Day 58: Busy doin' nothin'

Friday
Not quite nothing, but no organised trip.
Did some stuff that has been waiting for sometime. Resealed round the bath, hope it holds. Changed the seal on the sewer valve (yukkie), checked out the generator and solar panel for use later this week.
Re-organised the back of the truck a little bit.
Guess that was about it for the day.
Tomorrow we move South and revisit Gooseneck State Park, cos its on the way to Page.

Day 57: Arches NP Day 2

Thursday
Today we completed our visit to Arches National Park, we had a wonderful day wandering among the rocks of Arches NP. The weather was again clear and bright, though with a chilly wind, however it warmed up quite nicely in the afternoon. We started off by watching the video at teh Visitor Center, which had some excellent imagery, then we drove right to the other end of the park, so that we could work back to the start. Right at the other end is the area called Devils Garden, which has a series of walks which they say are not easily accessible by wheelchair, fortunately this time they were accessible, so sally and I set out with our lunch to see as many arches as we could. We both got to Landscape Arch (0.8 mile up the track), which I think is probably the most impressive of the arches as it is so slender and long. i then went further up the track to look at almost hidden Navajo Arch and the beautiful view through Partition Arch. Amazingly on the  somewhat steep path I ran into a couple that we had met while staying at Monument Valley on  May 5th, 2011. They are members of the RVforum.net, which I sort of keep up with. I think they were surprised when I not only recognised them but also remembered where I had met them!
After our lunch Sally and I were able to walk to Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch was the first arch that Sally could actually walk up to! we then completed our walk, which, as the photos show, was among all sorts of fascinating sandstone outcrops and slot canyons.
We drove back from Devils garden stopping at Sand Dune Arch, which is tucked away amongst some rock fins, accessed through narrow slot canyons. It is a small but very pretty arch.
Finally we drove the short side road that took us to Delicate Arch, we could only access the lower viewpoint, as to get to the arch itself is a 3 mile hike which is not wheelchair friendly. This view was quite distant from the arch and somewhat disappointing, however we had another wonderful day among these amazing rocks. Since the trip had taken longer than planned we again ate at Denny's and will stay in Moab another extra day to do some laundry tomorrow.

Day 55: Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point

Tuesday
When Sally, Helen and I visited Moab in 2003 we went to Canyonlands, so this was a little bit of nostalgia for us, although we did not visit Dead Horse Point on that occasion.
So our day was split into two parts, Dead Horse Point State Park and Island In The Sky. Both of these areas are up on the top of the plateau that surrounds Moab. There uniqueness comes from the way that the two rivers, the Colorado and the Green River wind from the North through incredibly deep and steep canyons to meet in the south of the park, reacting some amazing scenery. You may recognize Dead Horse Point from the final scene in Thelma and Louise, their leaping off place.
Because the distances are so large this made for a long day, however the weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky all day, so we had some magnificent views.
Wonderful.

Day 54: Arches NP Day 1

Monday
Today was a big day - we have been to Arches National Park. We first visited Moab in 2003 and did not have the time to visit Arches. Helen visited Arches when she was in the States and loved it, so we were eager to make sure we visited it this time.
We started at the Visitor Center but were slightly disappointed that Sally would be unable to access many of the arches, still we pressed on. There is a sort of spinal road through the park, with side roads which lead to some of the arches. The main road is 21 miles long. We took it gently and stopped at some of the viewing points, enjoying Courthouse for its views. In the distance we could just make out a couple of arches (North and South Windows). We turned off the main road to visit these arches, stopping at Balancing Rock on the way. When we reached the Windows Arches it bacme obcious that Sally would only be able to access a bit of the pathway, so she waited at the bottom with the camera while I ran up to North Window, where she could take some pics of me!
Then I went back up with the camera to take pics from the Arch. From there I could see Turret Arch and also make out Double Arch, though not clearly from there. I then walked round a large outcrop to see South Arch, but didn't climb up to it. Turning my back on the Windows, I made for Turret Arch, where a kind person (from Denver) took a pic of me standing in the Arch. I then made my way back down to Sally, who was chatting happily to a couple from Maryland who were into genealogy, fascinating. Also lunch time! We moved the Chevy round the road to be opposite Double Arch. The path here was definitely not accessible, however it was quite flat, with rock steps and deep sand here and there, so I suggested we have a go using Sally's manual chair. This worked, with Sally walking those bits that I couldn't push. We managed to get right up to the Double Arch, which is quite magnificent,  oh dear here it comes again - AWESOME.
Eventually we made our way back to the van and decided that we had seen enough for today and would explore the rest of Arches on Wednesday, as tomorrow we plan to go to Canyonlands to see Dead Horse Bend. We stopped in Moab for an early dinner at a Microbrewery, it was very nice.

Day 52: Ten Little Indians

Saturday
Although our proposed destination was Green River (the town), in the end we only stopped for a coffee and pressed on to Moab. Mind you it was an interesting coffee, although unfortunately I did not get any pics of it. The coffee shop was the Green River Roasting Company, it was dark and cool inside, with a room off to the side which was lined with shelves holding knick knacks, rock samples, second hand books and Indian Art which had lain there unsold for years. The place had the appearance of being decorated in hippy times, but had several comfy seats and lots of uncomfy seats as well.

As the kitchen was closed, I had to go across the road to a diner to get myself a donut to eat with my coffee. The coffee shop had a sort of time warp feel to it, as I said there were second hand books and Indian artifacts all over the place and it was definitely dusty. Strangely, although the place was empty when we pulled in people began to arrive and talk, revealing life stories. A couple from Santa Barbara, CA, were here for a funeral, as was a man  from Phoenix. Then came a van load of Australians over here on a photo safari. Because there were so many interesting things either displayed or for sale people mingled and discussed  prices, etc. As I said the strange thing was that everybody just started talking to each other, almost as though we had expected to meet here, more than just a bit like Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, Spooky! I kind of expected someone to go to the restroom and never return...... and then there were nine!

Inside The GRCC store

Kind of lost in time our coffee there lasted several days, eventually we cut through the spider webs that kept us locked together in there, fought our way out and found that we had only spent a little more than an hour (though I think here I am creatively mixing my plot lines) in there. Sally also found a Navajo vase that was very nice. Once back out in the sun ,we pressed on to Moab., where we found a small RV Park out the back end of the town. We stopped in at the RV Park we had stayed in when we were last there (2003) but the price was $45 p.n. plus tax - sack that! This place is kind of run down, but quiet and comfortable. In order to get the WIFI password I talked to the guy in the office, who introduced the idea of Glenwood Hot Springs, which is 200 miles further along Interstate 70. where you can relax in the hot springs. He also mentioned that now Colorado has made marijuana legal you can combine the hot springs with something more relaxing and educated me on the concept of the Hemp Butter Brownies they sell. Interesting!
Once again we were in Utah's Central Desert area and we passed many cliffs and buttes and arroyo and shale mounds and stopped st a rest stop for lunch about 30 miles north of Moab, where we could see some of the areas we would like to visit. All this in the blazing hot October sun, as we found out last night they had recorded record temperatures for Oct 25th.

Day 51: Nine Mile Canyon Petroglyphs

Friday
On Thursday we packed up and moved on from Salt Lake City, having decided taht it was a very interesting place and we had enjoyed our time there. we have moved South East over the Wastach Mts to an area called the Castle Country, kind of nowhere in particular, but surrounded by the cliffs and buttes we expect from Utah, but mostly beige and brown rather than the usual red. Big coal mining area, with lots of oil and gas recovery as well. It is just over a mountain range to the south of Salvation Lake, if we had not of detoured to SLC we would have passed this way a week ago.
We are staying in the RV section of a motel, the motel is nice, the RV bit is pretty ugly, but there is an indoor pool which is OK.
We chose this RV Park to be close to Nine Mile Canyon, which is a local Scenic Back Road, these are usually pretty or important roads that are undeveloped (i.e. gravel surface). Nine Mile Canyon Road is important for a number of reasons. It was part the first communication link in this area, being a stagecoach route, it also was used by the Fremont People of around 950 - 1200 A.D. and there are many thousands of petroglyphs on the rocks of the canyon.
We were pleased to find that in the last two years BLM had found resources to make this road more accessible and have paved the entire route, in total about 70 miles of canyon which is quite impressive as it now means that we can drive the 40 miles to where the main petroglyphs are. We wouldn't normally consider 40 miles of gravel road as though they are often quite good they are still very uncomfortable to ride on for any length of time.
We took our packed lunch and set off, after abut 10 miles we could see a cliff wall and found that the road passed through a gap into the canyon. We followed the road and found several ancient sites with their pictographs, which although they inspired awe in their longevity, being perhaps 1000 years old, were not of the most artistically profound, being mostly shapes of sheep and people chasing sheep, with a few wavy lines and circles (not sure if they were from the same school of art).
We really enjoyed the massive scenery that Utah excels in, driving the canyon with its massive cliff walls, also the weather was again perfect, so we were able to relax in the sun at every stop along the way. At one place we overtook a real cowboy, rounding up real cows on a real horse with his dogs, followed by his wife(?) in the pickup with a trailer to collect the cattle with, we saw them a little later as they led the cattle into a corral so that they could be more easily loaded onto the pickup, very interesting. We also watched ,what we think is, a Golden Eagle which Sally spotted soaring up one of the cliff faces - there is a pic on the album.
At the far end of the road (for us, it goes on further) was a place where there was evidence of a Fremont Village, which we found, and also one of the most famous of the Fremont petroglyphs, called The Hunting Panel, depicting a hunt for Big Horn Sheep. We found it and it was well displayed and accessible. It was indeed the most interesting of the petroglyphs we saw, very clear considering it was a 1000 years old. This left us with a pleasant drive back to the trailer.
Always slightly cynical, we did notice that there was an awful lot of oil and gas industry in this canyon, with well heads every few miles and tankers coming past perhaps every ten to fifteen minutes, so I wondered if the paving of the road was more to do with boosting USA's energy resource recovery than access for tourists to the petroglyphs, which would probably be better protected by being inaccessible. Hmmm......
Still another enjoyable day in the Utah Back Country. Tomorrow we move on to Green River.

Day 49: Antelope Island

Wednesday

Antelope Island: Took this fromthe plane in January 2012

Although Salt Lake City is built by the Great Salt Lake and even named after it it is largely ignored by the inhabitants, I think they feel slightly cheated by it and see it as part of the desert, somewhere separate, rather than part of their own environment. This is a shame as it is a very beautiful and different place. One of the best places to get to see the Great Salt Lake is on Antelope Island. This is the largest island in the lake. The lake itself is 75 x 23 miles and Antelope Island is 15 miles long and a couple of miles wide. Although the lake is only a few feet deep, it maxes out at 30 ft, Antelope Island's ruggedly rocky spine reaches over 2000ft high, surprisingly, since it is surrounded by a slat lake there are lots of freshwater springs. This means that animals there can survive quite happily. There is a delightfully simple food chain: Brine shrimp (also known as sea monkeys), brine flies and certain types of algae are the only things that can survive in/on the lake, with its 12% salinity, so they have the whole place to themselves, however they  are eaten by vast numbers of water fowl and seabirds, which in turn are meat for the predatory raptor birds.
On the island however the presence of fresh water allows desert plants like sage and grasses to survive, which in turn form the base of a food pyramid that includes many insects, like butterflies and crickets, which we saw, as well as small and larger mammals. we were delighted to see a coyote loping through the grasslands as we drove on the island. We also came across a large (upwards of thirty animals) herd of pronghorn, from which the island gets its name, and two very large herds of bison, numbering perhaps a hundred each. Add to this the hawks and smaller birds that we saw and it is obvious that there is a thriving ecosystem on the island, helped along by it being a State Park.
We drove on to the island via the four mile causeway, which enabled us to get an immediate flavour of the place, which was of beautiful flat calm waters reflecting images of the surrounding islands and mountains. The warm sun and blue skies made it look even more attractive. We stopped at the Visitor Center, which strangely was hideous! Built like a concrete blockhouse in the Brutalist style - very 70's, complete with the markings left by the wooden molds, however amongst  the low dunes beach setting it looked more like a wartime bunker to defend against invasion, though perhaps that was the intention of the architect, to provide protection against invasion by eco spoilers.
Once we got past that  we were able to drive down the length of the island, taking time to watch the wild life on the way, until we reached the lone ranch, which was set out as it was left in the 70's. Further along we could see both more bison and cowboys who were setting up camp to be part of the Great Bison Roundup that was due to take place in the next few days.
From there we had to drive all the way back up the island, stopping again to see bison and pronghorn. After dipping my hands in the Great Salt Lake, just to say I had experienced it, we then drove home via Golden Corral for dinner. Which I think is a record - we have eaten out for six of the last eight days - how decadent. Another great day out, we certainly felt blessed to be able to experience Antelope Island.

Day 48: Return to Temple Square

Tuesday
Because the weather forecast suggested rain (and it did) we decided to return to Temple Sq to finish off bits we didn't see yesterday.
So we visited the North Visitor Center, with its exhibition about the life of Christ and its replica of a Danish statue of Christ, followed by a visit to the top of the 26 floor Office Building to great views of Salt Lake City and the surrounding area, complete with rain squalls.
We then rushed to the Tabernacle to hear the 12.00 organ recital.
Time for a cuppa, so we went into the town to find a drink, then back to find that we could not get into the Beehive House, (Brigham Young's house), so we went into the Joseph Smith Building, which was built in 1911 as a grand hotel of the Edwardian Era. We ended up on the 10th floor and had lunch in the Garden Restaurant, with it's grand views.
So although we didn't see a lot we did run into the problem of Temple Sq being a very relaxed place where people are happy to stand and talk, even a group of English people on a 17 day coach tour which included just about every tourist spot from Phoenix to Las Vegas, via Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone, they were on day nine and exhausted. Although this meant that Sally may not have seen a lot, but by gum she did some talking. So she really enjoyed her day (not that I didn't).
So if you haven't had enough of pics of Temple Sq. then here are some more

We returned to the trailer in good time, so I left Sally to rest and went down to Saltair to see the lake at sunset, very nice pastelly shades. There was an interesting group on the beach, looked they were taking photos for a wedding, I assume the violinist was going to play at their wedding. It gave some very nice counterbalance to the big vistas of the Salt Lake.

Day 47: Exploring Salt Lake City

Monday
First things first, today is our wedding anniversary - 41 years. Thank you for a great forty one years.
We celebrated by going into Salt Lake City, but we did so much that I am going to split it into three blogs. Our visit to the Capitol Building, our visit to the Temple Square and lastly a surprise visit to a school.
So starting at the top we visited the Capitol Building (Easy to forget that SLC is the State Capital). The weather was absolutely perfect, so all our outdoors pics are lovely. We went into the Capitol and were given a short tour by a very nice docent, who told us a lot about the history of the state and the building. We were very impressed with the Capitol, it is built from a cool grey granite and is very light and airy inside. There are lots of pictures depicting Utah history, almost inevitably a lot of the images were about it's links with the Mormon Church (Church of the Later Day Saints - LDS) and Utah's Founding Father, Brigham Young.
After our visit there we used the State Capitol's cafe facilities to have a very nice lunch, very reasonably priced. We can recommend that when in SLC you eat there.

Day 47: The Temple Square

After lunch we moved down the hill to Temple Square, this is where the LDS has its headquarters, a bit like St Peter's Square and Rome is to the Catholic Church. It is very pretty, but crowded with buildings as there is the temple, the Tabernacle, the Meeting House, which was the first church built in SLC, Joseph Smith Building and two visitor centers. We did not expect to visit all of them in one afternoon, but did our best. We were so fortunate that a couple of very lovely young ladies, who were on their mission, were able to give us a tour of some of the buildings, not only did the tell us about the buildings, but also we learned a lot about them and their faith as well. Sister Pondolanan comes from the Phillippines and Sister Sorto comes from El Salvador.
We were most impressed with the Tabernacle, this is a big meeting house, very similar in layout to many contemporary non-conformist churches in Europe, although its design is unique as it was designed by a bridge building engineer who more or less built nine bridges side by side and closed in the ends to make a big building.
The Tabernacle is the musical centre for the LDS, this is where the Tabernacle Choir practice and perform and also where there is a large organ, which is used for a daily recital at 12.00. Of course we were well past that by the time we got there. However, as it happened, there was a 'VIP tour' taking place, with some obvious interest in the organ because as we sat admiring the building the organist appears and starts to play, this apparently is very unusual. So were were able to hear the organ, with a practically empty Tabernacle. It was very impressive. Although the organist did play Sousa's Liberty Bell March, which had a most amazing incongruity in its picture of Monty Python inside the Tabernacle.
Thank you to Sisters Pondolanan and Sorto for giving us a great tour of your Temple square.
I have put a couple of recordings up of You Tube:
Liberty Bell March  by John Philip Sousa and an interesting demonstration of the acoustic qualities of the Tabernacle, which ends with a recording of Till We Met Again. 
We also went round the Temple itself, which was very impressive, being made from local granite and big.

Day 47: What is so Special about East High School?

Next stop was about 2 miles to the East, where we made a stop off at East High School, "Yes, and....." I can hear you say.
Well, we pulled up at the front door, I got out and found a couple of very pleasant students, who were not dancing at the time, and they willingly showed me down the Red and White corridors, allowed me to hang over the balcony to see the vestibule below and then even took me to see Sharpay Evans Pink Lockers, which are still there and still pink!
Yes this was the school that was the home of High School Musical. Wow that was an all time thrill, and I managed to take a few pictures as well.
Now quite exhausted we trudged our weary way home, well drove back to the trailer. Now we are planning what we will do tomorrow.

Day 46: We arrive in Salt Lake City

Sunday
Packed up at Salvation Lake and set off for Salt Lake City, stopped at a roadside cafe for a cuppa and enjoyed the lovely scenery as we drove through the foothills of the Uinata Mts and then through the Wastach Mts, Sally took some lovely autumn pics and we saw a lot of the Winter Olympic stuff. We arrived at the Pony Express RV Park in time to set up and have our lunch. In the afternoon Sally was feeling well enough to go to the local Supercuts for a hair do.

Meanwhile I drove up to Ogden, a suburb of SLC to find the Utah Forty and Eight Boxcar which is displayed at the Pacific Railroad museum there. A very interesting museum, shame it was closed, still talked to a very nice couple who came from Kansas, where he had a drug store museum and he told me that his family had participated in the Land Rush of 1881 (I think). Quite fascinating. This is the sixth Boxcar we have seen, You can check out a bit more about these Boxcars on a previous blog, when we saw one in Phoenix, AZ.

Day 44 and 45: Salvation Lake SP

Friday
We sadly left Red Fleet SP and the fabulous memories of the Dinosaur National Monument and started West towards Salt Lake City. As usual we looked for a cuppa along the way, civilization is a bit sparse on this road, which interestingly was the last area of the USA to be settled. Our last chance was a township called Roosevelt and we had got all the way through and could see open range ahead when we spied a dive! It should have been called the Lat Chance Saloon, but was actually called the Pelican Cafe, it looked almost dangerous, but we pulled in, noticing that actually there were a lot of other cars there, which is usually a good sign. Oh yes it was a good sign. Foolishly I succumbed to a cinnamon roll, which was possibly the largest cinnamon roll in the whole universe, fortunately Sally cheated and ate a lot of it with me.
Refreshed we moved on, as we traveled through the areas we notice that this is a major oil and gas production area, with many nodding donkeys and flare stacks visible from the road. Soon we reached our halfway stop which is at Starvation Lake State Park, the reason for the name is lost in antiquity and shrouded in mythology and was probably made up anyway.
The major pluses for this place is that it has full hook up, well laid out and is empty. The lake is a reservoir and not particularly inspiring. But it is warm and oh so relaxing.
We have stayed here an extra day just to relax. I have been on a couple of runs and we even had a campfire tonight, the first that I have made on this trip, usually we have been able to rely on good old Roy to stoke up a fire.

Day 43: Dinosaur National Monument

Thursday
Sometimes there is so much packed into a day, or even an hour, that it takes me several days to work out what I want to say about it. Our visit to Dinosaur National Monument (DNM) was one such occasion.
We had camped at Red Fleet because it was close to the DNM, so it w as a reasonable drive to the park. DNM isn't just about the dinosaurs, it is also a wild area known as Split Mountain, so we were combining two places in one visit.
We arrived at the visitor center and watched a Short video, mostly about the historical background to the park, which  goes back to a guy called Douglas, who was a paleontologist back at the turn of the century (1900's that is). It was him who discovered the fossil bed that is the Dinosaur Quarry.
After a look round the VC we drove the short distance to the Dinosaur Quarry. This is a building that entirely encloses the side of a small cliff, about 40ft high and 150ft long. Inside there is a gallery floor and the ground floor, one entire side of the building is the sandstone strata that is called the Morrison Formation. Although it is a layer of sandstone, because of the major mountain building that went on about 30 million years ago the start is now almost vertical about 80 degrees from horizontal.
The area was discovered by Douglas when out walking he found large fossilized dinosaur bones. The sandstone layer has soft shale like material on either side, so over a few years Douglas and his team removed the soft material leaving the thirty foot thick sandstone layer, they were then able to remove some 300 tons of dinosaur bones, which were shipped back east to Pittsburgh. However is stead of completely removing all the bones the last few feet of the sandstone layer were left intact, complete with all the remaining dinosaur fossils. This became the basis for the Dinosaur Quarry exhibit.
when we entered the building we were on the top gallery floor and cold look directly across at the rock wall, where we could see that it was almost entirely covered with many hundreds of fossil dinosaur bones, not all neatly wired up like in a museum , but still fixed into the sandstone layer that had held them for the last 149 million years. It took some time to work out that although we were looking at an almost vertical wall that wall had been a horizontal ground until the rock was forced upwards, so it was almost a birds eye view of a dinosaur graveyard. Scientist working there reckoned that this particular place was at a bottleneck in a river and after a particularly bad drought then flooding that many large dinosaurs, both dead and alive, were washed into this bottleneck, which was made worse by all the carcases and bones. This area rapidly silted up, preserving the large number of bones which could then quietly fossilize away. However the action of washing them down the river meant that the bones became separated and mixed up. Paleontologists had worked hard to identify different animals and their bones and a handy guide enabled us to pick out the giant bones of Diplodocus, Allosaurus, Camarassurus and Stegasaurus, though it took some time, even with the guide diagrams.
It is easy to get into details, however the whole scene was quite fascinating, even surreal, that here before us was a window onto a world that was so incredibly different to our world today, when these bones were part of real animals that we can only see and know through the painstaking forensics of scientists. What a wonderful experience this was. We sort of just stood and looked for quite a few minutes trying to take in the scale of it all.

Of course we asked all sorts of interesting (to us) questions of the rangers and had a look outside to see the sandstone layer disappear into the East, the had lunch before embarking on part two of the DNM - Split Mountain. It is what is says it is, a mountains that has been split in two by the Green River. The interesting point is that a normal erosion cycle would have taken the river on the path of least resistance, which is round the mountain, instead it has eroded away the mountain forcing a pathway through the middle of it. The reason apparently is that before the mountain building that went on 30 million years ago the Green River had already carved a pathway through the rock that lay above the current land surface, which has now been completely eroded away, so that when the uplift came the river was constrained to the river bed it had already  made, so continued to erode away across the middle of a mountain, laveaving the locally famous feature of Split Mountain. The end result is a failry impressive river canyon and a very pretty drive. Because we could not leave the road we were unagble to see the more spectacular parts of it, but we saw enough.
To complete our fascinating adventure we drpped into Golden Corral again for their steak buffet, which was scrummy.

Day 41 and 42: To Red Fleet State Park

Tuesday WE set out for the 35 mile ride to Red Fleet State park. As Sally said “You can tell you are in Utah” as we once again rode through red rock canyons and past cliffs of different coloured rock. Red Fleet SP gets its name from an outcrop of red rock that is suggestive of a line of naval ships, yeah well you do need a bit of an imagination. The campground is right on the edge of the lake and overlooks some more really interesting sandstone rocks. We arrived just as the rangers were shutting off the water to the park, however the electricity was left on, so we were OK. The park was completely empty, just as well as the sites were about ten foot wide, drawn out on a car park. Very peaceful though. We had a wander round and took some nice pics of the scenery and sunset.

On Wednesday we had a laid back day. Got up in time to see an amazing dawn sky then strolled into Vernal for lunch and strolled round Walmart to do a bit of shopping, that was enough.

Day 39 and 40: Flaming Gorge

Sunday and Monday

After our scary, windy night, when the trailer was blown off its jacks and we moved forward about a foot and the front dropped by about 6 inches, we set out from Rock Springs to explore Flaming Gorge. This is a gorge and canyon network through which the Green River flows. Yes the Green River, we are now within the watershed of the Green River and hence the Colorado.

Route 191 takes us up onto the plateau above the river valleys, we pass several before arriving at Flaming Gorge, the weather is not brilliant and we can see showers all around, some of them snow.

We are staying at the Flaming Gorge Resort, for which it would probably be a slight exaggeration to say that ‘it is a slight exaggeration to to say it is any where approaching a ‘Resort’’. Still we are cosy and warm and that goes a long way in my book. Monday morning  we awoke to crystal clear blue skies, as only the Northern Rockies can provide. We set off to visit the Flaming Gorge Dam and then take the scenic byway which took us to the wonderful Sheep Creek Overlook, a magnificent view up the lake with its view of the Flaming Gorge Rocks. We now took the Sheep Creek Geological Loop which led us through a variety of narrow gorges through stands of willow and aspen, where we saw a big horn sheep!, well it was big, had horns and was a sheep. We got quite close before it ran off up the hill. We stopped by the creek for our lunch, it was very peaceful, sunny and warm, if you kept out of the chilly wind. This loop takes you past some amazing rock formations, which we really enjoyed. Finally we stopped at the Red Canyon Visitor enter to take in yet another view of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, this time with 1700ft cliffs.

After arriving back at the trailer and having had tea I took a walk to a local overlook for sunset, got there a bit late, but still managed to get a few pics.

Day 38: Seedskadee Wildlife Refuge

Saturday
Well I made my cup of Kenya Miiri Coffee this morning and it tasted really nice.
Sally had a rest day today, so after doing the shopping at Walmart I took myself off to the Seedskadee Wildlife refuge. This refuge is on the Green River. So we have passed over from the Missouri watershed (i.e. the Missouri) to the Colorado Watershed. There is a large bit of land in between called the Red Desert, it has no outward drainage and retains all its water, what little there is of it. It is not well known, but is as big as Denali NP in Alaska. Although it appears to have nothing but sand and rock and dry grass is it very rich in minerals, producing significant percentages of USA's gas and oil. So a conflict of interest here. The Southern edge is marked by the Green river, which feeds into the Colorado at Canyonlands NP, near Moab. The refuge is there to support the native animals, Pronghorn (apparently there are 50,000 in the red Desert), Desert elk, Moose, Mustang, Sage Brush Quail and every raptor imaginable. So I had a great day visiting this place, but only saw a rabbit!. OK I saw some hawks and swans as well, but not any of the bigger mammals that I was hoping for. In conversation with a fisherman the moose come down to the river in the evening, but I had to get home for dinner. Within this refuge is the Lombard Ferry. This ferry was originally owned by the mountain men and used to transport emigrants across the Green river. At this point the Oregon Trail, the Morman Trail, the Overland Trail (to California) all meet at this river crossing. It is estimated that 400,000 people crossed here on their way to the West. That was interesting, so not a wasted day and I did enjoy getting out along the Green River.

Day 37: Riverton to Rock Spring

Friday
My tactical error from yesterday became obvious today as we drove to Rock Spring. Instead of taking four days (two nights at Thermopolis, one night at Lander and one night at Rock Spring), We (that is mostly me) had decided to take it in two hops, each of about 140 miles, one night in Riverton and one in Rock Springs. Well we have arrived safely in Rock Springs, but:

1. Sally is shattered
2. In order not to get too tired I rushed us through the countryside, not stopping as often as would be nice, so;
3. We missed out seeing the Worlds Largest Hot Springs at Thermopolis
4. We also did not realise that we were crossing the path of the Oregon Trail, and so did not plan in stopping to see the remains along the roadside.
5. We shall probably stay an extra night at Rock Springs, which although it is quite pleasant is an industrial environment.

O.K., so my little sob story is told, and I am the poorer for having made poor decisions.
On a brighter note, we stopped at Lander, a small western town, for a cuppa. Interestingly the main street was quite wide and we found a note in a shop window which said that the street had been planned to be wide enough to be enable a sixteen horse/mule wagon to turn around, well on looking at it I reckoned I might just be able to turn our rig round in the the same length. The importance of the heavy wagon was that lander was an iron ore mining town.
We chose a coffee shop, called Old town Coffee. We walked in and ordered from the lady behind the counter, the place was almost empty, just some young guy lounging with his laptop, in fact I wondered if he was a college student (no he would be in college), or out of work (could be, but don't judge by appearances), anyway we ordered an Earl Grey for Sally and House Coffee for me, though I was slightly taken aback when I realised that the house coffee (which was actually drip coffee)was  more expensive than the clever cups like cappuccino and such like. Well I must say that I think that this was one of the best cups of coffee I have had in America, Sally also said the Earl grey was excellent, how about that! So I asked the make of coffee, which opened up for us a coffee workshop!!
The young guy lounging at the counter was actually the owner, (see what I mean about judging by appearances).
When I questioned the waitress about the type of coffee I was drinking he intervened and explained in great detail, with great enthusiasm that this coffee was not a Robusta Bean (pah! low quality, bitter) but Kenya Miiri coffee, grown in the shade, at an elevation of 1850ft, and that it was a brand called Heart. This and the way it was roasted and brewed gave it the flavour which I had so much enjoyed. He then went on to explain that coffee should be ground between two surfaces, like millstones used for flour, not cut as most of the cheaper electric grinders are. That this coffee is medium roasted, so as not to be too bitter. He told me that coffee should be made the way it was here in a filter, using a non metallic drip system. I was very impressed with this and bought some of the coffee  (though he tried to give it to me!!) and will try it and see if it tastes as good when I make it. I think what Sally and I both loved (apart from the drinks) was his enthusiasm for the product he was involved with (selling is too harsh a word).
On our way down from Lander we did see some more wonderful scenery, in particular a place called Red Canyon (for obvious reasons). Although there is an awful lot of flat grassland/desert as well, but we saw a lot more pronghorns, though we did not try too hard to photograph them as I felt that we would be creating something of a road hazard if we kept slamming on the anchors to take pics. We stopped in by the Beaver River as Sally spotted a lovely Beaver Lodge and dam, though we did not see the beaver.

Setting up at Sweetwater Event Center was quite interesting. I had called ahead to see if there was any availabilty, the lady said yes there was. We turned up. There is one other trailer on site. There are at least 800 full hook up sites on the campground! Yes there was enough space for us. But even more amazing, we could not find a site which was (a) level front to back, so we had to unhitch, (b) level side to side, (c) long enough to leave the chevy hitched on anyway. Not that we are picky......

Day 36: Heading South

Thursday
We had planned to stop a couple of nights in Thermopolis, but, having decided that we would not swim in the hot springs, I made a tactical error and we continued to Riverton for the night. Stayed in a nice campground, but it was overrun with full timers, most of whom seemed to work with Pickup trucks that required leaving at 5 minute intervals from 6.00 a.m.
However it was a lovely run from Cody to Riverton, over the rolling Wyoming hills. We stopped at Meeteetse for a cup of tea/coffee at a chocolate shop, this entailed being forced to sample a 54% cocoa dark chocolate Brownie. Here we did see a bear, even if it was made from resin and had lost one arm (tastefully hidden in the photograph)
We drove through Thermopolis and had our lunch at the entrance to the wonderful Wind River Canyon. As we drove through we noticed that there were signs showing the succession of rock strata. At the North end the rocks are young, of Permian Age, some 225 million years old (myo), but because the strata have been tilted as we moved south, even though we were going uphill through the canyon  we were going down through the rock stata and they were becoming older and older as the rock layers beneath were being exposed. This tilting also had the effect of making it appear we were driving downhill and the river water was therefore flowing uphill, quite strange. There were convenient sings by the side of the road to show we were passing through Pennsylvanian, Ordovician, Cambrian strata and finally old Precambrian pink granite which was 2900 myo. Then after a couple of small tunnels we were through the canyon and then Lake Boysen appeared in front of us. From there is was a short drive to Riverton.
We did see quite a few Pronghorn, but they are quite shy and when we did get up close they kept turning their backside towards us. The other problem was that by the time we had picked them out from the sage brush, checked for traffic behind, slowed down and stopped without proving that Newtons laws of Motion would ensure that most objects in the van would tend maintain their velocity and end up piled up on the front dashboard and foot well, then we were well past the pronghorn, who would still turn their backside towards us and sashay off up the hill.

Day 35: Lunar Eclipse

Wednesday
Sally had noticed that a lunar eclipse was due on Wednesday, so I figured "ah Wednesday night, 4.55a.m, well that's really Thursday morning". Went to bed, strangely enough we were woken at about 4.15 by some critter making a noise, we couldn't decide if it was a fox or a raccoon? Anyway, got out of bed to have a look, thought that as it was a full moon there would be plenty of light, but no, it was dark, thought it might me cloudy, no could see stars. Oh, Oh, realized that Wednesday 4.55 a.m. meant now! So got up got out camera tried to take pics, absolutely rubbish, just could not either get it quite focused, or steady enough for a clear photo. This was the best of the bunch.

Had a quiet morning then went back to finish off the Buffalo Bill Wild West Center Museum, which was quite interesting, though reinforced further that the Indians really have been badly treated (have to read between the lines there as the museum does not happen to mention that aspect much)

Day 34: The Great Great Grandaddy of all Scenic Routes

Tuesday
We have been trying to recover our energy over the last few days so that we could 'do' one of the great scenic drives, actually two scenic drives which run into each other. The First is the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and the second is State Highway 212, known as the Bear Tooth Highway which is an All American Road and includes the Bear Tooth Pass. From our campground that would be a drive of nearly 200 miles, though the actual scenic routes are about about 45 miles each.
The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm with very little wind. We arrived at the Chief Joseph road quite quickly and then cruised as gently as possible over the winding roads. It is very difficult to describe the variety of views that we had, but at every turn (and there were a lot of them) a new vista would open up, a sense of expectancy of the next view as we approached each crest in the road. At times we could look down on countryside as though we were in a plane rather than a car,

As we passed over the Bear Tooth Pass we were looking down on other mountain tops, quite strange really.
We tried to stop at every vantage point, but there were so many that one became almost immune to them.

We finally pulled into Red Lodge on the far end of the highways, found a cafe and had a drink before driving back to our trailer. As usual we find that our photographs do not in any way do justice to the scenery, but they are an aide memoir for us to remember a wonderful day.
N.B.On driving through the Chief Joseph Byway we found a bit more of the Nez Perce Puzzle, probably our last contact with them. The tribe, now about 600 people, had been eluding the army chasing them from the west by passing through Yellowstone, however an army from the East was closing in on them, so they used the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River to pass between the two armies and escaped to the north, eluding capture yet again.

Day 33: Buffalo Bill's Center of the Wild West

Monday
Today we visited Buffalo Bill's Center of the Wild West in Cody. We had a very enjoyable half day there, managing to see some raptors, the Buffalo Bill Exhibit and half the Plains Indian Exhibit. It was very interesting and we pan to return on Wednesday to see the rest of it.

Day 32: Quiet Day in Cody

Sunday
We have taken a relaxing day today, lazy morning, driven into Cody to find water and stopped for lunch at the Wyoming Ribs and Chop Place, very nice. A short walk on the main street, not particularly inspiring. Drove back through the Shoshone River Gorge, which is very impressive, the dam for the reservoir is at the head of it and they also made a couple of road tunnels along side, some lovely views, then the lake as you exit the tunnel, with its long view up the valley to Yellowstone.

This evening I made the classic mistake of observing that the sunset looked like it would probably be quite forgettable, only to find 15 minutes later that the sky was lit up with pinks. oranges and golds, quite beautiful.
Beautiful though the view towards the sunset is to the eye, the distances are too big for clear photography, just can't get clear definition of mountains twenty miles away, even if they are big.

Day31: Cody and the Wild Wild West

Saturday
We are now bound for Cody, which is just to the East of Yellowstone Park, . We wimped out of travelling over the Bighorn Mountain passes as the range suggested that there were icy patches on the road. The Bighorn Mountain campgrounds had all closed or shut off their facilities, so that means we must backtrack to Billings then strike South to Cody, which is actually shorter and quicker than going over the mountains, but not so spectacular.
We took advantage of passing though Billings by stopping at Walmart for a new tyre on the trailer. The road South from there was actually very pretty as well as straight and flat, so good progress was made. We had worked out that the campground at Buffalo Bill State Park still had seven sites with electricity, so we headed for there, slightly dubious about getting a space as it was Saturday, however on arrival  we found a beautiful spot looking over the reservoir, with electrics, but no water, as that had been switched off for the winter. this meant that we pick up  water from a gas station every time we go into Cody. The only other draw back of this site (and the campground) is that it is windy, all the time, very windy, rocking the trailer windy, so we feel like we are in a railway carriage as it goes along. Still its a great view and you can't have everything can you?

Day 30: Battle of the Little Big Horn

Friday
We spent most of the day visiting the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The first stop was the Visitor Center, where we watched a video about the battle. As usual with battles there was considerable confusion and one had to interpret the real truth from several versions of the truth as told by witnesses.

View of the Battlefield from our campground

Like the Nez Perce to the West, the Sioux Indians had been given the shirty end of the stick when it came to sharing with the white man, having been told they could keep about a third of the Dakota area, including the famous Black Hills (although they were really the Black Hills Of the Lakota Indians, not Dakota as in the song), however when gold was discovered in the Black Hills the treaty was 'renegotiated' except the Indians did not sign up to it. The Sioux spent time in hunting grounds outside their reservation, which gave the army reason to round them up and put them on the reservation. Custer led a regiment to enforce the treaty. He appears to have been quite arrogant in his underestimation of the Sioux fighting capability as he seemed to make every military mistake in the book. He split his forces, he sent a smaller force in offence against a larger force. He gave up high ground. He was attempting to capture women and children to hold as hostage. He separated his force from the main body, such that they could not even communicate. The two forces ended up about 4 miles apart, with the Indians holding the ridge between them.
A small force led by Reno moved down the Little Big Horn valley and fired indiscriminately into the Sioux Village, whilst Custer took his larger force along the ridge to cut off the retreat of the tribe. However the Indians fought back and forced Reno to retreat, rather turn and flee up the valley side where they were surrounded on a hill top unable to do anything except defend the hill top and wait for reinforcements.
Because this force was pinned down the bulk of the Indians were able to pursue Custers companies, Where again he split his forces hoping to overwhelm the Indians, who surrounded each group and destroyed them, killing some two hundred soldiers, including of course Custer himself. Then noticing that army reinforcements were about to arive the Sioux, keeping Reno pinned down, broke camp and disappeared over the hill to the Big Horn Mountains.
This was the only battle the Sioux Indians won. Its effect was to bring an even bigger army down on them and make sure they knew that they were the underdogs and I guess its been that way ever since.
It did make for a very interesting day and added some more to our understanding of the history of North America and the relationship between the emigrants and the indigenous people.

Day 29: Parachuting into the Battle of the Little Big Horn

Thursday
Yet again we have bid a fond farewell to Roy and Anne, as they have now gone into Yellowstone Park. Meanwhile we have driven 200 miles East along I90 and landed at the 7th Ranch RV in Garryowen, just outside the Battle of Little Big Horn NP.The weather has been rainy again, though we have managed to miss most of the showers. Tomorrow we have a date with Custer!

Day 28: Dillon to Bozeman

Wednesday
We have changed our plans, to try and beat the weather (I am sure a dangerous concept in this part of the country) Sally and I are going to drive 335 miles East along I90 as quickly  as possible and parachute into Big Horn, then work our way back South West to Cody and Salt Lake City. So today we drove to Bozeman, to where Roy and Anne went to yesterday, only to find that they are still there as Roy is overhauling his brakes, so yet again we have to say goodbye to them!
Our route across to Bozeman took us up the Beaver Head Valley (also a tributary of the Jefferson R), across to the south of the Tobacco Root mountains into the Madison River Valley, with it's amazing views of the area south of Ennis, then up and over to the Gallatin River Valley - all three tributaries of the Missouri in one day. A day which is rich in both the beautiful mountain scenery and the American History to be found along the way.
Beaver Head
Just north of Dillon is The Beaver Head, which is a large rock which to the Shoshone Indians looks like a beaver head. It is a very special place to them, a meeting place and a place which is in a rich environment, being by the Beaver Head river, where it widens into a lake, plenty  of game, berries and water. It is such an important feature that the whole area is named after it, mountains, river and valley.
To Lewis and Clark is was a gateway to the West, they had paddled up the Missouri and its tributary the Jefferson for two years, they now needed to cross the Continental Divide and drive on to the West Coast, however they did not know the way! Their guide, Sacajawea, was originally a Shoshone Indian who had been kidnapped and sold to a Canadian, before joining the expedition, gave instructions to find the Beaver Head Rock, as there they wold find help. On finding the place Sacajawea recognised the chief as her long lost brother, so that would have been quite a party! The Shoshone sold them horses and gave directions on how to find the Nez Perce by traveling across the Lolo Pass (see last Friday's Blog). So it was a pivotal point in their journey.
As a place it is a fabulous wetland habitat teeming with bird life. In the couple of minutes we were there we saw Sandhill cranes, white pelicans, canada geese, many types of ducks and a bald eagle cruising above the lake. Botanists have studied this area, consider it to have remained unchanged for a long time and have recovered many fossils from the last thirty million years from the mud and surface sedimentary rocks.
A fascinating place.
Virginia City
Leaving Beaver Head we turned North east out of the valley and swung round the southern end of the Tobacco Root Mountains. This road winds along the ruby Valley between two mountain ranges becoming narrower and narrower, eventually forcing the road up over a pass which provides magnificent views along the Madison Valley (middle fork of the Missouri tributaries). Almost at the head of the valley garnets and then gold were discovered in the 1863, so once again we were travelling through Gold Rush Country, although it started with individual miners after a time the gold recovery was on an industrial scale, with large steam driven dredges ripping up the valley floor for many miles in their search for gold, leaving the whole area looking like a land fill site.
The towns that sprung up have largely died, several of them have been preverved by the state and are now tourist attractions. Nevada City was the first we traveled through and then Virginia City. Virginia city became the territorial capital (before Montana was a state) in 1865, when it wrested it from Bannack (the ghost town near Dillon), until 1875, when Helena became the State Capital.
Here is what Wikipaedia says about it (note that there are many hyperlinks to follow here, though the font colour makes them difficult to see):
"In May 1863, a group of prospectors were headed towards the Yellowstone River and instead came upon a party of the Crow tribe and were forced to return to Bannack. On May 26, 1863, Bill Fairweather and Henry Edgar discovered Gold near Alder Creek.^[6] The prospectors could not keep the site a secret and were followed on their return to the gold bearing site. A mining district was set up in order to formulate rules about individual gold claims. On June 16, 1863 under the name of "Verina" the township was formed a mile south of the gold fields. The name was meant to honor Varina Howell Davis, first and only First Lady of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Verina, although in Union territory, was founded by men whose loyalties were thoroughly Confederate. Upon registration of the name, a Connecticut judge, G. G. Bissell, objected to their choice and recorded it as Virginia City. ^[7]

Within weeks Virginia City was a boomtown of thousands of prospectors and fortune seekers in the midst of a gold rush. The remote region of the Idaho Territory was without law enforcement or justice system with the exception of miners' courts. In late 1863, the great wealth in the region, lack of a justice system and the insecure means of travel gave rise to serious criminal activity, especially robbery and murder along the trails and roads of the region. Road agents as they became known were ultimately responsible for up to 100 deaths in the region in 1863 and 1864. This resulted in the formation of the Vigilance committee of Alder Gulch and the infamous Montana Vigilantes. Up to 15 road agents were hanged by the vigilantes in December 1863 and January 1864, including the sheriff of Bannack, Montana and alleged leader of the road agent gang, Henry Plummer.^[8]

The Montana Territory was organized out of the existing Idaho Territory by Act of Congress and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 26, 1864.^[9] Although Bannack was the first territorial capital, the territorial legislature moved the capital to Virginia City on February 7, 1865.^[10] It remained the capital until April 19, 1875 when it moved to Helena, Montana.^[11] Thomas Dimsdale began publication of Montana's first newspaper, the Montana Post in Virginia City on August 27, 1864.^[12] Montana's first public school was established in Virginia City in March 1866."

One can only imagine the life there (though that may be enhanced somewhat by what we see in the movies), but what little we saw as we rode through was amazing. We stopped here for a cup of tea and an ice cream and had a look at some of the buildings, which look so typically western, with their wooden sidewalks. We looked in the Hangman's Office - a place owned by the water company where they hanged people.
Another fascinating place!