We’ve seen many of the “badland” areas of the western US, but what we found in central Idaho is like nothing we have ever seen. The Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve near Arco, ID contains over 1,100 square miles of protected area, mostly lava fields resulting from volcanic activity from as far back as 15,000 years age and as recent as 2,000 years ago. The resulting effect is black rocky “moonscape” for as far as the eye can see. (Actually, scientists say it more closely resembles Mars.) There is one paved loop in the northwestern corner of th [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Harriman, we had two days before we were scheduled to be back at Massacre Rocks so we decided to make a swing through western Wyoming for a quick visit with Bob’s nephew, Pat Renz, his wife Lori, and their sons Patrick and Andrew. We first passed through the southwestern corner of Yellowstone National Park. We had spent several days in Yellowstone in 2007, so we didn’t take time for much sightseeing there on this trip. We came out of the south exit of Yellowstone and dropped down into Jackson Hole, the beautiful valley almost completely surrounded by rugged mountai [View Full Entry]

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The manager of our park asked us if we would like to spend a few days up at Harriman State Park helping them finish up the remodeling of their lodge. The park is about 150 miles northeast of Massacre Rocks, near West Yellowstone, Montana. Well, we are game for anything new, so off we went. The Harrimans were a very wealthy and influential eastern family. Averill Harriman was governor of New York, served as Secretary of Commerce and ambassador to both Great Britain and the Soviet Union, and was a serious candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1952 and [View Full Entry]

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Near the end of the last ice age (about 14,500 years ago) most of what is now Utah and parts of Nevada were covered by Lake Bonneville. In what was the second largest flood in the geological history of the world, the lake was drained through a breach in the natural dam at Red Rock Pass, flowing down the channel of the Snake River. The flood lasted several months, and the water flow at its peak was four times that of the Amazon River. Huge boulders (some bigger than a house) in its path were rolled hundreds of miles, smoothed and [View Full Entry]

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Our first destination in Colorado was the Golden Gate Canyon State Park, just west of the Denver suburb of Golden, home of the Coors brewery. From Golden to the park was only about 12 miles, but it was on a two-lane switchback mountain road which climbed almost a mile up to the park, which is at an elevation of about 9,500 feet. Making that climb in a rig weighing over 20,000 pounds and over 50 feet long is not something I would like to do every day. It wasn’t much fun for the people behind us either, although we did pull [View Full Entry]

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We left Lewis & Clark State Park on June 19, and headed south. We have about 2 weeks before we are due in Idaho, and our plan is to head down to Colorado to do some exploring. We have been on several ski trips to CO, but haven’t spent much time there in the summer. Our first stop was Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, ND. Teddy Roosevelt came to the N Dakota badlands in 1883 to hunt bison, only to find the population had been almost hunted into extinction. He became very enamored with the lush grasslands and beautiful rock [View Full Entry]

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We took a side trip out of Williston to visit a couple of historic sites just a few miles up the Missouri River from town. Near the Montana border, the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers converge. Fort Buford was established in 1866 to guard and protect the strategic confluence of these rivers, both important transportation and trade routes of the early west. From this fort the army fought the Indians of the northern plains, and it was at Fort Buford, on July, 20, 1881, that the Sioux chief Sitting Bull surrendered, ending the great Sioux wars. Much of the fort has been [View Full Entry]

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The History On May 14, 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St Louis, heading up the Missouri River on their 2 ½-year expedition to explore and chart the lands recently acquired through the Louisiana Purchase, and to seek a “Northwest Passage” to the Pacific Ocean. On April 17, 1805, almost one year later, they made camp at Short Creek, in what is now North Dakota, one mile from our campground at Lewis and Clark State Park. Sixteen months later on their return trip, they made camp at Tobacco Garden Bay, just across the Missouri River from the Park. It was [View Full Entry]

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We left Fernandina Beach on April 29, 2009 on a five month adventure that will have us spending a month in the Northwestern Corner of North Dakota, two months in Southern Idaho, and then back to Virginia for about a month. We won’t be home again until early October. Our first stop is Arlington, VA, where we’ll spend a few days visiting with our son, John, his wife Kemper, and two of our wonderful grandchildren Mary and Robert. We had a great visit. The highlights were the elementary school fair, Robert’s baseball game, Mary’s soccer game, and a nice visit with [View Full Entry]

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Glacier National Park is located in northwestern Montana along the Canadian border, and consists of some 1,600 square miles of mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, and, of course, glaciers (over 50 of them). It became our 10th National Park in 1910. In 1891 the Great Northern Railway had crossed the continental divide at nearby Marias Pass, opening the region to settlers, miners, and inevitably tourists. Seeing the potential of the area’s breathtaking beauty, the railroad promoted the region and built a series of lodges across the area connected by primitive trails. Tourists would trav [View Full Entry]

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