Hiking in the Tetons

After rafting in the morning, we set out to explore 2 miles of the Lakeshore trail. This trail actually connects to a small island via a dyke. The views of Jackson Lake and the Teton range were spectacular. We also saw lots of birds and wildflowers. Just as we were returning to the picnic area and the trail head, we finally saw one! The elusive moose! A solo female was crunching away in the trees near the shoreline. She eyed us, and we eyed her, and she mostly just kept crunching away. We were thrilled!

The next day it rained all morning, and we suspected hiking was going to be out of the question. We headed down to Jenny Lake just after lunch anyway, and sure enough it did clear up. While Mikaela and Madeline went on a ranger led (parent free) Jr Ranger hike, DH and the twins and I took the boat across the lake to the Hidden Falls trail head. We hiked a mile up and back on the moderate trail, right in the shadow of Grand Teton to the fantastic waterfall. Then we headed back across the Lake on the boat to meet up with Mikaela and Madeline again to hike another 2.6 miles around Moose Ponds. e didn't see moose there, but much to Mikaela's delight, we saw LOTS of snakes, and saw evidence of both moose and bears. Hiking in the shadow of Grand Teton Peak was very picturesque, and this was my favorite hike so far.

As we approached the trailhead, the clouds became dark and ominous, and a strong cold wind began to blow. Just as our feet found the parking lot, it began to hail! We ran for the car, and headed down to Moose, WY for dinner.

The next morning, we packed up to leave, and although we had hoped to sunrise photos of the mountains, the entire Jackson Hole Valley was socked in with fog. Oh Well! On to Salt Lake City, and then Zion!

Rafting the Snake River

We got up bright and early and met our guide at 8am at the Teton Lodge for some rafting. We loaded up in vans and drove to the launch site about 10 minutes away. After the life jacket training, we donned said vest, and jumped in the raft (some of us more exuberantly than others- see photo of Kristian falling into the raft).

We were taking a scenic raft trip- so no whitewater for us. The raft traveled quite quickly though, and we learned that the Snake river is faster than the mighty Colorado. We saw lots of water fowl, plus bank swallows and a bald eagle. We desperately searched for moose, but saw none. Kristian spotted what he thought was a bear in the woods, but it turned out to be a large male bison, that jumped in the river just ahead of us. He got halfway across, and then changed his mind and turned and headed back for the bank. After several attempts he hefted himself back on the bank and we floated by. We also saw lots of pronghorn on the banks, all the while listening to history of the river from our guide.

The views of the mountain range were incredible, and a great time was had by all!

Leaving Yellowstone for the Grand Tetons

We left our campground bright and early to get a head start on the road to the Tetons. Unfortunately, a herd a Bison was entirely unconcerned about our schedule, and picked this time to stand in the road and impede traffic. Good Times.

The drive to the Tetons was beautiful. After leaving Yellowstone's South Entrance, we spotted a Grizzly bear across the river in the meadow. There were also many hilarious signs about watching for wildlife in the road, including one funny poem that went something like: "We saw wildlife, from afar, until we hit them, with our car." Unlike the Roosevelt Arch, we did at least take a photo at the Yellowstone sign upon leaving the park.

At our first glimpse of the Teton Range, we were awestruck. Grand Teton Peak is not quite as tall as Mt Rainier, but its very dramatic none the less. We were glad to find space at Colter Bay Campground, and got busy at the visitor center planning our stay. After taking a look at the camp store prices, we drove down to Jackson to get supplies, and also saw the first of many Pronghorn Antelope along with Elk and Bison, which we were now bored with. We looked carefully for moose, but didn't spot any. Tomorrow, rafting on the Snake River!

Old Faithful and Grand Geyser

On Monday, we took deep breaths, and braved the crowds at Old Faithful. It goes off ever 90 minutes or so, and we dutifully took our seats and waited with the crowd. It was great to see it, but we were ready to move on. We walked the geyser basin and got to see many of the famous hydrothermal features, as well as seeing the Riverside geyser go off. We had been told that the Grand Geyser was worth the wait, but it had a 4 hour window. After having passed it once, and realizing it had 2 hours to go, we decided to stick around and see if we could catch it. Some kids didn't make it (it was windy and COLD!), and DH took them back to the Lodge, but Mikaela, Abby and I stuck it out. In the meantime, an entire herd of Bison moved across the geyser area making people give up their seats to let them cross the boardwalk. Sure enough at the very end of its window, the Grand Geyser burst upwards in a spectacular show. As we left the Old Faithful area after dinner at the Lodge, we also saw the Castle Geyser do it's thing. The girls now know all about the four different kind of Hydrothermal features in Yellowstone, and what causes them.

PS There are a couple pictures with various people holding their noses: Most hydrothermal features are full of sulphur, which smells like rotten eggs. YUM.

Biking to our first Geyser & the Canyon

On Sunday, we put six bikes in the car somehow, and took them to the Lone Star Geyser. After taking pictures of the waterfall near the trail head, we rode off for the 2.4 mile ride to the geyser. The ride, along an abandoned freight road was gorgeous. Once at the geyser, we found folks who had been waiting 3 hours for it to go off, which it did within 15 minutes of our arrival. The 10 or so people who were there were much preferred over the hundreds we knew we would find at Old Faithful. The geyser was really cool, and we were glad for the 5 mile bike ride to work out the kinks from the 9 mile hike the day before.

We also stopped at a few more hydrothermal features on the way home, were we found more Bison in on and around the trails. We also went by Yellowstone Lake, and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, with the spectacular Lower Falls. Tomorrow, Old Faithful!

Yellowstone

We made it to Missoula after a very long day driving from Washington. The next day we decided that since we were staying near the West Entrance of Yellowstone, that we would enter through the North Entrance, through the Roosevelt Arch, since we likely wouldn't be up that way again. The drive was gorgeous and we were so excited to enter the park, I didn't take a single picture of the Arch, the sign, nothing.

Sadly, there's one more reason we don't have pictures of the first few days... a terrible digital accident resulted in the loss of the pictures from the first 3 days (NEVER let my twins play with your camera. EVER.). So, you'll just have to imagine what the following looked like:

Within minutes of entering the park we saw a grizzly bear cross the road. He was the first of 4 wild grizzlies we saw (I do have photos of the last, for an upcoming post.). We also saw Bison, Elk, Coyotes, a fox, Bald Eagles and Osprey over the first few days. We got settled at Madison Campground, and attended a Ranger talk. The next day, we needed supplies, so we headed over to West Yellowstone (outside the park). After spending way woo much time and money in a book store, we went to the Grizzly Discovery Center. They have both Grizzly Bears and Wolves, sort of like a tiny zoo, with a museum. We had great fun there, and learned a lot about the Grizzlies and Wolves of Yellowstone. The girls got to play games, and even got to go into the habitat to hide food for the bears. Seriously.

The next day we spent at the Canyon Visitor's Center, learning about the volcanic caldera and the glaciers. We went on a short hike to Tower Falls, before heading up to Roosevelt Corral for our Chuckwagon Dinner. We rode out to a valley on a covered wagon and had a great steak dinner. The Percheron horses were incredible, and we learned that they buy them from the Amish. We learned more about the history of Yellowstone and had a great time.

On Saturday we learned the the park was free that weekend, so we looked around for something off the path (so to speak) with less people. Everyone voted to climb Mt Washburn, in hopes of seeing Big Horn Sheep. We parked at the trail head and hiked up. This hike is listed in the "Best Easy Day Hikes of Yellowstone" book. It seemed straight up the mountain to me. About halfway up, two male Bison popped up from a meadow and began walking up the trail. We were content to follow several hundred feet back, but then they decided they needed a rest and lay down right across the trail. We have been telling the girls to stay on the trail, we never leave the trail, always stay on marked trail. There is one exception: if bison are laying on your trail, you may go around. We all made it to the top of Mt Washburn (10,243 ft, tyvm), to a lookout tower there, with glorious 360 views of the entire park. It had rained a bit of the way up, but about halfway down, it really began to storm, and hail... a lot. We were soaked and miserable and cold. And the icing on the cake was when we got back to the car, I realized we weren't at the trail head. The road to the trail head was closed still (it will open later in summer) and we had hiked an extra 1.5 miles... each way. So our 6 mile hike was now a 9 mile hike. Yup.

So that was the first three days... and yep, not a picture to show for it. We all agreed though, we were there, it happened!

Animal Sightings

Here are pictures of the bald eagles, osprey (he looks angry) and blue heron. Also, the elk from Mt St Helens.

Washington

We took 2 days to drive up to Millersylvania State Park, just south of Olympia Washington. The first night we spent at Valley of the Rogue State Park near Grant's Pass Oregon. The drive up was uneventful for the most part. The campground was really nice, and right on the river so there was more fishing to be had, and more ham and cheese to eat. There was a lovely riverside trail and so we all hiked a few miles that afternoon.

Once up in Millersylvania, we had a grand time. My family came to see us, and brought us dinner, no less! There was more fishing to be had in Deep Lake, where, believe or not, actual FISH were caught. Pictures of Mikaela kissing her fish follow, thanks to Anna K. long ago who started her on the tradition. There were also great bike trails and several family bike rides were had. We caught up on laundry and groceries (and I visited the best Yarn store in the Pacific NW) before we headed down to Ike Kinswa SP on Mayfield Lake.

We met my brother and his lovely wife and boys there; party of 10 please. The campground was really lovely, in the forest next to where the Cowlitz River runs into Mayfield Lake. The was lots more fishing to be had, but only Mikaela ever caught anything the 5 days we were there. Better yet, the lake, and the particular corner we were on, was home to Osprey, Bald Eagles and Blue Heron. We practically carried our binoculars with us 24/7, with eagle and osprey sightings becoming so frequent that we almost grew bored with it. Almost. We watched them fish, we watched them quarrel, and we watched them soar about majestically. I found an osprey perched above me on a snag during a short walk.

On Sunday, we all trekked to the Johnson Observatory at Mt St Helen's. On the drive up, it was very overcast, and I lamented what I expected to be a poor view of the mountain. But eventually, we drove up out of the clouds and the mountain suddenly appeared before us. The ranger told us it was the clearest day at the mountain they had had in weeks. We listened to the Ranger talk about the biology of the area before and after the 1980 blast, and we even saw Elk down on the pumice plateau. We watched a really interesting movie about the volcano, and looked at all the interactive exhibits. Then we drove back down to another visitor center and had a late lunch, and watched a helicopter take off for an aerial tour of the mountain. Back at camp, we made scone and had a lovely supper of strawberries and scones.

On Monday, my brother's family had to head home, so we reluctantly waved goodbye and headed over to Lewis and Clark state park. Except the cool trail through the old growth forest, Lewis and Clark was a bust. We packed everything up, to head east early the next morning, on our way to Yellowstone. Eastern WA aside, the drive was spectacular. We made it all the way to Missoula, MT, though the last bit wasn't that fun in the car. We happily discovered that MT has Cracker Barrel! So we've eaten, and caught up on laundry, ready to head down to Yellowstone!

Alcatraz

On Monday, we took BART back into the city and went to Pier 33, to take the ferry to Alcatraz. After dosing DH and Maddie with Dramamine so we could keep all our clothes clean, we had a lovely ride over to the island.

The history of Alcatraz island is really interesting, and is way more involved than just the famous prison. We saw a movie, walked around the whole island, took an audio tour of the cell block, saw nesting snowy egrets, and nesting seagulls with baby chicks. The island supports a lot of nesting birds, because there are no predators. We learned about the island's history as a military installation, a prison, and its' indian occupation in the late 60's.

We spent the rest of our afternoon back at Pier 39, and then took our weary selves back to BART and Pacifica where our trailer was. We will be up at 5am tomorrow to start for Oregon!

San Fransisco

So we were up early and drove to the Bart Station to go into the city. We could have taken a local bus to the BART station, but DH can only take so much public transportation.

We arrived at Powell and Market, into the tourist throng. We headed up to the Borders store at Union Square, where we were supposed to be able to pick up a brochure about the Barbary Coast Trail, a self guided walking tour of San Fransisco (think Freedom Trail in Boston). Well, they were out. Huh? So we ended up buying a local guide and making up our own tour, from what I could remember from a walking tour we did 10 years ago, and what was in our book.

First up, was Chinatown. We headed up Grant through the lion gate. We had fun looking in all the shops, and when we got hungry for lunch, we let ourselves be led UP a hill and down an alley to a great Chinese restaurant. After lunch, we continued to wander through Chinatown, and even bought ourselves some chopsticks and fresh fortune cookies. In a nearby park, there is a small monument to the first public school in California, which also happened to be near where the gold find on the American River was announced, sparking the Gold Rush.

Then we headed up through North Beach into the Italian section. We hopped on a bus up to telegraph hill and Coit Tower. Then we brilliantly thought we'd take the stairs down to the Embarcadero- how hard could down be? My calves cramp at the mere thought of those steep stairs straight down the longest hillside of my life! We jumped on a streetcar and headed for Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. Once thoroughly amused by the Sea Lions and the shops (sourdough bread and chocolate, yum) we took the trolley back up to Powell and Market and hopped back on BART for our trailer.

On the way to San Francisco

We left Folsom Lake SRA, after another unsuccesful fishing day. We headed west to San Francisco. Heavy traffic into Berkley and Oakland was interesting, as was crossing the Bay Bridge (and paying the toll). The day was beautiful though and the views from the bridge were really cool. We made it down to Pacifica, and successfully threaded the trailer into our narrow site. The views from the bluff of the Pacific, and the many hang gliders was spectacular. We hung out in the heated pool, before heading down to Nick's on Rockaway Beach for dinner. We watched whales spouting in the ocean while we ate, and stayed for the sunset. We even spotted a Forster's Tern diving for it's dinner (the picture doesnt do it justice). Tomorrow e'll head into the city on BART to walk the Barbary Coast Trail.

Sacramento

We stayed at Folsom Lake SRA, because I couldn't find a park closer to Sacramento that had good reviews. The campground was nice, and nearly deserted mid-week which we really like. After spending the evening at a Laundromat, a super Walmart, and a CPK (yum), we set out the next morning on the light rail for Sacramento, from the Historic Folsom station. We met my sisters' friend Kelly G., who works in our state senator's office, who had arranged for a VIP tour of the Capitol. Our friendly tour guide Eric gave us a fantastic tour of the capitol building. We got to see the Assembly Chamber, and go on the floor of the Senate Chamber. He let us go into the historic Governor's office (yes, behind the rope!). While hanging around the Governor's office, we met a Sergeant at Arms, Jody, who then took us into the Sergeant at Arms office and shows us a door that leads to the old facade of the building. They ran out of room in the 70s and so the east wing was built (6 floors in the space of the 4 of the old portion). The external columns provided support for the old portion, so the left them and just built over the facade. Jody took us up the senator's elevator back to our senator's office, and Sen Bob Huff had now arrived. We talked for a few minutes about his pending legislation on education, and then snapped the obligatory photos.
The Governor's schedule of course was full, and tourists are normally allowed in the lobby of his office, but it was closed today because of his full schedule. But, our new best friend, Sgt at Arms Jody told us that we could attend the press conference the governor's press conference. The Governator, and Linda Adams from the EPA, joined Thomas Quinn the CEO of E-Fuel gave a press conference about a home micro fueler in development. It was very cool, and just by standing in the right place at the right time, we were invited to take seats and join the press conference.
After our thrilling morning at the capitol, we walked down to the Railroad museum. It was very cool, and had many interactive exhibits on the expansion of the railroad to California. Finally, we caught out light rail train home after a long day.

Coloma, the American River and Sutter's Mill

After successfully crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, we held out breath as we took the 49 out of Placerville into Coloma. The road was narrow, with low hanging trees and switchbacks: in other words, not ideal for a 57 ft truck/trailer combo. We made it into Coloma and began looking for the Coloma Resort, where we were going to stay. The direction said "turn right and cross the narrow bridge, and the resort is on your right." Let's just say that "narrow bridge" hardly captures the scene (see photos- I know it looks like a footpath. But it was the road. Seriously. And we actually fit, but we did have to take the wheel off the bike). The campground was nice, and our site was right on the river, however there were people in it. So we had to park elsewhere while the campground sorted it out (turned out to be late check outs). We hung out at the pool and were just fine. Once we were in our site, we found out that the Internet they supposedly had, only worked up by the office, and then only sporadically. We were also dismayed that after 2 days by Mono lake with no cell reception, we still didn't have a signal. Dad took the girls biking while I drove 20 miles back towards Placerville (through Sleepy Hollow, see photo) for the nearest grocery store.
The next day, we rode our bikes across the bridge to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. It was fun to see the sites and learn more about the gold rush. Later, we tried our hand at panning for gold in the river, and found a few specks to call our own. Also, there was much fishing to be had, but none for us... only weeds and old shoes and a broken pole to show for it.
We left Coloma, several mosquito bites richer, for Sacramento and points west.

Crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains

We left again at 7am and headed north on the 395, which was incredibly scenic. We drove into Nevada to find a route over the mountains that was more suitable to towing. We stopped for breakfast at Hambone’s at 1269 Rt 395 in Gardenerville, NV. We highly recommend this place, the people were nice and the food was excellent. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it was well worth the stop.

Then we headed up into the mountains through Hope Valley until we reached Hwy 50 South of Lake Tahoe. Just as we arrived at the Hwy, a sudden thunderstorm descended on us, severely cutting visibility. As we began to climb again though, we left the thunderstorm behind us. The sheer cliffs and elevation made for some interesting driving, but we managed fine. The drive was beautiful with tall peaks and rushing rivers and waterfalls. We soon found ourselves in Placerville, on the 49 into Coloma, and on to our next stop on the American River near Sutter’s Mill.

Mono Lake

We visited the Mono Lake Visitor’s Center, and watched the movie there about the lake, which was very interesting and informative. Mono Lake is a salt water lake, because the fresh water that flows in over volcanic rock into the lake has no outlet (no water flows out of Mno Lake) and so the mineral concentration is high. That’s also what causes the fascinating tufas to form underwater. Because the lake level is lower than ideal, many of the tufas are exposed on the southern side of the lake. On Saturday afternoon, we arrived at the South Tufas of Mono Lake, just in time for a ranger guided tour. We learned about the plants that can grow in the salt plain, and how and why tufas are formed. The girls also got to help him create tufa in a small jar by adding calcium rich fresh water to the water of Mono Lake. They also helped him catch Brine shrimp, which along with the weird flies that breed there are the only animals that live in the lake. He also took us to see some ospreys that nest at the top of the tufas. The ospreys, which eat fish, nest at Mono Lake, but fly up to the lakes on the June Lake Loop to find fish. They join many other birds that nest there, including 85% of California Gulls which breed there. We also went over to Navy Beach on Mono Lake, which has sand tufas.

The June Lake Loop

Ok, so Tim T. might have been right. While driving the June Lake Loop, just south of Lee Vining, I did begin to wish we had opted to stay up there. Some of the most spectacular eastern Sierra country can be found there. On Saturday morning, we again joined our family to fish at Gull Lake. A fun time was had by all, and we caught enough fish to have ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. We could see large trout swimming just off shore, and eventually Maddie thought she might have better luck with a net instead of a fishing pole. The views were gorgeous, and the time spent relaxing lakeside were well worth it.

Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie

And now my comrades all are gone;
Naught remains to toast.
They have left me here in my misery,
Like some poor wandering ghost.

On Friday morning, we joined Gramma, Grampa and my sister’s family (staying nearby in June Lake) and headed up to Bodie State Historic Park. Bodie is literally in the middle of nowhere, up a dirt road, north east of Lee Vining near the Nevada border. But it is so worth it! Only about 5 percent of the buildings remain from when it was a booming mine town of the 1880’s. Among them are a church and a store, and several homes, complete with furniture left behind. The twins became junior rangers, after running around the park after clues and answering questions to complete their task. Also still standing is the Hydroelectric building and power substation. We learned that the first motor to be operated over long distance power lines was initiated in Bodie in 1892, and many of the lines and poles still stand (in a straight line, as it was thought electricity couldn’t turn corners).
In the museum, Mikaela found the Bodie book of curses, which recorded several ghost stories and curses meant for those who desecrated or stole from Bodie. Bodie had quite a reputation in its heyday of being a den of wild, wicked men, and murders were daily and common. The morgue was still there, complete inside with caskets left from long ago.
We thoroughly enjoyed Bodie, and the views of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains as we returned to Lee Vining.

Manzanar

We continued north on the 395 and stopped again at Manzanar National Historic Site. This was a Japanese Internment Camp during World War II. Over 10,000 people of Japanese descent, most with American Citizenship, were forced to relocate here between 1942 and 1945. The museum was really well done and very interesting. The movie shown every half hour is worth the trip. The whole site is family and child friendly. It was very windy there that day, which we learned was typical of the Owens Valley, and meant that the meager barracks were frequently covered with dust and sand. We were glad to be there and learn about the people who lived there and help preserve the memories of the Japanese Americans, many of home fought in the European Theater while their families remained captive back home.

We continued on 395 north until we finally reached Lee Vining at Mono lake around 4pm, just in time for an afternoon thunderstorm that made unhitching the trailer lots of fun. We found the local market and threw together our dinner, ready for our first night on the road.

Randsburg

We pulled out of our driveway at 7am on Thursday the 28th (happy 15th Anniversary Honey!), thrilled to be on the road. We headed over the Cajon Pass, and north on the 395. There’s not much to say about the drive, hey, it’s the high desert. We started listening to Jack London’s White Fang and really enjoyed it.

We reached Randsburg by 9:30 am or so and we relieved to learn we could get breakfast in the General Store. Randsburg boasts a population of 70. It’s not a true ghost town, since, well, live people live there. But it was once a booming mine town of over 4000- after the gold ran out, silver and tungsten have both been mined there. My internet sources said that the mine was still active and employed people there, but the lady in the general store said that mine had been closed long ago. We missed the small museum, since it was open only on weekends, but the main street still looks much like it did in 1895 when gold was discovered there. Grandma and Grampa joined us here for breakfast. The food was mediocre, but the company was the best.

Where Have You Been?

It's been quiet here, despite my best promises to update frequently, eh? Well, we have spent the last 5 days in the smallest of small towns, where dependable internet and cell service are considered the luxuries of the big city folk. I have finally found a connection by bringing my laptop up to the host site of our current campground and begging 5 minutes of internet time.

Our lack of connection extends to all media as well: Kristian was begging the Laker score from shopkeepers, until he found that he could send text messages from his cell phone, though he couldn’t make a call. Sr. Bower came through with score updates by text message after that. I tried to buy a paper on Sunday morning, only to find that the most recent paper available was several days old. On Monday, I drove 20 miles to the nearest big town to leave messages for family and buy supplies and otherwise we resigned ourselves to the media blackout (It wasn‘t that hard, and rather welcome anyway!).

We should have regular internet access in Sacramento, and so pictures and more blog posts will have to wait until then, sorry!