Trip Update Sept 2010 MN to MD Part 2

Pat with Paul Bunyan and Babe
Fall colors (in summer)
Canoeing the St Croix River
Waterfalls at Nerstrand Big Woods SP in MN

Sept 2010
We didn’t have reservations for Labor Day weekend, so we got to Itasca SP in MN a few days before the holiday weekend. We don’t like camping on long holiday weekends because the campgrounds are crowded and it seems to bring out the worst in people. The worst offenders are the adults and they teach their kids it’s OK to ignore camp rules and common courtesy. Yes, we were glad when they all went home. We spent several weeks in MN at various SPs or NFCGs in the vicinity of the upper Mississippi River basin. Usually when I think of the Mississippi River, I think of a muddy, barge filled industrial river. We actually found the Upper Mississippi to be more remote and scenic than its famous neighbor the Wild and Scenic St. Croix River. We did manage to get out and paddle on both rivers.
We had cool and wet weather in MN, and figured winter was starting early this year. We headed south into Iowa and found out that the heat was still around. We stopped in Humboldt, IA at the Born Free factory to get some work done on the RV. We keep hearing that it’s important to “stay connected” but when we pulled out of the campsite while our extension cord was connected to the power outlet, we pulled the electrical socket right out of the wall of the RV. They fixed this and several other problems and we were back on the road.
We had planned to visit Pat’s friend Margaret in Louisville, KY but, due to Margaret’s health problems, we were unable to see her on this trip. Hopefully next time she’ll be feeling better.
We stopped at our garage in Lewisburg, WV long enough to remove many boxes from our garage and leave it to the thrift store to find a home for our housewares and clothing. We are now back in MD.

Trip Update Aug 2010 BC, MT, WY, SD Part 1

View of Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton from Bear Hump trail
Susan, Julie, Tom and Mimi as a pioneer family
Muddy racer from Trans Rockies event
Pat, Tom, Julie and Don at Lost Lake

Fernie
Our last two weeks in Fernie were filled with hikes and trips with friends. Mimi led the group on a tour of Waterton NP. Mimi and Susan left after a week, but Julie and Tom stayed for another week. Pat, Tom and Julie climbed Castle Mountain and also reached the Microwave Towers on the ridge behind Fernie. The Trans Rockies mountain bike race started in Fernie and in the first race the riders also climbed Castle Mt on some very muddy trails.
Butte
I visited Butte, MT in 1972 on my first cross country trip. It was the nastiest city I had ever seen. I gave it the nickname “Armpit of the Country”. In thirty eight years of travel I never found another city (of course, I don’t go looking for ugly cities) to defeat the title holder. Recently, I started to hear good things about Butte. I didn’t believe what I heard so I wanted to check it out myself. We decided we would start with a city bus tour, but the tour bus was booked for a wedding party, so we took a walking tour. There was a nature trail right outside the Visitor Center, with a nice clean stream running alongside it. The water was actually clear! We headed into town and visited many of the historical buildings in the town. The city had come a long way in cleaning itself up. I guess I’ll have to replace Butte with Huntington, WV or Newark, NJ as the new “Armpit of the Country”. If you have other nominees, let me know.

Trip Update Aug 2010 BC, MT, WY, SD Part 2A

Hot Springs waterfall at Mammoth, YNP
Cowgirl leading trail riders
Red Fox
Springhorn Antelope

Trip Update Aug 2010 BC, MT, WY, SD Part 2

Pat at Yellowstone Canyon
A family of bison being herded by a park volunteer in a modern version of a white horse
Baby Bison
Timber Wolves

Yellowstone
This was our 4th trip to Yellowstone. Instead of driving all around the park and stopping at all the road-side points of interest, we decided to hike the backcountry instead. We were sure we would see more wildlife that way. After two days and 12 miles of hiking, we had not seen anything larger than a chipmunk. So we headed back to the RV. While contemplating our next move a Red Fox walked right in front of the RV. We headed back to Mammoth, only to find a herd of Elk right in the middle of town. Go figure! We did find Yellowstone overrun with Bison. There are 3900 there and most of them will be standing in the road. In a good year (mild winter, wet summer) their numbers will increase by 600.
On our last full day, we were getting desperate - we had not seen a bear, wolf, or mountain goat in the park. So after another hike, we drove to the NE entrance and spotted a mountain goat on a distant cliff. It was getting late so we headed back to camp. Just before we got there, we saw a crowd had gathered. One guy let us look in his spotting scope. There was a dead bison in the distance and five grizzlies were taking turns at downing bison steaks. There was even a wolf sneaking in to get some meat. Our week was complete!
Cody
If you leave Yellowstone from the east entrance, you will go through Cody. Be sure to stop at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. There were sizable exhibits on Yellowstone, Buffalo Bill, Plains Indians, Western Art and Firearms, plus a Sculpture Garden. We spent 2 half days there and still did not see it all. Of course the reintroduction of wolfs in Yellowstone continues to be a hot topic in this ranch community. I saw this bumper sticker in town - “Wolfs - Government Sponsored Terrorists”.

Trip Update Aug 2010 BC, MT, WY, SD Part 3

Devils Tower
Prarie Dogs
Fawn
Pat at Corn Palace

Devils Tower
We took a short detour to see Devils Tower on our way to SD. We camped next to “Prairie Dog Town”. We got run out of the park by the road pavers. Unemployment might be high in this country, but I doubt there are any unemployed road workers. Every park we went into had major road construction work in progress. I guess they finally got some money to start on their backlog of maintenance work.

Trip Update Aug 2010 BC, MT, WY, SD Part 4

Mount Rushmore
George Washington (60 tall foot head)
Abe Lincoln
Crazy Horse Monument (under construction)

Black Hills of South Dakota
Our Born Free RV group set up a rally in the Black Hills and since it was on our way back east, we joined them. First we stopped in Rapid City to collect our mail and renew our Driver’s Licenses. We had to produce considerable documentation to prove our identity. This was necessary to meet the new Homeland Security requirements. We did a bus tour with our group to Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, and the Crazy Horse Memorial. We also toured Wind Cave, the 5th longest cave in the world and it is known for its very rare box formations. In Rapid City, there is a sculpture of a president at every major intersection. They have a world class collection of gems and fossils at their Museum of Geology. We wanted to tour the Minuteman Missile site, but it was booked up. We headed to MN for Labor Day Weekend.