Author: Roger Engdahl and Susan Green

We packed up in the morning at Gros Ventre after a nice breakfast and a short walk.  We didn’t have much to do really. For only one night we really didn’t unpack anything.  Inside stuff is usually where it needs to be whether we are moving or not.  We had no water hooked up, We rarely do unless we are adding water to our onboard tanks.  We had no sewer connection. We never do unless we are emptying waste tanks.  With a full water tank and empty waste tanks we gan go for 7-10 days. When we travel we start with empty waste tanks and only 25% or so water. Same with fuel, we try to run between 1/3 and 2/3 full, about 700 miles worth.

We took the more eastern road, it was more direct with fewer turn offs up to the Moran Junction and then west towards Jackson Lake. It followed up along the lake past the Jackson Lake Lodge to the Colter Bay Junction. 

Every turn revealed more of the Tetons.

We turned in the Colter Bay road,. It was about a mile to Jackson Lake and the entrance to the campground.

Normally there is a line of RVs waiting to check in.  When we got there there were none.

Check in was quick and then down into the campground to H66,

This is by far the nicest of the National Park RV campgrounds we have stayed in or driven through.  Big roomy sites, most all pull throughs, lots of tall lodgepole pines and shade.  Very quiet and calm.  Maybe 100 yards to Jackson Lake.

Colter Bay is towards the northern end of the Grand Teton National Park. It has a large campground (360 sites) about 10% of which have electric hook ups (very rare in National Parks). It is like many campgrounds in the National Parks, first come, first served.  Same with the electrical sites.  If they are available when you show up you can get one and once you have one you can stay for 14 days.  The other campground at Colter Bay is more like an RV park (160 sites) no tents, electric, water and waste connections. And they are reservable.  For many people, including us, the reservable part is worth a lot.  In this case they are $15/night more than the non-reservable sites in the other campground that only have electricity. 

There are also 160 cabins here for rent. They range from very tiny with a single double bed and a detached bathroom that you share with four other cabins (about $100) to a big double cabin, two bedrooms, one bath with four double beds for about $300. No kitchen facilities.

And there are tent cabins you can rent for about $95. These are a tent on a concrete pad with a canvas covered outside area with a fire ring.  Inside there are four single bunk beds with a mattress and a wood burning stove.  Bring your own sleeping bag and pretty much everything else you want or need.  Bathrooms and showers and a small store were nearby.

And there was a horse corral for all the cowboy wanabes.  A one hour ride was almost $50.  They had longer rides, breakfast rides, chuck wagon dinner rides.  Just about anything your never-before-in-a-saddle butt could stand.

And there was a fairly big marina.  Jackson Lake is quite large (a reservoir) many miles long and more than a mile across in some place.  So there were some very large boats, cabin cruiser types to go with the show homes and private jets, sailboats, speed boats, lots of boats.  And canoes and kayaks for rent and small 10HP powered boats (even more than a horse ride) and a scenic cruise boat for a ride around this part of the lake. 

Mount Moran straight ahead and,in the distance, to the left and much higher, Grand Teton.

What else.  Oh there was a laundry and a shower building ($4.25 for the shower) and a grocery store and a gift shop, of course, with a few interesting things and some more bathrooms.  There is a smallish parking lot for all of this and it was rarely full or even close to full.

There is a Visitor’s Center with an auditorium and a gallery of native art that changed from one artisit to another each week. And another gift shop. There has to be those,  where else would one get a patch from every place we go that has one for sale?

And all of this is closing piece by piece while we are here.  By the end of the month Colter Bay will be essentially closed for the season.

We are taking lots of pictures.  I am trying to keep the blog close to current.  Trying is the operative word.  We are busy, go to bed early and sleep a long time.  

So more to come,

Roger and Susan

We left Idaho Falls by nine in the A of M.  We were one day ahead of our scheduled arrival at Colter Bay which is about 45 miles north of Jackson, WY.  Gros Ventre campground is the first campground into the park, about 8 miles from Jackson.  RV accomodations like everything in Jackson are beyond comprehension expensive.  Gros Ventre (it is the name of a Native American tribe in this area, pronounced Grow Vaan) campgound is first come first served and usually had space at noon. That was our target.

The highway from Idaho Falls across towards Jackson followed the Snake River and by the large Palisades reservoir.  I was expecting more of a challenging drive but it was good roads, not big grades up or down and very little traffic.  

The pictures with the dates are from our dash cam.  Pretty good I think. It takes a continuous high definition movie as we drive along along with recording real time speed, direction, GPS coordinates and three axis accelerations.  When we play them back we see what the camera saw and we can follow our progress on Google maps.  These fill up a 32GB memory card in six hours and then start overwriting the oldest files.  They are easy to save the files and get stills from the video.

We drove into Jackson.  We were here in 1980.  This is not the Jackson we remember.  

Ranting rises up …

It is now just like every other tourist mecca.  Sort of like a Cowboy Las Vegas. No grocery stores, no Target, no Walmart, some over priced gas stations, dozens of tourist related merchantile stores, many very expensive art galleries, many over priced, under quality food venues, extraordinarily pricey RV resorts, hotels, motels, lodges, (35 for a town of 9,000) condos, ski wear, cowboy wear and people comically over dressed to impress the art dealers.  Another out west town gone to retail tourist trade and the over-the-top trade to the ultra rich.  I guess there really isn’t much left out here other than that so milk it while you can.  And then there are the multi-million dollar show homes where the dozens of private jets at the local airport have brought the art gallery shoppers for their annual one week visit.  Susan says I am being a bit overdramatic.  Indeed!  In this small once ranch town the median home price is $749,000. Where do all of the ranch hands live?  Can they?

John D Rockefeller brought his family to the Jackson Hole (Hole = Valley) area to see the Teton Range in 1926.  He was so shocked by the gaudy tourist trade, the prostitutes, the bars, the gambling casinos and all that had settled in the area that he set out to buy everything in the valley that he could.  Over time he bought up more than 35,000 acres.  When the park was established in 1929 it only included the mountains themselves and the glacial lakes at their base to the east. Rockefeller tried to donate all that he had purchased to the park but it took until 1943 for President Roosevelt to accept the donation by making it a National Monument thus sidestepping a congress unwilling to do anything. It took until 1950 for the original National Park and the National Monument to be merged into the Grand Teton National Park as it is today.  There are still small ranches and private holdings within the Park boundaries.  Some of these are private homes, some are operated as Dude Ranches.  Wouldn’t Jeff Bridges be proud.

So somewhere along the way a robber barron did right by us all.  We should be thankful for everyone’s efforts to protect areas like this.  It is just stunningly beautiful.  Away from what happens in Jackson it becomes a place to enjoy what is here.  In Some places there are more people trying to enjoy it than others but find that spot only a few hundred yards from everyone else and you can be alone in the quiet beauty and amazing mountains so close.

Ranting subsides …

The town square is still there with the elk antler arches.

Now, this is like many old western towns.  The center of town, where people meet and gather.  This one had a fence all around to keep people out except through the gates and along the diagonal sidewalks and a small place to sit in the middle. We are pretty sure there were no other benches.  It was a photo opportunity. We compared it to the vibrant and full of life Plaza in Santa Fe. There is no camparison.  

We drove our coach right through town.  The picture above from the dash cam was while we were turning the corner.  Another mile of gaudy commercialism (well, there I go again) to the park boundary past the edge of the National Elk Refuge and our first views of the Teton Range and another three miles to the turn to Gros Ventre Campground.

Check in at Gros Ventre was easy.

A nice campsite.

Color is starting in the Park.

And over the glacial moraines that formed the sides of the Gros Ventre River valley, the Tetons poked up. 

The next morning, Thursday, 9/3 we move to Coulter Bay.  Internet service here is slow but I hope to show in pictures what we will see as much as words.

More to come,

Roger and Susan

We left the Oregon coast on Sunday.  18 days went by way too fast, next time at least a month.  It rained on and off most of Saturday so we got the out door tasks done. Good thing,  it rained steady all night Saturday.  By Sunday morning it had stopped, we did the last few things we needed to do and were on the road by shortly after nine.

Before you get to the mountains it is pretty flat, few trees, sort of like lots of places out west, dry and covered with sagebrush.

TX, AZ, NM? Hard to tell.

And then the west slope of the central mountains, big trees, lots of trees.  And it rained most of the way up.  They really need rain.  It is very dry.

Normally this river (South Yamhill) would fill the picture side to side.

Everything that is brown here would normally be under water.

Water levels at this dam are about 50′ low.

Cloudy, misty, rain.  Steep climbs, slow turns, traffic not too bad.  The coach did just fine on both the uphill and down hill parts.

Susan’s favorite part, nothing but nothing on the right.

And then over the pass, down hill, much drier, very few trees and grassland.

Sisters, OR looked interesting but very much manufactured for the tourist trade.  It reminded us of Durango, CO. We went on to Bend and stayed at Camp Walmart.

From Bend going east towards Ontario there is another 4,800 ft pass. And then a long downhill winding path towards Ontario.  All of this is two lane, 55 mph. Good road, not much traffic.

As you get towards Ontario the land gets very flat, mainly because they graded it that way for flood irrigation.  Many years ago they grew a lot of grass seed out this way. Now it is the onion capital of the world, or so they claim.  Over 1 billion pounds of onions from this area every year.  Irrigation canals, pipe lines and equipment everywhere.  Even the John Deere dealer had equipment that was quite odd, specialized for the onion growers.

The dirt looks like light, gray plowed up mud.  It is hard to imagine anything would grow in it but with enough water onions must.

We stopped just past Ontario in an old RV park full of museum aged rvs.  It is OK.  Lots of folks just living here in old RVs that will likely never move again. Doing some laundry this AM.  

A shorter drive to Idaho Falls today and then over another pass into the Tetons on Wednesday morning. 

More later,

Roger and Susan

While we were at the coast we had a chance to meet some folks from the Foretravel Forum.  It is always fun to do, we sort of know them from the Forum but getting to actually meet someone is great.

Bits and Pieces

They are like tents on platforms but have a simple interior wooden structure.  They have electricity, an electric heater, a table and chairs, a futon like couch/bed and a full sized/twin sized bunk bed.  The outside deck is covered and has a picnic table with a ramp leading up to it.  They are $15/night more than a regular campsite.  There are two where you can have a pet for an extra $10/night.  Every one was occupied every night we were here.

Actually, the park ranger said that every site was reserved and paid for every night we were here.  A very few were vacant but that is because the reservation holder was delayed or did not show up.  If a site is unoccupied for two nights they call to find out if the site can be released.  Even the camping area for hikers and bikers was mostly full every night.

There are many here from British Columbia.  Three of the five campground hosts are from BC.  Lots from Washington.

And cats seem to get special attention.

Crabs

One day we drove down to Garibaldi at the north end of Tillamook Bay.  It is a big fishing port.  Lots of boats and a great restaurant for fresh fish, the Fisherman’s Corner and a good place to buy fresh fish, the Garibaldi Cannery.  We stopped there to get crab, four 2 lb crabs to be exact.  And it was about $80.  They were cooked and on ice.  The lady who was working that day had her nine year old daughter helping out. The young gal finished cleaning the crab (remove the top shell and the nasty bits inside and on a few, the nasty bits outside). We loaded it into a cooler and headed for Judy and Bruce’s place.  Sorry no pictures were allowed. The table was covered in several layers of the New York Times, plates, drinks, bowls full of crabs ready to be torn asunder and bowls at the ready to receive the refuse. It was so messy that no one wanted to touch their camera. It was all fingers, fists, wrists and elbows until the poor fellows had given their all. And empty bowl on one side, shards filled the other bowl. I think they had to hose off the deck after we were done.

Eggs Mex Benny

Susan and I made Eggs Mex Benny one morning for the four of us. They are a fluffy, buttery buttermilk biscuit with sharp cheddar cheese, roasted corn and spicy chopped green chilis topped with cheesy scrambled eggs or poached eggs and a bold chorizo sausage gravy, a melty white mexican cheese and salsa.

The table (cleaned after the attack of the crab eaters) ready in full color.

And Eggs Mex Benny.  Yum.

Wanda’s for Breakfast

A local favorite is Wanda’s in Nehalem mostly for breakfast but lunch too. We got there at 10:00 hoping for breakfast at 10:30.  If was closer to 10:45.  Which is pretty normal.

No need to be impatient.  No more pictures, just eating. It was worth the wait.

Burritos

Cool hot poster. There was a great burrito shop.  Giant two person burritos for $6.50.  No sales tax in Oregon.

Stormy Weather

And the last couple days we were here it was stormy.  

But the deer fawns don’t seem to mind.

We are leaving in the morning and are almost all ship shape and Bristol fashion.  A couple quick things in the morning and we will be ready for a 9 ish departure.  Off towards Bend, OR then Ontario, OR then Idaho Falls, ID and finally up to the Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone National Park.  Four days on the trail, trying to avoid where we have been and the fires.

Lots more from there, I hope the internet connections and speed are better.

Roger and Susan

 

Riding the Trails

And the airport runway.

And then back into the campground where everyone seems to bring everything.

And the string.

And the sun goes down on another day.

More later,

Roger and Susan

Riding the Rails

Off we went. 

 

More exciting for some than others.

Through the woods and valleys.

Yes, that is smoke, lots of smoke, enough to make your eyes water and your throat raspy.  Massive fires in Washington, more than 1/2 million acres are burning.  A huge fire near Bend Oregon and the even bigger John Day fire in central Oregon.  This past winter’s snow pack in the mountains was about 10% of normal, much less rain in the coastal mountains and the Willamette Valley and much warmer than normal temps. 

We ate our lunch on the way up the valley.  We got as far as we could and stopped.  The engine disconnected and switched on to a parallel siding and backed down hill and then came up behind the train to reconnect so that they could pull us back down.  That was the plan anyway.

The front of the locomotive couldn’t connect to the other end of the train. So after several tries they went back around to the front of the train, connected there and pushed us back down.  Took some extra time but who was in a hurry.

When we got back to Wheeler …

Susan and I went to visit an Art Deco antique store.  What a knock out! The owner claimed he had the largest collection of Art Deco collectable stuff in the US.  No way to judge but there was room after room of amazing stuff.  We are familiar with the style, not exactly our style or time frame of preference, but this was amazing.  

And there was a fantastic fabric shop where Susan spied some old style heavy oil cloth that she figured would make a great picnic table cloth.  The store was mostly about quilting, hundreds and hundreds of bolts of beautiful quilting fabrics, lots of quilts hanging on the walls, a sewing machine near the front window busy sewing. They had some silky soft faux-leather upholstery fabric that caught my eye. 

So another adventure.  It makes us want to take the train from Duluth up the North Shore, something on our list for a long time, something we will do sooner than later now.

More later,

Roger and Susan

Wow, almost two weeks here at the Oregon coast have flown by.  It seems like we have been busy all day, every day.

I am going to try to catch up.  Judy and Bruce left yesterday.  They have a big wedding to go to.  We spent most of yesterday on the beach.  Internet access and speed here is not great especially uploading so I am goimg to try to do a few shorter blog entries (what I was planning on doing all along but busy got in the way).

Hug Point 

One day we drove up to Hug Point.  Parking was very limited and we were there at low tide, a popular time.  When the tide is out you can walk around two points to the north, each revealing another beach and one to the south.  Many years ago before there were roads along the coast and travel was mainly along the beaches a road was blasted through one of the points to let wagons through.  You can still see where the road went.

Well sort of.  On the left you can see the notch where the road went through the rocks.  Big high cliffs here and lots of caves.

There is a waterfalls here too but it has been so dry around here that the little dribble hardly made the rocks wet.

Most of this coastline is volcanic in history.  The Pacific tectonic plate is pushing under the coast line, push it up, bending it, folding it and forcing the coastal mountain range up.  Mount St Helens is maybe 100 miles from here.

We brought a picnic and our kites.  Not much wind though.

Hunter (12) needed something other than his phone to do.  So I took the two walking sticks and stuck them in the sand about 30 ft apart and said “Lets play horseshoes!”.  Hunter says we don’t have horse shoes so I say lets use sandals.  OK.  After some negotiation about how many points we were going to play to we got started. It took several tosses before we started to get the hang of it, how to hold the sandal, how much oomph it needed.  The game was on.  We were almost to the end of the first game and I said this is just the first round, wait until you see the second one.  So after round one, round two was the same game but we had to face the other way and toss the sandals backwards and over our heads.  Why not?  Nothing beats fun for having a good time.

See the flying sandal?  That is a round with Bruce.  It was fun and different.  Maybe a bit goofy but just what two people whose average age is 39 needed to do.

More later,

Roger and Susan