June-July 2023
Do Not Pass Snowplows on the Right
Enjoying mountain roads in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming
We spent the months of March and April wandering the states of California and Oregon, and never once passed a sign warning us about snowplows.
Now, all of a sudden, starting with following along and then staying beside the Columbia River in northern Oregon, we began seeing the evidence that snow does fall in these here hills. Sometimes lots of it. And we were getting ready to head to a higher elevation — into the Wallowa-Whitman Forests of eastern Oregon. We’d been looking forward to it, and were glad it was coming up.
Well… hmmm… not this year after all.
Rick was suddenly having real problems with his computer. He was able to get plenty of excellent help on line, but the guys were unable to solve the problem. They needed the computer in hand. And the nearest Apple Store was in Boise, Idaho. Not, of course, in the Wallowa Mountains. So, we headed south by a more direct route than planned. At the moment of our decision we were in Pendleton, that fun cowboy town with great Stampedes and splendid steaks to eat, but little else. But Boise was due south, and just a day’s drive away.
The road trip to the Apple hospital was lovely, a bonus we’d not expected. Getting there, on I-84, we went over mountains and down onto plains and then back up again. The roads were good, the traffic light, the grasses green, and the wildflowers plentiful. A lovely day. We wanted to stop at the Baker City pioneer museum along the way, but it was closed for renovation. If you’ve never been there, we had enjoyed it immensely on an earlier visit; we’ll come back again.
Another unanticipated pleasure on this drive south? We got to pass just on the outside of the eastern side of the Wallowa-Whitmans, so we didn’t miss them entirely. And the road was tracing the route of the Oregon Trail, in reverse. Approaching Boise we briefly paralleled the Snake River, and then crossed into Idaho.
So it was a special day, after all. We now have decided that I-84 in eastern Oregon is one of the nicest pieces of interstate we’ve driven, particularly in the Spring. Oh, and on it we crossed the 45th Parallel. Too cool.
Very briefly, we spent a few days in the Boise area, and finally left with a rejuvenated computer. For the techies among you, the problem was simply that the newest Apple OS was not compatible with the software we use to maintain our two websites. Correcting the issue involved removing the newly installed OS update, along with all data on the computer of course, and then reinstalling the previous OS and data from our weekly backup disc. No more casual OS upgrades for Rick, that’s for sure.
We picked up the restored computer on Monday morning and had a couple of days to spare before a lunch time meet up with some traveling friends back in Boise on Wednesday. So, what to do but take off for a couple of days, up Highway 55, to a sweet spot along Cascade Lake. We stayed in a secluded little National Forest campground near the edge of the lake. It was so lovely — in dense woods, with flowers all around, ferns along the walkways, and squirrels all over the place. Driving in, we had seen eagles lurking near the water, checking out the fish. It was mid-June and a lovely time to be in Idaho.
Afterwards, we dropped back down to Boise to meet up with our friends and had a great visit. And we actually enjoyed our time in Boise, it’s a nice city. We honed our talents at taking a large object into very small parking lots, enjoyed some terrific weather, spent the night and then moved on. All was well.
Amazingly, all of this rushing back and forth had fit into our schedule without too much upset. Sadly we’d missed our intended wander in eastern Oregon, but we’d enjoyed a bit more of Idaho in exchange so not a great loss. Next on the agenda were some plans to spend several days with friends near Stanley, Idaho, so off we went in that direction; heading for the hills again. This time we took Highway 21 out of town, heading up towards Lowman. Another beautiful drive. From there we started east and higher into the mountains. We stayed at a very nice camping area along the road, parked along the Payette River. The river at this point was very popular with the paddling crowd and there were lots of folks enjoying the water. The next day we headed up towards Banner Summit (7020 feet); we were in the Sawtooth Mountains now, traveling on the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. The lookouts were great and the views enchanting.
Eventually we reached the town of Stanley, a great resort area in the mountains, along with nearby Ketchum, both made famous by Ernest Hemingway and Friends. It’s a great little town, with super skiing we’ve been told. But we didn’t stay long, as we were getting close to the campsite where we would be meeting our friends, and planning to hang out there for several days.
Soon we did get together, and had a lovely time of it. We were out on a huge meadow south of Redfish Lake, with a lovely stream running through our back yard. Our friends have dogs, wonderful critters; they were fun to play with, and would take us on nice walks while they explored and chased their tails and each other. We stayed four days, and could have stayed on and on. It was swell… and the wildflowers were just great. We’d been seeing plenty everywhere, but these were at 6900 feet, and quite “alpine.” There were coyotes howling at night, pronghorn antelope and sandhill cranes, and sawtooth mountains all round, all still with plenty of snow on their peaks.
Finally we had to go. So we drove over the Galena Pass (8990 feet), then dropped down through Ketchum, then out of the forest onto the flatlands of prairie and lava known as southern Idaho. We were heading towards the Ogden, Utah area to visit with more friends and to get some projects accomplished.
Projects, you say? Ah, yes. Rick had come up with a plan while still back in Alabama over the winter that basically allowed him to build a couple of functional bits of furniture for Slim’s living area — a bookcase on one wall and and shelf and backrest for the sofa — and then finish them up later with help from a friend with a nice woodworking shop equipped with things like table saws and routers. And Lo and Behold, the plan worked great. Rick and good friend Gary cut and shaped the various bits of wood and then sanded, stained and finished everything off in very acceptable fashion. It took about a week and we enjoyed the lovely hospitality of our friends between the periods of work.
Jobs done, we moved on. We finally were free of any further scheduled activities and were heading for Wyoming, by way of northern Utah, and that was another lovely drive. We left Ogden going north, making a short detour en route to see pretty little Tony Grove Lake, up at 8,000 feet. We’d never driven this portion of road before (Highway 89) and it’s a good one. You go over several passes, drift along Bear Lake, tuck into a corner of Idaho for a few minutes, and then enter Wyoming. Along the way you drive through the old town of Paris, Idaho, with its very elegant, ancient Mormon church. Quite an edifice.
We had a quiet night among the aspens in Bridger National Forest, followed the next day by bright sunshine as we drove
over the Salt River summit at 7640 feet. The ubiquitous yellow flowers in the fields kept us company, as they have continued to do so far all summer. Through Smoot and Afton, with the Tetons appearing up ahead. We joined the Snake River on into Jackson, with lots of folks rafting on the river. We spent a little time in town, then drove along the Teton range, moving further north.
We saw a few buffalo out in a field, with a fence between them and all the people trying to take their photo. We mostly saw huge electric signs on the road telling folks to keep a fair distance from the wildlife and to please behave and leave the bear, bison, and elk alone. Hope it works.
Turning east on US 26 out of Moran Junction, we crossed the Continental Divide at 9658 feet and then headed down along the Wind River through Dubois and Riverton, then north through Thermopolis to Worland and east again to Ten Sleep (yes, of course we stopped for huckleberry ice cream at Dirty Sally’s), and finally arrived at our destination on a bluff overlooking Buffalo, Wyoming.
We stopped there for almost a week, at our favorite spot in the Big Horns, overlooking the mountains to the west, sitting in a field filled with blue lupine interspersed with yellow and white daisies and several unknowns. Delightful. Lots of rain, mostly at night but for one full dark, wet day. Some of the rain was very cold and full of hail, but mostly it was beautiful; it was great to stop for a few days and regroup.
This spot is so perfect for us that Rick was moved to say that it almost doesn’t seem fair that we are allowed to wander through and enjoy such perfection whenever we want. It reminded him of the opening he wrote to a message we sent a few years ago (2019) from Namibia:
“From time to time, not as often as we might like, but sometimes, the stars align and we find ourselves settled
in a spot that can only be described as… perfect. That is where we find ourselves this morning.
The sky is clear and blue with a cooling breeze nearly constant…”
Now, we are the first to admit that Wyoming is not Namibia, and the absence of the Hippos, Wildebeest, Elephants, Baboons and Monkeys we go on to describe in that perfect spot are indeed a significant loss, but still this spot in the Big Horn Mountains is still pretty terrific. What a great life we are priveleged to lead.
As you can see, we’re moving east, with a northern hitch to it. We’re headed for Canada, but still developing our goals and destinations. We thought perhaps to head for Billings, Montana and then north from there. But then we decided to go east to Gillette, Wyoming and get a couple of service things handled there. You see, we have a nice Freightliner/Cummins dealer in Gillette whom we have used before; he lets us stay in the field behind the shops — and there are pronghorn in the area.
Fewer pronghorn this visit, but a couple, and we had a nice spot. We like Gillette, for whatever reason. Coach work taken care of, we said what the hell, we’ll drive to South Dakota, pick up a couple of things in Rapid City, and then head due north from there.
So we did, ending up spending a night in a city park area in Belle Fourche, and then started to wend our way up to Saskatchewan. Well, we did take one more little diversion road — why stay in the Dakotas when you can squiggle yourself a little to the west and cross back into a tiny corner of NE Wyoming on Highway 212, then after about 7 minutes in that state, squiggle north on Highway 7 through a tiny edge of Montana, following the Little Missouri River for part of the time, finally reaching the great town of Wibaux, where you briefly touch base with the charms of I-94, and head east for 8 miles and you’re back into the Dakotas, now in the western edge of North Dakota. You got all that? It was a lovely four state drive, somewhat bumpy at times, but well worth it. The grasslands are lush, we saw lots of pronghorn (along with cows and sheep and horses), and plenty of rolled up hay waiting for fall. Somewhere along the way I think we may have crossed into the Central Time Zone, but Rick says not quite yet.
Shortly, we’ll continue through this edge of North Dakota, drive along the Teddy Roosevelt NP, cross the Missouri River, and then into Canada. We are planning to see something of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, then move on into Ontario. We have a date to go to a music festival in Red Rock, on the north shore of Lake Superior, in August. After that, haven’t a clue, but beginning to move south will certainly be a part of the agenda! We’ll let you know next time.
The weather is lovely; warm in the day and cool at night. We seem to be between smoke/fire/heat issues and hope it stays that way. We’ll write again soon to tell you about Canada. Try to stay cool and out of the worst of things.
Much love… Rick, Kathy and Slim Charles, lookin’ better all the time.
For more pictures of wildflowers and pretty roads,
go to our photo page for this message.