Summer Road Trip!

How was my trip? It was, in one word, phenomenal. In many words and pictures, see below. I'm separating by day(s) as someone asked for itinerary. Cancer status updates at a later date...this post is trip time only.

Walking with Emma & the pups.

I started on June 15th and drove up to Sutton's Bay to visit with my friends Emma and John. I was there for two days visiting and chatting, eating and drinking like the locals, watching a bad horror film, walking the pups, sitting by the water, and shopping mostly for the stickers that I picked up throughout my trip.

Lake Superior in the UP.

On June 17th I headed over the Mackinaw Bridge (holy crap that thing is big- Emma and Shell you would not like it) and across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The nature up there is stunning, and the state routes are overall peaceful with amazing rest stops. Need a picnic table, a toilet, running water, and a view and/or a short hike? Michigan has you covered. I made several stops, which became my MO as I was drinking lots of water, a good and necessary habit these days. I also drove short distances everyday, mostly around 5-6 hours (I just realized I did the distance as hours thing). My days of driving 15 hours in a day are done, and even the longer days were significantly more exhausting than in the past. Things change, but I was grateful to have the time for travel in a way that worked for me at this time (meaning with MBC and on drugs lol).

Lake Superior from the campground.

I stayed at Presque Isle campground on the west side of the UP the night of the 17th. Coleman Fast Pitch tents really do take 60 seconds to put up alone. Crazy awesome. This campground is on Lake Superior, though on a bluff. That afternoon and evening I wandered around the site- down to the lake for some lake and sky gazing and then along a trail to river and falls. I realized on this trip just how drawn to water I am. Being human and having a powerful need for it is part, but also there is something about it spiritually/psychologically. Then a decent night's sleep and on the road early. I never really cooked in camp, but snacked and left early to pick up gas and coffee. Mornings are my time to drive.

River running into Lak Superior at the park.

 

June 18th was on the road to Fargo through Wisconsin and Minnesota. From Suttons Bay to just east of Fargo, ND it was trees, trees, more trees, lake, wetlands, deer, eagles, and few people. Love. 

Fargo was Fargo? I was pretty exhausted and it stormed, so found some dinner and crashed. 

 

 

 

Feral horses, TRNP.

The next morning (June 19th) I crossed most of South Dakota to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, camping right next door in Medora. This was my first national park of the trip and it was a doozy. There were great plains, bluffs, the Missouri River and megafauna! I was excited to see my first two buffalo, but they were just the first of many. It was amazing to see them in large herds, though not as large as in Yellowstone (worked my way up to that). And the babies! Baby buffalo cavorting and feeding and lying in the grass. Spring is for babies indeed. I also saw a small herd of feral horses- once on a bluff and once headed right for me on the road. This was mostly a driving park. I did a few short hikes, but when I tried for a longer one I was eaten by giant flies even with bug spray. 

 

Great view of the Missouri River from a bluff.

Baby!

Behind the campground.

That night it stormed and the tent held pretty well? Supposedly it is water tight without a cover, but even though I waterproofed it with spray before I left, there was some leaking. It's hard to get the top really tight the way it’s set up and water pools there. However, I only had a little leakage and it held up to the wind. Out early again and on the road to...

Havre, Montana (June 20). A nice drive and then more rain. I spent a couple hours killing time before I could check in- eating at a food truck and checking out the local brewery, Triple Dog Brewing. People were super nice (even the retirement party gave me chocolate, which later melted in my bag) and the beer was great. Bought a sticker...and then after a good night's sleep and half a waffle headed to Glacier. 

Along Route 2 south of Glacier.

I saw the mountain range that makes up Glacier National Park 100 miles before I reached it. 100 miles. It was cool to watch the range reappear over a bluff bigger and closer each time, while listening to the Headwaters podcast that weaves together the cultural, geological, biological and historical aspects of the park (very much recommend this podcast!). I hit East Glacier then took two around as Logan's pass on the Going to the Sun Road was closed. The glacial rivers are gorgeous and the route is easy. I passed cyclers for the first, but not last time in and around these parks and was amazed at their strength and determination taking on those routes, many clearly going long distance with their panniers and packs attached.

The next part was my first time seeing people I knew and loved in days! I picked up Shell and Jen at Glacier Airport in Kalispell, MT. We all know the excitement of seeing friends we haven't since before the pandemic, and it's been a long time since I'd seen Jen in person -it was wonderful. We stayed in a house in Hungry Horse, MT, about 10 min from the West Glacier entrance of the park. Amazingly we fit three people, all my gear, all their luggage and a grocery trip in the tiny Prius c.   The first night was spent catching up, and the first full day we headed into Glacier after much organizing and packing and one trip back to the house we did a hike up Mt. Apgar. The view was amazing, and I'm glad we went early as it heated up fast. We spent the afternoon and evening chilling, which became our MO. Next day was supposed to be a shorter hike that turned out longer, but worth the views- Avalanche Lake and a glacial waterfall up close. Next day was rain and tired! So we drove up the west side of Lake McDonald and viewed meadows and even did a little dirt-roading to Polebridge, MT. We'd heard from a couple we met while at a pull off admiring the view that the mercantile there had amazing huckleberry bearclaws. Truth. I do love huckleberries. There was also a short nature trail where we could see the Canadian Rockies, and we learned we were closer to grizzlies than a Starbucks lol. More good food at a local sandwich place, picking up souvenirs (stickers and shirts), and then, sadly it came to an end, as all good things must. Ask Shell for a list of things we said/did/complained about that they would have given their kids a hard time for. We were a group of overly prepared kids lol. I dropped Shell and Jen off at the airport and headed south to the West Yellowstone Airport to pick up Will. 

Lake McDonald, Glacier.

Avalanche Lake, Glacier

Let me just say that almost every mile from Glacier south to Alpine, WY was gorgeous. It's national parks and forests almost the entire way, and I think I could spend forever exploring it and just chilling. On the way south I heard a moose when I stopped at a pull off and saw a small wildfire in the national forest just south of Glacier.

Next leg- Yellowstone! At first we were set to camp in a KOA west of the west entrance, but there were openings at some of the lodges last minute, and I'm so glad we stayed in the park, especially in the old rooms of the Old Faithful Inn. We arrived late in the day to a bison guarding the steps of the old inn, and skirting the ginormous animal we dropped our luggage, grabbed a sandwich and drinks and watched old faithful’s geyser for the first time from the mezzanine. The next morning we were up early and saw old faithful again and some of the other geothermal features through the early morning sun and fog caused by the heat. It was gorgeous and other worldly. 

Gorgeous colors.

So. Many. Hotsprings.

That blue though.

Biofilms! Love the signage.

This one started bubbling while we were standing there.

Microbes!

More microbes! This time with scenery.

Early morning hotsprings near Old Faithful.

Old Faithful with the Inn in the background.

Our room at the Old Faithful Inn.

Grand Prismatic

We then packed up, moved on, and hiked up to see the grand prismatic hot spring. The colors! The microbes! I was so excited to see some thermophiles and hyperthermophiles. Got my fill, even if it was only macroscopically. Wow.

At that point, around 9 am, the parking lots were packed at the geothermal features, so we kept driving. We saw a bear and her cub from afar (yay binoculars) then hit the Lamar Valley- huge landscape, huge herds of buffalo! We were going to head back when someone in line for the pit toilet mentioned the wolves. In The Wild. I had hoped to see one but had no expectation. We hopped back in the car, and Will patiently stopped at every turn off in the general vicinity until when I asked I was pointed to a small group of buffalo standing around what was apparently one of their own killed the night before. Two wolves were guarding the kill, and we had a nice view of the black one across the valley alternately lying down and trotting toward the tree line. Again, score one for binoculars, because without them it would have been a tiny dot across the valley. There was another wolf closer to the kill, but it was hidden mostly in the shrubs behind the group of bison. I asked if thus was typical behavior and someone said (not a ranger) that single bison will sometimes guard kills but he’d not seen or heard of a group. There must have been 10-15 with calves surrounding it, though from those who had been there earlier we understood that the carcass had mostly been consumed. The crows were also trying to get their fill, and being chased off alternately by the bison and the wolf closest to the kill. Eventually we also saw a (black?) bear amble down from the tree line for a bit. It was a rare chance to see that kind of behavior play out in the wild. A story, and not just a random siting. So grateful. 

The next day we had the perfect Yellowstone hike thanks to Will’s choice of loop. We were at the grand canyon of the Yellowstone and hiked to a busy section of the south canyon trail, saw waterfalls and people, then cut across to a trail that led to Clear Lake. It was, as advertised clear, and a gorgeous hike up through grass and trees to forest. However, it got even better as we hiked past to a delineation like I’ve never seen- the ground went from brown and treed to white and other worldly- enter more geothermal features! This time it was bubbling mud pots and a steaming fumarole or two that smelled so sulfurous our stomachs turned. Amazing. There was no vegetation, and the ground was a very light tan, almost white. The rocks were covered in black lichen (I think lichen)…another thing I need to look up! Then it was back up and through grassland, where we passed within about 100 yards of a couple buffalo just lying down, chewing their cud, and being buffalo. We gave them plenty of space, and it was so cool to just be in the same place, on a grassland that was wild, with hills and forest in the background, and a beautiful sky. Damn. A 3.5 mile hike that contained much of the beauty of the park! Sadly, I can't find any of the pictures of this hike in my phone (weird).

Finally, the last leg of the trip where we were to spend a week with friends south of Jackson in Alpine, WY. The drive down was again beautiful, but add awe inspiring as we drove by and of course stopped to take pictures of the Grand Tetons. Truth in advertising as they rise up, craggy and glacier covered (for now) from the plain and very limited foothills. My friend had suggested this trip pre-covid and it was booked just as the US was shutting down. We weren’t even sure it would go off, but thanks to vaccinations and masking etc. before that, it did.
 

Monday we went rafting on the Snake River and saw at least 10 bald eagles, including two babies in a nest, and a fledgling on the ground trying to fly. One of those regal birds did a fly by right over our heads as one of the kids was in the water (on purpose). We joked he was the alternately going to grab her for a snack or save her. We also saw pelicans! I saw my first in North Dakota and was so surprised I texted my ornithologist friend. Apparently the American pelican migrates from coast of Louisiana in spring/summer to nest etc. They. Are huge. It was a calm rafting trip, very little whitewater (just enough to excite the kids and get us a little wet), and no regrets. We saw upwards of a dozen bald eagles, including three eaglets, one learning to fly on the ground. One of the kiddos and an adult also got a (planned) swim in the unseasonably warm water. It was fun to experience it with all ages. 

 

Thanks to Leslie for these pictures from the raft trip!

 

The next day we rested mostly- a short hike behind the house and a trip to Jackson. Will got his cowboy hat, and I picked a replacement straw hat for the one that died after 10 plus years of heavy wear. Finally we had amazing food and beer at the Melvin Brewery/Thai place.

Beer & Thai (thanks for the great pic Leslie!)

Wednesday morning we went horseback riding south of Jackson. It was a gorgeous morning, and I had a blast. Leslie horse though decided to munch on grass and took a half fall on the way down- full points for recovering for both Little Cherokee and Leslie. We saw deer and cool rock formations. A-Ok Corral if you’re looking for a nice ride.

We hiked around the Tetons on Thursday, and it was one of my favorite parts. Those mountains are amazing and there are plenty of places to hike. We didn’t see any wildlife, but the views were amazing- lakes, brush, mountains, etc.

Finally, there was another lunch, Snake Brewery this time, and then dinner with the group back at the house. There were over 20 of us, so no small undertaking, but also not too tough as we’re all laid back. Just hanging out with everyone and seeing the kids running around was great. A trip with that many people has some challenges, but it was still amazing.

Then Saturday through Monday back! We did some long days, and Will drove all of it. I napped a lot as we listened to some old sci fi book and watched the landscape shift from mountains to plains to fields and then back to the eastern forests. Also, Nebraska gets a bad rap; it’s pretty and not entirely flat! We still need to catch the last couple hours of the 22 of that audio book.

And that, as they say, is that. And memories to last. Recommend, 5 stars. 

Road trip route (few changes in MT and MI)...over 5000 miles.