Covering Lots of Miles

    When we told friends Steve and Sue that we would be stopping in Winthrop, Washington after leaving their area on Wednesday, August 5, they told us we'd really like Winthrop. We didn't ask why, but we found it to be a very charming, totally western themed town. When I looked up the history it was interesting to learn that the leaders of Winthrop, long ago, took a lesson from Leavenworth, Washington, a community that had learned from Solvang, California about the lucrativeness of choosing a theme for their town to draw tourists. Solvang has stayed with a Danish theme and Leavenworth very intentionally adopted a Bavarian theme. We enjoyed walking around Winthrop on Thursday morning, enjoyed the beautiful bike path leading from the KOA campground to the central town area that included an impressive suspension bridge built in 2011. We encountered a young woman near the western character cut outs and asked if she would be willing to take our picture. She readily agreed to. We found out that she was a thru hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail having begun at Mexico in March. She had just 30 miles more to go before reaching Canada. I just love talking with long distance hikers.

Recognize us?

The state of Washington takes wearing masks seriously, even these two were sporting masks.

Every single building in Winthrop is adorned in an old west theme.

 

The suspension Bicycle/walking bridge over the Methow River that runs through Methow Valley where Winthrop is located. Signs around town indicate it is a great cross country skiing location with lots of marked trails.

    It is truly amazing how dramatically the scenery changes from time to time while crossing the country. We left the dramatic mountains of the Northern Cascades when we descended into the Methow Valley and once again encountered sage brush. Something that has surprised me on this trip is the realization of how much I love sage brush country and how I feel calm and at peace there. That wasn't always so. My first experience of sage brush was in the vast open spaces of Nevada and I thought of it as "nothing," as part of a great waste land. It took awhile for my opinion to change, but it started one summer when we went to Camp Kelly, a United Methodist Campground in the middle of Nevada, near the town of Austin in the high desert. When we got there it was hot and dusty, there were pinion pine trees and lots of sage brush. When we were invited in an activity to find something beautiful in that place and report back to the larger group I was struggling to find something. I asked some of the native Nevadans what they could possibly be finding and they said it was all beautiful! I couldn't see it, but I wanted to. They suggested we visit the Ruby Mountains of Nevada and Great Basin National Park, so the following summer we did. Thus began my love and appreciation for the wide open sage brush "ocean" that fills in the gaps between the mountains of Nevada. It was not until this trip that I realize how much I really do love sage brush country, even though it's hot and dusty, two things I don't love.

Some sage brush out the window, crossing eastern Washington.

    As we continued across Washington we encountered two large dams on the mighty Columbia River: St. Joseph and Grand Coulee. They are marvels of engineering, but they do cause me to pause and wonder how we might better work with nature to provide for the care of all the earth, all its creatures and all its people.

The Grand Coulee Dam

    We finally crossed into Idaho where we spent Friday night, August 7, in the parking lot of a Cabela's store. The next morning we stopped in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho at a park on the north end of the lake and hiked a short, but invigorating trail up "Tubb's Hill," a natural oasis of pine forest next to a pristine park. We would only be in Idaho for a few short miles and I didn't figure we could count being there if all we did was sleep in a parking lot and drive across the narrow panhandle.

Rob posing with Mudgy the moose at the base of Tubbs Hill with Lake Coeur d'Alene in the background.

    Somehow I missed getting a picture of a "Welcome to Montana" sign, but we did indeed enter Montana, and again the scenery changed dramatically. We just took short rest breaks, including for lunch at a fishing access along The Clark Fork River. Our route to Glacier National Park went for a long time along streams that reminded me of the book A River Runs Through It. Eventually we headed north along the west shore of  Flathead Lake and arrived at the parking lot of a Super 1 Food Store in Columbia Falls where we would "camp" for two nights. We would have loved to camp at Glacier National Park and utilize their shuttle to experience the Going to the Sun Road, but due to Covid most campgrounds were closed and the shuttle was not running. Our motor home is too long to negotiate the narrow, winding Going to the Sun Road. Years ago when we first started thinking about this grand journey we assumed we would tow a car behind the motor home, but as this summer approached we realized towing a car would be an inconvenience most of the time, and rarely used, so we opted to carry our bicycles and rent a car when we felt the need. On Saturday morning, August 8, we picked up a Subaru Forester at Dollar Rent a Car in Columbia Falls, Montana and headed into Glacier National Park. Wow! There are no words or pictures to describe the grandeur of that place and the incredible engineering feat that resulted in the Going to the Sun Road. The one trail we'd planned on taking at Logan Pass was closed due to bear activity, but there were plenty of opportunities to take short hikes and stop frequently to admire the scenery. The flowers were beautiful and plentiful and we got to see big horn sheep and a mountain goat. The east entrance to the park was closed due to Covid, so we turned around before the end of the road and were pleasantly surprised at how things looked different on the way back. We would love to go back another year when everything is open and we can take advantage of the shuttle to get in some more hiking.

Our Lunch stop on the Clark Fork River on the way to Glacier

One of the many waterfalls along the Going to the Sun Road

A view of a receding Glacier

Another perspective of the glacier.

Notice all the different colors of the rocks? When I first saw the multi colored rocks they didn't look like they could all occur naturally in the same place, but they do.

Baring Falls near Saint Mary Lake

Saint Mary Lake

More of the beautiful scenery

A mountain goat next to the trail. A ranger stood near by and protected it most of the day.

The first time we would cross the Continental Divide on this trip.

A trail leading into the mountains.

This scene is of course more vast than it appears here.

Pictures really don't capture what we saw.

The creek leading into Lake McDonald

        We have established, loosely, what we call a 1,2,3 rule for this trip. One means we stop every hour or so, never driving as long as two hours without a break. 2 means we try to limit each days mileage to about 200 miles and 3 means we try to be at, or at least close to our stopping point by 3:00 in the afternoon. Until leaving Glacier National Park we've done pretty good with rule 1 and 2 and only been late in arrival somewhere because we intentionally did a lot of stopping along the way, but on the days following Glacier National Park as we traveled across the Big Sky Country of Montana we broke rule 2. Sunday, August 9 we drove 278 miles, and Monday, August 10 we drove 290 miles. Part of the reason for the long mileage was the lack of places to stay. I am using an application on my phone called Campendium and the Harvest Host application to find places. We were very pleased on Sunday night to arrive at Zurich Campground in Zurich, Montana. Zurich is pretty much a ghost town in the midst of farm country, but it has a sweet little park a mile and a half off the highway. It was wonderful to have a quiet night of sleep after the parking lot in Columbia Falls that had lots of traffic nearby. Zurich Park had a sign that said $10 to hook up to electricity, but since we didn't hook up, it was free. There was even a good place to take a short walk after we arrived. Monday night, August 10, we stayed at Alexander First Responder Park in Alexander, North Dakota, where we did leave a donation because we plugged into electricity so we could run the air conditioner for awhile.  Though there were not a lot of choices in places to stay along the long drive across Montana there were places to picnic and even free places to dump our waste water tanks in some of the little towns. At one rest stop in a town I spotted a sign for a trail and of course we had to take it.

Camped at Zurich Park in Zurich, Montana

It looks like we could have walked forever, but we eventually came to a closed gate.

The Trafton Trail in the little town of Malta, Montana

    Alexander, North Dakota was not very far from Theodore Roosevelt National Park, so on Tuesday, August 11, we toured the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and experienced very different terrain from the previous mountain parks, and there was my beloved sage brush. The "badlands of North Dakota are very intriguing and beautiful. It was hot, but we carried plenty of water and did do some hiking and exploring. On Tuesday night with the help of Campendium we found a dispersed camping area at a place called Scoria Pit Campground just a few miles from the entrance to the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park which we explored today, Wednesday, August 12. The two units are over 60 miles a part, and while they are both in the badlands there are differences. Both units have prairie dogs and Bison, but only the south unit has wild horses. The north unit has a beautiful view looking down on the Little Missouri River and the south unit travels close to its banks in some places. It was fascinating learning the natural and cultural history of the park, including its relationship to President Theodore Roosevelt. And again it is impossible to really tell the story in pictures, but I'll share some anyway.

A close up view of some of the erosion that causes the "badlands."

A Prairie Dog.

Part of a Prairie Dog town 

A structure build by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the North Unit of Theodore National Park.

The view looking down on the Little Missouri River from the CCC structure.

A trail in the south unit that I felt a little queasy taking, but I did it!

More of the beautiful and strange erosion patterns of the badlands.

One of several herd of Bison that we saw.

Those of you who have traveled between Eureka and Crescent City have probably been stopped by Elk crossing the road at some time. At Theodore Roosevelt National Park the Bison have the right of way and definitely stop traffic at times.

A Bison cow and her calf

Just before we saw these horses at the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park I commented that we had not gotten to see any of the wild horses there, but here they were.

    The night between touring the two units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park we camped at Scoria Pit Campground, a dispersed camping area in the midst of a National Grass Land. It was Tuesday night, August 11, the night that the Perseid Meteor Shower was supposed to peak. We were in a perfect location with little ambient light to interfere with seeing the "shooting stars," but after two widely spaced a part we gave up and went to bed. We were entertained by lighting reflecting off clouds in the east though. I only remember two times in my life when I saw the August meteor showers in grand display. One was at Fort Churchill, Nevada where we were camping with our family and others at a Untied Methodist District Campout. I stayed up late talking with others and we saw the "shooting stars," and I wasn't even expecting it. The other was when I was a pastor at Kings Beach UMC, Lake Tahoe and dear friends John and Helen Foster picked up daughter Ruth and me in the middle of the night to watch the stars fall over Lake Tahoe. I remember it was beautiful, but it didn't take long to get cold. Maybe next year I'll see them.

Our "campsite" at Scoria Pit.

The sunset at Scoria Pit Camp Ground

A view from the Scoria Pit Campground looking into the badlands, probably of Theodore National Park, this morinng.

Elsie waiting  on the table when we returned from our picnic lunch at Theodore Roosevelt National Park today. She actually road there for a little while after we started driving.

    Tonight we are at a KOA Campground in Bismarck, North Dakota, heading east tomorrow.