The Next Horizon

A journal of our travels. Moments & musings about our RV/camping experiences, and the people & places along the way.

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2019, Sept. 23-28. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

A blog post only allows me to attach 10 pictures. It is SO difficult to reduce our amazing week at Yellowstone to only 10 pictures! Yellowstone is such a huge park, covering nearly 3500 square miles! It takes hours to get from one section to another. So much to see and do. One week is just not enough. And 10 pictures are not nearly adequate!

From frequent sightings of bison & elk, mountains streams & waterfalls, steaming hot pools of clear blue, turquois & orange mineral water, towering geysers, and hiking trails with breathtaking panoramic mountain views, there was seemingly no end to the sights and outdoor activities that we enjoyed during our time here. We were based at a campground in West Yellowstone Montana, just immediately outside of the west entrance of the park. Each day took us to a different area of the park to explore. Each area is distinctly different in sights to see.

We were thrilled that my wife’s sister and brother-in-law were able to drive up from CA to join us for the week-long experience. It was so fun to share this amazing experience with them. And many moments of conversation and laughter made the experience all the more memorable.

We cut our stay short by one day, due to cold/snowy weather moving in. We had about an inch of wet/heavy snow on the ground (and the RV) on the morning of our departure. We encountered some snow-packed and icy road conditions at the higher elevations near the MT/ID border. But the RV handled very well, and soon we put the snowy weather behind us as we headed toward our next destination...Oregon!

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2019, Sept 18-22. East Glacier Nat’l Park Montana.

These are just a few of the many, MANY pictures I took. The scenery was stunning, no matter which direction I would gaze. It was a scensory overload, vizually. Majestic rugged mountains soaring high in the sky, piercing the clouds above. Various lakes with clear water, sometimes turquois other times deep blue. Each lake seemed different.

We encountered a variety of weather during our 4 days, including rain, fog, strong wind, cold, and warm sunshine. The weather in these mountains is completely unpredictable, so we had to pack our gear to be ready for whatever we may encounter. That made for very full backpacks. Each day we packed our lunch in our packs, knowing we wouldn’t be back to the RV until evening. The east entrance to the Park was only 5 minutes from our campground, providing very easy access.

We tried to get in all we could in our 4 days, hiking to various waterfalls (seemingly endless amount of waterfalls), hiking up a mountain to a glacier (Grinnell Glacier Trail), hiking the Highline Trail (along the ridgeline of the Garden Wall) with breathtaking views of surrounding mountain peaks and the valley floor far below). One hike included a distant sighting of a bear.

On one hike we encountered a couple in their 70s who seemed eager to chat, although the lady was French and could speak only a few words of English, the man was quite a talker himself and would also translate things his wife was was trying to interject into the conversation. She seemed to understand english, but could not speak it. We learned that they annually spend 6-months in the States, and 6-months in France. They met when he was working in France for 15 years. Although they are based in Las Vegas when in the States, they love to travel around to National Parks all accross the country. We found that our lives had some commonality, in that we are at home 2-months and then traveling 2-months, whereas they are 6-months at a time. They were both very avid hikers, with tails of hikes that were more aggressive than what WE have tried, and they are probably about 15 years older than we are.

We are eager to return at some future date to attempt other hikes and see other astonishing views!

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2019, Sept. 16-18. West Glacier Nat’l Park, Montana

Rain moved in and out during our 3 days on this side of the park. But we couldn’t let that keep us from enjoying the sights and hitting some hiking trails. Temperatures are cooler this time of year, with highs in the 50s. But with proper clothing...we were just fine.

The first feature one experiences after entering through the west gate (and after passing the “Village” of cafes and souvenier shops) is Lake McDonald, the largest lake in the entire park. The single road which runs through the park (The Going To The Sun Road), has many observation pull-outs and several trailheads leading to new places and view-points to explore. We took advantage of some of those trails, in spite of the off & on rainy weather. Several trails lead to other lakes and views that are not accessible by vehicle, which certainly made it feel more of a private excursion since most of the tourists went only to sights they could easily drive to.

On our last day we drove up a very poorly maintained dirt road to a tiny settlement called Polebridge and stopped at The Polebridge Mercantile. We had been told they had the best homemade pastries. I had a Huckleberry Berryclaw. It was SO good! We drove on past Polebridge via a little rough dirt road to take in another 6-mile hike along the shore of Bowman Lake. The views in West Glacier are spectacular. As road construction is taking place on a 16-mile stretch of the road in the very middle of the park, it is necessary to drive completely around the park to get to the east side...our next destination.

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2019, Sept. 18. What do you get on a rainy Wednesday, at the end of a 6-mile rough two-track road, during the off-season at Glacier National Park? Beautiful Bowman Lake nestled at the foot of the mountains...virtually all to ourselves. A very tranquil setting...

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2019, Sept. 15. Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming.

We took a quick little side trip to this iconic geological landmark. Just a 30 minute drive north of I-90 in northeast Wyoming stands this rock butte which rises 867’ above the rolling prairie and can be seen from miles away. We only had a couple of hours to allocate to this diversion from our travels from South Dakota to Montana. As such we had time only to walk the peremiter path, circling the base of the tower. We saw several rock climbers on the face of the tower. The other hiking trails in the park will have to wait for another time

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2019, Sept. 11-14. More of Custer State Park, and Badlands National Park in South Dakota

More hiking, with some spectacular views. Scenic drives, both on pavement and NOT! Offroading on some rough two-track trails through some of the “gumbo mud” terrain. Getting in some rock-hounding and learning a bit from some of the locals in that regard. Watching the scampering of the prairie dogs and listening to their squeals. Catching sightings of bison slowly walking along the hills, munching grass, or rolling around on the ground...great lumbering giants of the plains. Viewing the surrounding landscape of endless rolling hills of tall prairie grass, it is easy to imagine the magnificent bison herds of the 19th century covering the hillsides. And I find myself drawn to the solitude and quiet of a landscape so vast that is is breathtaking. The expanse of the sky above is overwhelming, with horizon views undisturbed by any evidence of human existance.

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2019, Sept. 10. Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

A beautiful day to take in these “other world” sites. Parts of it reminded us of a smaller scale version of the Grand Canyon. We had time to get in a hike (which included a log-ladder climb), before a storm moved in. Vicki fell off when she got to the bottom of the log-ladder. She was going down backwards. Didn’t hurt herself at all. Just looked really funny! 😂 The weather made for some very interesting cloud formations. We didn’t have time to take in the whole park before the rain moved in, so we will go back again later this week.

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2019, Sept. 9. Mount Rushmore National Monument, and Custer State Park near Rapid City SD.

One of the problems with visiting the national parks and monuments in their “off season,” is that they tend to be doing construction or maintenance projects. Such was the case at Mount Rushmore, with the Avenue of Flags, Grand View Terrace, and few other sections closed to the public due to maintenance work. But we were still able to view the monument, walk the open portion of the Presidential Trail, and enjoy the beautiful morning weather .

We then drove to Custer State Park via the Needles Scenic Byway (a very pretty drive) and spent the afternoon exploring the area and hiking the “Cathedral Spires Trail.” We plan to return later this week, to see other parts of the park.

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2019, Sept. 8. Deadwood, South Dakota

We are back on the road after a few months of “back at home” time. First stop was Deadwood. I’ve been watching the HBO series “Deadwood” which I really like, and have heard of this town and the legend of Wild Bill Hickock since I was a kid. So I had an expectation of what my experience would be when I finally visited this destination. BIG dissapointment! NOT the false-front wooden structures that I had envisioned in my head, NOT the museum-like quality setting that I expected. No. Instead, casinos and cheesy souvenir shops. I guess I should have known better. We went to the Wild Bill execution shooting reinactment at Saloon #10 (cool 19th century styled saloon), but as my wife said as we finally walked out partway through the lame performance...”that’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back.” Ugh. We were such sucker tourists. 🤦‍♂️ Oh well, we went, we saw....cross if off the bucket list. 😂 But in the bigger picture, we are retired, enjoying our travels together...so still a really good day!

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Oooo... Shiny... Spent the day with my better half (wife), washing, waxing, polishing... Getting the old girl (not my wife) ready for our next adventure. South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming...here we come! 😄

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2019, August 1-6: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Empire Michigan.

Our annual “camping with friends” outing with three other couples, all long-time friends. The weather was beautiful, allowing plenty of opportunity for biking, kayaking, swimming, rock hounding (on the shore of Lake Michigan), hiking (on a never-ending up & down sandy walk through through the dunes), great meals shared together, campfires, conversation... Life is good. Looking forward to next year’s annual adventure, wherever and whatever that may be.

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2109, May 28-30: our last 3 days in Utah...

We did more rock-hounding, found some keepers (including some petrified wood), had some of the larger items cut & polished at a local rock shop, 4-wheeled some steep/rutted jeep trails to be able to hike some mesa trails, saw some buffalo, visited a ghost town (old Mormon settlement), hiked some more, witnessed more amazing views... Utah, we will definitely be back!

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2019, May 24-27: Guests for the weekend!

We spent four days exploring the local (southern Utah) sights & attractions with my wife’s sister & bro-in-law. They drove nearly 12 hours to come stay with us in the RV for a few days. We hit Zion, Bryce, area slot-canyons, Glen Canyon Recreation Area, off-roading through same back-trails, climbing bazaar rock formations, hiking, chatting & laughing all along the way! A whirlwind 4-day weekend, but a great time!

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2019, May 22. Another beautiful day in Zion National Park, Utah. On our previous visits to the park this month we had already completed most of the hikes available to us (several trails still closed due to rock slides or trails damaged after a harsh winter). So today was a leisurely day strolling along the Virgin River trail, just taking in the breathtaking beauty surrounding us... a 360° view of the towering spires that make Zion so special.

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2019, May 21. A couple of short local outings, with a some Jeep off-roading (to get to both destinations). Hiked through a gorge with a minor slot-canyon (Huntress Slot Canyon), and then walked through a tunnel called “Belly Of The Dragon,” and on through a creekbed/wash to a box-canyon with a very small trickling waterfall.

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Kanab Utah area, featured in hundreds of old Hollywood western movies...

2019, May: These are pictures that I took (originally in color, then edited to grayscale). All the pics were taken in the Kanab area over the course of the last couple of weeks. These include some area landscape shots, & some shots of old movie-set buildings that are still in place (some at their original sites, others relocated/reassembled at a western movie museum in Kanab). Editing the pics to grayscale makes it easier to visualize how this area was an ideal setting for that genre of movies back in the heyday of Hollywood westerns (when many of the movies were filmed in black & white). Here is small list of some of the many movies & TV shows that were filmed in the Kanab area:

Gunsmoke, How The West Was Won (the movie AND the TV series), The Outlaw Josey Wales, Wagon Train, The Lone Ranger, Have Gun Will Travel, El Dorado, F Troop, Daniel Boone, Fort Apache, Mackenna’s Gold, Cimmaron Strip, Duel at Diablo, Pony Express, The Cisco Kid, Kansas Raiders, and MANY others...

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Woke up this morning (May 20, 2019) to...WHAT?? SNOW?? In Utah in May? Temps were in the 70’s last week , and even one day in the 80’s! Now the 30’s? Good grief! Look at that chilly forecast. 🥶 30° at Bryce Canyon national Park right now, 35° at Zion national Park, and 33° at Grand Canyon national Park. I guess we won’t be park hopping today!