Trip Update June-Sept 2023 MD, MT, ID, OR and WA

Bitterroot-Mt State Flower

We arrived in Helena in late May, after driving up from Yellowstone NP. Two weeks later, we drove to Anaconda, MT and spent the day with Art, Susan and Windsor. Art led us on a hike overlooking the town. We also took a city tour in a vintage 1936 Yellowstone Park Tour Bus. The highlights included a visit to the 585’ Anaconda Stack, which was used with the copper smelters when “copper was king”. The stack is so big, the Washington Monument could fit entirely inside it. We also got an insider’s tour of the Washoe Theater, one of the most beautiful in the US.

1936 Yellowstone Tour Bus

Butte's colorful strip mine

The next day I had to fly back to Maryland for a minor medical procedure. Instead of flying right back, I spent a few days at the ocean, something I had been missing while we RVed full time. I also had lunch with Barb and Sharon before Sharon had to fly back to Albania. While I was in MD, Pat started hiking with the Helena Outdoor Club (HOC). When I returned, I joined her on some of the club’s hikes.

White Mariposa Lily

In mid-July we started a RV trip to ID, OR and WA. First stop was Montana’s Old Prison Museum in Deer Lake, MT. In addition, we checked out the classic cars in the Montana Auto Museum and the Frontier Montana Museum. Before entering Idaho, we hiked the trails at Big Hole National Battlefield. The Nez Perce had been chased across Idaho by the US Army with orders to put the Nez Perce in a reservation. Chief Joseph and others hoped to get the tribe to Canada. In the early morning hours, 150 years ago, the army launched a surprise attack, while most of the native Americas were still sleeping. Many Nez Perce were initially killed, but the Nez Perce launched a counter attack and pinned the solders down, until most of the tribe could safely leave the area. Chief Joseph was one of approximately 90 Nez Perce that died that day.

Montana Auto Museum

Instead of taking the interstate, we took a scenic drive through the mountains of Idaho. It was a beautiful drive with lots of wildlife. We saw big horn sheep, turkeys, sandhill cranes and a large herd of elk. It was also very hot, great if you were there to raft the rivers, like most of the tourists there. We did get to Eagle Island SP and enjoyed some lake swimming after a short and hot hike.

Stanley Lake, ID

When we got to Ontario, OR, I found out that my inside dual tire was flat. Luckily there was a Commercial Tire store around the corner. It turned out to be a loose valve stem extension connection. They fixed it-no charge! When we got to Redmond, OR we checked into Eagle Crest timeshare, which was a very nice resort. We hike at Smith Rock SP which is a very popular and beautiful park. Unfortunately, there was considerable smoke in the area, so we tried to limit our outside actives to a few hours per day. Bend, Oregon (just down the road from us) had the dubious distinction of having the worst air quality in the Western Hemisphere, during our visit. BC, WA and OR all contributed to the air pollution from forest fires. 

Falls on the McKenzie River, OR

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a Columbian Monkhood Flower

Smith Rock SP, OR

After a week in Redmond, we moved up to Whispering Pines timeshare in the Mt Hood area. The air quality improved and the hiking among the large trees was impressive. The only downside was the number of hikers on the popular trails, so we tried to pick less well-known ones. I was excited to go into Portland one day. We did hike in Washington Park which was large and beautiful, but the traffic getting there and back, hardly made it worth it. We had to stop at the North American Bigfoot Center in Boring, OR. We watched a couple videos of Bigfoot sightings, but nothing substitutes for a live sighting.

Mt Hood, OR

American Asters

Timberline Lodge, Mt Hood

Before heading home, we took a side trip to Renton, WA to see our friend Cornelia. We enjoyed a lunch out at a local golf course with a couple of her friend. We parked the RV next to her house and one day she said she smelled gas near the RV. We found a leak at the bottom of our gas tank. This was the same gas tank that had been ripped open when we had that big accident 18 months ago. The tank had been repaired, and now the repair failed. After numerous attempts to stop the leak, Cornelia found a YouTube video that demonstrated that soap rubbed into the crack would stop the leak! Pat succeeded in getting the soap into the crack and stopping the leak. We still had a 9-hour drive to get back to Helena and many miles through hot eastern Washington. We did not know how well the soap would hold up with heat from the road and the RV, so an epoxy was applied over the soap. This held up for a few days, but we noticed it leaking by the time we got to Missoula. When we got back to Helena, the soap was applied again and held. A new gas tank was installed a few weeks later. Our trip back from Washington included a stop at the Historic Savenac Tree Nursey to see our friend, Robert, whom we volunteered with at Savenac back in 2013.

That's a big tree

Montana Sunset