Yellowstone & The Rodeo

Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Although we find ourselves in Minnesota, this is really our Yellowstone story. We were both lukewarm about Yellowstone – Darlene had been there before and I had seen a lot of thermal areas in New Zealand - so we really went because it was on our way. Perhaps it was because we brought few expectations to the Park that we were so taken with it.

For me it was a visual feast. My photography tends to turn things into colour abstracts on most occasions so Yellowstone was just one photo after another. Only the truly interested should ask to see my Yellowstone photos – and have lots of time on their hands.

Nor were we really expecting to see so much wildlife. Five minutes after we entered the park we came across a bald eagle perched beside the road, then five minutes later, a herd of elk crossed our path. And the buffalo were stupendous! These were not the quiet, docile animals we encountered in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. No,no,no. It’s rutting season in Wyoming folks, and that means lots of grunting, head-butting, rolling in the dust, and – if you’re a bull – keeping your favorite cow away from the rest of the boys. And when all this happens ten feet away from you, it’s quite exciting.

Yellowstone kept us busy for three days solid.

Our next stop was Cody, Wyoming – home of the rodeo and a huge Buffalo Bill Museum. We spent the night in a motel. It was still 39° in the evening and the campgrounds weren’t offering any shade. That night we took ourselves off to the rodeo, ate pulled-pork sandwiches and drank Bud, while the locals – and one Australian - competed in bareback bronc riding, barrel racing, calf roping, steer wrestling and bull riding. I think we were most impressed with the kids. It’s one thing for a twenty-five year old to climb on the back of a bull – it’s gut-churning when the rider is only ten years old. I don’t think many of these kids have to worry about a poor self- image.

It was particularly exciting when the Aussie cowboy got tossed by his bull after he’d managed to hang on for the 8 seconds. The bull went after him. And again. The animal ignored the exit chute and kept his eye on the rider, who was by now behind the fence. Even when one of the safety riders lassoed the bull it didn’t give up. It pulled horse and rider over to the fence to continue its staring contest with the Aussie. That has to be unnerving if you’re the rider.

Darlene’s favorite moment came when another bull also ignored the exit chute and jumped over the fence into the public area. ( This is a big, heavy bull and a fairly tall fence. Think Andrew, standing next to our garden gate, and in one leap, diving head-first over it.) The bull got a lot of applause. And a lot of attention – helpers and riders came from all over to get him back in the right area.


Next stop, the South Dakota Badlands!

Hot, hot, hot!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

It’s Tuesday evening and we find ourselves in West Yellowstone, camped just outside the park.
We caught the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles last Friday night and grabbed a room at the Flagstone Inn when we landed. On Saturday we drove down to Bainbridge Island and caught the ferry into downtown Seattle. ( It was important that we get to Pikes Market before they shut down so that Darlene could see the men throw fish.)

We did, and they did, and the market lived up to its reputation. We decided that the next day we would visit The Museum of Aviation and the Art Gallery and so headed for a campsite just out of town.

The campsite was full. We drove on (south). The next campsite disappeared as we chased their signs and suddenly it was late and we were way south of Seattle. Quick change of plans! We’ll go and see the Mt. St. Helen’s monument. That takes us further south, but we’re not worried because we’ll forget about pitching the tent and get a motel.

In each little town we visit, the motels are full – weddings, baseball tournaments, you name it. This is the first time we’ve had trouble finding accommodation. By now we are too far south of Seattle to consider going back. When we eventually do find a room we’re even south of the Mt. St. Helen’s turnoff.

The Forestry Dept has done a wonderful job with Mt. St. Helen’s. Excellent interpretative centres, good roads and knowledgeable park rangers. The power of the mountain is still very evident and the constantly growing lava dome in the crater is evidence that it is only resting, not at all asleep.

After a great morning on the mountain we grab the I 84 and head towards Idaho along the beautiful Columbia Scenic route. We get as far as Deschutes and spend the evening in a lovely Oregon State Park.

It is the next day – Monday, Aug 7th – that brings us one of the most exciting days yet. As we left Oregon and entered Idaho, the woman in the Tourist Info office at the border suggested that we get away from the freeway and take some of the scenic routes through the Sawtooth Mountains. (Mountains? I thought Idaho was flat! Potatoes, yes?)

Idaho turns out to be mostly hills and mountains and very very beautiful. It is also very hot. At mid-day it was 41º and we were thinking motel + air-conditioning. At 6:30 it was still 39º . But as we drove along the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway I watched the sun sink below one of the ridges and decided to at least sample the air in the next campsite I found. We turned into the Bonneville camp on the 21 and found, not only cooler air, but a sign for hot springs as well.

These springs are part of the campsite. They flow naturally from the rock as they have for hundreds of years, and drain into the local river. The result is a series of ponds of varying temperature where one can sit and soak the dust and grime away. After Banff and Jasper, with their crowds of people, it seemed something of a small miracle to sit and share all of this with one other couple – who we couldn’t see anyway. All of this, a great campsite beside a river, no bugs, crows, seagulls, trains, trucks or planes – at the cost of $8.00!

We were sad to leave the next morning but managed to get in one more soak before climbing back into the car and heading for Yellowstone.

Whales? Whales!

Friday, August 04, 2006

We’ve spent the last six nights on Vancouver Island in search of some sun and sand and whales.

Having driven up the “sunshine coast” we caught an evening ferry from Powell River over to Comox and camped at a place that referred to itself as a “resort”. The Resort was really just a tenting and RV camp but we found a satisfactory site and friendly people on either side. From them we learn that we must stop in Coombs and check out the goats on the market roof. We do, the goats are there, and so is Darlene’s favorite dressmaker. While she’s buying, Ian gets trapped by a enthusiastic iridologist and is informed that lettuce is bad for the bowels and that flies excrete all over black peppercorns. This man is extremely friendly – and would like to sell me some “silver water”, guaranteed to kill germs as they enter my system.

Monday night we camp in Stoat Lake Prov Park, home to some ancient petroglyphs and two very impressive water bombers. (These planes can scoop up 23 million tons of water when fighting forest fires!) We have been very clever and actually made reservations at a campsite in Ucluelet for Tues and Wed. Although our site is rather close to another couple, we rarely see them – and we have a great view of the harbour. Tuesday is spent hiking, checking out Tofino and arranging for a whale tour on Thursday. On Wednesday we hike some more – through a rainforest trail – and then grab a few hours at Long Beach, sunning, reading, and watching the surfers. What a beautiful part of the world!

Thursday we pack up quickly, full of anticipation, and head for Tofino and the whale tour. Darlene and I have chosen the small Boston whaler – 20 ft – rather than the huge enclosed launch. This means we get suited up in thick, warm all-weather gear. We get great seats – right at the front – and the day is sunny. In fact, the only thing that was missing was whales. NO WHALES! ( OK, not quite true. We saw a fin here and a tail there and the odd blow or two, but this was a really disappointing trip.) My best photo of the day was of a kelp bed!

We left Tofino about 3 p.m., soured on whales, and headed for Victoria. And as we drove, things got progressively better. There was sunshine in Cathedral Grove, a beautiful hike through old-growth Douglas Fir, and we took the time to see the murals in Chemainus and the totem poles in Duncan. We arrive at Goldstream Campground in Victoria about 9 p.m. and get the last tent site.

We had pretty well given up on the idea of another whale tour but the German couple beside us extolled the virtues of “Prince of Whales” and their Orca tours, so Friday morning saw us up early and into Victoria. This time we chose the larger boat so that I wouldn’t spend the whole trip cradling the camera in a plastic bag to keep it away from salt water. And what a great trip! We saw lots of whales as they swam by our boat and we came away happy that we’d tried again.

We caught the 7:30 p.m. ferry to Port Angeles and managed to find a cheap and cheerful motel – The Flagstone – where I now sit and write.

Karen, Happy Birthday!

On The Road To Vancouver

Friday, July 28

Jasper turns out to be a far more pleasant town than Banff – possibly because its streets are twice as wide – but mostly because, as well as the tourist shops, it has enough real commerce to suggest that, if all the tourists suddenly stopped coming, Jasper would continue on quite comfortably.

Speaking of commerce, Darlene and I would like to attest to the thriving industry of rail freight! Our campsites have invariably been close to the tracks and we know that there’s a LOT of rail cars moving across this land of ours – day and night.

On Tuesday, the 24th we camped on a lovely little provincial campsite just south of Jasper on the 93A, where the smiling ,helpful park attendant assured us that bears were quite common in the park because of the buffalo berries that grew plentifully. We didn’t really share her enthusiasm. We did, however, wind up with a beautiful site overlooking the Athabasca River and saw no bears.

The next morning we drove up to Mt. Edith Clavell so that Ian could relive some youthful foolishness. Those of you who have heard the story should know that my stupidity was even greater that I have previously portrayed it. I’ll include a photo with the fateful crevasse circled.

Just south of Jasper we came across a herd of cow elk grazing in a wooded area just off the highway. There were cars and vans pulling off at all angles – and all speeds – people dashing this way and that, and these animals seemed oblivious to us. ( I felt very sorry for the people on a tour bus that pulled over but the driver wouldn’t let anyone off the bus.)

As we traveled away from Jasper through Mt. Robson Park we also see a wonderful 5-point elk beside the road, but now we’re in B.C. and the traffic on the 16 is mostly commercial and only we and a couple of motorcycles bother to stop.

Wednesday night is spent in McLure camped in a private campground, and this now gets top billing as the WORST night camping. The campground itself is just fine, lots of trees and reasonable seclusion. It’s the heat – HEAT! And the trains – TRAINS! The heat was ridiculous – 40 degrees at 9:30 – and the bloody trains didn’t just pass through – they stopped and backed up all night long! At one point when I was getting up to have a pee, Darlene was sure I was leaving her behind and heading for a motel.

From McLure we opted for the 5 to get us into Vancouver quickly but hit stop-and-go traffic at Chilliwack that stays with us most of the way. This is frustrating as we want to get to the Museum of Anthropology on the UBC campus and it closes at 5 p.m. We take several wrong turns getting there – map failure + navigator error + driver incompetence – but eventually get to wander among the phenomenal Haida totem poles and carvings and get to wonder at the mastery of Bill Reid. There is something approaching ”holy” in these artifacts.

Leaving the museum, we drive to Granville Island and check out the crafts shops. Alysha wants us to buy a particular hammock but when we finally find the store it is just closing.

At night we decide to try the YWCA Hotel in Vancouver and are very pleasantly surprised. It is clean, comfortable and secure. ( And for only $105. including the parking)

Today has been another wonderful day. We got up early and roller-bladed around Stanley Park then spent a couple of hours at the Art Gallery of Vancouver. They’re currently showing an exhibit of traditional and contemporary Native artwork based on The Raven and we were both overwhelmed with its beauty. As well, they have a presentation on the architecture of Arthur Erikson whose work with concrete structures is breathtaking. (He designed the Museum of Anthropology as well as Roy Thompson Hall.) Things I know today that I did not know yesterday.

Mmmmmm - Mountains!

Monday, July 24, 2006

Nelson. B.C. is a lovely little town. After catching the ferry at Kootenay Bay to Balfour BC, to get us across Kokanee Lake we camp the night at Kokanee Provincial Park. That evening we treat ourselves to dinner at the Red Fish Café, “a date” and an opportunity to enjoy the town, Thai noodles and a seafood stew – wonderful. The next morning we set out early for Cody Caves.

The caves are twenty km off the highway UP a narrow, rough gravel road that twists and turns with switchbacks every 50 metres. Nothing is said about this in the guidebook and I worry about anyone towing a trailer or driving a big motor home. (Really, I’m worried about meeting them as they try to back down.) The drive is followed by a 1 km hike UP,UP,UP some more. When we arrive at the cave opening we quickly discover that our guide is Fraser Bonner - an ex MMR student from the late 80’s, and Dar taught his sisters! Darlene and I get a personalized tour through an exciting, rugged (“Just walk through the river here. You may have to lie down on this next passage.”) set of caves.

We emerge exhilarated, dirty and ready for a soak in the Ainworth Hot Springs – which are very hot but just the ticket for the bumps and aches we picked up in the caves. Surrounded by mountains and not too overdone, it was a treat. A fabulous day, driving along the Kootenay Lake. If we lived anywhere close we would buy a retirement, cottage/home here. Beautiful country, and not very developed.

We camped that night at Revelstoke so that we could hike the mountain the next day. A private campsite but well maintained, & with a pool, which is great when it’s 38°C, we find a lovely site surrounded by trees. The next day we head up the “Meadows In The Sky Parkway” and go hiking through alpine meadows and give ourselves a bit of heatstroke. High and hot are not a good combination.

The remedy for this is a late lunch at a lovely little restaurant in Revelstoke called The Woolsey Creek Café which we highly recommend to anyone passing through. (It sounds as though we’re eating out a lot. Not so! )

We push on, hoping to stay at Glacier National Park but everything is full and we wind up at a private campground in Golden. Not nice. The owner is making a bundle cramming people into small sites with few amenities. ( Note: On his brochure the owner has the chutzpah to show a small herd of Bighorn Sheep grazing – on the only grass available - in front of the camp. We think this is just oversell until we leave the next morning and turn into – a small herd of Bighorn Sheep! )

We learn from all this, though, and will stop earlier in the day from now on. (And doing so we find a lovely little spot in Lake Louise Campground..)

As we’ve been traveling through the mountains I’ve been frustrated by lovely views but lousy photos. It seemed that there was always a problem with the angle, the light, the foreground, the background, the whatever. It’s really the photographer of course. I go through periods where I simply cannot “see” a photo. Fortunately, that changed with the Ice Fields Parkway and now we have enough mountain photos to build our own postcard business. The ice fields have lost none of their majesty or mystery but a lot of their mass and we are again reminded that global warming is causing great shifts in the topography of this planet of ours. This topic is much on my mind as I’m currently reading “The Weather Makers” by Tim Flannery. This is a book that should be required reading for every concerned citizen on the planet. This man lays out the crisis of global warming clearly, with illustrations that even I can understand.

We spend Sunday and Monday in Lake Louise National Park. Sunday afternoon we drove south to Banff and quickly left. It really is no longer a town – just an oversized shopping mall with good scenics. On Monday we drove slowly up to the ice fields, stopping at every viewpoint and hiking spot that we could find. Banff can be forgiven, just because it anchors such a stupendous drive. At the ice fields, we do the obligatory walk, fill Dar’s water bottle with meltwater and turn around for home. On the road south, we drive through several storms. These have already visited our campsite and we resolve once again not to leave our camp chairs out in the open when we quit camp.

On Tuesday, we leave for Jasper.

Lords - and Ladies - Of The Dance

Thursday, July 20, 2006,

Things happen so fast! Yesterday we spent a little time in Claresholm, AB – a town much changed since mother and I visited it fifteen years ago. A very helpful librarian gave us some historical material on my grandparents, and we were able to locate the Moffatt plot in the Claresholm Cemetery. I said hello to Ernie and Sue and had a bit of a chat with Uncle Billy for whom I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart. I was delighted to see that his stone is engraved with a treble and bass clef.

In the early afternoon we drove south to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and just happened to arrive at the beginning of a presentation of Blackfoot dances. The outfits – NOT costumes – were fabulous and we watched for about an hour and a half as these people danced a variety of dances in full sun.

The Jump is another World Heritage Site and they’ve done a marvelous job of presenting it. Although it's not possible to walk beneath the cliffs, inside the interpretative centre they recreated the cliff - with buffalo - as well as presenting an excellent overview of how buffalo were hunted by both the Indians and the early settlers. Needless to say, the white boys don't come off looking too good. It took us only about twenty years to reduce a buffalo population of about sixty million to a little over one thousand!

From there, we drove to Crowsnest Pass and then to Chinook Lake Provincial Park where we spent the night. After a hike around the lake we set out for Creston (where we’re presently having lunch under tall white pine trees totally surrounded by mountains) and then we’ll drive north along Kootenay Lake and get the ferry to Nelson where we’ll spend the night.

We Do The Hoodoos

Monday, July 17, 2006

Today we find ourselves in Dinosaur Provincial Park, after an early morning drive north from Writing On Stone Provincial Park.

The day before yesterday we drove through southern Saskatchewan along the Red Coat Trail. This is a government that apparently names its roads literally. While there were patches of asphalt, there were also long stretches of soupy gravel that demanded constant attention to the steering wheel. (Mind you, we chose this route.) Again, we were overwhelmed by the endless skies and flat, flat fields. Wheat is still very green and only the canola and occasional flax field provide some colour.

Who would have thought that one could drive from full to empty without ever encountering a gas station? We didn’t quite manage to empty the tank but came close until we found in Orion a very small, very old grocery with gas tanks set up on a truck around back and a very weathered gentleman to serve us. As we left, a cowboy – black hat, boots, jeans & white t-shirt – was sitting on the stoop, legs outstretched, having just driven up in his truck. It was such a great photo but I couldn’t think of a way to ask.

Writing On Stone Provincial Park was one of those inspired guesses that each of us occasionally make. Driving through more flat grasslands we came suddenly on the Milk River valley and the thousands of hoodoos that line its sides. The campground nestles alongside the river, which is warm and inviting and provided a wonderful swim to end the day.

We got up with the sun to photograph the hoodoos in the morning light and then set out for Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Really, the only comparison that is suitable is coming upon the Grand Canyon from the north side. One moment there are grasslands, next moment you’re staring at a bloody great river valley filled with hoodoos and steep weathered cliffs. (See pix)

At night we are treated to tremendous winds – but no clouds – and Ian has to get up and reset a tent peg. Tuesday morning we get up early to hike the Cottonwood Trail, Ian gets treated to bacon & eggs for breakfast, and we head out to Calgary.

On The Road Again - With The Bison

Friday, July 14, 2006

Saskatchewan!

No one will accuse us of spending too much time in Manitoba. We blew through, spending only one night in the province. This was not entirely our plan – it just happened.

Coming out of Kenora - a lovely little town – you reach the Manitoba border quickly. And I swear, within a distance of 100 metres, the trees that have surrounded you for the last week suddenly drop away and it’s big skies and canola fields. (Darlene assured me that we were looking at mustard. After seeing enough “mustard” fields to coat the world’s hot dogs and hamburgers a million times over, she was ready to agree that that yellow stuff might just be canola.)

We bypassed Winnipeg and headed for Riding Mountain National Park. (That’s not quite true. We spent 30 minutes on the western perimeter in 39 degree heat looking for any place that would give us an Internet hookup. Aesthetics report: Winnipeg can do ugly and congested with the best of Ontario cities.)

Riding Mountain National Park is home to a herd of Bison and we found them at the Lake Audy campsite. When we first arrived they were nowhere to be seen. After pitching the tent we had another drive around and again came up with nothing. And then, on the verge of heading back to the tent, a fortuitous right turn took us over a hill and into the middle of about thirty of them.

And I do mean the middle. They were on both sides of the road and not at all wary of cars. Both of us took dozens of photos and then we got up in the morning at first light, and did it all again. I could do an entire blog devoted to bison but instead I’ll limit myself to the three pictures here.

Before I leave Lake Audy I’ll just mention that my biggest surprise was not the bison, nor the deer, nor the elk – it was the raft of pelicans on the lake. I just don’t associate pelicans with Canada, but I suppose they spend their summer here – there’s certainly enough fish – and then head south in late August when winter arrives. (Joke)

To finish, Dar and I decided that Riding Mountain either deserved another two days or we could just be on our way and that is how we find ourselves in Saskatchewan in Moose Mountain Provincial Park and our big thrill this afternoon is hot showers.

On The Road Again - and the tracks!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Wet! We’ve had more than our fair share of rain since leaving Sudbury. On Thursday we decided to stay overnight in the Sault and take the Agora Canyon train trip the next day. LOTS of green! This would be an excellent trip in the fall, but really, in the summer, we don’t recommend it. Yes, the canyon is lovely but there is an awful lot of featureless green seen on the three-hour train ride each way.

The trip around Lake Superior has been just as beautiful as we both remember it, but plagued by rain. Sunday night found us in Wawa, pushed into a motel by a storm that lasted all day and made photography in any of the parks impossible. (But we missed the hail!) I’m beginning to rearrange my thinking about photographs because of this. I started the trip with a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to shoot. That is a path that seems to lead to frustration. So I’ll take my photos where I find them and try to erase the preconceptions of what I “want” as I go. I’ll try to include a few of the more interesting “found” shots each time I post.

Monday brought us a bit of excitement. The local tourist blurb suggested that it might be fun to hike to Jackfish Station, a ghost town left by a mining concern that ran dry. “ Find the yellow sign 23.7 km east of Terrace Bay, turn right on the gravel road, follow it down to the train tracks, and then walk along the tracks for 15 minutes to the town.”

NOTHING WAS SAID ABOUT TRAINS! So there are Dar and I casually wondering if the tracks get used much and noting that the set of rails beside us seem to be surprisingly polished. See the little rock cleft just behind Dar? We were half way into it when we both screamed “Train!” and ran backwards into that little indent just across from the shadow behind Darlene. This was exciting. Seeing a train go by from four feet away gets the blood coursing through the veins.

And if you’re wondering how much lead time you get on a set of curving tracks, the answer is about 20 – 30 seconds. We know this because the second time it happened, we were ready for it. And we were able to get about 12 feet away – oddly, this seems to be much greater than 3x4 where trains are concerned.

The second train did, however, dampen our enthusiasm for track-walking. With no ghost town in sight we turned around and headed back to the car. Dar quickly perfected the track hiking technique of left-right-left-right-pivot-checkbehind-pivot-left-right…and so on.

And now, with our adrenaline levels still a little high, we decided we could push on to Sleeping Giant campground. Although the guide book billed this as “rugged” and serene we found it to be – after a hell of a long, slow drive off the highway – the most populated, open, least private of all the camps visited so far. It was apartment style living applied to camping. The good news was that although people surrounded us on all sides, it was remarkably quiet at night. And the next day we were rewarded with some very young, very close White Tailed deer on the way back to the highway.

And finally, if you are reading this and wondering why I haven’t sent you an e-mail, it is because my Palm crashed five minutes before we left and I have absolutely no addresses with me. If you’d like to hear from me, send me an e-mail at iancowling@sympatico.ca.