Seattle Rain and Rainier

The road into Seattle, I 90, felt less like an interstate and more like a precarious drive through a mountainous rain forest. Actually, it felt a lot like what I expected the Grand Tetons to feel like. I was dwarfed by the immense Cascade Mountains, one after the other, for many miles as I wove through mountain passes. This stretch is perhaps the most entertaining and white knuckled drive on any of the major cross country interstates, made all the more difficult by the weather changing from drizzle to rain to thunderstorm to snow to sleet and back again, ending in a steady drizzle that would linger for the next 3 days. Hey, it's Seattle.

Mr. and Mrs. Battlestar swore that this much rain was uncharacteristic, but why would there be so many jokes about Seattle's rainy weather? I arrived at the BS's early enough on Friday to enjoy dinner. We ordered superb Thai food, and it wouldn't be until Sunday morning before I had a full meal of anything but Asian cuisines. It was delicious and I probably haven't had better since I was last in San Francisco a year ago. Thanks to the Battlestars' for being superb hosts and I wish them the best on their upcoming adventures...before weeks end, they will be in Australia, and BS himself will have turned 41 (happy b-day!).

This morning, I exited rainy Seattle with weather forecasts at all possible destinations calling for constant precipitation again in the drizzle to snow range. The best places to explore were also at the highest elevations, so snow and closed roads were on the agenda, and the forecasters were remarkably accurate. After combating Seattle's rush hour traffic that was as hectic as Philadelphia's is, I wound my way to the only entrance still open at Mount Rainier National Park.

Mt. Rainier was the fifth National Park ever established and encompasses all of the 14,410 foot eponymous peak. Unlike the Tetons, the base of this behemoth starts near sea level, and pyramids upward. I wish I could describe its majesty, but I could see no further up the slope than perhaps 100 feet. Fog and rain and eventually snow obscured the heights. Yet its' presence was easy to perceive by the switchback turns, tumbling waterfalls and old growth forests. A couple of short hikes into the forests yielded a shadowy spongy existence that declared that this place was unique and special.

If I could have ventured further into the park, I am sure each change in elevation would have provided more unique adventures, but the road to scenic Paradise was closed and I had to turn back. And just an hour later I ran into similar road blocks as I tried to scale Mount St. Helens. This time the much shorter peak (8,365 feet) halted me just 8 miles from the drives summit as the underside of Pre was sheering off the grooves of snow accumulated between the tire tracks. The road wasn't closed and I was tempted to push onward, but a sportsman applying his tire chains informed me, "There's 3 feet of snow up there, you're not going to make it, you gotta turn back or they'll be pulling you off the side of the volcano."

Still, each of the aborted mountain climbs were well worth the journeys and having to come back the same road just provided double the scenic driving. Following another fearsome drive at high altitudes as I passed south of Mount Hood, I at last arrived at Madras, OR where I am calming my nerves. I hope the forecasters remain accurate as I am expecting 50 degrees and partly sunny for a repeat visit to one of my favorite National Parks.

Wy Id Or Wa

It's been a couple of days since a post. That's because when I finally get to be with family or friends, it is much more important to be with them. And I just spent a fantastic, rejuvenating couple of nights with my cousins Bill and Lisa and family in Eagle, ID, just outside of Boise. I got to have two home cooked meals, fun and play with the kids, and I took scenic tour of the surrounding area. I felt totally welcomed and comforted and even got to help out nephew-once-removed Ian as he was working on a project that needed a picture of a sunset. It was great to be with family again after 10 days on the road....if the Phillies hadn't lost, it would have been a perfect layover.

In order to get to Eagle, I exited Jackson, WY (BTW, the title of this post refers to the 4 states I have traversed). I headed out for a couple of scenic drives in making my way across Idaho. Besides seeing the back side of the Grand Tetons (which are equally beautiful, yet too far away to be awesome), the highlight of the trips were the Upper and Lower Mesa waterfalls. For the Upper Mesa Falls, the short trek took me to within spitting distance of pour over, and it was great. Perhaps it's always there, but in the early morning when I was there, a constant rainbow was wafting in the mist.

I then cruised across Idaho off the main highways in order to see the Craters of the Moon National Monument. The monument is a 25 mile stretch of the Oregon Trail made up of the remnants of earlier volcanic activity. Early travelers across this stretch of the trail were lucky if their wagons survived the landscape. It was the last great scenery before arriving at Eagle, ID for the aforementioned couple of nights with family.

Today I left the Boise area and quickly entered Oregon. My route across eastern OR was leisurely and scenic taking me through both the Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests before straddling the Blue Mountains, again along the Oregon Trail. Nearly every mile of the drive presented new and changing scenery and was thoroughly enjoyable.

I entered the state of Washington, passing through Hermiston, OR where cousin Bill and I had gone fishing on my first road trip. From there, I just followed the highway into Washington's large wine country, and followed Bill's recommendation...I sampled the wine. Then I sampled more. Before I was done, I had gone to 5 wineries, and decided that it might not be a good idea to drive anymore.

So I checked into the nearest hotel, and am now chilling in Prosser, WA. I bought 6 bottles of wine. (I expect they'll all be opened at my next couple of stops in Seattle, Portland and San Fran.) Every winery I was at recommended the same place for dinner, Picazo, and two of them said the Paella was the meal to order. They were right, and the baby clams, muscles, fish and perfect shrimp added to the complex flavors.

.

As my next few stops will likely be with family and friends, posting blogs may to be sporadic over the next week or so, but I do hope to fit in at least one more National Park before I hit San Francisco next week.

Not so Grand Tetons

The drive across Wyoming incrementally built up the excitement as I approached the Grand Tetons National Park. It started on flat farm land filled with cattle. The Rockie Mountains were visible as specs in the distance. After Casper, WY, the road was still straight, but the landscape became spotted with irregularities - some caverns, some rolling hills, and occasional eye-catching ridges and crevices. Eventually, the road began to meander as it followed the Wind River, all the while the Rockies were growing. Finally, at the cowboy town of Dubois, it was up and away climbing 3000 feet in elevation in short order.
.

At the crest, and around a few curves, the Grand Tetons only 40 miles away presented themselves for the first time. And I was underwhelmed. I kept expecting as I got closer that their colossal 13,770 feet of elevation would be breathtaking. But it just never happened for me. I think part of the problem was that the base of the mountains was already 7,000 feet up, so only 6,000 feet were above the high plateau they rested on.

.

Many other National Park aficionados have ranked this park as one of the best, and sometime it has been their favorite. But Grand Tetons doesn't even crack my personal top 10. I should add that I was deprived of some of the best views because the most exciting road in the park was (prematurely in my opinion) closed for winter.

.

Essentially, the park centers around 3 mountains, Grand, Middle and South Teton. And they really are stunning. But from a distance, once you appreciate them a few times, they don't get any better. In order for me to have had a more dramatic experience, I should have: come 2 days earlier while the best road was still open, then gone directly to Jenny Lake and caught a ferry across it to the base of the mountains, then hiked up Grand Teton until the altitude and beauty made me dizzy. That might have put it in my top 10, but it would never break into my top 5. I even ended up driving through the park at dusk, and didn't encounter a single animal, which extended my lack of enthusiasm. I suppose this could all just be a case of hyped up expectations not being met.

.

After completing my tour of the park, I intended to head north, and re-enter my number one park, Yellowstone. But again I was stymied as the only road between the parks was closed for repairs, and I quickly went from 5 to 300 miles away from a Yellowstone entrance.

.

So I am holed up in Jackson Hole, WY, a pretty ski resort town just south of the Tetons. Perhaps my biggest expectation beater for the day is that I am staying at a Motel 6, and this is by far the best I ever stayed at...they even gave me slippers upon registering.

Teddy and the Wind Cave

I won't bore you with any details about the drive across North Dakota, because for the most part it bored me. But at least it was mostly sunny and warming up. It even got so warm that as I was nearing the end of the day, I felt I could comfortably (and at long last) camp out. There's not much in ND, but I ended up at the best of it...the Teddy Roosevelt National Park...it's a return trip for me, but really, I had no other options.

Road Food note: In the book I use that guides me to some of the great meals I have had (Road Food by the Stearn's), the only state with no entries in the lower 48 is North Dakota.

After setting up camp, I figured I had enough daylight to drive into the park just a bit and visit a prairie dog town (they're so darned funny). But as I went along the entry road, I was confronted by a herd of bison (American buffalo). They were littered across the road, so I came to a halt. As they were grazing on their dinner, they were moving toward me. I backed up a bit, but they kept coming. After backing up some more, a pickup truck approached and I hailed the driver.

I informed her of the approaching herd, and she said she had been here in a car as small as mine, and had turned around in a similar situation. But in her truck, she could honk them away, and I could follow. But as she moved slowly through them, they immediately closed the wake behind her and I was stifled again. LOL, I sheepishly returned to camp.

I spent the night completely alone as I was the only camper in the park that night. In a small cottonwood forest, with the babble of the Missouri river, and a few far too close snorts and heavy foot falls of bison, I sat and watched the sky waiting for the clouds to break. This would have been how Teddy experienced the region, other than he probably sought out the bison rather that wishing them away (his purpose in coming here in the first place was to "bag a buffalo").

I awoke with the intention of quickly doing the 36 mile driving loop, and heading for my next destination. It was up at daylight and still before sunrise, as I started the loop. I quickly realised I would be spending a bit more time as the wildlife was out in force. Around turn after turn I stopped to appreciate multiple sightings of (from small to large) rabbits, pronghorn elk, mule deer, wild horses and bison. They were practically posing for me, if not outright obstructing me. The only animals that seemed to sleep in were the prairie dogs. Combine that with the stunning badlands scenery, and I was quickly behind "schedule" by a full hour. But my plan still had a nice margin of error.

The goal was to get to Wind Cave national park by 1PM at the latest. The only way to see Wind Cave is by a guided tour, and during this off season they only have tours at 10AM, 1PM and 4PM. All I had to do was drive due south 200 miles in 4 hours. Knowing there was nothing to see along the route, I had 40 minutes to play with averaging 60 MPH. The first mildly pleasant 75% of the distance put me well ahead of schedule, so I decided to take the more scenic route for the remainder. And that is where the schedule became tight.

While the majority of the final stretch was on roads of 65MPH, the delays and the distractions quickly ate up my advantage. First I surprisingly came to the Geographic Center of America. I had to stop for that, didn't I? Then there was a long slow stretch through Deadwood. The frequent 20 MPH hairpin turns were no help, and I had to stop for a long distance view of the slowly progressing Geronimo-on-horse monster sculpture. Tediously slow drivers, a few pulling trailers, seemed often to pull out in front of me from nowhere. Shockingly, a ram, an actual ram, brought me to a halt as he meandered across the road (I stopped for 5 minutes for him because I'd been hoping to see one since my first trip). He waited near my car for the rest of his family to catch up.

But it was at the very end where I made the mistake that would get me to the 1PM tour too late. With 20 minutes to go, I passed the sign that read "Wind Cave National Park". I then passed the sign that read "blah blah Bison blah blah" or something like that, and as I rounded the corner, there they were in the road, staring me down again. I inched forward. They inched toward me. I inched and honked. And they froze. So I inched and held the horn. And, to my amazement they relinquished the road to me!

I was so thrilled by my victory over the massive beasts that when I passed the sign that said "Wind Cave Visitor Center," with an arrow pointing in the direction, I didn't see it. Five slow miles later I realized my error when I saw the sign announcing my departure from Wind Cave NP. I sped back, but I was too late by 10 minutes. It was the best mistake I could have made.

I entered the Visitor Center, which is also the start of the tours, and the ranger was as disappointed as me that I had barely missed out. I gave her a briefing of my day's tale, as well as my longer journey. I also told her that I was on my way to Yellowstone, and wanted to get a good start on the trip there, and I (honestly) wasn't sure whether I would wait til the next tour. I had expected that I might head out and see the grounds above the caves, which are supposed to be almost as impressive, but after my diatribe, Mary proffered if I were there at 2PM (when the current tour let out) she'd be free to give me a quicker version of the hour long tour of the cave if I would keep pace. I enthusiastically accepted!

I decided to go back to the bison who made this possible to thank them and get a couple of pictures and in the 20 minutes I was out, I saw the bison as well as a herd of pronghorn elk, a plethora of mule deer and even a photogenic and funny prairie dog.

Back at the VC at 1:50, the other tour was done early, and my personal park ranger tour guide Mary and I were taking the elevator down into Wind Cave. Having done Carlsbad Caverns a month ago, I knew I would enjoy it, but didn't expect Wind Cave to match up. And it didn't match up, only because it was such a drastically different kind of cave system. While Carlsbad was about enormous rooms with infinite decorations, Wind Cave was constricting passageways and boxwork. And it was awesome.

Flashlight in hand, frequently crouching and bending to avoid the low ceilings and jutting formations, Mary led me through what she described as "a three dimensional maze." We dallied at all the highlights of popcorn and frostwork, and lingered at the boxwork. Boxwork is a very rare cave formation and Wind Cave has the best in the world. It is a calcite formation sometimes resembling honeycombs...spectacular is what it really is. Mary gave me the full explanation of how it forms (it's the precursor to the caves themselves) but this blog is getting long enough as is. So go see it for yourself.

Upon exiting, and after my many thanks, Mary said, "I'd have made you wait and go on the next tour, but you're exactly the type of guest we like to entertain." I hope to get the opportunity to pass on that service (when) if I become a park ranger.

I sit here tonight in Douglas, Wyoming still thrilled by all I saw today. From TR to Wind Cave, a neighbor to the wildlife, and a special guest of the park it was a wonderful day. Doing this blog, I try not tell too much about what is really coming next. My path does have some randomness, but in general I have a route's big picture and I do a lot of nightly planning for the next and future days. For example, I never mentioned Banff, until Canada turned me away, yet that was really the whole purpose of going to Canada. Now that Banff's out, and I've already mentioned Yellowstone, from where I am, there is only one good way to get there - through the Grand Tetons NP. So that is the goal for tomorrow. It's a grand goal, but perhaps a bit premature. I am not close enough to enjoy it properly, and the weather looks to be incompatible with camping there to permit a full day of exploration. So, I'll probably zoom in close, and play off the cuff for where I end up. Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do between Douglas, WY and the Grand Tetons?

Canadian Reject

I was worried about it the first two times I went into Canada, but this time it got me. My car is currently unregistered. The Phoenix registration expired earlier this month and when I went to get my NJ driver license, they said I needed the title to the car to get it registered. I figured I would pick it up when I got back to AZ and it shouldn't be too long before I get back to NJ.

So today, while crossing the border, I got a particularly questioning border agent. After asking where I lived I answered NJ, and when he saw my AZ license plate he inquired where my car was registered. I said AZ, and he wanted to see the registration. If I really wanted to, I could have gone through, but he "recommended" that I return to the states. I think there was a decent chance a ticket was coming my way had I not turned around.

Thus, I am in Great Forks, ND tonight after another rained out day, only this one had no attractions. I guess for now, my Canadian adventure is on hold. It's really not a great loss. As a comment from a Canadian indicated, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are wastelands. However, I will miss out on my main reason for going to Canada. Banff National Park, the 3rd NP ever established in the world would have been a treat. I guess I'll just have to pass through Yellowstone again. That's a park worth repeating.