The Grizz didn't get me - this time

[topgun2]

As some of you already know, Twist and I have just returned to the mountains of Western North Carolina (home) after a two month trip to Wyoming for some fly fishing.  We spent time at Boysen State Park, the town of Meeteetse, west of Cody on the North Fork of the Shoshone River, north of Cody at Dead Indian, Sunlight and Hunter Peak.  Then nine days in Yellowstone at Pebble Creek Campground before hitting West Yellowstone to do laundry and restock the pantry and fridge - plus get something actually cooked by someone other than myself.  Then it was off to Falls Campground and Brooks Lake off highway 26 west of Dubois.  Getting towards our final legs of the trip, we went to Horse Creek and Double Cabin north of Dubois where we actually did see fresh Grizzly tracks at the edge of Horse Creek.  Then we ended up at Ring Lake and Torrey Creek where we caught our biggest fish of the trip (an 18 inch brown trout) and found a fair amount of Native American rock drawings right across from camp.

 

A few hundred trout, numerous deer, pine martins, ground squirrels (or pocket pens as the locals call them), buffalo, elk, mountain goats, moose, antelope, wolves, and, hawks and falcons and right at 5,000 miles later we returned home.  Twist was a great companion who never let me down, kept me safe, warm and dry and comfortable.  I never really believed Anita when she told me that people would actually follow you into gas stations and/or rest stops in order to inquire about the Oliver.  But, she was more than right!  And, just try getting out of a commercial campground without at least on person wanting to know all about it.  I even had two un-related couples waiting for me in the parking lot of the Cody WalMart to return from shopping so they could see the interior.

 

I may have mentioned this before, but, if you are planning a trip west for 2017, be careful.  Due to the total eclipse that is scheduled for next summer, I was told that for at least the two weeks either side of the eclipse all hotels and camp grounds for virtually the entire length of highway 26 (think from Jackson through Dubois and down toward Rawlins ) are already booked solid.

 

 

 

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

[Try2Relax]

Sounds like an awesome trip! I can't wait until we have enough time to be gone for that long.

 

Nice Buzzy coupler.. What do you use that huge neon (matching) suction cup for? And finally, what is the sticker curb side on the back?

[tstorm5]

Is it bad to be jealous of all of you people living my dream?

 

Awesome pictures and story.

 

 

[rideandfly]

Enjoyed the great trip report and photos!  That's a fine brown trout, too!

[trumpetguy]

We were camping in Brevard while you were out west.  Hot and sticky with rain each day, but a very nice little town.  Dog friendly.

[topgun2]

Everyone - Thanks for the comments - glad you enjoyed it.

 

Randy - the orange Harbor Freight suction cup is used for hanging my fishing waders out to dry.  It really works great and the orange reminds me to take it off prior to moving.  The sticker on the back is a Yeti carrying a fly rod - a bit of a self portrait.

 

Bill - That "brown" trout is actually a nice Brook Trout who lives in prime Grizzly bear territory.  Bear spray and a sidearm were always at the ready!

 

Trumpetguy - Yes, Brevard really does like dogs and beer, or, is that beer and dogs?  Anyway, if you thought it was hot and steamy here you should live in Florida?  Seriously, my wife didn't exactly appreciate me telling her about 10% humidity and 75 degree daytime high temps.  But, someone just had to do it!  Hopefully, someday, I'll be around while you are here so we can share a tonic or two.

 

Bill

[rideandfly]

Bill,

 

Beautiful shot of the Tetons!!!!

 

When we're in Cody, like to drop our laundry off at the Cody Laundromat. They wash and fold all of the laundry by the pound.  :)

 

 

[topgun2]

Bill,

 

Can't say that I spent a bunch of time in laundromats, but, that laundry is one of my favorites.  While I wait for the machines to get done I can catch up on email with their free WiFi and its clean with an attendant always on duty if you have a problem.  Another thing about Cody is that at the water works/sanitation department on the outskirts of town they will let you dump your tanks and fill with fresh water.

 

Bill

[John E Davies]

Bear spray and a sidearm were always at the ready!

I like to hear this. I hope it was a big bore hand cannon....

 

Did you stop by the firearms museum in Cody? It will use up an entire day, if you are anything like me.

 

https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/

 

Thanks for the report. You can post as many pictures as you like.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[topgun2]

John,

 

No, I have never stopped at that museum.  Perhaps someday, but, it seems that when I'm on these trips each summer I try to avoid crowds (certainly there are plenty of those in Cody, Jackson and Yellowstone) and my "purpose" is to fly fish.  On days when I'm not fishing I am either in transit or doing laundry and restocking Twist.

 

With regards to "big bore" - I either carry a 44 mag pistol (6 inch barrel) or a 357 sig automatic.  We could go round and round about what is "necessary" to really make an impact on a Grizzly.  The 44 certainly has the size and speed but it is somewhat heavier than the 357.  The 357 has the speed to penetrate Griz bone but its mass is lacking.  Bear spray is the first option in either case but there are situations when it is not practical.  So, the bottom line is that I hope to never have to use either one, but, I try to prepare the best I can.

 

Bill

[Mike and Carol]

Bill, sounds like a great trip!  Nice photos too.  Thanks for the inspiration!  Mike

[topgun2]

Buzzy,

 

1 - No, I actually never did use the furnace.  Approximately 30% of the time I had shore power and I take a small ceramic electric heater.  For the balance of the time I use a "Mr. Buddy" propane heater.  I found it interesting that the interior temperature each morning would be 10 degrees warmer than the temp outside (if it was 35 outside then it would be 45 or 46 inside).  Unless I'm on the road, I virtually always have the bathroom vent open, but during the night all other windows and the MaxAir are closed.  No heat is on during the night.  First thing in the morning I would normally get up "to take care of business", light the Mr. Buddy and then jump back into bed for about a half hour while things warmed up a bit.  See #3 below for a bit more info on this.

 

2 - Yes, on balance I was extremely happy with the solar.  There was a problem in that the IPN was wired incorrectly thus giving me some readings that were exactly backwards.  But, once that was figured out, there were really no issues.  Yes, I did use the microwave and a 1500 watt toaster oven.  I also usually had the audio system on playing MP3's or books on CD and virtually every night I would watch a DVD movie.  Note that during the day (from about 9am to 4pm) I was not in the camper and I normally do not use a lot of lights.  Having said all that, it was rare for the batteries to not be at or very near 100% and the voltage never fell below 12.5 volts.

 

3 - I do not use the "automatic" switch over feature on the propane tanks.  I leave the shut-off valve on the tank I'm not using in the off position.  This way, when the first tank runs out of propane I know it (either the cooktop will not light, or the fridge "check" light comes on or the water heater will not light.  Obviously, the most "dangerous" item of these three is the fridge.  But I have an external temperature monitor for the fridge and freezer in addition to the "check" light on the fridge itself.  Between these two I can easily see if there is a problem.  Yes, I did run out of propane on the first tank.  I believe that this occurred about mid-morning one day while I was out fishing.  When I got back to the camper, indeed the check light was "on" the fridge and the freezer's temp was up to 15 degrees (normally it is between -3 and +10).  First thing I did was to try lighting the cooktop - it didn't.  Therefore, I simply went outside, opened the "porthole" in the tank cover, turned the tank leaver and opened the valve on the second tank.  Back inside I lite the cooktop and checked the fridge - it was already fired up.  For reference purposes, the first tank lasted about 6 weeks.  I almost always have the fridge on "automatic", I don't really cook complicated meals on the stove and use the microwave to heat water for coffee/hot chocolate in the morning.  Also, when I'm camped where grey water can be released on the ground, I use a solar shower and external shower tent.  This saves propane and both fresh water tank and grey water tank capacity.  Even in the rather remote places I camped I never worried about replacing the empty propane tank.  Since I moved camp every 4 to 5 days on average I usually passed a number of gas stations or went through a small town of some sort that had either tank exchange or a propane dealer.  Having said that - I never did run out of propane on the second tank.  I'm sure that it doesn't have much left in it, but, I had 3 full tanks at home and didn't really want to get another filled.

 

4 - I have only the WiFi Ranger.  It worked great until about half way through the trip.  Mind you, most of the time I was in locations that didn't have either cell or WiFi service.  When in West Yellowstone the Ranger simply quit working - even two factory resets didn't get it going again.  All lights on the Ranger show it is working, but, my tablet doesn't show the Ranger as transmitting a WiFi signal.  So, Twist is back at the Mothership and Tommy is looking into the cause of the problem.  When the Ranger did work I felt a bit guilty being able to get a strong WiFi signal and transmission rates while others camped near me were complaining about the lack of service and bandwidth.

 

5 - Yes, as I mentioned above, about 70% of my trip was off the grid and there was no electric, sewer or campsite water hookup.  A couple of times (Ring Lake outside Dubois and Dead Indian north of Cody) there wasn't water directly available in the camp ground but even each of these had water (non-potable) via either a stream or a lake.  I do carry an 8 gallon water container in the bed of the truck and on several occasions I needed to use it to replenish the fresh water tank in Twist.  I can tell you that it works like a charm.  Knowing that Ollie is your first camper, I also know that you have probably never experienced the "joy" of trying to pour water into the fresh water tank of a typical RV.  Three times I had fellow campers watching me as I "magically" got the fresh water into Twist without working up a sweat!  I never did have to get the water directly from the lake or stream, but, it sure is nice knowing that you can if necessary.

 

Hope that answers your questions - if you have more, please feel free to shoot or shout.

 

Bill

[Commanche]

Nick,

 

We go to the local library and get a bunch of videos, before we go on a trip. Of course we only get to see half of each one before we fall asleep, so we never know how they end. Oh well. guess they served their purpose.

 

Stan

[topgun2]

Nick,

 

Thanks, I go West fishing almost every summer to either Colorado, Wyoming or Montana and always have a great time.  I had a number of movies that I took with me.  Even with the WiFi Ranger downloading while on the road is an iffy proposition.  I also have a DVD recorder that can burn to disk.  Therefore I can watch almost anything that I have previously recorded directly from my home TV.  This is really great for those nights that I don't care to read, listen to music,  or simply sit under the stars.

 

Bill