Portland to Devils Tower Wyoming

It was a hard thing to do but we managed to depart Jon and Lucia’s place and there wonderful hospitality and seek out new adventures on the road.

We stopped in on friends of Josie’s in Hood River just to say hello and let them know that Josie is still waiting for them to pay her a visit in NZ. We parked the camper across the road in a paddock that belonged to a Baptist Church group. Tina assured us that would be fine as they had been told they could park vehicles there anytime, but when I went to the van to get my little red book I found that we had been yellow stickered with a note saying that we had no regard for God and please move. So much for Christianity, and being charitable etc to your fellow man. Oh well it was time to move on anyway.

We spent the night camped on the edge of the Columbia River at a little town called Rufus. There were a few other campers there, most of them fishermen. I went for a couple of swims but Marty could not be enticed in, although he did get in up to his knees at one point. It was certainly refreshing and I did seem to be the only one who had a swim while we were there.

We headed off towards Wallowa Lake where we stayed in a State Park. From here we took the bike and rode up to Hats Point in Hell’s Canyon. The first 20 odd miles up to Imnaha was over a lovely road. The next 24 miles up to Hats Point was on a metal road with lots of corrugations and quite steep in places. Not ideally suited to the BMW with the Teletubbies onboard but that didn’t stop us, although at the halfway point Marty did ask if we really wanted to be doing this. What a stupid question to ask. Of course we did. When we reached Hats Point we were able to climb a fire watch tower. The view was 360° and spectacular. We could see across the canyon which was 10 miles wide and 1.5miles deep and across to the Seven Devils mountain range in Idaho plus acres and acres of forest.
Coming down we saw two very large deer, one of which decided to run in front of us. We nearly had a good set of antlers to bring home. Everywhere we have been we have had to watch out for wildlife crossing the road. They have right of way, and they can do a lot of damage to a vehicle especially bikes.
We stopped at the file mile point and had our lunch. This in some ways was more impressive than the top. The landscape was amazing and to see eagles and turkey buzzards soaring up from the valley to above us using the updrafts in a matter of seconds was incredible. It was hard to drag ourselves away.
We stopped in the town of Joseph and had a look around at the bronze statues that line the main street. They were pretty neat.

On the road again and before we knew it we were in Idaho. We came in through the back door and the scenery along the river and through the canyons was magic. Was easy to forget that the camper was sucking up $3.50 every 7 miles we travelled.
We stopped in Boise, a largish city for a few supplies. Marty is obviously having shed withdrawal symptoms as he bought some cutting paste and started polishing the RV tonight. I wasn’t tempted to join him.

My navigation skills proved a little suspect when the campsite I selected for the night didn’t turn out to be where I thought it was – i.e. just off the main road. Instead we went for miles down a very dusty bumpy road which ensured that the bike was absolutely filthy and almost unrecognizable as a BMW. There was a fair bit of dust in the camper as well. But it was isolated and by water, just like the book said.

We spent the better part of a day at the Craters of the Moon. This is a large expanse of rock and scoria which must have been hell for early settlers to cross. But cross they did. There were also a few caves you could enter. The drop in temperature was quite amazing. At one cave it dropped before you even entered the cave. We ventured into all but one.

At the end of the day we had ventured into Montana for about 10 miles and then into Wyoming and Yellowstone park where we planned to hole up for a few days. (Is that American enough for you Bob?)

We were lucky to get a campsite as most of the sites were prebooked months in advance.

Like Idaho, Wyoming is a helmet free state so we decided as we would just be puttering around the park we would leave our helmets behind. There are two loops in the park so we decided to do the northern loop one day and the southern the next. We saw heaps of bison and elk on our way to Norris Basin a geothermal area of the park. Spent quite a bit of time walking around but to be honest we didn’t find it that interesting. Too much time growing up with it in NZ. We found Mammoth Springs a lot more interesting but didn’t have enough time to have a good look around. Typical. About 10 minutes up the road, the heavens opened up. There was amazing thunder and lightning and then we got hit with hail. Boy did we wish we had our helmets and some wet weather gear!! By the time the storm had nearly passed we found a deserted gas station to take cover under and by the time we had reached Tower falls we were nearly dry.
Having to stop made it perfect timing as we got to see a Grizzly Bear. A big male running around, luckily some distance away. That made my day.
We had to pay the price for that – we got soaked again. He rain was so heavy that twice had to take cover under trees on the road side and again by the time we got back to camp we were dry.
Day two and as the weather forecast was for rain and snow we decided that we would shoot back up to Mammoth Springs before doing the southern loop. We wore our helmets this time. Again about 10 minutes out of Mammoth the heavens opened and we were drenched. We sheltered in the same gas station but this time we had another motorcyclist for company. A couple in a car also stopped and she offered us food and a blanket because we looked so cold. As we started the climb from Tower Falls to Mount Washmore the temperature dropped and we were caught in a snow storm. It was bad enough being wet but getting turned to ice was quite a different matter. It was almost white out conditions. I thought it was quite exciting but I don’t think Marty did so I didn’t dare suggest we stop for a photo shoot. By the time we got back to camp Marty nearly had hypothermia. Had to get him straight into bed and warm him up. When that failed I had to heat up some stew and make a cuppa tea. Despite these awful conditions we got to see two black bears so it wasn’t all bad.
As we couldn’t extend our stay we headed off to the Grand Tetons, via Old Faithful. We spent half the day wandering around waiting for various geysers to do their thing but only Old Faithful performed for us. That was worth seeing.

The Grand Tetons are at the southern end of Yellowstone and are a park in their own right. We both thought that the scenery here was more spectacular than in Yellowstone. The mountains look so amazing and they seem to be visible no matter where you are. An added bonus to the visit here was that we got to see a grizzly mum with three cubs at very close range. A roadway away infact. Some people were so stupid and tried to get even closer which kept the rangers very busy. Apparently the bear had charged a person earlier in the day when they got to close to her cubs. As the brochures tell you, it’s not Yogi Bear you are looking at and you will be the picnic basket if you get to close. We also got to see a moose. Alas only a Mrs Moose not Mr Moose with a full set of headgear. They are a pretty impressive animal.

Last stop in Wyoming was The Devils Tower. This is a huge rock of great spiritual significance to many Indian Tribes who still hold ceremonies there each June near the Solace. Evidence of these gatherings can be seen in many of the trees where ribbons etc have been tied. The rock was also used in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Point of entry for the aliens. It is quite impressive. Unless you are a rock climber you can’t climb to the top but there is a trail around it that offers great views. While we were there we were able to watch 4 climbers slowly making their way to the top. Not quite sure how they felt about the vultures circling overhead.

Next stop South Dakota home of Rocky Raccoon – if you are a Beatles fan.