Abbey's Road

The Grand Tetons

I met Doug, Liane and their dog, Max, in Big Bend back in February and we followed the same path through parts of Texas and New Mexico for a short while. We’ve managed to keep track of each other’s wanderings throughout the year and we finally hooked up again in Gros Ventre campground outside of Jackson on Friday, 9/15. I owed them a dinner still, so I got there early enough to cook a nice meal and the 5 of us squeezed into my humble abode. There was plenty of room leftover for a few bottles of wine, too. It was much colder than the last time I saw them so we had our heaters running quite often. Liane is a Michigan alum so on Saturday, they had me over to watch the ND-Michigan game. We watched the game inside their much more spacious motorhome as the snow flakes were flying outside. If you didn’t hear already, Michigan pretty much embarrassed ND. Thankfully, they were gracious winners, and hosts. Max and Abbey really didn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

Sunday morning we woke up to 4 moose in the campground. Thankfully, Abbey didn’t get a good look at them, but the next morning we were walking in the woods near the campground and she started running all of a sudden. I stopped her right away with the leash, but when I looked up I saw a big bull moose running away. I was surprised, but real glad, that it ran away from her. The weather finally warmed up on Monday, just in time for Chris’ arrival.

Last year when Chris came out we spent most of our time in Yellowstone and only a few days in Grand Teton NP and Jackson Hole. So this year we decided to spend more time in Jackson and the Tetons. On Tuesday since it was a clear day we rode the old tram up to the top of the ski area and took a nice hike. October 1st is the last day to ride the tram because they are tearing it down and building a new one. When we got back down to the bottom, we hit another Jackson Hole landmark, the Mangy Moose, for lunch and a Moose Drool. It just seemed too good to pass up. On Wednesday we drove up to Yellowstone to check out Old Faithful and its nearby geysers again. Old Faithful didn’t seem quite as amazing the second time around, but it was still pretty cool seeing all the hot springs and some of the other geysers spouting off.

We got a surprise the next morning waking up to snow, though it was only an inch or two. It was cloudy and cold so we made our way back down to Jackson and spent the rest of our time there. We got more snow in Jackson, but by the weekend it finally warmed up again. I was happy I got a new propane heater because we couldn’t plug in at the campground and the blower of the furnace kept wearing down the batteries. The new heater doesn’t use any electricity at all and most nights were too cold to go without it. I don’t think they have a very long fall here. The leaves have started to change and the aspens are turning a golden yellow. It really is beautiful.

One day we drove over the Teton Pass into Idaho and checked out the up and coming boomtowns of Victor and Driggs. These towns are both less than a thousand people, but supposedly they are building homes like crazy there. I think they are mostly second homes for people who can’t afford, or don’t want to live in, Jackson. Victor is little more than a few blocks long but they have a high-end furniture store, an organic bakery and an market with lots of organic stuff. We couldn’t figure out where their customers were coming from, but apparently the town is growing like crazy. So you better hurry if you want to get in on the boom before it gets out of sight. We talked to one girl who has lived there for 10 years and had lived in Jackson for 10 years before that. She said she could never live in Jackson because “there are way too many people there.” I thought Chris was going to lose it.

People in this area are almost as crazy about fly fishing as they are in Montana. Driving through town you see drift boats (for floating down the rivers) in nearly everyone’s driveway. The high price of outfitters and guides, and the cold weather, deterred us from giving it a try. I’m sure my brother-in-law, Tim, will be dumbfounded when he finds out I didn’t fish at all in Montana or Wyoming. One of these days I’ll have to give it another try. We did get to check out a lot of Jackson’s restaurants. They weren’t that great but it sure beat cooking and they all seem to have a great selection of beer on tap. I even found one I like better than Moose Drool – Mighty Bison brewed in none other than Victor, ID. I guess Victor has that going for it too. On Monday morning Abbey and I dropped Chris off at the airport and got ready for my two week stint with Habitat. More on that next time.

Posted by Ed at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I remember the first time I came to Montana over 10 years ago I had this romanticized notion in my head of what it was going to look like. I think I got it from “Dances with Wolves” and other western movies. I was thinking that Big Sky Country would be beyond my wildest dreams. I think I built it up so much in my mind that my initial impression was somewhat of a disappointment. But it has grown on me over the years and the rolling hills, the mountains, streams and forests really are something to behold. It really is wide-open country – Big Sky Country. Unfortunately, at the end of this summer it has been Smoke-filled Sky Country. This wildfire season has been one of the worst ever (and is a big reason why I have no pictures this time.) I spent 3 days in Missoula and the sky was pretty smoky all 3 days. It didn’t matter too much, though, because I was feeling pretty hiked out after Canada. I just wanted to get some errands done now that I was back in the US and check out Missoula. Like many western towns it has grown like crazy in the last decade and real estate prices have gone up accordingly. I talked to a woman who owned a small pet shop who said she still loves Missoula, but it isn’t the same as it was even 10 years ago. It has a Wal-Mart, Target, Pier 1, Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, etc., etc., etc. But the same is true all over the West, and in most places in the US. In some ways I think it is sad. So many places that used to have a distinct personality are starting to look more and more the same. But, at the same time, how can I tell the people who live there who want access to better shopping and more affordable choices that they shouldn’t allow these stores to move in. Also, when I go to a town and see a familiar store I feel like at least I know what I can expect. I know what the quality level will be, good or bad. But it still feels like it’s a shame that so many places are starting to all look the same. Fortunately, they still have some of their personality, their distinction, left. Let’s hope they keep it.

I better quit with the soapbox before this starts to sound like a real blog. Missoula is a bit blue collar, but it has the University of Montana which injects a more progressive nature I think. To me, university towns seem to have more life to them. Not just a younger influence, but a more educated, open-minded influence which I find refreshing. In some cases it is a more liberal influence, though not always, but I tend to like that. (Don’t worry Dad. I don’t consider myself a Democrat. I like them about as much as I like the Republicans which doesn’t say a lot for either.) Oops. Forgot I was off the soapbox.

I stayed in a nice little RV park outside of Missoula, of which the biggest attractions were that it was neat, clean, reasonably priced and they had a free concert on Wednesday night. The artist was LeGrande Harvey one of whose claims to fame is that one of his songs was voted in as the Montana State Ballad in 1982. Another of his claims to fame is that he is the brother of Alex Harvey who wrote, among other country hits, “Delta Dawn”. It was a top hit in the early 70s and it brought back great memories when LeGrande played it for us. I can still remember my sister, Terri, Peggy and Jean Weisenberger, and I belting it out every chance we got one year at the beach. Our family was real thrilled every time we sang it. The words came back to me like it was yesterday. That and the huckleberry ice cream afterwards made my night even though LeGrande and his partner played a lot of other nice songs. If I wasn’t the only one in the room under 50 besides the owners of the park I woulda stuck around a while. Abbey didn’t have a great time in Missoula because we spent a lot of time in town and there wasn’t much water around. One day I did take her for a walk downtown and she managed to bring me down to the river where some kayakers were practicing their “rodeo” techniques in what looked to be a manmade rapid. She paid no attention to the kayakers, but had a great time in the water and only got a little testy when I paid too much attention to the kayakers and forgot to throw her rocks. One of the kayakers had brought his dog along with him, who also happened to be fond of diving for rocks in the water so I had to keep both of them busy. The only thing that saved me was that we had to go back to make sure the parking meter hadn’t expired.

On Friday we drove down to Bozeman, another place I had always wanted to check out. I had signed up for a rock climbing class near Bozeman on Saturday and there happened to be a campground near where we were climbing. I have been wanting to take a class for quite some time so I was pretty excited. It turned out to be a lot of fun, but quite tiring. I felt pretty good, though, when I was the oldest one there and yet was the only one who got to the top on the most difficult climb we did. Of course, I was pretty sore for the next several days not having used those muscles much before, but the youngsters don’t need to know that. That night was the big Ohio State vs. Texas football game so I decided I was too tired to cook and went to Montana Ale Works where I had dinner and watched the game. I ended up talking a long time to a chef from Hawaii who comes up every September for the month to go fly fishing in Montana and Canada so I didn’t see much of the game. It turned out to be not so good anyways. Speaking of fly fishing my brother-in-law Tim was drooling over the fact that I was in “The Land of the Trout” as he called it, but I hate to admit I didn’t do any. I called a few places to check on classes or guide service and it turned out to be way too pricey for me. I figured if I’m going to spend that much money on lessons I want to be able to go a lot afterwards to really get the hang of it. Since I don’t have the equipment I knew that wouldn’t happen. It’ll have to wait ‘til next time.

After the first couple of nights I found a nice forest service campground in Hyalite Canyon, a little outside of town. The best part about it was that it was nearly empty every night, and the second best part was that a stream ran right through it. Abbey seemed to love it right from the start. The first morning she got me up a little after 7AM and, except for 20 minutes to eat breakfast, was “fishing” and hunting for field mice until 1PM. The next morning she got me up even earlier and it was the same story. After eating lunch on the second day I figured she must be exhausted and I could go for a hike. When I got to the trailhead, she jumped up and was ready to go. I guess I know what perks her up – mice and fish. Not to mention that it was pretty cold when we got up in the morning with frost on 3 of the mornings. She’s more of a cold weather dog. The third morning she slept in ‘til 8, but we still went on a hike, though a short one, around noontime. I think I was more tired than she was. I thought she had had enough by the last morning, but after I ate breakfast she was waiting outside the door of the RV. I thought she wanted to come in, but no. She was waiting for me to come out and go for a walk up the creek with her. After our walk and after I cleaned up we took off for West Yellowstone. On the drive down she finally crashed. I guess she realized she wouldn’t see those mice again for a while. Tomorrow we say “Good-Bye” Montana and head down to Jackson, WY to meet up with some friends I met in Big Bend back in February. Then my friend, Chris, comes in for a week to hang out with us in Jackson. It’ll be nice after being on my own for a while.

Posted by Ed at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

At the advice of a ranger at the visitor center, I drove down to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park and got a campsite right away. Since Labor Day weekend was coming up I knew it would get pretty crowded so I wanted to get a site early. In fact, some people drove down early in the week, paid for their site for the week, parked their trailer or camper and came back on Friday to stay for the weekend. I was real lucky and got a site on the lake. The campground was actually between 2 big lakes and was one of the nicest campgrounds I’ve been to. The sites were huge with tons of room between you and your neighbors. Since it was a rainy, cloudy day I didn’t really notice how nice the scenery looked until I got up the next morning. It was starting to clear up and you could see the mountains surrounding the lakes. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as some of the scenery in Banff and Jasper, but the mountains in this area give the national parks a run for their money. There were several good hiking trails in the area too. Thursday was still pretty cool, but at least the rain had appeared to stop. Since Abbey hadn’t been out much the two previous days I took her on a trail around one of the lakes and she was raring to go. She was doing great until it started to snow. Well, I think it was snow, but the flakes were small and hard so it could’ve been hail. It just didn’t come down hard like hail. Anyways, I managed to get Abbey going again and back to our campsite.

Friday was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky. As an added bonus, the crowds weren’t all there yet. I took Abbey for a shorter hike in the morning and then I went on my own to a beautiful sub-alpine lake. It didn’t take too long so I decided to climb up to a higher vantage point above the lake and just below this rocky ridge. I sat there for a while enjoying the view, but I kept hearing these noises that sounded like falling rock. Every time I heard it I would look but couldn’t see any rocks falling. I was far enough from the ridge not to worry about anything falling on me, but my curiosity was killing me. Finally, after it sounded like an avalanche was starting I saw clouds of dust flying up and then I saw the rocks bounding down the ridge. The rocks weren’t all that big for all the noise they made. I was glad that I stopped where I did and was satisfied not to climb up any further.

On Saturday, another cloudless day, I took Abbey for another nice hike along the other lake and she got to go “fishin”, her favorite activity next to eating. After eating lunch I wanted to do another hike but the crowds finally caught up to us. I couldn’t find a parking spot at 2 different trailheads. Giving up I drove back to the campground but remembered another trail near the campground that the ranger had told me about. It was supposed to be less than a mile, though steep, to a nice viewpoint overlooking both lakes. The trail was very steep and rocky, but it was still packed with people. I stopped for a few seconds to catch my breath at the viewpoint then decided to continue on up the hill. The views kept getting better as the trail climbed higher. When it turned into the woods I was beginning to wonder when it would end. After asking a couple how much longer the trail was (a famous question on most any trail) I found out that one fork climbed up to a saddle overlooking the lower lake. Then I met some girls who were making a lot of noise because they just saw some bear scat. Despite the bear scat I figured there were enough other people around to not be too worried about the bear. One thing about the Canadian trail builders – they don’t seem to believe in switchbacks. They just blast straight up the hills. After a flat section around a dry lakebed the trail climbed up, steeply again, to the saddle. I think it was about the most tired I’ve been in a long time on the trail. The views were worth it, though. I didn’t stay up there too long though ‘cause I started to think about that bear again. Luckily I never ran into him.

On Sunday Abbey wasn’t up for a morning hike so I did the one that I wanted to on Saturday. It was the 3rd straight beautiful, blue sky day. In the afternoon I finally saw a few thin clouds. The hike wasn’t anything spectacular, but after the trail passed a lake the crowds thinned out considerably. It also leveled out and wandered through a beautiful valley surrounded by rugged mountains. It typified the whole area in Peter Lougheed. None of the areas were jaw-droppingly beautiful, but at the same time they were pretty darn nice. On more advice from that same ranger at the visitor center I went to the season finale of the interpretive programs of the park. The group who put it on were college students, most of whom were drama majors. This was obvious right from the start. At first I was thinking that it was pretty corny, but the kids did a great job and it was pretty funny, as well as educational. I found myself laughing pretty hard at times. My favorite line was when a girl playing a wildflower was dying because someone picked her. She looked up into the stage lights and said, “Oh no, I don’t know which light to go to.” It took me a minute so if you don’t get it, don’t feel too bad. You can always email me.

Monday morning meant the end of my trip into Canada. The clouds and smoke were back but it was a driving day so I didn't care so much. All in all I really enjoyed the Canadian Rockies despite the smoky skies and the crowds. I still had a lot of great days and the scenery was as good as any I’ve seen. I also saw signs that fall is coming. The wildflowers were mostly gone, but plants and shrubs at the higher elevations in many areas were starting to change colors. It will be nice to get back in cellphone range, though, and my brother will be happy about that too.

Posted by Ed at 7:10 PM | Permalink