7/30–8/2/2013–Geocaching & Sightseeing in the Grangeville, ID Area

On our days off from ATV riding, Ken and I drove in and around the Grangeville, Idaho trying to find a few more geocaches and just do some exploring of the area.

This large black rabbit was near one of our geocaches in town.

One of the locals.

We took another drive taking us down to the Salmon River and came upon this active dig sight.  There was a sign inviting visitors to take a look, so we did.

They were only going to be here another week or so.  Before they leave, they will fill the holes with sandbags.

It’s mostly arrowhead type objects that they’re finding.

The second dig in the same area is quite deep.

Their dig is located just above the Salmon River.

And this was our tour guide.

We spent some time in Grangeville another day to look for another geocache or two.  One was located at this old tractor displayed in town.

We stopped for a late lunch at the Hilltop Café.  It was highly recommended by the sheriff we spoke with outside the building.  Ken’s cheeseburger was a mouthful!

That’s it until the next catch up blog post.

7/29/2013–ATV Ride out of Elk City, Idaho

While in Grangeville, Idaho we went on a few ATV rides with Lee and Barb.  Our first ride had us trailering the ATV’s into Elk City.  On our way there, we followed the South Fork of the Clearwater River…a very scenic drive. 

This old store was no longer in business.

Once we arrived at Elk City, we located the forest service office and got information on the local trails and then headed out to find a spot to unload.  After unloading, we drove a few miles and found a shady spot for our lunch before continuing on our way.

Here are a few of the signs we spotted along the trails and roads.

It was a good day and when we found several geocaches along the trail finally bringing our total caches found to over the 100 mark.  Last year while ATV riding with Lee and Barb, they found their 100th.

7/26/2013–Wilderness Gateway to Grangeville, ID

We left the Wilderness Gateway USFS campground on the morning of 7/26/13 and followed the Lochsa River along Hwy 12.

At Kooskia, we turned onto Hwy 13 which lead us the remainder of the way into Grangeville where we turned south on Hwy 95 arriving at our final destination of the Bear Den RV Park where we would be staying for the next two weeks.  That evening we had a wonderful dinner provided by our friends Lee and Barb while we visited and discussed the plans for ATV rides while in the area.

7/25/2013–Clinton, MT to Wilderness Gateway USFS Campground, Idaho

We left our campsite in Clinton, MT after saying our goodbyes to Jerry and Sue on 7/25/13.  Our first stop was to pick up our mail in Clinton before continuing on our way.  Since we were heading to another small town, we made another stop at Walmart to pick up some additional groceries.  By that time it was close to our lunch time so we picked up a Subway sandwich before getting back on the road.  We drove south to US Hwy 12 and drove west toward Idaho and finally crossing the stateline.

Soon after crossing into Idaho, we stopped at the Lolo Pass visitor center and took time to look around.  Due to the narrow and curving road, we decided that we would find somewhere to camp for the night rather than driving all the way to Grangeville.  The forest service employees in the visitor center recommended the Wilderness Gateway campground a suitable for large RVs, so that became our destination for the night.  We followed the Lochsa River for our drive.

When we arrived at Wilderness Gateway campground, we were able to find a pull through site and got set up for the night.

7/22–7/25/2013–Clinton, MT

We left Cardwell, MT early to get over Pipestone Pass before the heat of the day.

Up the pass we go.

We cross the Continental Divide.

And down the pass toward Butte, MT where we make a stop to fill the fuel tank at $3.829 a gallon.

We pass through Drummond, MT “World Famous Bullshippers” as we get nearer to Clinton.

At Rock Creek, we park beside our friends Jerry and Sue to visit for 3 nights.  Sue would be flying home to Iowa on Saturday and Jerry was staying until early in August before he drives home.  While in Clinton, we made a couple of trips to Missoula for some Costco and Walmart shopping in preparation for being in another small town soon.  We had a great visit with Jerry and Sue, but I failed to take any photos to speak of…I guess that meant we were just having too much fun.

On the morning of the 25th, I was taking out the garbage and getting ready for our departure when I noticed this pig tied out behind a pickup behind our RV.  Interesting!!

So that ends this blog post.

7/21/2013–West Yellowstone, MT to Cardwell, MT

July 21st we left West Yellowstone, MT.

We drove by Hebgen Lake.

and Earthquake Lake.  The visitor center for Earthquake Lake was closed, so we continued on our way.

This photo blurred a bit, but the car ahead of us pulled out of a park next to the grocery store we pulled into.  There wasn’t much of the car show left, so we did our grocery shopping and headed on north.

Another scenic view along MT Hwy 2.

We arrived at the RV campground in Cardwell early enough to get caught up on laundry before heading to our next boondocking campsite.

 

7/20/2013–Day Trip to Mammoth in Yellowstone National Park

We got an early start as we wanted to drive out to the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park today.  We lucked out and some better wildlife sightings today.

A few elk in this photo including the one where only it face and ears show.

We turned into a service road and had this big guy headed right at us…that caught us by surprise!

It look like he was giving us the “evil eye” as he continued across the road.

At one of our stops to watch the elk, Ken was talking to this couple when their son decided to use Ken’s camera’s mono stick to stand up.

We watched this cow elk for quite a while and we assumed she was keeping an eye out for her calf.

We never did see the calf, but this young bull elk walked across the hillside.

We pulled into a parking space near the post office in town, and looking at the next building to the north, there was a cow elk grazing on the lawn.  Her calf was hidden behind a bush up against the building.

Later, it was time to rest in the shade of a large tree.

We drove out the north gate and looked around the town of Gardiner.  This is the arch at the north entrance.

The sign on the arch.

Back in Mammoth, we took time out for an ice cream cone at the store before heading back to the RV.

We saw this unusual RV parked in town.

There’s plenty of unusual landscape within the park.

Sheepeater Cliff

Even more elk than we saw earlier at this stop.

Love to watch all the geothermal activity.

After a long day in the park, it was nice to get back to the RV and just relax the rest of the evening.

7/19/2013–Colter Bay Campground, Teton National Park to Baker’s Hold Campground, West Yellowstone, MT

We left Colter Bay Campground and headed into Yellowstone National Park after dumping our holding tanks and filling with fresh water.

We saw very little wildlife on our way to West Yellowstone.

Once in West Yellowstone, we turned north about 4 miles to Baker’s Hole National Forest Campground where we would be staying for the next 2 nights.

After getting set up, we ate lunch then drove into town to check out the visitor’s center and just looking around to see how much the town had changed.

We were surprised to see that Lapp’s Cabins were still there and not replaced by a bigger, newer business.  We’ve been to West Yellowstone about 4 times in the past for snowmobiling trips and we stayed in one of these cabins on two of those visits.

Driving out by the airport, we found the West Yellowstone smokejumper’s base and went on in said there was a sign indicating that visitors were welcome.

While looking at this display in the lobby, we were greeted by the office manager, a nice young lady who gave us a tour of the facility.

The table behind her is where the jumpers pack their chutes.

This is the drying tower where the chutes hang until ready to be packed.

Each of these boxes of various items have their own chutes and are ready to be dropped to the fire fighting site.

We continued north of Lake Hebgen and had this deer cross our path and jump the fence.

After returning to the campground, we walked out to the river to see if there was any wildlife.

The black in the water of this photo is a beaver who was very busy in the water for a long time.  It eventually went up in the brush and returned with a mouthful of tree limbs.

Back in the water, the beaver drug the limbs as it went with the current, and losing quite a few as it swam away.

Once in the small rapids, it dove underwater and disappeared.

We made plans for an early start the next morning to drive to the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park.