(Yesterday) Again we were up and out earlier, leaving the cold mountains by 6am. The town of Jackson Hole was still asleep when I drove through, which kept me going rather than sitting back with a warm cup of coffee. Where was everyone? Even the multi-million-dollar log homes with window walls facing the Tetons were dark and lifeless along the route.
I continued south along US89, where south of Jackson Hole the river is called "The Grand Canyon of the Snake River" although I didn't find too much "grand" about the river here as it snaked around round-top hills toward Idaho.
This was pretty country. After Jackson Hole the small villages of Etna popped up, with one burger restaurant displaying a sign with "Hippies use back door. No exceptions." I gassed up for $2.51 and continued my drive south, through the Snake Valley along the Wyoming-Idaho state line.
Here is where I cheated and drove on Idaho Route 34 into the state along its "Pioneer trail," around more bucolic pastural scenes, around hills, over mounds and vast views of green pastures. This was part of the Oregon Trail in the 1840s when white settlers came across this gentle land on their move to Oregon. Among them was Hoosier Ezra Meeker, according to one historical marker I read along the way.
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=pf_output.cfm&file_id=7742
I stopped in the forest service office in Soda Springs, where I complemented the young attendant of Idaho's beauty. I will have to explore Idaho's beauty on another trip, perhaps next summer while on a Pacific Coast trip from California north along Highway 1
into Seattle, then eastward into Idaho and back south into southwestern Montana. I will have to travel deeper into Idaho, into Idaho's "heart" to catch a feel for its landscape and people.
I had just missed the hourly eruption of the Soda Springs, which was a man-made geyser from turn-of-the-century when I drove into the small historic town. Since the Soda Springs' eruption allegedly put Old Faithful out of whack, the town was forced to cap this geyser so that it only erupts for a minute every hour, releasing just enough pressure to cause a nice white shot of water for tourists to gawk at. It's the one tourist attraction left in this agri-town. It was 10:13am when I left the town to continue on my route now on US30 eastward. After a dead-end venture up Georgetown Canyon (dead end due to heavy tracks in the road which my van would not have been able to surmount), I was now on my way to Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming.
South of Soda Springs the mountains slowly gave way to dry red rock and sagebrush. I was slowly entering the semi-dry high desert of the northern Southwest. It finally dawned on me that I was no longer in Montana's mountains. The increase in Spanish talk radio programs was the second indicator that I was nearing the Southwest.
Heat and fatigue soon followed. The drive to Fossil Butte was 15 miles back into Wyoming on US30, a route heavily traveled by semis and fast drivers. I could barely stay awake. People behind me probably thought I was intoxicated as I found myself drifting into the other lane. I needed to take a rest badly.
I made it to Fossil Butte by 2pm. This was an impressive dry butte that once was part of an ocean floor. Catastrophic deaths of its fish left the huge mounds of fossils now on display. A heavy aroma of sage overwhelmed me as I exited the van to see the display. The only small trees here were willows in a narrow draw north of the butte where the park now has a picnic site. I ignored the hiking trail because of Sadie and napped instead inside the van, managing almost an hour of shut-eye while in the parking lot.
What is causing my fatigue? I never overcame it yesterday, even when I got back into the mountains back on US89 toward Logan, passing Garden City and beautiful blue Bear Lake and its famous raspberry ice cream shop where I bought a shake for $4 while slowly climbing back up the Uinta mountains and into Logan Canyon.
I drove the entire canyon into Logan, then turned around to look for a campsite off FR107, a wide and even road large enough for trailers. Other trailers were climbing up this road as well, all looking for a flat plateau to enjoy the sunset and moon rise. Here, though, the ATVers were in charge, plowing passed my tranquil site and spooking Sadie...and the cows which are now back at taking over the forests.
I was exhausted but yet walked three miles out and back with Sadie along FR107, just to get some exercise. And when we got back to the van, I went to sleep. It was only 8pm and the sun was still shining low over the peaks. Sadie sat outside enjoying "protecting" me, but I called her into the van. She came reluctantly, and quietly took her spot this time in the driver's seat, where I found her still this morning when I woke up again at 6am to continue my drive into the scenic little Mormon town of Logan. I was so exhausted last night that I missed both the sun set and the moon rise.
The first thing I saw when entering Logan from the canyon, besides the university campus of Utah State University, was the Mormon temple. The temple's rock and timber were harvested right out of the forests north of town, leaving sawmills still remaining today in ruins along hiking trails and roads. What an impressive sight that temple is coming down from the canyon.
I will take my time here, but need to be in Moab in two days. It's the last big town I want to explore in Utah. My last time in Utah, 1997, I didn't have time to explore Moab. Now it may be too hot to explore it like I explored Montana and South Dakota. The Utah National Public Radio is forecasting clouds coming from the south, an indicator that the monsoons are soon here. The rains may change my driving plans more. They may even hasten the end of this fantastic roadtrip.
I walked Sadie around downtown, viewed the temple and the tabernacle and returned to Hasting's Books to sit and enjoy my most expensive cup of coffee yet: $4.10 for a large cappuccino with hazelnut flavoring. That is more expensive than any pint of beer I've had yet on my trip outside of the National Resort Park Service in Yellowstone's Cabin Lodge!
A beautiful book to peruse is Michael Sweeney's "Last Unspoiled Place, Exploring Utah's Logan Canyon," 2008 National Geographic Society.
I continued south along US89, where south of Jackson Hole the river is called "The Grand Canyon of the Snake River" although I didn't find too much "grand" about the river here as it snaked around round-top hills toward Idaho.
This was pretty country. After Jackson Hole the small villages of Etna popped up, with one burger restaurant displaying a sign with "Hippies use back door. No exceptions." I gassed up for $2.51 and continued my drive south, through the Snake Valley along the Wyoming-Idaho state line.
Here is where I cheated and drove on Idaho Route 34 into the state along its "Pioneer trail," around more bucolic pastural scenes, around hills, over mounds and vast views of green pastures. This was part of the Oregon Trail in the 1840s when white settlers came across this gentle land on their move to Oregon. Among them was Hoosier Ezra Meeker, according to one historical marker I read along the way.
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=pf_output.cfm&file_id=7742
I stopped in the forest service office in Soda Springs, where I complemented the young attendant of Idaho's beauty. I will have to explore Idaho's beauty on another trip, perhaps next summer while on a Pacific Coast trip from California north along Highway 1
into Seattle, then eastward into Idaho and back south into southwestern Montana. I will have to travel deeper into Idaho, into Idaho's "heart" to catch a feel for its landscape and people.
I had just missed the hourly eruption of the Soda Springs, which was a man-made geyser from turn-of-the-century when I drove into the small historic town. Since the Soda Springs' eruption allegedly put Old Faithful out of whack, the town was forced to cap this geyser so that it only erupts for a minute every hour, releasing just enough pressure to cause a nice white shot of water for tourists to gawk at. It's the one tourist attraction left in this agri-town. It was 10:13am when I left the town to continue on my route now on US30 eastward. After a dead-end venture up Georgetown Canyon (dead end due to heavy tracks in the road which my van would not have been able to surmount), I was now on my way to Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming.
South of Soda Springs the mountains slowly gave way to dry red rock and sagebrush. I was slowly entering the semi-dry high desert of the northern Southwest. It finally dawned on me that I was no longer in Montana's mountains. The increase in Spanish talk radio programs was the second indicator that I was nearing the Southwest.
Heat and fatigue soon followed. The drive to Fossil Butte was 15 miles back into Wyoming on US30, a route heavily traveled by semis and fast drivers. I could barely stay awake. People behind me probably thought I was intoxicated as I found myself drifting into the other lane. I needed to take a rest badly.
I made it to Fossil Butte by 2pm. This was an impressive dry butte that once was part of an ocean floor. Catastrophic deaths of its fish left the huge mounds of fossils now on display. A heavy aroma of sage overwhelmed me as I exited the van to see the display. The only small trees here were willows in a narrow draw north of the butte where the park now has a picnic site. I ignored the hiking trail because of Sadie and napped instead inside the van, managing almost an hour of shut-eye while in the parking lot.
What is causing my fatigue? I never overcame it yesterday, even when I got back into the mountains back on US89 toward Logan, passing Garden City and beautiful blue Bear Lake and its famous raspberry ice cream shop where I bought a shake for $4 while slowly climbing back up the Uinta mountains and into Logan Canyon.
I drove the entire canyon into Logan, then turned around to look for a campsite off FR107, a wide and even road large enough for trailers. Other trailers were climbing up this road as well, all looking for a flat plateau to enjoy the sunset and moon rise. Here, though, the ATVers were in charge, plowing passed my tranquil site and spooking Sadie...and the cows which are now back at taking over the forests.
I was exhausted but yet walked three miles out and back with Sadie along FR107, just to get some exercise. And when we got back to the van, I went to sleep. It was only 8pm and the sun was still shining low over the peaks. Sadie sat outside enjoying "protecting" me, but I called her into the van. She came reluctantly, and quietly took her spot this time in the driver's seat, where I found her still this morning when I woke up again at 6am to continue my drive into the scenic little Mormon town of Logan. I was so exhausted last night that I missed both the sun set and the moon rise.
The first thing I saw when entering Logan from the canyon, besides the university campus of Utah State University, was the Mormon temple. The temple's rock and timber were harvested right out of the forests north of town, leaving sawmills still remaining today in ruins along hiking trails and roads. What an impressive sight that temple is coming down from the canyon.
I will take my time here, but need to be in Moab in two days. It's the last big town I want to explore in Utah. My last time in Utah, 1997, I didn't have time to explore Moab. Now it may be too hot to explore it like I explored Montana and South Dakota. The Utah National Public Radio is forecasting clouds coming from the south, an indicator that the monsoons are soon here. The rains may change my driving plans more. They may even hasten the end of this fantastic roadtrip.
I walked Sadie around downtown, viewed the temple and the tabernacle and returned to Hasting's Books to sit and enjoy my most expensive cup of coffee yet: $4.10 for a large cappuccino with hazelnut flavoring. That is more expensive than any pint of beer I've had yet on my trip outside of the National Resort Park Service in Yellowstone's Cabin Lodge!
A beautiful book to peruse is Michael Sweeney's "Last Unspoiled Place, Exploring Utah's Logan Canyon," 2008 National Geographic Society.
Yes, DO come back to Idaho, but I would suggest rather than going deeper, go higher, as in north through its narrowing middle into the panhandle. It only gets better and better the farther north you go.
ReplyDeleteI miss my dog - a faithful and protecting traveling companion like your Sadie. Safe travels...
Sheila in Sandpoint
Sheila, you are the second person to tell me to check out Idaho's panhandle. The first one was an elderly gentleman who works for the Montana state parks! I WILL come back.
ReplyDelete