bcweiss
Novice
Travelers: Chuck and Barb, WisconsinDates: June 12th to August 1st, 2017
Trailer: 560 #791
Tow vehicle: Subaru Outback 2014
Total miles: 8,053
Number of nights: 51
Our first night we camped at Rock Creek State Park near Grinnell, Iowa. The second night, after fighting a 40mph crosswind all day, we camped at Johnson's Lake near Lexington, Nebraska.
The third day we reached our initial destination in Pike National Forest near Woodland Park, Colorado. We joined a Colorado tiny campers group for the weekend. The theme for the weekend was pirates. Great fun! While camping here we visited Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. We also visited Royal Gorge.
6/18 to 6/21. We visited Chuck's brother and sister-in-law in Fort Collins, Colorado. Toured the Budweiser plant.
6/21 We camped in Billings, Montana. Just a side note- the Wyoming welcome center on I-25 north of Fort Collins is outstanding! It's like a museum with interactive displays.
6/22 Camped at Placid Lake State Park outside of Missoula, Montana.
6/23-6/30 Camped at Johnson's of St. Mary's just outside of Glacier National Park. Had a wonderful time exploring Glacier with our daughter and her boyfriend. The Going to the Sun Road didn't open until 6/28. Took a boat trip on St Mary Lake along with a ranger led hike. We took a second boat trip on Swiftcurrent Lake with another guided hike. Did a six hour whitewater rafting trip on Flathead River. Great fun! Hiked the Red Cedar and Avalanche Lake Trails. We did get to drive the Going to the Sun Road. A beautiful drive with lots of waterfalls. While in Glacier we saw moose, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep.
6/30 - 7/4. We stayed in a hotel in Calgary, Canada. They were celebrating their 150th year as a country on July 1 st so all campgrounds were full. Visited the site of the. 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and the Heritage Park.
7/4-7/7. We wanted to camp in either Banff or Jasper National Parks but all campgrounds were full so we landed at Monarch Campground in Yoho National Park. This turned out to be a wonderful experience! The best waterfall we saw on our entire trip was Takakkaw Falls in Yoho. We would not have explored Yoho if we hadn't camped there. We were still only 20 minutes from Lake Louise in Banff National Park so we able to easily explore Banff and Jasper as well. We drove the Icefields Parkway, making many stops along the way. These included Peyto Lake, Columbia Icefields, Tangled Creek, Athabasca Falls, and others.
7/7-7/12 We moved to Kicking Horse Campground. This was our favorite campground of the trip. Our site was wooded and right next to a glacial creek. On the recommendation of a Canadian we visited with we visited Golden. It has a very beautiful wooden truss pedestrian bridge. We drove to Moraine Lake and decided to do the hike to Eiffel Lake. This hike has 12 switchbacks on the way up the mountain! But it was definitely worth it. The Valley of the Ten Peaks is gorgeous! This was our favorite hike of the trip. Rode the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain at Banff.
7/12-7/14 Camped at Illecillewaet campground in Canada's Glacier National Park. While here we also visited Mount Revelstoke National Park. We did several hikes. We saw skunk cabbage that was four feet tall! Hemlock Trail and Rockgarden trail were both very interesting.
7/14-7/18. Camped at Springey Point Campground, an Army Corps of Engineers campground, outside of Sandpoint, Idaho. Drove to Priest Lake, considered the jewel of Idaho. Beautiful large lake. Rode our bikes on the 14 mile rails to trails Hiawatha Bike trail. The trail has 10 tunnels and 7 trestles. Beautiful scenery.
7/18-7/23 Camped at Hell's Gate State Park outside of Lewiston, Idaho located on the Snake River. The park includes the Lewis and Clark Discovery center which tells the story of Lewis and Clark in Idaho. This is Nez Perce County. We visited the Nez Perce National Historical Park. Very informative. The area has many Nez Perce sites, some of which we visited, including Buffalo Eddy, the site of petroglyphs. We took a jet boat tour into Hell's Canyon. Lightening had started a wildfire a week before and it was still burning. The area is very dry. Saw many mountain goats that had come down to the river.
7/23-7/24. Spent night in Butte, Montana
7/24-7/25. Spent night in campground at Forsyth, Montana.
7/25-7/27. Camped at Teddy Roosevelt National Park. We saw wild horses, prairie dogs, and lots of bison. Our wake up call on 7/26 was an entire herd of bison walking through our campsite! Drove the loop road and took several short hikes. It was very hot and dry! Visited Medora, which emphasizes the Teddy Roosevelt era when he had a ranch in the area.
7/27-7/28 Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park near Mandan, North Dakota. Was the site of a very large Mandan village before it was abandoned due to smallpox epidemic. Probably most known for the fact that General Custer and the 7th Cavalry left from here before the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
7/28-7/31. Visited a friend at Fergus Falls, Minnesota. We toured the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center where she works. We also took a hike through Maplewood State Park and went tubing on the Otter Tail River.
7/31-8/1. Visited friends in Mahtomedi, Minnesota.
8/1 Returned home after 8,053 miles and 51 days!
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