We drove the 13.3 miles open on the Going To The Sun Road out of St. Mary. The photos below are from that drive. On the drive we saw a Mother Black Bear and her Cubs.

 

We drove the first fifteen miles of the Going To The Sun Road out of the West Glacier Entrance that was open. Photos below are from that drive.

 

We decided to go on a boat tour at Two Medicine Lake in East Glacier National Park. I will post photos about Glacier and the boat tour later but I wanted to dedicate some time to how the trip ended. We took the boat from the South shore of the lake to the North shore. We had signed up for the two mile guided hike back to Twin Falls and there was about twenty of us who set out on the hike. The first thing we noticed was the mosquito’s were bad, really bad you could see them swarming the whole group but we all toughed it out and made the hike out to the falls and back. We were all standing at the boat dock waiting for the boat to pick us up and yes the mosquito’s were still swarming us. You could feel the tension in the air, people just wanted the boat to come so we could get out of there. By now our group has grown to about forty people because of hikers that had hiked the trail and now wanted a boat ride back to the South shore. We see the boat coming on the horizon but it’s still about ten minutes away but everyone is just watching it come to the dock. As the boat pulled up to the dock the deckhand yelled “THERE’s A BEAR RIGHT THERE”  but everyone thought he was joking and he Yelled “LOOK THE BEAR IS RIGHT THERE” we had been so focused on the boat and distracted by the mosquito’s that we hadn’t noticed a Grizzly Bear was on the other side of the stream and about fifteen feet from our group. The pictures below were shot with a wide angle lens set at 55 mm from about twenty feet. 

The bear crossed the log and got on the hiking trail heading straight for us. He than jumped in some bushes and walk off. We have to remember that National Parks and wilderness areas are not Zoo’s that being aware of your surrounding is important. Up in Glacier the bears don’t seem to have any fear of people so the park has closed a trail in West Glacier because of bears. This Grizzly didn’t seem to mind that he was walking up on a group of forty people, I was sure happy that the boat showed up when it did or someone could have been hurt.

What we learned

Be prepared…… Insect replant doesn’t do any good when its in the truck! On the South shore mosquito’s weren’t a problem, but when we got to the North shore they were. I got bite between thirty to fifty times on my right hand, face, and head. Darla fared better than I did with only ten to fifteen bites. There was nothing in the tour literature or on the website about mosquito’s. Be prepared.

When your in bear country always be aware of your surrounding. All wildlife is unpredictable and should be viewed from a distanced. Where we were when the bear walked up on the group was on the other side of the group, so he had plenty of people to maul before he got to us.

 

We arrived in Bigfork MT last Sunday and we made it to Glacier national Park on Monday and we were able to drive about 15 miles up the Going-To-The-Sun Road from the West. We grabbed some guides and maps to plan our visit to Glacier. The rest of the week the weather has been rainy and cool in Bigfork and in Glacier rain, snow, and cold. We decided to lay over two weeks in Kalispell MT so we can hopefully drive the whole Going-To-The-Sun Road. The weather next week is suppose to be warmer so we can do some kayaking, fishing and hiking.

 

Yellowstone is an amazing National Park on a couple of different levels. First it is a beautiful place with very different types of landscape. The road system is very good with lots of big turnouts and parking areas to view the sights. Secondly its like a city with gas stations, auto repair, restaurants, and medical clinics through out the park. We found that the North Loop was mostly waterfalls and mountainous scenery. The North Loop is where we saw the most wildlife; Buffalo, Moose, Elk, Deer, and a Bear. Unfortunately we were not always able to stop and take pictures of the wildlife for safety reasons but we will always have the memories. The South Loop which is what we traveled on our last day at Yellowstone is more hot springs and geysers. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Behind the Madison Information Center.

Firehole Falls.

Fountain Paint Pot.

Grand Prismatic Spring.

Old Faithful.

Kepler Cascades.

West Thumb.

LeHardys Rapids.

Artist Paintpots.

The Mesa Falls Scenic Byway is the road that connected Ashton Idaho to Island Park Idaho before highway US 20 was put in. Leaving Ashton on the Byway the first turn off is Cave Falls which is 19 miles off the Byway. At first we decided not to go to Cave Falls because of the distance but decided to go on the way back to Ashton. The 19 miles turned out to be 5 miles of paved road and 14 miles of gravel road which takes you to a remote corner of Yellowstone. The second turn off was Lower Mesa Falls, after that was Upper Mesa Falls. A long the way we heard of a place called Johnny Sack’s Cabin which is in Big Springs ID near Island Park ID. Johnny Sack build his Cabin in 1929 with hand tools after leasing the cabin site from US Forestry for $4.15 a year. We couldn’t get in to see the inside of the cabin it was still closed from the winter season.

Lower Mesa Falls

 

Upper Mesa Falls

 

Johnny Sack’s Cabin

 

Cave Falls

Since we started the Blog it has been a race to keep up with posting photos of where we’ve been, but the other half of the blog is to share what we learn in the hope that it may be helpful to someone else.

1. Internet; is the cornerstone of being a Nomad these days. It’s not only important for planning our trips but for finding parts or repair shops in places we’ve never been. We currently have a 3GB hotspot on Darla’s Iphone, mostly we relay on WIFI at the RV campgrounds we stay at. Campground WIFI has come a long way in the last couple of years, and for right now its working well but its something we’re always looking at for a better way that’s affordable. Example; We pulled into our current campground and started leveling our 5th wheel so we could disconnect the truck from the 5th wheel when we noticed that the right side front landing gear was not operating therefore we could not disconnect from the truck. We got online and found an RV parts house in Kalispell MT 18 miles away that had the part. Next we went online to see if it was something we could do ourselves in the campground and it turned out it was. Our neighbors are also full timers who also had to go to Kalispell to pick up a part for their 5th wheel and offered me a ride to town to get the part. It took about 1 hour to replace the landing gear and disconnect the truck. Which leads to our next topic the RV Community.
2. RV Community; the RV community reminds me of the old days when neighbors helped you rebuild your barn because you were all in together. Online or in person most RV’er are willing to share information or their help if they can. Example; the example above is not the first time a fellow RV’er has come to our rescue. When we first bought our 5th wheel we had no idea how level and disconnect it. We went online and try to find information on the subject but really couldn’t find any step by step help so we started trying to disconnect the truck and trailer. I know we must have looked pretty lost because before long one of our neighbors showed up and asked if we needed help? He was kind enough to show us how to level and disconnect trailer. In return we try to make ourselves available to help when ever possible.
3. Leveling your RV; leveling your RV is important so your refrigerator works properly (an out of level refrigerator can be a fire hazard)  but also because if your not level the water in your shower can run away from the drain and pool in your shower. Also may create leaks around your shower because the water is going places it won’t go if you were level. Example; Last year we were in a camp site that was so unlevel, the best level we could get was 2% out of level. That was fine for the refrigerator but not so good for the shower. The shower started leaking on the floor from the seam between the glass side panels and the shower pan. Being that we were going to be in this site for a week I got some caulk, re-caulk the shower and let it dry for 24 hours problem solved.
4. Water Pressure and Water; Normally we are hooked to city water in an RV campground and water pressures vary dramatically. Most parks will not assume liability for damage to your rig from high water pressure or anything else for that matter (electrical surge, fallen trees, etc.). So it’s up to us to make sure the pressure is right for our 5th wheel. We have a regulator with a gauge and we have a regulator without a gauge that we used to keep the water pressure at the right level. The regulator are readily available online or at your local store in their RV section. No matter how hard we try one will always get by you. Example; We pull in to our camp site in Cedar City Utah and start our routine to level and hook up the water when I realize that the water pressure is off the charts high. The water is controlled by a handle and when the handle is up it’s on and when it’s down it’s off.  

We set the water pressure and everything seem find until we woke up in the morning and found water inside the 5th wheel in the kitchen. During the night apparently the handle move up in the full on position which was to much pressure for the water inlet on the side of the 5th wheel which leaked into the kitchen. So we decided that if we have a similar situation in the future to simply turn the water when we go to bed. Fortunately there was no damage to the 5th wheel.

Water and cold temperatures; water in the lines of your RV can freeze if the temperatures get to cold which can split your water lines and cause leaks when they warm up. Example; We pulled into our camp site in Deer Lodge MT and we got the 5th wheel hooked up and later that night we checked the overnight low for the area and saw it was going to be 34 degrees. Because it wasn’t going to drop below 32 degrees we didn’t shut the water off and drain the lines before we went to bed. But as luck would have it the temperature dropped to some where around 28 degrees and we woke up to frozen water lines. Once we realized the lines were frozen we turned off the water to the 5th wheel and fired up the furnace to heat the water lines and yet again a lesson learned without damage to the 5th wheel.

Our last thought is that the full time RV life style is an adventure that contains beautiful places, challenges, and an opportunity to learn more about yourself. But after all it is still life and we believe that Life is a Game of progress, not Perfection!

From Canyon Falls we went to Tower Falls.

We continued to Wraith Falls.

 

Further on up the road we came to Undine Falls.

Next on the loop is a change of scenery Mammoth Hot Springs.

We finished the loop with Sheepeater Cliff.

Grand Teton National Park

Tomorrow we’re off to Deer Lodge Montana for one night and than Bigfork Montana for a week to go to Glacier National Park. We still have photos to post from day two of Yellowstone.

 

 

On Sunday we went to Yellowstone this is our first visit to the park. By the time we got through the Visitors Center it was noon and we left the park about 8:00 pm. We took the the North Loop. The photo’s below are only the first two stops on the loop. More to come…

Driving to the first stop there was one of those electronic signs saying there was construction delays and as soon as we turned the corner the traffic was stopped. After an half hour delay this what we saw.

Our first stop was the Canyon Falls.

Our second stop is whats referred to as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park.

At this stop there was an Osprey Nest with an Osprey in it.

We have more photos from our first visit we will post soon. We have also been to the Grand Teton National Park and the Mesa Falls Byway, photos of these trips to come. Tomorrow is an early day we are off to Yellowstone to do the larger South loop.

This is such a cool little town, our RV park is 10 miles outside of town. The pictures below are the views form where we’re parked.