy. The entire Teton Range was hidden behind clouds the whole day. I worried that our entire stay would end up a bust and we wouldn’t get to lay eyes on the mountains the park was formed to protect.

We explored the park anyway and made a game plan for the rest of our time there. We also saw a pretty spectacular sunset that first night as the clouds finally started to move out.

In 1807 John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, became the first Caucasian to see the Teton Range. Over the next thirty years, Jackson became a profitable fur trapping area. Beavers were one of the biggest draws.

My favorite area of the park is the Schwabacher Landing and Blacktail Ponds area. Both give you access to the Snake River. At Schwabacher you can see a large beaver dam and if you’re lucky…some beavers and moose. We saw evidence, but not the actual animals. We did see a mama deer and her fawn one evening. When the wind is calm, you can catch the Teton Range reflection in water. At Blacktail Ponds you get a better view of the park’s wetland community. At one time, the Snake River flowed through this area with enough water that boats were able to launch. With the shifting of the river, it’s no longer viable to launch boats from this area. Blacktail Ponds is named for the blacktail deer that can be seen so frequently in this area.

The Homestead Act of 1862 drew settlers to the area. The promise of 160 acres to any person willing to work the land for five years brought a vibrant community to what was originally known as Grovont, but is known today as Mormon Row. There are several settlements still standing today. We enjoyed exploring them and learning a little history about the first families to make the Teton Range area home.

We tried so hard to see wildlife. One morning three of us got up and 4am and headed into the park with hopes of spotting some mama bears and cubs. We saw tons of pronghorn (you can’t go anywhere in Wyoming without seeing pronghorns), elk, deer, squirrels… We found a footprint of something one morning at Schwabacher Landing. We can’t agree on what it’s from though. The closest we came to seeing a bear…we saw a black bear’s hiney as it was making its way back into the forest and we saw the fur of a grizzly (We know it was a grizzly because the Ranger told us. We wouldn’t have known otherwise.) for maybe a half a second. I don’t have photos of either encounter to share with you.

Alex wants to be a Ranger. He reads every sign we come across and devours the park map and newspaper for every drop of information he can get. He’s going to make an excellent Ranger one day.

We stayed in Wilson, but the main town in the area is Jackson. We’d stocked up on food and groceries before we got there, but still went into town to check it out and see what we could see. It’s super touristy and reminds us of pretty much all of the other Ski Resort towns we’ve seen on our wanderings.

We did take one of the boys for a meal while we were there. See the little QR code in the picture? That was our menu. We had to scan it so we could bring the menu up on our phones. I actually liked this. It was one less thing for us to worry about having to touch and then eat. Our burgers were decent…mine was actually pretty good. It had an onion ring on it and they filled the onion ring with mushrooms.

There were so many pretties! I was in flower heaven!! I’m not sure if I took more pictures of the mountain range or the pretties we found around it. 😉

If we ever go back to Grand Teton NP, we’ll have to figure out a better place to stay. The park we stayed in was horrible. Super tight spots, super muddy, and the hookups…were under the rig. Yup, we had to crawl under the RV to hookup and unhook our water and sewer. And Guys, this place was the most expensive place we’ve ever stayed in. It was bad. We heard pretty much everyone there complaining about it.

That’s it for this National Park Unit!! We had a great time in the park!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Waiting In Idaho

Waiting In Idaho

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Hey Guys!! We spent a month in Twin Falls, ID as we waited to see what would happen with the whole Covid 19 thing. Places are still slowly opening up but most National Park Visitor Centers are still closed. There’s been talk of state border crossing check-points but we haven’t seen anything about the states we’re near. Right now, it’s all just wait and see for us as to whether or not we’ll be able to continue our National Park Tour this year.

The second week we were in Twin Falls, the Visitor Center at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument opened up so we took a chance and went to check it out.

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument is most known for the Hagerman Horse but the monument has many different types of animal and plant fossils. We were hoping to get to hike to an area where we could see where some fossils were found…but there’s not a trail for that. In fact, the only fossils you’ll find (unless you want to hike an unmarked trail by the river where mud and snakes are often found) are in the Visitor Center.

This area has sediment layers that span 550,000 years to 3.15 million years old. Hidden in the layers of sediment area countless fossils. Due to the shifting of the river and the frequent earthquakes, more fossils are found often.

We felt like this NP unit was…ok. The lack of hiking trails was a bummer and the inability to get to a place to see any fossils was also a downer. Also, the Rangers wouldn’t stamp my cancellation book due to the virus, but they would gladly handle our cash… um… that really stinks.

We spent a Saturday exploring Thousand Springs State Park. Well, actually, we only made it to one of the five units that make up this state park…the Niagara Springs Unit. We saw so many waterfalls at this state park! We also found an abundance of marmots. So…many…marmots!

We spent some time gazing at the Shoshone Falls. You can find these falls at the Shoshone Falls State Park in Twin Falls. We spent a morning there walking the trails and checking out the lake. Shoshone Falls is called the Niagara of the West and it really is a must see attraction if you’re ever in the Twin Falls area. At 212 feet, Shoshone Falls is actually taller than Niagara Falls. There are some amazing overlooks that are super easy to get to plus there’s a great trail that takes you up above where you can see the falls and the snake river. Did you know that people have been visiting the Shoshone Falls since the mid 19th century? Yup, travelers along the Oregon Trail would take a little detour just to see the falls. If you’re going to go, visit in the Spring when the water is at it’s fullest.

One of the coolest things we saw while we were staying in Twin Falls…people base jumping off of the Perrine Bridge. Some locals told us that if it’s a nice day then there will be someone jumping off the bridge. Apparently, Perrine Bridge is one of the only bridges in the US that it’s legal to base jump from.

One Sunday morning we got up and headed down into Snake River Canyon. We found a little hiking trail and saw so many waterfalls! We were really surprised by the number of waterfalls we found in this area! We don’t often have time to thoroughly explore an area. Usually, we only have two weeks at a location and we almost always have our adventures pretty much picked out and set. It was kind of nice to have so much free time in an area where we could really explore so much of it.

We celebrated Nicholas’ birthday while we were in Twin Falls. I can’t believe my baby is 16. Time really flies! He’s also the tallest right now…which he just hates. *wink, wink*

We played a lot of board games and I baked a lot of sweet treats. I stress bake and this year has been on the stressful side of things. So…I’ve been baking pretty much non-stop.

We found some foodies. Just a few. Actually, we didn’t eat out all that much. We’re still trying to take one of the kiddos to lunch each week. Sometimes we get to dine in and sometimes we have to find a park or view to enjoy while we have lunch, but it’s always so nice to get some one-on-one time with one of the boys. We also took advantage of being close to a Dutch Bros! They are the best coffee shop but we don’t find them too often. And yes, that’s whipped cream on my blended chai. mmmm….

The late spring/early summer flowers were showing off for us!

We found the potatoes that Idaho is so famous for. So…Many…Potatoes! Huge fields of them!

Oh yeah, and a boat ran into us. Yup, you read that right. A boat ran into us while we were parked at the RV park. Does this kind of thing happen to anyone else? No? Just us then? Oh well, never a dull moment…

That’s it for the Twin Falls area!!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Killing Time In Utah

Killing Time In Utah

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Hey Guys!! Well, the whole Rona thing totally threw a monkey wrench in our grand plans for this summer. Pretty much everything closed down…toilet paper became a hot commodity (go figure)…and it was a struggle to find an RV park that was not only open but also accepting new arrivals.

We threw out all of our previously made plans (the ones that took me months to nail down and reserve) and had to come up with a brand new plan and then hope that things started opening up. For someone who’s an OCD planner…this was a super stressful time.

Disclaimer: I realize that pretty much everyone in the world was going though stressful times at that point…and we’re so grateful that we really weren’t affected other than having to rearrange our plans and struggling to find supplies…but, since this blog is basically my journal…I’m going to focus on our experience. I can’t comment on what other people’s thoughts and feelings were as they were navigating “the new normal”. I can only tell you what our thoughts, feelings, and experience were. I am in no way trying to take away from other people’s hardships.

Now that I have the disclaimer out of the way…let’s move on.

We ended up spending a total of two months hanging out in Utah…killing time…watching the world struggle with the Corona Virus. We didn’t really do much during those two months so I’m going to cover our entire Utah visit in this one post. It won’t be super long…promise.

Our first stop was Fillmore, UT. Originally, we’d planned on visiting Great Basin NP from this stop. That didn’t happen. What did happen was the plumbing in our middle bathroom sink breaking on the way to the RV park and leaking all over the place. Sigh. We were able to find a hardware store that was actually open and had the right parts so Jerl could fix the plumbing. It’s always something, right? We also were able to visit with my (Jennie’s) aunt and uncle while we were there! We hadn’t seen them for a long time so we really loved being able to spend some time with them. **waves at aunt and uncle**

The RV park we stayed at was pretty with nicely manicured grassy areas, a pool and some walking trails close by. We were surprised that it filled in for the weekend since we were right in the middle of everything being shut down. I guess everyone was looking for a reason to get out of the house for a weekend.

We put off getting haircuts the entire two months we were in Arizona. The plan was to get fresh cuts right before we started our jaunt north. I don’t know if you know this…but, it’s hard to get a haircut when all of the salons are closed. Ha! We ended up doing some home haircuts. Well, three of us did. Two of us opted to wait until the professionals were back to work.

The RV park we stayed in was right across the road from this place called Iceberg.

Right. Across. The road.

We were only there for a week…any guess how many times we went to Icebergs? I’m not going to tell you the exact number of times we were at Icebergs, but it was way more than we needed to be. Stress eating at its finest. The struggle is real.

Our second stop in Utah was Brigham City. We stayed there for three weeks while we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. Our second weekend there was National Park Day. We’d planned on going to Golden Spike National Historic Park from this stop…so…we went. The visitor center wasn’t open. I’m still not sure if I’m going to count it since we didn’t get any of our usual souvenir stuff or Junior Ranger badges. We did a couple of hikes and then headed to the spot where the golden spike was driven in to connect the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads, completing the transcontinental railroad.

There were a few other families there. We all stayed away from each other while we pretended not to. It was nice to get out of our home-on-wheels and get some dirt under our hiking shoes…but honestly, it was kind of a bummer and a huge reminder of all the yuck that was currently happening in the world. Pass the hand sanitizer…I need to douse everything in it before even thinking about touching it. Someone in one of the other groups kept coughing…I kept moving us away from people…it was a mess. I was a stressed out basket case by the time we got home.

It was during our second week in Brigham City that we went to the grocery store and found these directional signs all over the place. No one was paying any attention to them. We were still trying to find toilet paper, hand sanitizer, tissues, paper towels and cleaning spray. And, meat products were being limited to two. Um, have you ever tried to feed three teenage boys? We were going to the grocery store almost daily just to get enough food.

On a positive note…everything was blooming and there were pretties everywhere! Oh, and…we found some amazingly good raspberry shakes. Who needs to be able to button up their jeans? I like to wear stretchy pants anyway. ;-P Ha!

We were in desperate need of an adventure, but the thought of getting out around a lot of other people wasn’t appealing. So, we headed out to do some scenic driving. We headed up to Bear Lake to see what we could see. On the way there we passed by the road to Tony Grove Lake and decided to go explore it. We got quite a ways up the road before we ran into the snow…and another car that was stuck. We watched then tried to help them. They eventually got out and headed back down the road. We eyed the snow and thought about trying it. We got to about the same spot the previous car had been stuck in and…got stuck. So, back down the road we went too…vowing to try again before we left Utah.

We made it to Bear Lake and was rewarded with some amazing blue water! There was an overlook that offered us a safe place to ogle the view. The restrooms were open and we found some brochures on the area’s attractions. Yes, I doused them all in sanitizer before I looked at them. I made a whole batch of hand sanitizer with 91% alcohol…we had plenty. Those virus germs didn’t stand a chance.

When we drove up to Bear Lake we passed through the town of Logan. We liked it so much that we decided to spend the next month there. It took a week of playing phone tag to snag a spot at pretty much the only decent RV park in the area. I was getting ready to go with plan B when we scored a spot! And Guys, we really love the Logan area.

We spent a month exploring the Logan area and getting to know the community as Utah started to open back up. We played quite a few board games in between working on some projects. Our dryer decided to die one day. Thankfully, Jerl was able to fix it. My aunt and uncle headed up our way the week before Memorial Day to place some flowers on family graves and they stopped by Logan for another visit! It was so good being able to visit with them! **waves again**

We also started the process of printing out our blog into book form. Our blog is really my (Jennie’s) digital journal. I’ve got five years worth of our nomad adventures journaled here on our blog. With everything that was happening in the world, I kept worrying that something would happen and my digital journal would disappear. I know…I’m a worrier. It’s genetic (gives side-eye to her mom). I found a company that will take a blog and print it out into books. I’m doing one book per calendar year and Guys…I’m totally loving them! Plus, it’s just one less thing for me to stress about. I’ll call that a win.

On our last weekend in Logan we drove back up Logan Canyon to Tony Grove lake again. We’d had some pretty warm days and hoped the snow was gone so we could see the lake. We ended up having to hike about a mile in the snow, but we made it to the mostly frozen Tony Grove Lake. We somehow timed it just right. We had the lake to ourselves until we were starting to leave. A couple of other groups showed up…some on snowshoes and some on snowmobiles. It felt so incredibly good to be back out in nature, stretching our legs and working our lungs! I think we were all in need of some fresh air therapy.

People have been visiting Tony Grove Lake since the 1800s. A Logan family (the Thatchers) would go to the lake for six weeks every year with some of their family and friends. The lake became known as Tony Grove Lake because the Thatcher family was known as the “tony’s” which is a Victorian era term for a socialite. Apparently, the Thatchers were the Kardashians of the 1800s. Back when they were having their annual six week camping trips, the area was known for bears and mountain lions. Today, you might see a moose but supposedly, there aren’t any bears or mountain lions left.

Shall we talk foodies?! As Utah started to open up even more…restaurants opened for dine in and we were able to grab a few meals out. Logan isn’t lacking for foodie spots. We found some new faves. One of the surprise spots was a Cajun place! Cajun in Utah? Um, yeah…we were pretty surprised too. But, Guys…it was really good. The owner is from Louisiana and he knows his foodies. If you’re ever in Logan go check out MayMoes Cajun Grill. If you’re looking for a good burger, head to Center Street Grill where you can get yourself a chaffle bun for your burger.

That’s if for our Utah adventures…this time. I have a feeling we’ll eventually be back in the Logan area. Utah ended up being just what we needed during a time of stress and worry.

We’re still on our National Park Tour…so stay tuned.

#nationalparktour
Page, AZ: Take Two

Page, AZ: Take Two

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Hey Guys! After two months of sitting still in Camp Verde, AZ…we’re on the move again! I have to admit, it feels very uncertain this time. We’re in the thick of the whole Corona Virus thing and at this point it’s making us second guess and doubt everything we’re doing/not doing.

We’d already called ahead to our next RV Park to make sure it was open and that we would be allowed in. We keep hearing about other fulltime RV families who are struggling to find a place that they can stay. State parks, federal campgrounds, BLM land, and county parks are all closing down and kicking people out. Private parks are starting to either close down or refuse any new arrivals. It’s a stressful time for everyone, but being a nomad has a bit of extra stress to it now. We don’t have a sticks-n-bricks home we can go to and hunker down in until this all blows over. So, for now, we’re moving forward and trying to make due…and not stress too much.

On our way to Page, we passed through the snowy town of Flagstaff and made our way back to the high desert region. It was neat to watch all of the geographical changes that came with that.

This wasn’t our first visit to Page. In fact, we’d been there just a few months before. There are so many things to see and do in Page…some great views and some awesome hikes. I had an entire list of things to see and do while we were back in Page, but due to the virus…pretty much everything was closed.

We usually move spots on Saturdays and then go adventuring on Sundays. Jerl went to the grocery store early Sunday morning to see what we were going to be dealing with on the food/necessities problem that the country had been dealing with. The little grocery store in Camp Verde had been struggling to keep up with it all. We wanted to assess the situation in our new spot to see if we needed to go back to Camp Verde and stay longer. Jerl was surprised to see that pretty much all of the isles were decently full…except the paper isles. He also had the chance to talk to a couple of policemen who were there to protect the delivery truck (I never thought I would be typing that kind of sentence…I mean…police protection for a regular ol’ delivery truck?) Anyway, Jerl asked the police officers if hiking was allowed in Page at that time and they both encouraged us to go have a great hike and get some fresh air…while staying away form anyone that looks sick.

With the police officer’s approval, we headed out to do a little social distancing on a hiking trail. I had a few things on my list that we could hit all in one day and luck would have it…they were all still open. The first spot we hit was the Navajo Bridge. Did you know that there are only seven land bridges across the Colorado River for around 800 miles? Before the Navajo Bridge was built, travelers had to go several hundred miles out of the way to get across the Arizona/Utah border. Can you imagine having to do that with a horse and buggy? That would add weeks to a trip.

Guys, look at the color of that water! We stood on that bridge way longer than we’d planned.

The original bridge opened in 1929 and was called the Grand Canyon Bridge, but in 1990…there was a need for a newer and wider bridge. So now, the old bridge (on the right) is open to pedestrian use only while the new bridge (on the left) is open for everything else. These two bridges are tied in ninth spot for highest bridges in the US.

I knew from my research that California Condors call the area around Page home, but we didn’t expect to actually see any. We found four of them hanging around the Navajo Bridge! Did you know that you can look up the California Condor numbers and find out where they were born and what their family lines are?!

Lonely Dell Ranch and Lees Ferry are both part of the Glenn Canyon National Recreation Area. We had planned on visiting the area the last time we were in Page, but simply ran out of time. I’m so glad we got to visit during our second visit to the area!

For a long time, the Colorado River was a major obstacle while traveling between Utah and Arizona. At one spot, where the Paria River runs into the Colorado River, there’s an area where the cliffs aren’t quite as impassible and the Colorado River isn’t rushing with rapids. It’s here, at this spot where the Utah Territorial Governor, Brigham Young, sent John Lee to set up and operate a ferry.

So, in 1872 John Lee loaded up two of his families and headed out to make a life as a ferryman. Some people say he was sent there to hide from the authorities due to his part in the Mountain Meadow massacre and the slaughter of over one hundred pioneers from Arkansas who were passing through the Utah territory in 1857.

Lee spent the first few years building homes for his family and a ferry to cross the river. Since the area was so remote, the family had to be completely self-reliant. They needed to grow their own food and set up irrigation for not only household use, but to water their crops. There’s still an orchard there that you can walk though and pick some ripe fruit as you’re exploring the ranch. In 1874, the law caught up with Lee and executed him. His wife, Emma, ran the ferry until 1879 when the LDS church bought it from her and sent a new family to run it.

If you go on past the ranch, you can see remnants of the people who once made Lonely Dell Ranch their home. Over the years, LDS members continued to run the ferry and the ranch was expanded to include different families and community members.

The trail goes for quite a ways…but, this wasn’t the trail we’d come for so we headed back after a mile and a half or so. I wish we’d had a few more days to explore here. We would have loved to continue on this trail. The area was gorgeous!

In the early 1900s the gold rush hit southern Utah/northern Arizona and miners ascended on Lees Ferry. One of them was Charles Spencer who led the American Pacer Company. Spencer was more of a salesman than a miner. He hauled tons of equipment up to Lees Ferry. Spencer left the area broke in 1912. He abandoned everything there when left. All that remains of his time there are a couple of stone buildings, part of a steamship and an old boiler.

Today, you can hike up the 4.4 mile Spencer Trail. The trail eventually leads to an old coal mine. This trail climbs over 1,500 feet in less than a mile. It’s steep!

The higher we went on the trail…the better the views got. This was a rough trial…three of us only made it half way up then called it quits. The other two almost made it to the top but the trail got too dicey for them so they turned back. In the group of pictures above, you can see a shot that was taken near the top. If you look closely, you can see the Lonely Dell Ranch.

The last ferry crossing was in 1928 and it ended up sinking…killing three people. Seven months later, the Navajo Bridge opened. Now, the Lees Ferry area is mile zero for launching boat trips down the Colorado into the Grand Canyon. In the summer the beach there is lined with rafting boats and adventurous boaters prepping for trips down the mighty Colorado.

Other than our excursion to Lees Ferry and the Lonely Dell Ranch…we hung out at home. Alex got the National Park version of Monopoly for his birthday and we’ve enjoyed adding it to our collection. When we had to get out to get groceries, we found signs to tell us where to stand for social distancing while standing in line. This time in our world is truly bizarre.

We still made our weekly lunch with one of the boys happen. We got take out then found a scenic view to enjoy some one-on-one time with Nicholas. He, of course, chose pizza. Actually, we found this pizza place the last time we were in Page. It’s a great little place called Stromboli’s…if you’re ever in the area, do yourself a favor and go grab some cheese sticks and pizza! They have the best cheese sticks at this place!!

We saw signs of Spring everywhere during our one week stay in Page. We will definitely spend more time in this area! We’ve spent three weeks there now and haven’t even scratched the surface on available activities!

That’s it for now, Guys!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Waiting For Spring

Waiting For Spring

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Hey Guys!! Our original plan was to hop our way up Arizona, hitting a few of our favorite state parks. Unfortunately, I waited a week or two too long to try to reserve them and we couldn’t get in without site hopping each day…and that’s such a pain. So, we headed up to one of our all time favorite areas of Arizona…Sedona…to park our home-on-wheels for two whole months as we waited for Spring.

We’ve been to Montezuma Castle National Monument before, but it’s been a few years so we decided to visit it again since we were right down the road from it. And as one of our Nation’s first National Parks…it’s worth revisiting.

President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act in Dec of 1906 and declared four sites of historical and cultural significance our first four National Monuments. Montezuma Castle was one of those first four.

The dwellings that Montezuma Castle National Monument protects and preserves aren’t really a castle. They’re more like…a prehistoric apartment building, built by the Sinagua people sometime between 1100 and 1425 AD.

Montezuma Castle sits in a recess in a limestone wall about 90 feet above the ground. When the Monument first opened, you could actually climb up a series of ladders into the Castle. Due to the damage visitors were causing, access to the Castle was discontinued. Now, you’ll have to check out the diorama they have set up to see what the inside of the Castle looks like.

Sometimes when you’re looking at ancient dwellings, it’s hard to see what it once was. I love that they put this sign (pic on the above right) up to make it easier to see what used to be there. The Sinagua people lived and farmed here over 600 years ago.

The Sinagua people built their homes near Beaver Creek which floods every year during monsoon season. They built their homes higher to not only protect themselves from other tribes, but also to protect their homes form the yearly flooding. The Castle housed around 40 or so people and consisted of 20 rooms. There’s another section of the wall that the Castle is built on that has evidence of an even larger dwelling.

We had so much fun revisiting this National Monument and seeing all of the improvements the park has made!

I stumbled on the Palatki Red Cliffs Heritage Site as I was looking for a specific trailhead in Sedona. When I did some research on it, I found that it’s run by the US Forest Service. Sedona is known for it’s gorgeous red rocks, and the area Palatki is in, is no different. We took just as many pictures of the surrounding area as we did of the ancient dwellings and rock art!

There are two ancient Sinagua dwellings at Palatki. The West Alcove has deteriorated to the point that it’s no longer safe to let people explore it. You do get up close to East Alcove, but you don’t get to go into it. East Alcove is a nine room dwelling that is tucked up under an alcove and faces south. If you think about where they built their homes…it’s really pretty smart. The overhang of the alcove provided protection from the rain (even during very hard rain) and having them face South would provide more sun exposure during the coldest part of the year.

One of the coolest things about visiting Palatki is that we got to hold some of the pottery that was found there. Another cool thing…and the first time we’d seen anything like it…are the two family shields or clan signs. They’re not sure if the two round shield like pictographs indicate a family or if they’re a clan sign. They do know that it tells who the dwellings belonged to. Scientist believe that two extended families called the two alcove dwellings home.

Snakes really aren’t my thing. Every time I see one of these warning signs, I get super paranoid about nope-ropes. I’m already hyper-aware of all of the places you usually find a danger-noodle… I spent most of the time at Palatki worrying about snakes. When we were there, it was almost Spring which is when most of the baby danger-noodles are born. Did you know that mother snakes are more aggressive and will chase you without being provoked? Totally not a fan of nope-ropes.

The other thing you’ll find at Palatki is The Grotto. Depending on when you go, you might see some water in the pool here, but what’s really neat about The Grotto is all of the rock art. There are pictographs from the Paleo Period (11,000 – 9,000 BC) and the Archaic Period (9,000 BC to AD 600). The walls are covered with pictographs! One of the Rangers took some of the materials that they believe was originally used to make the colors for the pictographs and made some new ones so we can see how bright the rock art was when it was new. You can see the new rock art in the top right picture of the above gallery.

The first homesteader in the area was Charles D. Willard. He took materials from the various ancient dwellings to build his own home. Charles arrived in 1923 and you can still see the one room structure he stayed in over by The Grotto, where he stayed until his house was completed in 1925. On the same field that the Sinagua people who used to live, Charles planted 500 fruit trees. He sold the property in 1938 and the Forest Service obtained the land in 1975 through a land exchange.

Palatki’s sister site is Honanki Cliffs Dwelling Heritage Site. We found out about it while we were at Palatki and headed over there right after we left Palatki. Honanki is one of the largest cliff dwellings and has the largest most diverse collection of pictographs in Verde Valley. The cliff dwellings found at Honanki were originally two stories tall and were made up of about 40 rooms on the ground floor. Sometime around 1300AD the residents of Honanki started to move on. The Sinagua left Verde Valley in the early 1400s. The Hopi and Zuni can both trace part of their heritage back to the Sinagua.

Sedona, Arizona is one of our favorite places to spend time. There are so many trails to hike in the Sedona area. I think you could do a different hike every week for a year and never have to do the same hike!

We had plans to do so many hikes in the two months we were going to be in the Sedona area. Due to the weather and other circumstances…we only got one of those hikes in. But, Guys…it was an awesome hike!

I found this place called the Birthing Cave on Instagram and really wanted to see it for myself. I did some research and found the trailhead in Sedona. I’d read that it was tricky to find. Quite a few people walk right by it because the trail isn’t marked that great. And…we did the same thing. We walked right by the side trail that takes you up to the Birthing Cave.

We found a different trail that turned off in the right direction at around the same distance as the trail was supposed to be… We ended up scrambling up the side of the mesa that the Birthing Cave is in. So…we were on top of it. The views were so good though, that we didn’t care. If we didn’t make it to the cave we were totally ok with it. We were having so much fun we felt like the day was a win no matter what.

We ended up meeting another hiker on top who told us how to get down to the Birthing Cave. Guys, it’s not really a cave. It’s more like an alcove that you can shimmy up the walls of. We got some neat pictures, but if I’m being honest…we had a better time and saw better views from being up on top of the mesa.

Alex celebrated his 17th birthday! Excuse the mess…we were in the middle of the Covid19 stock up thing. His birthday was a little different this year, but I think he had a good day!

Should we talk foodies? Now, keep in mind we were there for two months…so this was all spread out over the five or six weeks we were there before the Corona Virus thing really hit hard. After that, we continued to support the small local places by getting orders to go.

I also found some pretties! It was getting to be that time of the year again! There are so many colors in the desert. Those pops of color are just amazing!!

Around our sixth week in the Sedona area, the Corona Virus hit hard. Our life changed along with everyone else’s in the world. We stopped exploring so we could comply with the “social distancing” that was being requested by our government. The stores were running out of groceries and necessities. And every day we heard about more RV parks closing down. It was pretty stressful. We had to make a decision…do we keep with our reserved schedule or do we try to find a spot to hunker down and stay put until this all clears up?

We decided to keep with our schedule. As I’m writing this, we are planning our first move since the Covid 19 virus thing started. Our next spot is still in Arizona. We’ve been checking with the next place to make sure they’re still open and they have no plans to shut down…so, we’ll head that way. If you know me, you know I’m a planner. We do have a couple of backup plans. So, I guess we’ll see how it goes! If you follow us on Instagram you’ll get more timely updates…our blog posts are usually a month or more behind where we are for safety reasons.

Well Guys, that’s all for now! Even with the “social distancing” we had a great visit to the Sedona area!!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Old Missions and Ghost Towns

Old Missions and Ghost Towns

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Hey Guys!! This is the last post for our Benson, Arizona area adventures! We spent two weeks in the area and crammed a ton of explorations in and still didn’t get to everything on our list.

We’re always up for a ghost town! I found out about Fairbank from a brochure I found at one of the stores in Benson and it immediately went on our list. Fairbank is part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and is run by the BLM. It’s pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.

There’s a small visitor center/museum set up in the old schoolhouse. When a volunteer is available to man it, the schoolhouse is open. We lucked out and it was open the morning we went. It’s a neat little schoolhouse. There are all kinds of trinkets and memorabilia that’s been found in Fairbank on display.

It’s hard to believe Fairbank was once one of the largest cities in the West. Three different railroad lines passed through Fairbank plus it was the closest railroad stop to the still famous town of Tombstone. First settled in 1881, Fairbank grew to a booming population of 15,000 residents by 1882. When the Tombstone mines closed due to flooding in 1886, Fairbank started its decline.

Fairbank had full-time residents until the early 1970s. They kept a small general store going but eventually, everyone moved away and the BLM acquired the land in 1986. There has been some restoration of a few of the buildings. They’re hoping to eventually restore the general store and the saloon. We had a fun time walking around looking at the buildings…imagining what life would have been like there when it was booming.

Tumacácori National Historical Park consists of about 360 acres and is split into three separate units. Each unit protects the ruins of a Spanish mission community. Two of the units are in such disrepair that they’re closed to the public and only available for private tours through the winter. We only made it to the main park to see Mission San Jose Tumacácori.

The very first Mission San Jose Tumacácori was built in January 1691 by the Spanish Jesuit padre Eusebio Francisco Kino and was the very first Jesuit mission in Arizona. Due to a rebellion in 1751, the mission was moved and rebuilt.

Part of the granary, where they kept the food, still stands. They’ve put some big pots in it to give you an idea of what it would have looked like while it was being used. I thought it was smart that there was an indention in the shelf to keep each pot in place.

You can also find the ruins of a small cemetery and a mortuary chapel on the grounds. I found the mortuary chapel interesting…we’ve been to several missions before, but had never seen a mortuary chapel before.

Before the Spanish arrived, this land was home to the O’odham. The Spanish called the ones that lived near the river Pima and the ones that lived in the desert Papago. The O’odham were farmers and excellent basket weavers. You can see a reproduction of a traditional O’odham home (called a ki) on the park grounds as well. The O’odham were a peaceful people unless they had to defend their homes…they would spend the next one hundred years in an uneasy and often times violent relationship with those that called the mission home.

In 1768 the Jesuits were replaced by Franciscan Catholics due to a political change. The Franciscans started to redecorate the mission and build a much larger church in 1880. They worked on the new church for twenty years, but never completely finished. The new, bigger…more grand church was only used until 1828. At that time, the Mexican government forced all Spanish born settlers out of their territory…this included the mission’s last resident priest.

In 1848, following the Mexican-American war, the mission was completely closed and the last residents were forced to leave. The entire area became the property of America in 1853 during the Gadsden Purchase when land south of the Gila River was transferred to Arizona. The mission sat empty until 1908 when President Theodore Roosevelt declared it Tumacácori National Monument and the NPS started restorations and repairs.

The day we went there were some volunteer demonstrators on the grounds. The boys loved watching and helping the blacksmith. They helped make a coat hook…which we got to keep. It’ll hang in our home someday when we get a sticks-n-bricks. They also had someone making fresh flour tortillas and beans. You could get a sample of beans and salsa rolled in a fresh tortilla. It wasn’t the worst thing. I would have gladly paid for an entire plate of them. We always spend money in the visitor centers when we visit the parks. They need the funds and a portion of every dollar you spend at a park goes to that park.

We found a place called Wisdom’s Café just down the road to grab some grub. The food was excellent, but the service was incredibly slow. Unfortunately, it was just our waitress. We saw all of the other workers hustling. If you ever go to Wisdom’s Café make sure you get one of their famous fruit burros! You can get them with or without ice cream, but who are we kidding…I know y’all will get the ice cream!

On the way home, we noticed all of the street signs were in kilometers instead of miles. We were pretty close to the border…but we’ve been pretty close to the border quite a few times and had never noticed that before.

We saw some ah-mazing sunsets while we were in the Benson area! Just truly gorgeous! The southwest doesn’t play around when it comes to sunsets and sunrises.

That’s it Guys!! It took three posts to get through our Benson area adventures! I hope y’all are enjoying seeing some places you might not have known about and maybe you’ve learned a little something too. 🙂

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour
Land Of Standing Up Rocks

Land Of Standing Up Rocks

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Hey Guys!! We’re back in the Benson area for this post. We crammed so many adventures into our two weeks I might have to make this area a three post series. This is post number two of our Benson explorations…so lets get into it!

Chiricahau National Monument was established in April of 1924 and protects a small portion (around 12,000 acres) of the Chiricahau Mountains in southeast Arizona. I have to admit, I hadn’t done any research on this park before we went so I didn’t really know what to expect. On the way there we were out in the middle of nowhere with a pretty flat landscape and I kept thinking that this park might be a quick hour or two type of thing and then we’d head to a different park. So, when we rounded a corner and all of a sudden found ourselves in a forest…things got interesting.

The Chiricahua Apache call this place “The Land Of Standing Up Rocks” because of all of the hoodoos. But Guys, these aren’t your normal hoodoos. The hoodoos, pinnacles, columns, and balanced rocks you’ll find in this park are all made up of rhyolite, a grey rock made up of super heated ash that’s been melted together.

When you drive up into Chiricahua National Monument, you’re driving onto one of the many sky islands of southeastern Arizona. Sky Islands are actually mountain ranges that are isolated from each other due to valleys, deserts, or grasslands that act sort of like barriers. Because of these barriers, plants and animals can become isolated on these sky islands.

Sometime around twenty-seven million years ago the Turkey Creek Volcano erupted and spewed ash over 1,200 square miles. The super heated ash compressed together, cooled, and formed rock formations. The rock formations you see today were created from years and years of weathering and erosion. Scientist have estimated that the Turkey Creek eruption was 1,000 times bigger than the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980.

While we were driving to the end of the eight mile scenic drive, we realized this park would definitely take the whole day. We did a hike that took us down into the heart of a section of the standing up rock formations and somehow missed a turn and ended up hiking longer than we’d intended. It was a gorgeous day though so we weren’t too irritated by it.

After we finished our hike, we found a picnic table and had a late lunch. The entire time we ate, we had an audience of Mexican Jay birds. They showed up by the dozens and worked so hard at giving us a show so that we’d maybe feed them. We didn’t. We like to keep the wildlife wild. I wanted to feed them though. Man, did they work so hard for a little treat. I felt horrible walking off and not leaving them some food.

After lunch we headed to the Faraway Ranch which is also protected on the Chiricahua National Monument lands. In 1877, after the final surrender of the Apache leader Geronimo, a couple (Neil and Emma Erickson) set up a homestead on the land that would become Faraway Ranch. Eventually, the land around the homestead became the Chiricahua Forest Reserve and Neil became it’s first Ranger. He used his home at Faraway Ranch as the Forest Reserve’s headquarters for a time.

In 1917 the Erickson’s daughter, Lillian, decided to invite guests to stay at Faraway Ranch as a vacation to relax. While the guests were there, they could ride horses, explore the nearby rock formations, or even help out on the ranch with cattle chores. Riding horses through the canyons to see the rock formations was the most popular activity.

Today, you can take a tour of Faraway Ranch and learn of it’s history. One of my favorite things about the ranch is the unique fireplace. In 1885-1886 an encampment of Buffalo Soldiers was set up not far from the ranch to help protect the area. While there, the soldiers built a stone monument where many of them would carve their name. After the troops left, the monument started to disappear form weather and from settlers carrying the stones off to use. In the 1920s, Ed Riggs (Lillian’s husband), salvaged quite a few of the stones and made a fireplace with them in the ranch house to help preserve them.

In the visitor center, you can see how the Faraway Ranch changed and evolved over the years. When the Erickson family first settled there, it was a small rustic cabin with a stronghold in the back to protect from Apache attacks. Over time, as the role of the ranch changed so did it’s size and shape.

We really loved this park! It was totally unexpected and amazing. If you’re ever anywhere near Chiricahua National Monument…you need to go. It’s so worth the drive. Not far from it is Fort Bowie National Monument. We had planned to visit that one on the same day, but we spent so much time at Chiricahua that we ran out of daylight and had to pass on it. Unfortunately, we never made it back to the Fort. But, we will definitely go back to the area someday.

We’re on this whole National Park Tour…that includes Memorials, Monuments, Battlefields, Historical Sites….you get the point. So when I found Coronado National Monument I immediately added it to our list without much of a thought. It wasn’t until later that I realized the park hugs the border with Mexico and might be a bit dangerous to visit. We’ve been very close to the border on several occasions. We even crossed it once in Big Bend National Park to go to the small town Bouquillas to get some lunch and look around. Safety really depends on where along the border you are. This particular spot along the border is very close to a huge military station so we felt safe-ish. We saw so many border agents driving around…in fact, we saw several border agents every single time we’d leave the park we were staying in. But, we’ve heard all kinds of stories (first hand accounts) that kept us very on edge the whole time we were at Coronado National Memorial.

Coronado National Memorial was originally designated Coronado International Memorial when the United States came to an agreement with Mexico as a sign of goodwill and cooperation. Mexico never developed their side of the park though so in 1952 Congress changed the designation to Coronado National Memorial. In the above left picture, you can see the border between the US and Mexico. It looks like a long dark line.

We hiked the Coronado Peak Trail while we were there. It starts at Montezuma Pass and takes you up 300 feet to Coronado Peak. It was a quick easy hike that gave us some breathtaking views of Sonora, Mexico right across the border.

Coronado National Memorial commemorates the 1540 expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado as the first known Europeans to visit the United States. Coronado’s expedition consisted of around 300 Europeans, several Franciscan priests, well over 1,000 Aztec/Mexica allies and “scores of servants and enslaved peoples” along with as many as 6,000 head of livestock (cattle and sheep) and supplies. The main purpose of this Memorial is to interpret Coronado’s two year expedition to find the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola and explore unknown territories.

Coronado thought he was going to find cities laden with gold and priceless jewels. What he found when he finally reached his first Zuni Pueblo was a farming community. He eventually made it all the way up to what is known today as Salina, Kansas before he gave up and went back to Mexico. The tribe that was helping him thought he was looking for bison so they took him to Kansas where there were thousands of bison.

Coronado’s dreams of fame and fortune disappeared with his failure to fine the Seven Cities of Cibola. He died ten years after his return in relative obscurity. His expedition failed, but actually, his two year exploration was like a pebble in a pond setting ripples into motion. Not only did he change the Native Tribe’s religion by their interactions with the Franciscan priests, Coronado’s expedition opened the door for Spanish explorers and missionaries to start colonizing the Southwest.

The Spanish brought with them the technique of decorating tin with small holes that will allow light to shine through. Punched tin is still a common decoration of the American Southwest and is still being produced in both Mexico and the Southwest.

Well Guys, I think I’m going to pause here and finish up in the next post so stay tuned! I’ll leave you with a picture of Nicholas dressed up and being a bit silly at the Coronado National Monument Visitor Center.

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour