Volcanos and Glaciers

August 11, 2013 - Sunday
We awoke today to heavy overcast and fog. Our decision was to make our way over to Mt. Rainier NP and seek low altitude and indoor activities. We started at the Stevens Canyon entrance and hiked a couple shorter trails, the Grove of the Patriarchs and Silver Falls; couple miles round trip each. The GoP was a collection of really old and very large trees; Douglas Firs, Hemlock and Cedar. Some of these old boys are over 1000 years in age and over 5 feet in diameter. It was amazing also to see where these behemoths had fallen from wind or being dead. The forest is very moist with many varieties of fungus, moss, and lichen everywhere. It was almost spooky. A couple of pictures follow.

Across the street, on the Eastside trail, was the route to Silver Falls, about 1 mile away. The trail was pretty flat until the turnoff for the falls where it drops to river level. Silver Falls was another cascading falls. The canyon was very scenic, and the falls were pretty.

The mountain is still socked in. There appears to be a real possibility we will visit Mt. Rainier National Park, but not see Mt. Rainier. Have a look at these pictures and see what we mean. Mt. Rainier is over 14,000 feet high with 25 active glaciers. We understand it is more common not to see the mountain due to clouds and fog. Paradise, a location directly south of the mountain, gets on average 54 feet of snow. As you guessed, all that snow doesn't melt at high altitudes thus forming glaciers.

Mt Rainer became a National Park in 1899, the fifth NP. The mountain is an active volcano, having erupted 10,000 years ago. It and St. Helen are part of the "Ring of Fire" that encompass the Pacific rim. It is also the first park to experiment with allowing people to drive their own vehicles. We know how that worked out! The park was a zoo today. No parking to be found at most of the popular areas.

We finished up in Longmire, at the western side of the park. This area was the original entrance in 1899. Longmires were the first people involved with the park and built a Lodge. Unlike some other NPs, the railroads did not have tracks out here and did not build the lodges. They have a museum and restored stuff from the park's early days. Well, we are about to head "home" and now it's clearing.

August 12, 2013 - Monday
It's again cloudy and we cannot see the mountain. So our plan today is to take a drive to Mt St. Helens. Although we were strongly considering the drive to Johnson's Ridge, it's like 300 miles RT. If the clouds don't lift we will be bummed. So plan B, we'll go to Windy Ridge, about 70 miles RT, then back to Rainer if it's clear.

You all recall Mt St Helen blew her top, actually her north side, in 1980 sending ash all over the place. Now, 30 years later, the area is recovering. There is substantial tree and plant growth. The lakes are recovering as well. The devastation is still apparent where trees standing are gray/white. Others are uniformly knocked over in a single direction, from the blast. The blast gas was 800 F. The ash deposited 200 feet thick and devastated 270 sq mi of forest. Spirit Lake, site of Harry Truman's lodge, was filled with first ash, then mud as all 8 feet of snow melted instantly. Some pictures follow.

Off to Mt Rainer for a quick visit. Now that we can see it, this place is beautiful. Being late in the day most of the crowds have gone home. We took a walk to Nisqually Glacier Overlook at Paradise. This glacier is still active and looks more like a big dirt ball than ice.

Headed to the Gorge tomorrow.

Riding the Rails

August 7, 2013 – Wednesday
Our plan today is to make it to Hayden, ID so we arose early, but we got a little delayed at the dump station. Got to chatting it up with someone already there dumping tanks. You know, this is like the morning chat around the water cooler in the office, for RVers. Well, maybe not, but it delayed our departure a little. For a place to camp close to Glacier, you can’t beat Johnson’s Campground for location, price, and overall nice folks.

The scenery along US 2 is awesome. We had heard they were doing repair on 2 up by Libby. In Kalispell, Lynn saw a sign for closure of US 2 up that way, so we made a detour down MT 35 and along the west side of Flathead Lake to MT 28. MT 28 had some pretty big grades and wasn’t much to write about, but MT 200… Wow! It was an easy tow and gorgeous as you travel along the Clark Fork river with mountains along side. We got to Alpine CG about 3:30 PM Pacific Time.

August 8, 2013 – Thursday
We made a morning run to Wal-Mart for groceries and a Mobil 1 oil change, then to a car wash. The truckie deserved a little TLC, so today was its day. Our stop in Hayden, ID is to visit family, so we are heading there next, to spend the afternoon and evening. We had a nice dinner on the patio of the White House Restaurant with Gayle and Paul. It’s been a while since we have seen them and it was great getting caught up on things.

August 9, 2013 – Friday
Today is to be an adventure. Paul is taking us over to bike the Hiawatha trail, a 15 mile railroad bed converted to a bike trail. The rail line was used by the Milwaukee RR from the early 1900s until they went bankrupt in the late 70s. The route takes you through tunnels and over trestles. The scenery is breath taking and it’s downhill, so you don’t really work too hard. The first tunnel is a dooesy, 1.7 miles through a mountain. There are no lights so your bike has to have a headlight and it is cold; maybe 50 degrees. It really is more like a cave than a tunnel. Lynn had trouble adjusting to riding in the darkness and could not keep her balance, so we actually walked it.

Along the way are interpretive signage telling about the Milwaukee Line. Imagine the 1910 time frame as these guys had to span canyons with the trestles, and cut through the mountains for the tunnels. That first tunnel took over two years to complete. There was an interesting story about a guy name Johnson that set 25,000 pounds of dynamite to blast away some of mountainside down the line. Sounds like a lot of TNT right? Yep, and when it blew it showered the construction camp below with huge rocks wrecking it. Fortunately, no one was in camp at the time, but they had to find another location after that.

Definitely two thumbs up on this one. If interested, check out
http://www.railworks.com/railworks-great-works/bike-trail-showcases-railroad-construction-wonders
Some pictures follow.

We then went back to their place for dinner and to catch up on Polina’s day camp activities. It sounded like she had a good time. After a great dinner we had to say good bye, but first Polina wanted to see the camper. After a tour of the inside, she asked to see the outside, the top to be more exact, so up the ladder she went! I could really use her courage up there when it’s time to wash the roof.

August 10, 2013 – Saturday
Next on the itinerary are visits to Mount Rainer and Mount St Helens, so we traveled to Packwood, WA today. About 200 miles were along I-90 which was mostly boring. However, as we approached the Columbia River gorge the scenery made a drastic change and became really pretty. The truck got a work out on I-83 and US 12, lots of 5-6% grades 2+ miles in length. It pulled it OK, sometimes as low as 3rd to get up the hills. US 12 was spectacular, although a bit white knuckle with the bends and grades. White Pass at 4800 feet was the highest, a climb from about 2500 feet. At our campsite you could see Mt Rainer if not for the clouds.

Many Glacier

August 6, 2013 - Tuesday

 

This is our last day in the Glacier Park area so we decided to drive up to Many Glacier.  The ride up, about 20 miles, was beautiful as we made our way west from Babb into the park.  There we went into the Many Glacier Lodge.  This lodge was built by the Great Northern RR in 1914 with an Alps motif.  The plan was to get people to this area instead of them going to Switzerland.  It does look very Swiss around here.  It sits on the shores of Lake Sherburne, and several glaciers are visible from here. 

 



 

Further up the road is the Swiftcurrent Motor Lodge, a bit less fancy but also nice.  Many trailheads initiate from here to Grinnell Glacier, Iceberg Lake, and Swiftcurrent Pass.  We walked the latter to Redrock Falls, about 2 miles.  Trail wasn’t much except when the mountains appeared in clearings.

 



We have enjoyed our time here in Glacier, except for the crowds.  The park does not handle them well.  Parking after about 10AM is nonexistent.  We lucked out at the Swiftcurrent lot, but could not find parking at Apulkuni Falls, so we passed it by.  It is probably best here after early September.

We head into Idaho tomorrow.

Glacial Impressions

August 3, 2013 - Saturday

It finally quit raining about 11AM, so we decided to go to the visitor’s center with some of our questions; then we hit the Going to the Sun road thinking we would just go a ways, then return. Fortunately, it cleared and the sun came out the further along we got, so we went the whole way to the west end of the park. This road is amazing, a bit of a white knuckle, but beautiful. The challenge to build this thing must have been huge. The road clings to shear vertical stone walls where they built the ledge the road is on. Two sections are undergoing badly needed restoration.

The traffic was extremely heavy, making it slow going and many of the parking areas were full. The NPS has a shuttle system; they run so infrequently it is an all day affair to get end to end and back. So we’re sure others like us decided to drive on their own, thus the traffic problems. Other Parks we’ve been to have really good systems and it works. The traffic issues, the inability to park and explore, detract from having a good experience here. Hopefully, the traffic will ease a bit once we are past the weekend. Anyway, despite those issues, we still were able to do some stuff this afternoon. By the way if you ever visit, the east side is definitely less crowded, and our recommendation.

We managed to find some open spots to see some very cool gorges and waterfalls. Some pictures follow.

August 4, 2013 – Sunday

Wow, a gorgeous day, so we went over to the dock at Rising Sun to take a ranger led boat ride and hike. The boat ride took us to the southern end of St. Mary’s Lake then a hike to Baring Falls, then on to St. Mary’s Falls. The scenery both on boat and foot was spectacular. The falls were also quite impressive. We have always found that any ranger led activity is awesome and this did not disappoint. Our ranger was Megan Lopez and she did a great job. Our only issue, but this is us, we dottle along looking at this, smelling that and can make a day out of a 1 hour hike. We were now on a schedule to keep up and catch that boat back, boohoo!

On Dan’s bucket list was to ride one of the restored red busses, an icon of Glacier. So we took a late day ride to Logan Pass. The NPS originally bought hundreds for use in several parks. They were originally made by White Motor in Cleveland. Wear and tear took its toll and they were replaced in most parks by more modern (shuttle) buses. Ford restored about 50 of them, not sure who paid for that and 35 are in use at Glacier. They are propane fueled with auto transmissions. For a big fee they do special excursions to various parts of Glacier. The experience was OK, but we would not do it again. The cheesy finale was to drop us at St Mary’s Lodge (1 mile from campground) and make us wait 10 minutes while the driver went for gas. No doubt they were expecting us to “visit” the gift shop.

The area that is Glacier NP was formed by a tectonic riff, known as the Lewis Overthrust, where an earth plate over rides an adjacent land mass. This was about 170 million years ago. Most mountains, like the Rockies are formed this way. The plate was then covered by glaciers about 12,000 years ago. The glaciers did their magic carving the valleys and forming the lakes. Those all melted away. In the mid 1800s there was a mini ice age that formed more glaciers, estimated at 150. These further defined the landscape. Today, there are about 25, and these are melting at a rate that they will be gone by 2030. Of note here is that these things melt away naturally, with or without man’s presence. The park was designated a National Park in 1912. So what is a glacier? The answer in a day or two.

Some pictures of our day follow.

August 5, 2013 – Monday

Today we hiked a part of the Highline trail to see the garden wall. It turns out the garden wall is the side of a mountain that has a really beautiful collection of wild flowers. This flower wall extends for over a mile. The trail tracks along a narrow ridge maybe 1000 feet above the valley. Some places have a cable hand hold because of how narrow and rocky the trail was. Our advice, don’t look down! Some pictures follow.

Yes we have seen some wildlife, some small and some big check out these shots!

What is a glacier? It starts out as an accumulation of snow that does not melt for several years. After some time the snow compacts and forms ice. As this ice mass continues to grow from additional snow it reaches a weight that starts it sliding down hill. They have to be about 160 feet thick and 25 acres in area to get the process going because they ride on a layer of water formed from the pressure that causes the ice to melt. Think of how ice skates work. As it slides downward it picks up small rocks and dirt that act as the abrasive to carve the mountains, and as they melt the water accumulates at the bottom to form lakes. So now you know!

Miles and Miles

July 31, 2013 - Wednesday

Some final thoughts about Apostle Islands National Seashore. While beautiful, it is a boating oriented park. You really need a boat to see it. The tour boat situation is expensive ($40-$50) and is geared mostly for campers and hikers. The islands are 20 to 30 miles, a good 1-2 hour boat ride. The lighthouses on the Islands are currently being renovated at a high cost and will have limited access for most people.

We got an early start this morning. Weather was beautiful, go figure. The 450 mile journey wasn’t that exciting, other than in Superior, WI, which is a big commercial port, along with Duluth, MN. The highway spanned a couple of cool bridges, and had a great view of the freighters. Dan wants to go back for a longer look there. A picture follows, but apologies in advance for the out the window shot, no place to pull over....

Since I haven’t talked about our rig lately, thought it may be a good time. It got weighed earlier this year, the F250 weighs in at 7000 pounds and the trailer is 8100 lbs, with about 800 lbs on the king pin. The trailer is pretty close to expected, but the truck weight was surprisingly heavier, which explains its capability with this tow. On the way to Jamestown it was blowing 25 mpg right on our nose, holding us to 5th gear, 4th on the uphills, and about 7-8 mpg overall. It took about 9 ½ hours to arrive at Camp Wal-Mart of Jamestown, ND. We can do these long tows because of how the whole rig performs!

August 1, 2013 - Thursday

We woke to a sunny morning and got rolling by 7 AM or so, as we wanted to make Havre, MT 600 miles away. The wind had died down, but hills again kept us to 5th gear and about 8 mpg. The landscape in western North Dakota, near Theodore Roosevelt National Park looks a lot like the Badlands in South Dakota. About 30 miles into Montana we depart I-94 making our way along MT 200 west. This road was rough and very narrow. Cars have speed limit of 70 mph, trucks 60, which is insane. We putted along at 55-60 mph, and that got a little hairy as you passed wide load hay trucks.
After about 75 miles we took MT 24, which was also rough with big hills, but very pretty scenery. In about 40 miles we came to Fort Peck Lake, which is actually a reservoir, and quite pretty. There was a turn off so a picture follows.

After another 40 miles we headed west along US 2. This is the same road that originates in Michigan’s UP. We didn’t take it due to oil rig traffic and big trucks from Minot west.

We arrived at the Havre Wal-Mart after about 13 hours. Whew, a long drive. Dan got a little tried about the time we hit Fort Peck, so he kicked back a 5 Hour Energy. First time he used it, and wow he’s still doing laps in the parking lot! For old farts it may be 10 hour energy.

Hopefully we will make it to St Mary and Glacier NP tomorrow.

August 2, 2013 – Friday

We are in St. Mary, MT. It rained; actually poured most of the trip. Dan hates driving with the trailer in the rain. Visibility is low, traction is reduced, and it makes a mess of the truck and trailer, although one positive, it cleaned off most of the dead bugs from the front of the truck and trailer. Set up camp at Johnson’s in the rain, euch!

It is supposed to rain big through tomorrow, so we’ll need to find some indoor stuff to do. The mountains were pretty much invisible in the fog as we drove down to East Glacier to check out the Lodge there. It, as well as most of the other lodges in Glacier, were built by the railroads in their prosperous days in the 20s & 30s. East Glacier is like stepping back to that time, pretty neat. A picture follows.

We aren’t sure what our plans are for tomorrow.

Superior Scenes

July 30, 2013 - Tuesday

It started cloudy, cool, and rainy today so we were in no real hurry to get going today.  We started our day at the State fish hatchery here in Bayfield.  They rear lake trout, splake, and brown trout by the hundred thousands!  They must have a high mortality rate.  It was interesting to learn how they hatch and raise them.  Splake is a hybrid between Lake and Brook Trout, however they will not spawn in the wild, so the hatchery process is necessary to keep the species going.

We then visited the NPS info center for pins and postcards and for recommendations for access to some areas we were thinking about.  Due to trail conditions from the rain, we were left with Myers Beach.  They launch kayaks here for a 3 mile paddle to some of the sea caves.  The Lake was perfectly flat again today, but weather looked threatening, so it seemed to us a bit risky, but many were going.  There are guided kayak expeditions for $100 PP/day.  So instead we walked along the beach.  We have told many of you, give us a beach to walk, and we can make a day of it!  Of course we took some pictures and they’re next.

 

Here is a short video of "Superior Scenes."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thMJ2Ze-8Wc&feature=youtu.be


The journey starts in earnest tomorrow as we head for Jamestown, ND.

 

Our Next Adventure

July 28, 2013 - Sunday

Today was “launch day”, the beginning of our journey for 2013. We hit the road around 8:30 AM, a nice early start. We’re getting pretty efficient at this, probably due to practice and Lynn’s to-do list keeping us focused and organized. The weather all day has been cold and cloudy with periods of rain throughout the journey, although it cleared enough to make the Big Mac crossing quite nice. That bridge is a wonder and it is beautiful as was the blue water in the Straits beneath it.

We arrived at Camp Wal-Mart in Marquette about 6PM. It is cold and raining with a stiff NW wind blowing. 52 degrees cold, Brrrrr….., set a record for coldest July 28th here since 1971. Camp Wal-Mart has no electric, (hey what do you want for free) so we are using our new propane catalytic heater. Really glad we have that.

Hopefully this weather will improve as we get to the Apostle Islands tomorrow.

July 29, 2013 – Monday

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day as we prepared to depart for Bayfield, WI. We arrived at the Apostle Islands campground about 1 PM central time. The campground is a nice setting, the sites are well separated and pretty big, but a couple of things didn’t set well with us. First were $1.50 showers, geez, doesn’t $30 a night get us included showers? Second, the power box was improperly wired. Our surge protector wouldn’t pass it and our circuit check indicated the hot and neutral reversed. We plugged into the neighbor’s (vacant site) box and all worked. The box appears newer. Dan told the owner and he got all cheezed about it, and that it was probably my stuff causing the problem. So Dan told him we are staying plugged in there until he fixes it or we leave. It is this exact situation that prompted us to install that protector.

Bayfield is a lot like Leeland, Michigan. It is the gateway to the 22 islands that make up the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Most Islands were heavily logged into the early 1900s until NPS took them over. They are typical of other Great Lakes Islands, low and tree covered. These have rocky shores for the most part. The area is beautiful, but a little ho-hum to us after our 40 years of visiting and boating almost all of the lakes.

Madeline Island is the largest of the group, but is not part of the NPS holdings. It is a residential community served by ferry boat from Bayfield. There is a museum there, but it’s too far to walk to and the cost to transport your car along with the two us puts it at $50. We have decided it’s probably not cost effective to go there.

We did take the Sunset Grand Tour with the Apostle Islands Boat Co. It was well worth it, although a bit chilly. They did a great job hitting the high points and giving some of the history. We saw a couple of lighthouses, sea caves, and a shipwreck. Some pictures follow.

Sea Caves

Raspberry Island Lighthouse

Sunset



Tomorrow we plan to drive the scenic shore line route.