Heading North for a Couple Weeks...

[MAX Burner]

For those interested, a short interim travel summary:

So, we departed NM mid-morning, last Friday for Moab, UT.  High winds and rain from Farmington to Shiprock slowed us way down, but the TV/Casablanca performed wonderfully.   Moab and Arches were fantastic and we'll be staying there a few days on our return leg next week.

We initially planned to spend about 5 or 6 days in Rock Springs, WY for an annual "Escapade Rally" -- but changed our minds after 2 nights there.  Decided that the time away from home would be better spent exploring around the Tetons and Yellowstone.  Dumping holding tanks and topping off fresh while the Knuckleheads wait for D to return...

So we "pulled-chocks" yesterday AM and headed north on the US 191 (one of our most fav US HWYs) - stopped for a great lunch at a Brewery in Pinedale, WY.  Smoked brisket nachos - OMG!

Made our way to Jackson winding our way northbound on the beautiful US-19 following the Windriver Range and eventually the Hoback River into Jackson.  The snow-capped Windriver Range in the distance below...

Hoback River alongside the 191 - no wind and temps in mid-60s all day long:

Harvest Hosted at the Jackson Hole Still Works - met some phenomenal young men that owned the distillery and they provided an interesting/educational tour of their very modern facility here.  Our "boondock" location at the HH venue in Jackson, can you find Magnus below?:

It's off to Coulter Lake, Teton NP this morning then up to Yellowstone this afternoon...

More later...

Cheers, All!

A & D

 

[MAX Burner]

Travel Summary #2 - DAY-7

We enjoyed a wonderful ride yesterday driving northbound on US-191 from Jackson, WY to West Yellowstone.  Decided to spend most of the day in the Teton's before entering YNP from the south along the J.D. Rockefeller Memorial Hwy.

We stopped at a lookout point near the Jenny Lake Lodge for brunch in Casablanca -- fantastic!

Room with a view:

The marina at Jenny Lake:

We managed to get in a nice 5+ mile hike in with the Knuckleheads along the lake before heading out to West Yellowstone for the night.  We hit Old Faithful in time to view an eruption which has been happening roughly every 90 minutes for centuries.

Checked into a campground near and just south of West Yellowstone for a couple nights.  Had a wonderful dinner here last night with the "boys"...

We plan to Explor ( @Patriot take note!) the northern sector of the NP today...

More to come for those interested...

Cheers!

A & D (Magnus and Oscar, too!  WOOF!)

[Patriot]

@MAX Burner

You guys are knocking it out of the park!!! Does it get any better?

Awesome photos and yes I will continue to follow!
Great job Art and D!! 👍🏻🇺🇸👍🏻

XPLOR On!!! 

Edited June 20 by Patriot

[Rolind]

If you are back in Moab on your return, try out desert bistro. It’s one of our favorite restaurants.

Your pics are great and your trip sounds awesome!

[MAX Burner]

Travel Summary #3 -- Day-8:

Yesterday, Thursday 20JUN, Casablanca got a rest at the campground near West Yellowstone, and D, the Knuckleheads, and I hit the northern high-country of YNP.  Absolutely spectacular in all regards - first it actually topped our tour of Yellowstone Lake and Old Faithful areas from the day prior (Wednesday), next the WX was phenomenal (no wind, blue skies, low-mid 60's), and tons of wildlife!

(FYI:  We crossed over the Continental Divide three times from the park's south entrance on Wednesday, the highest was 8,300+ feet MSL.)

Following the Madison River into the park from West Yellowstone, we took the Norris cut-off at the 14-mile mark.  D captured this snap of a nice 5x5 in velvet at a turn-out enroute:

We stopped uncountable times as we made our way to Canyon Village, managing to get several interesting shots:

The Knuckleheads liked their "pee/poop-walk" near Canyon Village and saw several new furry pals.

From a safe distance, we observed a black bear and her cubs - then later a griz...

Going further north into the high-country alpine area the views were spectacular.  Roads were very well maintained in this region and traffic was light even though its high/peak season.  We suspect most sightseers like the southern region for the lake, geysers, and Old F.

We pressed-on driving on Yellowstone's Grand Loop Road (again, stopping countless times) for about another 36 miles over Dunraven Pass (8,859') past Tower Falls to Mammoth Hot Springs for another break for the boys.  Enroute, we were able to grab this shot of D pointing at a massive bull buff about 150 yards away:

All in all, this 137-mile loop was one of the best sightseeing excursions we've made in the Tundra.  Yesterday, we topped just north of 1,150 so far since leaving home.

Our lifetime-military National Park pass really came in handy so far on this adventure as we'll have visited 5 NPs before returning to NM.

Today, we head off for Bear Lake which straddles eastern-most border of both ID and UT - making way for Moab (again!) by Thursday next week...

More later, folks!

Cheers!

A & D

Edited June 21 by MAX Burner
Added info and corrected a typo...

[John Dorrer]

Yellowstone never gets old.😊

[MAX Burner]

15 minutes ago, John Dorrer said:

Yellowstone never gets old.😊

Concur 100%, John!

[routlaw]

Love the "Winds" Never get tired of that place but it's a b*tch getting in there if you ever decide to. Sounds like you're right down the road from us here in the Bozone. Happy Trails and camping.

[jd1923]

@MAX Burner Art, is it truly cool enough up there? National heat wave lately. I imagine it's beautiful after sunset. Running that Penguin in the afternoons?

Keep having fun and keeping us posted! 😂

[routlaw]

30 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

@MAX Burner Art, is it truly cool enough up there? National heat wave lately. I imagine it's beautiful after sunset. Running that Penguin in the afternoons?

Keep having fun and keeping us posted! 😂

I live in Bozeman, just north of YNP by about 90 miles and yes we have had an abnormally cooler than normal spring and heading into summer season. Rain, wind, and even some snow of late. However this is supposed to change in a day or two with temps heading into the 90 range. Mid to low 70's today with light wind. Mostly 70's to low 80's next week or so. No fires… yet. Glacier NP received 10 inches of snow a day or so ago at upper elevations and around Logan Pass.

[MAX Burner]

22 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Art, is it truly cool enough up there? National heat wave lately. I imagine it's beautiful after sunset. Running that Penguin in the afternoons?

Hey, JD - We pulled into a USFS campground here in Alpine, WY.  FYI, Yesterday in YNP temps ranged from low-mid 60's at 10AM to high 70's by 4PM.  Today, driving, temps ranged from mid-60s to low 80s - very pleasant in the high country of ID and WY.  We haven't fired up the Zone-5 Afterburner Penguin once during our trip.  Mornings have been between 35F and 50F.  

Right now, we're sitting at the dinette with a couple citronella candles staying away from the mosquitos outside - our MaxxAir fan is blowing "in" with 3 windows fully open.  The Victron is calling the space under my seat cushion 77F:

It's definitely a lot warmer than we imagined, so much for the down sweaters and heavy socks we loaded up!  HA!  But not warm enough for the crazy loud Z-5 Penguin, IOO.

Here's some snaps of the beautiful run we made today over Targhee Pass through Island Park, ID then down to Rigby, ID and over to Alpine, WY:

(not a good time to upload - will follow-up tomorrow)

New pix edited into the post:

Road-stop lunch east of Rigby on US 26:

Definitely a little room with a view:

Boondocking at Alpine, WY USFS CG ($10/night) right along Palisades Reservoir:

It was hard keeping the Knuckleheads from swimming then getting muddy and romping through Casablanca...

Palisades Reservoir...

Enjoying a glass of wine, campfire, and the sunset on the Summer Solstice...

Cheers!

A & D

 

Edited June 22 by MAX Burner
Uploaded some pix...

[jd1923]

Perfect temps up there! That's great that you got away from the heat early this summer and are having a great trip! Colder winter yes, but our summer has come early down here. High of 90 in Prescott today (was 60 at dawn) and 114 in Phoenix, OMG, yet only 82 in ABQ.

1 hour ago, MAX Burner said:

Zone-5 Afterburner Penguin

I've been running mine afternoons, working on furnace ducting upgrade and replacing our microwave with an air-fryer, and eight other smaller Oliver things! Just finished a second coat of stain on our deck (must be done in the shade of the evening). 

I believe you had the better summer plan!
Maybe next year we meet up with y'all up north. Best wishes buddy. 😂 

[MAX Burner]

Thanks, @jd1923 -  We're having a blast up here.  For some reason the system isn't allow us to upload pix...   Anyhow, got down to 54F at dawn today, great sleeping temps.  We keep a back window cracked open at about 3" and the bath window up - good air flow and no condensation.  We've used the furnace every morning since starting off 9 days ago, FYI.  The MicroAir T-stat works great for us.

11 hours ago, jd1923 said:

I believe you had the better summer plan!

HA! Don't know about that!  I've got to get back and start stucco and elastomeric operations on the Man Cave and main house after it cools down some - ugh!  That's how I blew out my rotator cuff a few years back...

Headed down to Bear Lake SP on the ID side of the lake today after we coffee-up with some Blackbeard's Delight (BRCC).

I've got the annual MC ride set for mid-SEP this year, so we'll be going through some of the same awesome regions as this trip but on 2 wheels instead...

Take care, Amigo and best to Chris!

Cheers!

A & D

[MAX Burner]

Travel Summary #4 -- Day-9:

(D's convinced these diatribes will get the moderators to kick us off the forums...!).  "BaaaH!", I say!

Yesterday's drive was one of the best we've had, from West Yellowstone, MT down to Alpine, WY.  Just by happenstance, we were talking with @ScubaRx Steve and Tali at a turn-out just north of Alpine when we spotted an Oliver northbound on the US-26 fly by us at about 1430.  Wonder who that was?

Anyhow, today's drive was a great one too, but just different.  After a RO1N at the USFS campground near Alpine, we departed around 0800, fueled up, and headed south.  Going through Alpine "proper", we noticed a couple of local events happening.  The first was an "Antler-Fest" which really got Magnus' and Oscar's attention:

This is the kind of Craft Show I love:

The Knuckleheads seem to gravitate towards the moose sheds for some reason:

I, on the other hand - - - - did so, too!

We pressed on through Alpine and discovered that this was the weekend for the Mountain Man Craft Fair, The boys and I met Smokey, who was actually born in New Mexico, rescued in the Capitan Fire near Ruidoso.  He live until the ripe age of 26!  Not bad!

All sorts of handmade crafts, pottery, jewelry, knives, axes, and various sundry arts were displayed for locals and visitors alike.  However, the peak moment was when the Knuckleheads met two female puppy Alaskan malamutes - the day was good:

After ample time viewing all the faire, we proceeded south towards Afton, WY, Montpelier, UT and then to Garden City, UT along the western banks of Bear Lake.  Bear Lake was formed 250 - 500 thousand years ago and hold a crystal clear blue-turquoise color:

We found a suitable campsite near Garden City, UT and Bear Lake where we will depart from tomorrow for a remote location near Joes Valley Reservoir, a BLM campsite where we will hunker-down for 3 or 4 days...

More later, amigos...

 

[ScubaRx]

Keep the stories and pics coming Buddy.

[topgun2]

10 hours ago, MAX Burner said:

(D's convinced these diatribes will get the moderators to kick us off the forums...!).  

Heck - most of the moderators I know can't even spell that word!😁

Two years ago I was fishing a fairly remote stream north of DuBois, WY and spied a pristine elk shed on the bank.  Not wanting to carry that thing for the rest of the day fishing, I simply left it where it was.  Later that evening I told the camp host about it and he thought I was crazy given that he estimated the value of it to be north of $100.  The next morning he was on his 4 wheeler headed to retrieve it.

Beautiful country and the people are really nice too.

What is that "canon" you are carrying?

Bill

[Mike and Carol]

24 minutes ago, topgun2 said:

Heck - most of the moderators I know can't even spell that word!😁

Speek fer yerself. 🤓

[gbergh]

12 hours ago, MAX Burner said:

Travel Summary #4 -- Day-9:

(D's convinced these diatribes will get the moderators to kick us off the forums...!).  "BaaaH!", I say!

Yesterday's drive was one of the best we've had, from West Yellowstone, MT down to Alpine, WY.  Just by happenstance, we were talking with @ScubaRx Steve and Tali at a turn-out just north of Alpine when we spotted an Oliver northbound on the US-26 fly by us at about 1430.  Wonder who that was?

Anyhow, today's drive was a great one too, but just different.  After a RO1N at the USFS campground near Alpine, we departed around 0800, fueled up, and headed south.  Going through Alpine "proper", we noticed a couple of local events happening.  The first was an "Antler-Fest" which really got Magnus' and Oscar's attention:

This is the kind of Craft Show I love:

The Knuckleheads seem to gravitate towards the moose sheds for some reason:

I, on the other hand - - - - did so, too!

We pressed on through Alpine and discovered that this was the weekend for the Mountain Man Craft Fair, The boys and I met Smokey, who was actually born in New Mexico, rescued in the Capitan Fire near Ruidoso.  He live until the ripe age of 26!  Not bad!

All sorts of handmade crafts, pottery, jewelry, knives, axes, and various sundry arts were displayed for locals and visitors alike.  However, the peak moment was when the Knuckleheads met two female puppy Alaskan malamutes - the day was good:

After ample time viewing all the faire, we proceeded south towards Afton, WY, Montpelier, UT and then to Garden City, UT along the western banks of Bear Lake.  Bear Lake was formed 250 - 500 thousand years ago and hold a crystal clear blue-turquoise color:

We found a suitable campsite near Garden City, UT and Bear Lake where we will depart from tomorrow for a remote location near Joes Valley Reservoir, a BLM campsite where we will hunker-down for 3 or 4 days...

More later, amigos... A great place to visit in Afton is Aviat Aircraft.  They manufacture the Husky and Pitts S2C.  "Home of the Taildraggers"  Unfortunately, one needs an appointment.  If you have even the slightest interest in airplanes, it is worth the visit.  Any plane that can takeoff and land within 300 yards is exceptional..

 

 

[topgun2]

1 hour ago, Mike and Carol said:

Speek fer yerself. 🤓

I was!😇

[bugeyedriver]

I alwaze thouhgt a diatribe wuz a bunch of folk gittin together as a big group, figurin new recipees for wate loss.

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, bugeyedriver said:

I alwaze thouhgt a diatribe wuz a bunch of folk gittin together as a big group, figurin new recipees for wate loss.

I thought to be a "diatribe" you had to be complainin' 'bout sompfin!

@MAX Burner yours is not a diatribe. We all want to read more and see more great pics!

[MAX Burner]

Travel Summary #5 -- Day-11:

(NOTE: the system combined a couple of summaries when I tried uploading pix yesterday, likely operator error - this is a rewrite of #5:)

We departed our campground in Garden City, UT along the banks of Bear Lake yesterday morning headed to Joe's Valley Reservoir SP (no services) - about 225 miles.  

Garden City sports a full-time population of about 550, but is 3x that as a popular summer resort town. - this was the view on departure:

Straddling the border between ID and UT Bear Lake SP is situated at 5,900'MSL, the lake is 20 miles north/south and 7+ miles east/west.  Its shoreline is 48 miles around with beautiful sandy and rocky beaches on all sides.  The BL SP RV campground is located on the southern-most shore in UT, FYI.  

Similar to Glacier NP's layout, in terms of being shared by US and Canada, the entire Bear Lake is a State Park shared between ID and UT.

Turns out that Bear Lake is called, "The Caribbean of the Rockies" due to its deep blue color.  The lake contains microscopic particles of white-colored calcium carbonate (lime) that reflect the water's natural blue color (oxygen) back to the surface.  This gives the lake its spectacular and intense turquoise-blue color.

All this, and we had NEVER even heard of this SP!  What a nice surprise for us - we'll be back again...

We decided on a slightly longer route for yesterday's run from Bear Lake to Joe's Valley Reservoir SP to steer us away from having a long segment along I-15 through SLC and Ogden.  Turned out to be a good choice as it was very scenic  along the entire way.

From BL SP, we started southeast on UT-30 and picked up UT-6 at Sage Creek.  Continuing due south on UT-6 through Randolph we picked up US-89 at Woodruff, UT which took us back into WY and into Evanston, WY.

Normally, we plan our routes for secondary roads and state highways, but for this route we had to join I-80 at Evanston for a short section southwest back into UT and south to Echo Reservoir and Coalville.

I-80 got us to Silver Summit, UT and we intercepted US-40/189 (another one of our favs!) down to Heber City, UT and past the northern shore of the beautiful Strawberry Reservoir.

The pic below, at a refueling stop near Strawberry Res, doesn't do the snow-peaked mountains in the background justice:

The pic below during a poop/pee break for me and the Knuckleheads, has them saying, "Hey, Dad - we're burning daylight, let's get going!":

Continuing south to Price, UT - we picked up UT-10 due south for a 48-mile final section of the day towards Joe's Valley SP....  BUT - after 18 miles we found Huntington Reservoir SP with full services:

As we rolled into the SP around 2pm yesterday, we noticed the sign indicating "Campground FULL" and we were bummed out.  As it happened, we learned that the CG Host hadn't taken the sign down after a "FULL" weekend and the majority of the 22 partial sites were empty!  We picked a nice one with a good view to the west of the lake and setup our kit.

We'll be here for 4 nights as we needed unencumbered StarLink internet access for various commitments this week.  We're planning to depart Thursday AM for a 2-hour drive south to Moab to link-up with our best friends from Placitas...

More to come!

Cheers, ALL!

A & D

 

Edited June 27 by MAX Burner
Added narrative from a previous post which was deleted in the system

[bugeyedriver]

Come one, one of those prize racks would surely garner a lot of attention going down the highway on the brow of your Ollie.  You can do IT!

[MAX Burner]

Travel Summary #6 -- Day-14:

We enjoyed SUN - THU (today) at Huntington Lake SP, UT -- played with the Oliver some, cleaned some, and generally "chillaxed".

Temps were high 80's - low 90's causing us to "plug-in" and us the AC during the day.  D had several Zoom commitments each day, so the AC was nice to have fired up (it's way louder than my tinitus!)...

The knuckleheads loved the boat ramp water:

Both would only go chest-deep, since Oscar's legs are short he wouldn't go down the ramp as far as "tall-boy" Magnus:

The temps here were low-90's and the 72F lake water was a perfect way to cool down these 2 knuckleheads:

Chillax'n in the back during a stressful Zoom call:

Our patio with a lake view:

Fun lake - water skiing, stand-up paddle boarding, fishing, and generally a good time all around:

Getting ready for popcorn time:

We departed this morning for a short 2+hour run down to Moab - picked up some Thai food in town and checked into the Spanish Trails Campground (where we stayed on DAY-1).  We barely got the awning stowed when we got hit by a Haboob:

 

Then the rain came:

 

...all that, and I washed Casablanca before departure this morning.😡

We're meeting our friends here this afternoon from NM and will enjoy the national parks here until we head home Sunday.

We'll aim to get a final Trip Summary posted by Saturday...

Cheers, ALL!

A & D

 

[MAX Burner]

Final Travel Summary -- Day-18, Monday, 01JUL24:

2,424.4 Odometer miles, 12.7MPG (from Tundra computer).  But actual consumed gallons from re-fueling receipts was 163.8 gallons or 14.8MPG.  Not sure of the reason for the discrepancy.  Anyhow:

Moab, UT:  We linked-up with our friends from NM last Thursday here at Spanish Trails campground for a weekend of sightseeing, hiking, and general frivolity...  Our original plan was to tour Arches Nat'l Park on Friday, then hit Dead Horse SP and Canyonlands NP Saturday.  But...  there weren't any "timed entry reservations" available for us on Friday for Arches so we switched the plan for those two days.  

NOTE:  For those of you planning to visit Arches - the NP Service is requiring visitors to obtain a $2 timed entry reservation online that assigns a 60-minute window for entry in addition to the park entry fee (or Senior/Military Lifetime NP Pass).  Our timed reservation was for 9-10AM on Saturday.  This keeps the traffic flow through the park manageable in both directions.  It actually worked out real well - just we wish we knew about it in advance.

So, onward to Deadhorse SP...  Magnus wants mom to let him out so he can get out and go exploring - Oscar wanted to stay back at Casablanca:

Magnus in his "explorer" mode:

Deadhorse entry gate - beautiful weather for sightseeing with our friends:

Very cool vistas here at Deadhorse:

Twisty Colorado River below:

Back at the Campground, the Knuckleheads and their buddy, Heinrich are re-united - do we plan around our puppies?  Ah, YES!

2-legged and 4-legged friends loving to camp out together...

Getting ready for dad to throw together some evening kibble for everyone:

Noth'n wrong with a little "surf and turf":

Fast forward to Arches NP:

For our style of sightseeing - Arches was the favorite:

Notice a puppy head out the window and a tail out the back:

Just having a great time:

Arches everywhere:

Walking up to the Big Window:

Under the arch:

Just amazing sights here:

Back in the Tundra and headed to Red Cliffs Lodge near Moab on the CO River, Knuckleheads sharing the cool AC from their puppy hammock in the back seat:

Very cool place where dozens of westerns were produced - with an interesting museum capturing pix of many of the movies made there:

Red cliffs above the CO River:

We've driven by the "Hole in the Wall" dozens of times over the years on US-191, but on the way home, we took a few minutes and actually walked through the "Tour of the 5,000 sqft House" inside the rock!

Got home safe and sound around 5pm - unpacked Casablanca and realized how nice it is to "come home."

Cheers, All!

A & D