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2021-09-15 Windy Hike

After yesterday and the long hike, we decided to take at easy. We hiked the Beaver Hike which was just outside of the park. It was a very windy hike and also deserted. We walked a loop through trees and high grass just like the area where we saw the three bears the time before. We only saw one other couple on the hike.

The other couple blew a whistle. This upset Debbie because Larry carries a whistle and she thinks it is a warning for bears. Of course, it wasn’t obvious so Debbie kept searching for bears until the other three explained the whistle dynamics.

They visited the historic ranger station from the 1910’s (actually just set on the porch). The original ranger’s wife from the 1910’s told stories of a mountain lion in the attic, skunks in the basement and black bears that would shred the laundry hanging on the the line. After reading those stories, Debbie was ready to get in the car.

Travel Tip: Know who has the whistle.

2021-09-13 One of Three

We started out at 8:30 this morning. Unfortunately, there was no parking. We continued on to Logan’s Pass but it was fogged in. Of course because of the fog parking places were available in the fog, We found a foggy parking place but then what is the point? You go for the views. Logan’s Pass has already closed for the season but you can hike from there of course not in the fog.

So we hiked to one waterfall, Baring Falls, on the three waterfall hike. We hiked to Sun Point for a great view of St. Mary’s Lake. We almost didn’t go and would have missed a great view.

The group has started playing a game while they hike. It’s called the Granddaughter Game. Debbie is an introvert and knows it. One of her granddaughters has been helping Debbie with this. Every time they go walking Debbie’s granddaughter speaks to people. Introverts prefer not to speak that much. Anyway when they play the game on the trail, they speak to everybody that goes by. We are the friendliest group on the trail. Big shout out to our mentor.

We finished the night eating at Frog’s with the choice of burrito or taco. Everything else on the menu was sold out for the season. It makes decision making easy.

2021-09-14 Lost?

Our hard hitting reporter is back today.

HHR: I am here to find out if you completed the St. Mary’s waterfall hike. Were you able to get a parking place or did Debbie hold everyone up by sleeping in again?

Debbie: I didn’t sleep in yesterday. I was ready when Joyce said to get up. We left at 7:00 A.M. this morning.

Joyce: I did tell them that they could sleep late yesterday but did mention that we might not get a parking place. Just saying.

HHR: So you did get a parking place at St. Mary’s?

Larry: Yes, we did. We started out to St. Mary’s Falls and I was worried that it was all down hill.

Jerry: I noticed that too.

Debbie: We made it to St. Mary’s Falls.

Joyce: We felt so good that we decided to go on to Virginia Falls

Larry: There were more waterfalls along the way.

HHR: Can you tell us what went wrong on your way back?

Debbie: Nothing went wrong. Larry just wanted to walk couple of miles further than everyone else.

Jerry: Well, it was very steep coming back. Debbie and I went a little faster than Larry and Joyce. Debbie did shoot past the parking lot turnoff and I had to call her back.

Debbie: I watched for Joyce to make sure that she turned but didn’t see Larry. I though he was with Joyce.

HHR: So when exactly did the three of you determine that Larry was missing.

Jerry: I think the first clue was 30 minutes later when we were sitting in the car without Larry.

HHR: What did you do when you do?

Debbie: Well, I hiked back down the steepest part of the trail (color me very sad) and tried to call. Of course, we had no reception. I called and called until he answered. I knew there was a problem because I heard crunching like someone walking. I yelled “Turn around turn around – You missed the turn”. Then the phone went dead.

HHR: Larry, what happened?

Larry: Well, Debbie yelled at me over the phone and then it went dead. I wondered because I hadn’t seen anyone I knew for the last 30 minutes. Anyway, I turned around otherwise I would have walked all the way to St. Mary’s.

HHR: Didn’t you notice that you had walked a long way?

Larry: No, I enjoy hiking up hill so much that I just didn’t think about the time passing.

Debbie: I kept sitting at the turnoff sign, pacing up and down the trail and trying to call. I did get some weird looks from other hikers. I finally got through on the phone again and found out he had turned around. I think he almost made it back to the first waterfall yesterday.

HHR: And Joyce / Jerry what were you doing during this nerve racking time? Were you helping?

Joyce: Well, I was sitting in the car in the shade reading but Jerry was playing a game.

Jerry: I had complete confidence in Debbie’s tracking ability. I was relaxing.

Debbie: Larry came back after another 30 minutes or so and we climbed the hill (third or fourth time for me). Hike closed.

Here is a fun fact: In Montana, burgers by law have to be well done (at least that is what they told us maybe it was a way to cook our burgers how they wanted0.

We drove back thru the park at dusk and saw 3 black bears by the side of the road.

Travel Tip: Know where your hikers are ?

2021-09-12 Many Glaciers

Good golly it’s still dark outside and we’re leaving for a hike. Soon we will be leaving at four in the morning for a hike or worse camping out and then hiking.

We drove to Many Glacier for the 8:30 boat ride on the Glacier Park Boat. The boat ride involved a boat ride on Swift Current Lake, a 1/4 hike to another boat ( try to trot that with a group following you) and then a boat ride on Lake Josephine. Now you are ready to hike.

At this point, the group split. Jerry went for the Grinnell Hike while the other three went to Grinnell Lake. Jerry’s hike was 3 plus miles. Unfortunately, Jerry did not make it to the end.

HHR: Jerry, what happened?

Jerry: Well, I was almost there. It had been a grueling uphill 3 miles. I asked someone coming down how much further? They told me it would be another 1/2 mile and that the hard part was still to come. There were no bathrooms and still uphill. I knew the other three were frolicking around and just thought “I don’t need to go there”.

Larry: We weren’t really frolicking. Yes, we ate our lunch at the Many Glacier Hotel lobby while waiting for Jerry but I had a very hard time staying awake.

Joyce: Yes, and it was not easy to find the pit toilet on the trail. We had to spend a few minutes looking.

Debbie: I had a wildlife incident. I had nuts in my backpack and a chipmunk smelled it. He kept stalking me. He tried to get to me from the right and the left. When I sat on a tree root, he tried to get under my legs to lunge at my backpack.

Larry: The lake we saw was awesome. It was turquoise blue. Remember though, I did get lost in the parking lot. Debbie had to come and find me.

The day ended sitting in the parking lot of one of the three open restaurants, “The Rising Sun” waiting for our order to be called.

2021-09-11 Transition Day

Here we sit in the Bozeman airport trying to change our rental car. Our original rental has 59,000 miles, comes from Florida has been giving us some issues. There is the suspicion that the car does not like us.

It is a 4 hour drive to St. Mary’s which is located outside the eastern gate of Glacier National Park. Since today is mainly a transition day, we have arranged for the Hard Hitting Reporter (HHR) to ask some questions.
HHR: First let me say that no one told me about this vacation. Let’s start out with an easy question to get you back in the swing of working with a real reporter.

Debbie: I told you that we should not have invited her.

HHR: I am going to treat this as an antagonistic interview. I have seen several pictures of desserts on this trip. Tell me what has been your favorite dessert on this trip?

Larry: The land of deliciousness – the blizzard

Joyce: Blizzard

Jerry: Blizzard

Debbie: Blizzard but I got a small not a medium size.

HHR: Debbie, not that I doubt you but is it true that you carry around a large bag of peanut better M&Ms in your backpack even on hikes? Doesn’t that indicate favoritism toward the M&M?

Debbie: Well, yes I do but that is not a dessert. They are little balls of power. You can’t carry a blizzard on a hike. Who has been telling you about the M&Ms? Joyce? Jerry? I know it is not Larry because he is always asking for some M&Ms.

HHR: What has been your favorite thing about the trip thus far?

Joyce: I’ll go first. It is so lovely to have the HHR back. My favorite thing was the geysers. I loved having a seat and nice view.

Jerry: I liked the buffalo.

Larry: I liked the geometric features Yellowstone.

Debbie: I liked the colorful hot pools and of course the mud pits.

HHR: Debbie, you do strike me as someone that would like the mud pits. What was your least favorite thing?

Joyce: Bradley Lake. It was a lot of walking for a view through the trees.

Larry: Dust on the trail.

Jerry: Some of the porta pottys were less than desirable.

Debbie: Some of our fellow tourists would fail my good tourist test.

HHR: I know that you have hiked a lot. What has been your most difficult hike?

Joyce: It was a hike in Norway in 2019.

Debbie: Jerry, Larry and I all agree it was the hike in Norway in 2018. Joyce wasn’t there. Click here to read about that hike (Pulpit Rock) on 09/13. HHR, I think that we have answered enough questions today.

We ended the day at the Red Eagle Lodge. We discovered that all the restaurants that were still open for the season opened to a crowd at 4 P.M.

2021-09-10 Yellowstone Final Visit

The day began with a trip to the bakery. A fitting start to a day in Cooke City aka Cookie City. It was a popular and crowded bakery. Everyone stocked up for a couple of days except Larry.

Today was the last trip through Yellowstone. Our van traveled through the Northeast entrace along with the corvette club. We thought the van fit in well with the corvette club but they kept trying to drive away from us.

The van made its way through the Lamar Valley. The Lamar Valley is where one often sees animals. As you drive through the valley, one sees cars pulled over with binoculars and long range cameras. We would often pull over and ask the camera people what they saw. Surprisingly the answer was often “Nothing”.

We did see eight herds of buffalo. One herd surrounded the car and crossed in front of us.

We began a hike called the Yellowstone River hike. TripAdvisor said that the first 250 feet are ascending and a little difficult. The trail ascent is actually two tenths of a mile.

After driving through the park, Debbie now believes one needs to take a test to be a tourist otherwise banned from the park. Here is an example of a group that would fail that test. One tourists let’s call him Harold got out of a van and started clicking and making noises to attract a buffalo’s attention. Harold stood next to Larry and was somewhat alarmed Larry who offered the suggestion that Harold not get the buffalo’s attention. The rest of the van then started asking Larry questions about the petrified tree. Larry made up an explanation that the van believed. After Larry, walked away from his tour group, Harold threw a rock at the buffalo. Luckily, Harold had a bad arm. Joyce yelled at Harold to stop.

So, Harold would fail as a tourist because:

Tried to call a buffalo over
Thought Larry was a tour guide (this one is questionable)
Threw a rock at an animal

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We also saw our first black bear.

We made it so Mammoth where Ft. Yellowstone is located. Educational Moment: Fort Yellowstone was a US Army fort, established in 1891 at Mammoth. Yellowstone was designated in 1872 but the Interior Department was unable to effectively manage the park. Administration was transferred to the Army in August 1886 to the War Department. The army administered the park until 1918 when it was transferred to the newly created National Park Service. We walked through the area and saw elk next to the building.

We had a bit of excitement when an elk female, baby and male ran through the field close to the parking lot. The ranger got his bullhorn (Debbie wants one now) and shouted at the people to get in their car or on the porch and to do it now. Larry was caught in between the porch and car. Our van pulled up next to Larry, threw open the door, Larry jumped in and they took off like a race car from a pit stop.

We spent the night in Livingston.

2021-09-09 Scenic Roads

We left Cody via the Chief Joseph scenic byway. It is a 46-mile scenic drive in Wyoming. It follows the route taken by Chief Joseph as he led the Nez Perce Indians out of Yellowstone and into Montana in 1877 during their attempt to flee the U.S. calvary and escape into Canada. The US government was trying to force the Nez Perce onto a reservation in a different area from where they lived. The Nez Perce wanted to join the Sioux led by Sitting Bull to escape to Canada. They ended up surrendering about 50 miles from Canada.

At the end of the scenic byway, the group turned on to Beartooth highway. The Beartooth Highway is a section of U.S. Route 212 in Montana and Wyoming passing over the Beartooth Pass in Wyoming at 10,947 feet above sea level. Along the way, we saw signs for “Open range loose cattle” and bicycle riders spread out miles along the road.

The group did run into some construction with a 30-minute delay. Biker Mark tried to skirt the line and was reprimanded much to the delight of the car The car did feel bad for bikers on the ride. It was uphill.

Debbie was very offended by a family feeding chipmunks. The mother actually poked the chipmunk. What happened to don’t feed the animals?

The drive had some spectacular views and we stopped a lot.

The day ended in Cooke City. (Much to Debbie’s disappointment) She thought it was Cookie City.

2021-09-08 Buffalo Bill

Today, we were on the road by 7:30 AM leaving Jackson Hole. As we drove away, Debbie heard crunching in the back. Jerry was eating the last ice cream drumstick. No ice cream left behind.

We were heading to Casper so went back to Yellowstone. After mile one, we pulled over to tussle with the gypsy guide. Our car doesn’t have Bluetooth and our Gypsy’s gets in a snit.

On the way, we saw a herd of Buffalo. There should have been great views of the Tetons but it was too hazy from the California fires’ smoke. We continued on to the south entrance of Yellowstone and out the east gate.

Once we left the park, we took the Buffalo Bill Cody scenic byway. (well I guess that is where Cody Wyoming got its name. The Route is known for rock formations, and wildlife.

Bear sighting! We saw a mother grizzly and her cub. Debbie was vigilant in how fast she could retreat to the car but figured she could scramble in a car faster than some of the other people. The bear’s name was Roxanne. How do we know the name? We learned this from retirees whose hobby is bear watching. They are bear chaser (get it like storm chasers.

We stopped at Buffalo Bill’s Pahaska tepee hunting lodge. Fun fact: This was Buffalo Bill’s hunting lodge. The site for Pahaska Tepee was marked with an ax by Buffalo Bill. It is about 50 miles west of Cody in the Absaroka Mountains. Pahaska Tepee was named at the suggestion of Buffalo Bill’s Lakota friend, Iron Tail. Pahaska probably comes from “pahinhonska,” Buffalo Bill’s Lakota name, which means long hair of the head. Tepee is Lakota for lodge. The name is literally Long Hair’s lodge. We would like to show you a picture of the lodge but took a picture of the wrong building.

We stopped at the Bill Cody dam which was free. Bonus! Another fun fact: The original name of the river was Stinking Water. It was changed to Shoshone in 1901 to attract more tourists.

Next stop was the Heart Mountain camp. This camp is where 14,000 Japanese American citizens were interned during World War II after Pearl Harbor. They were held in a camp surrounded by barbed wire with armed guard towers. It is a sad incident in American history.

We ended today at the Holiday in Lodge in Casper Wyoming. We ate dinner – guess where? Another Chinese buffet called the Chinese Family Buffett.

2021-09-07 String Lake

Another early hike, around String Lake. It was a beautiful lake with beautiful views. The hike went around the lake. Not too difficult and less crowded as it was later in the month. We saw few kids on the trail since school has startedl. There was some difficulty finding the car for some of us.

After lunch, Debbie and Joyce went shopping in Jackson. Surprisingly, they bought nothing. It’s a great place to shop if you like western décor and have plenty of money.

Jackson has Elk Arches in several places around town. Fun Fact: To make an elk antler arch obviously antlers are needed. The National Elk Refuge is down the street from the Town Square. With an estimated local elk population herd of 11,000 or roughly an elk for every person in Jackson, the antlers come straight from the valley. The male elk grow antlers to impress the female elk and to fight with other males, which they hope the females are paying attention to. Testosterone makes them grow and then drop off. Antlers are made of bone and can grow up to an inch a day. Elk naturally shed their antlers when their testosterone drops. During antler shedding season you pretty much can’t walk on the elk refuge without tripping over an antler..

Tip of the Day: Bring plenty of money if shopping in Jackson Hole.

2021-09-06 Land of Deliciousness

Today was a hike at Taggart Lake in Grand Tetons. We began our hike at 7:30 AM. Another early start. We decided to hike a combination of Taggart and Bradley Lake. At roughly 225 acres, Bradley Lake is the smallest of the chain lakes that lie at the base of the Teton Range. Once we got to Bradley Lake, the view was a little disappointing. We almost missed it. The hike continued around Taggart Lake. The Taggart Lake Trail is an easy, out and back trail that offers visitors some of the best views of the Teton Range. The hike had great pictures. The lake was still and reflective.

After lunch, we visited Mormon’s Row. What is Mormon’s Row? The Mormons, sent parties from the Salt Lake Valley to establish new communities and support their expanding population. Mormon homesteaders, who settled close to Jackson, built their farms to share labor and community, a stark contrast with the isolation typical of many western homesteads. These settlers established a community named Grovont known today as “Mormon Row.”

At the end of the day, we had hiked 6 plus miles. On the way back, we saw “the Land of Deliciousness” so stopped.. Do you know what this meant? Yes, Blizzards for everyone and no, no pictures exist. DQ, Land of Deliciousness.