Two Week Northern Rockies Adventure: Backroads, Eclipse, Anniversary and More

DVD

Adventurer
The idea started percolating last winter when a friend mentioned to my wife and I that 2017 would be a special year for all 3 of us. His birthday and our anniversary are on the same day, and he informed that this year we’d have a total eclipse to help celebrate. Hmmm our closest viewing would be in the northern Rockies, and we’d been talking about an offroad trip to that area. Combine these factors with our preference for August vacations to escape the Phoenix heat, and we were ready to go!

First of all, because it was an anniversary trip, I have to give props to my wife. Not many women would consider a nomadic vacation that consists of moving every day, setting up and breaking camp, often in remote locations, getting dusty and dirty on the trail, dealing with the inevitable mishaps, and putting up with me FOR OVER 2 WEEKS!

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Beneath Upper Belcher Falls in Yellowstone

I’ll provide daily trail narratives later, in case it can help future travellers with planning, but first some overall description of the trip.

Anti-social aspect. Both my wife and I are outgoing, gregarious types, really. But we are both drawn to the solitude afforded by off-road travel. After a long highway trip to get to our start in Wyoming, a goal was to stay away from concentrations of humans. We traveled gravel trails and camped in solitary spots for the most part.

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My kind of trail (High Ridge trail)

Eclipse. This really was one of those lifetime memories - enhanced by experiencing it in a place of exceptional beauty. We viewed the eclipse from Railroad Ridge, ID - a beautiful location and almost directly under the center of totality. I liken the experience to the Grand Canyon or Niagra Falls: you really can't describe it; it has to be experienced. But here are some photos and lame attempts to do so.

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Our campsite on Railroad Ridge (9600 + ft elevation)

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Beautiful sunset our first night on the ridge

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Sunrise not bad either - here's the view looking out the back of our tent

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Here’s the reason the ridge was fairly secluded - even for the eclipse

It was a legitimate warning. We came across a Hyundai SUV with a punctured fuel tank on the way down. The graded gravel trail ends at a trailhead just before this sign, and there must have been 100 vehicles and tents packed "cheek to jowl" to use the description of the Forest Service woman assigned to the area.


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We spent the day before the eclipse exploring the area, including a hike towards Crater Lake, ID

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Don't go over the edge! Exploring trails on the Ridge

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It's underway! It took close to 1/2 hr from the initial occulation (that's an astronomical term I just learned :) ) to the total eclipse. And of course another 1/2 hr to un-occulate (ok, I just made that word up)

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A friend suggested the spotting-scope projection. We had the glasses too, but you can't see any of the landscape with the glasses on. This set-up let us monitor the occulation while also looking at the landscape and sky.

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We were surprised at how sharp our shadows were - even at 90+% occulation. It was also disconcerting to see how short they were. The sky was like dusk, but the sun was still relatively high in the sky, so shadows weren't elongated

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Seconds before totality. It was also surprising that there was still a fair amount of light. Then when totality hit, it was like a curtain was drawn. No pictures of totality. I don't have the photographic skills/equipment. But the sight of total eclipse with the corona ring was unforgettable. You can look at totality with the naked eye.

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360-deg sunset during totality. We had enough horizon to see mountains outside the totality zone

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All done. Now the shadow is on the other side. As soon as totality ended, we joked, "all right, let's go." But compared to the excitement of increasing occulation and the experience of totality, we did get bored with this part and finished packing up camp

Camping. We interspersed a 2 motel/lodge stays during the trip, but otherwise it was a camping expedition. I was planning for mostly dispersed camping, but we stayed in designated campsites more than I thought we would. A few reasons for this:
1. Fire restrictions prohibiting campfires except in metal rings within designated areas. I don’t need a campfire for a good campsite, but it sure helps!

2. Campgrounds were mostly empty! Many of the campsites only had a few sites. In large part, this is probably due to the remote nature of the campgrounds. We were always pretty far in on fairly remote trails, and when it was time to start looking for an overnight site, we’d check dispersed sites and campgrounds. In many cases the campground sites were as scenic and solitary with the added benefits of campfires, tables and outhouses. There were 2 instances where 1 other campsite was occupied, but in both cases, the sites were so spread out, we couldn’t see or hear the other camper.

3. Outhouses. I have to hand it to my wife for enjoying an expedition vacation, but she prefers an outhouse to a hole in the ground. An aside on outhouses. For those who think the world is going to hell in a handbasket I have 2 counter arguments. As a bit of a geezer - we celebrated our 33rd anniversary - I can unequivocally state the outhouses and beer are way better today than in the good old days. Somebody was overlooked for a Nobel prize for inventing the vented outhouse. But the inventor of the oversized toilet paper beam that precludes the roll from rolling must have a special circle of hell reserved. I digress.

Motivation/Inspiration. I tried to plan for some additional activities on this trip - fishing and hiking. This part wasn’t a complete success, although it’s hard to imagine the trip going better. We got the lines wet, and it was a nice diversion, but it was kind of a lower priority that was frequently omitted or cut short. Also, we did plenty of hiking/walking (5-6 miles per day according to my wife’s tracker), but we never allocated a half day or whatever for a planned hike. Rather, we’d make frequent stops at a pass or interesting trailside attraction and walk around to check it out. Or walk the bank of whatever river/stream ran alongside our campsite. After giving it some thought, I don’t think I need to add activities for “while we’re out there.” It’s enough to enjoy the adventure of the trip, the joy of seeing new, beautiful landscapes, getting out the vehicle frequently to immerse, and snapping lots of digital photos on my little Nikon point-and-shoot camera.

Camping set-up. We’ve been doing this for a few years and have a set up that works pretty well for us.
Sleep in the back of the LR3. We were in some serious bear country, with some places prohibiting tent camping. My wife has a healthy aversion to bears, so we used our in-vehicle sleeping mode for this trip.


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With the rear seats folded flat, an Exped Megamat Duo shoehorns in the back

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My invention for getting the bear-bag-rope over tree limbs

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Trasharoo hanging from tree


I picked up the Land Rover day tent on a good CraigsList deal a few years ago. It’s perfect changing room / day room addition to the sleeping quarters in the vehicle. There were a couple evenings with a lot of bugs or rain, and we could cook and eat and read and play backgammon in the tent.

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Screens for day use

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Panels down for rain protection / privacy

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When breaking camp, I’d deflate and roll up the mattress, sheets and blankets into 1 big roll for travelling configuration.
Trail photo/narratives to come….
 

Superduty

Adventurer
Awesome trip.

Where did the fridge go at night in bear country?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 

DVD

Adventurer
Glad you enjoyed. I hope to finish the trail notes (and picking out a few representative pics out of the 600+ we initially had combined) this weekend.

Re the fridge, I did give this some thought. It's wired to the 2nd battery, and I have the always-on outlets in the back. I do have a cord extension that allows placement in the passenger front seat, and I have done that a couple yrs ago. But this time, I just left it in the tent. A few considerations:
* The tent is separate from the vehicle where we sleep, and the vehicle is all closed (except for the sunroof angle-open, which is covered by the roof rack). If a bear or any critter had the inquisitiveness to rip open the tent, we'd surely hear it and would have time to honk horns, turn on vehicle, flash lights, drive away (just 2 bungees holding the tent to the vehicle above the back windows), get out bear spray, etc.
* The fridge, by nature is insulated for environment, with rubber seal and sturdy latch and zip cover over that. I'm sure it's not odor-proof, but it's not like leaving out a picnic basket or trasharoo (which we hung along with stove) or dry food goods (which we kept in the vehicle).
* As I researched this trip, I came across some experienced expo-type travelers with a one of those roof-top tents on a trailer, where their sleeping quarters were directly above their built in fridge and stove etc. Their take was that a clean camp is the main thing, and this we did.
 

DVD

Adventurer
Wow, this is the longest trip we've taken. I'm finding it's a lot more time to get the daily narratives.
I got a lot of help from this great community when planning, and I hope that I can repay that with trail reports that might help future travelers - as well as scratch some itch for people who love the area.
I used Google maps for planning and then updated the daily maps to show actual routes taken. Click on the map screenshot to see interactive route map within Google Maps.

Day 1: Kemmerer to Pinedale.

We followed the planned route, but stopped earlier than planned, setting camp on the banks of the Greys River, a little bit south of the McDougal Pass turnoff. Some highlights from the trail.

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Elk Creek Ranger Station

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Lander Cut-Off, near the Tri Basin Divide - pretty country and wildflowers

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Some rain rolling in - we decided to stop early in case the showers got worse

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Great campsite along the Greys River - glad we stopped here because the dispersed camping closer to Pinedale didn’t look as good.

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The rains let up a we did a little fishing

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That's an ambitious little fish

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KFC fire (made from empty bucket of left-over KFC) - camp is set, dinner done, it’s a good place and a good first day!

Day 2: Pinedale, WY, to Dubois.

We started a little bit behind because we camped early the day before. And then we missed the turn-off for McDougal Pass because we were paying more attention to the beautiful views along the river than our GPS. But we pretty much stayed according to plan--with one significant re-routing due to a closed trail.

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Coffee prep by the river

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Hams Fork was supposed to be moose country, but we saw a mom and kids on today’s trail

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Beautiful scenery along Moose-Gypsum trail, which was our most technical trail so far--put the LR3 in offroad height for the first time

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Then to Green Lake with Flat Top Mt in the background

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On the way out, we stopped to fish along the Green River


Things got interesting as we endeavored to take Fish Lake trail along the Continental Divide to highway 26/287. This trail got a bit technical with lots of mud potholes. The portion along the CDT was beautiful though. We spooked a couple golden eagles near the trail. Wow, they really are bigger than bald eagles! And a big herd of deer ran alongside for a minute or so. And a bald eagle in a big dead tree, overlooking Fish Lake. We encountered some steep ascents/descents near Fish Lake. one point, my wife mentioned “Glad we don’t have to take this section the other way.” That jinxed us. When we got to the graded section heading north from Fish Lake, “Road Closed” signs blocked the way. There was a washout at Warm Springs crossing. We had already traveled over an hr, and there were no other trails except the one we came in on, so we figured we might as well check to see if they really meant it.

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Yes it’s really closed, and the work crew saw us but didn’t make any indication for us to go through the work zone
On the positive side, we got to see Fish Lake again, and I took a much better line through the deeper than expected mud hole that put us on 3 wheels on the way in. And Union Pass was gorgeous. It was getting late, and we contemplated a motel in Dubois, but instead we checked out a campground we came to on Warm Springs trail (just a few miles from where we were turned back), and it was fine.


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Campground off of Warm Springs trail

Day 3: Dubois, WY, to Cave Falls.

We were pretty much on plan, so we considered a hike to Mt Leidy, which is supposed to have an incredible view of the Tetons. Schedule was kind of important today because we were meeting some friends this evening, who would join us for a few days. Our wives had participated (completed) the Rebelle Rally last year, so they are good company on a trip like this. Flagstaff trail had some great scenery, but we figured we’d better just take the loop trail back to the highway instead of what would likely be another 2+ hrs for the Mt Leidy hike. When we got to the Tetons, clouds obscured the top, but they were still magnificent. Every once in a while we’d catch a glimpse of the peaks. Once within the National Park, I wanted to take the the Snake River trail - a rare 4WD trail (although an easy one) within a National Park. Closed roads must be endemic in Wyoming because we were greeted with “Road Closed Ahead” as we turned onto the trail (at least this time it was at the turn-off to begin the trail). We were planning to take this, so we proceeded to find out exactly where it was closed. The River Road trail was indeed closed as it turned south, but it was still cool to take the trail out-and-back to the Snake River

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Trail to Snake River, with the Tetons in the distance

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Hiking along the Snake River

We had some drama today with a mechanical issue. I started noticing brake squeal / grinding on Flagstaff trail and assumed it was just a pebble or mud behind the dust shield. It got worse on this trail to the Snake River, and then when we had drive on pavement through the Grand Tetons, we got a shimmy. I limped in to the Colter Bay Park facility, and we noticed the front left wheel was cockeyed, with gouging in the rotor. The lugnuts were tight, so I removed the wheel and found a loose hub bearing assembly, with one of 4 bolts missing and 2 loose. The play in the wheel pulled the CVJ boot loose, so there was grease all over. Thankfully, the 2 loose bolts weren’t sheared, so I was able to torque up 3 bolts and re-attach the boot with a spare extra-large hose clamp in my spares box. The rotor had a good groove from the misaligned wheel (I’m sure the brakes helped hold the wheel on). Nothing to do but see how she rode. We had cell coverage to send our friends a text message that we had mechanical issues. They got that message, but then they were out of coverage. The brakes squeaked for a couple days while they reset to the now vertical wheel, but the squeaking got less and less. I figured I’d just be alert for any sounds or vibrations due to CVJ or bearing issues, but nothing untoward. So we proceeded to Cave Falls campground and met our friends. The afternoon wasn’t so great, but we had a great evening!

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Camped at Cave Falls campground, just a stone’s throw outside Yellowstone. Empty save for 1 vehicle that came in late and camped far away.

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Beautiful site - no matter the travails of the day, you can't be upset in a place like this

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We hiked to Upper Bechler Falls - incredible!

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Laurie, Chuck, and Pam at the falls


As mentioned in a reply below, I originally posted this as a blog entry, and it's getting a bit cumbersome to redo the content and image uploads here. Rather than continuing with the copy-paste, I'll just provide the link to the blog for the rest of the Trip Report. It starts from the beginning, but you can scroll to "Day 4" to pick up where this left off.

-> Read the rest in the the Blog Trip Report
 
Last edited:

DVD

Adventurer
Thanks MPH. I really appreciated your route suggestions.
I generally publish trip reports in a blog for family and friends who aren't on this site, and it's getting a bit cumbersome to redo the content and image uploads here.
If anybody comes to this thread for planning a trip to the same area, it might be useful to know that I've updated the blog with the actual Google maps routes from each day.

Instead of continuing with the copy-paste, I'll just provide the link to the blog for the rest of the Trip Report. It starts from the beginning, but you can scroll to "Day 4" to pick up where this left off.
http://dirkvandyke.blogspot.com/2017/09/two-week-northern-rockies-adventure.html

Just to pique your interest, here are a few highlight photographs from the following days.

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Lower Mesa Falls, ID

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Elk Lake Lodge, MT

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Bald Eagle on old settler's cabin, Centennial Valley, MT

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Horse Prairie Cabin (Montana Forest Service rental)

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Van Houten Lake, MT

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Face-off at Big Hole Pass

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Yankee Fork Gold Dredge

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Perhaps the best road sign ever - Magruder Corridor sign

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Final Days of Salmon River wood bridge

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French Creek switchbacks
 

Ace Brown

Retired Ol’ Fart
Excellent report and thanks for sharing. I also did a trip up into Wyoming for the eclipse. Like you said it was impossible to describe, you had to experience it.
 

Darren

Adventurer
Good stuff, Dirk. Those riverside campsites look extremely inviting and makes a guy want to get back out again, especially when he's in front of a desk. The link to the rest of the pictures on the other thread was a nice gift. It looks like it was quite the fun trip. Nice job!
 

DVD

Adventurer
Darren, glad you enjoyed. Your pre-trip suggestions really helped with trip planning. It's great the way people share tips/advice on this forum.
Love the sound of running water next to a campsite!
You mentioned the Google Photos Album from the trip. In case somebody else wants to immerse further in this beautiful country, here it is: https://goo.gl/photos/oGwsPijymthRiiBD7
 

Foy

Explorer
A couple of details?

Great trip and trip report, including the off-sight pictures. If you would have time for a couple or three questions, I'd be grateful. Feel free to use a PM if for any reason you'd prefer to.

---What was the descent from Big Hole Pass, west of Wisdom, down into Idaho to connect back to US 93 north of North Fork? I assume you came out at Gibbonsville. In all of my time in and around the Big Hole, I've never been to or through that particular Big Hole Pass (there are a handful of passes with the same name).

---Did you access Railroad Ridge by passing through the Livingston Mine and Mill area? I think that's the only way to get a full -size vehicle up there, but I'd welcome hearing confirmation of your route or otherwise.

---The High Ridge trail area looks interesting. About where is that?

Thanks for any info!

Foy
 

DVD

Adventurer
Hi Foy, you have provided a goldmine of advice for the area. Glad to send a few little flakes your way.

  • For that Big Hole Pass, we took Foothills Rd trail south (just a little bit west of Nez Perce National Historic Park) to Gibbonsville Rd trail. The portion along the CDT and into Gibbonsville was very scenic. Nothing really technical, but some single lane ridge sections and descents. We didn't see another vehicle until we got into Gibbonsville, so no concerns about traffic on trail. We just wished this section was longer because if was very pretty, with the ridge-top vistas and lush forests.
  • Confirmed, we took Big Boulder Creek trail, past Livingstone Mill, to get to Railroad Ridge. Once on the ridge, there are a few trails going this way and that. We explored a few. The switchbacks down to Crater Lake ended with a washout (but we did see some mining remnants). And there's another trail heading north that distills into a non-full-size trail. We hiked that for a ways, but didn't see an end. I checked Google Maps satellite, and it seems to peter out.
  • High Ridge trail was courtesy of Darren. Here's the Google Earth link he created:
    http://redirect.viglink.com/?format...n - Page 2 - Expedition Portal&txt=high ridge

    From 93, a bit south of Challis, we took Lime Creek Tr (112) up to the Pahsimeroi. We were planning to do a short out-and-back to Grouse Lake, but there was one sketchy truck heading that way (pulled over at the start of that trail with an entire family - we said hello and made some conversation, cracked a joke - but only the guy replied with no humor and the rest of the family just looked straight ahead). So we decided to bear left where they were heading right. From there we just stayed on the ridge trail. We headed down the north side of the Pahsimerois on 111 (Leaton Gulch). The trail got decently graded at that point. Darren's description was right on: "... a wonderful network of high roads along here with great views."
 

Foy

Explorer
Looks like a ton of fun!

Thanks Dirk,

High Ridge Road is a great example of the need for digital map backup of any area one wants to explore. My ID Benchmark (2010 edition) doesn't show FS 110 connecting FS 112 (Lime Creek Rd) to FS 111 (down Leaton Gulch).

Interesting you mention the family you encountered. We encountered several truckloads of what we later learned were "Handcart Company" reenactors while following BLM Road 2302 across a long segment of the Mormon Trail near Atlantic City, WY in July 2015. In each case, the male driver was the only one to speak and make eye contact. Each did so with a matter-of-fact expression and tone of voice and without smiling. Once we determined why they were there and that they were essentially on a pilgrimage-type mission, we figured they were more-or-less fundamentalists with strict rules about communications with others. We did hear banjo music a couple of times, however!

Thanks for the info!

Foy
 

mph

Expedition Leader
That's wild FOY...had the same experience in the same area...by south pass city, wy...one gentlemen was nice enough to talk to us for a few minutes...reacting the trail and experiences. a lot of LDS wards from the SLC, UT valley do this every year...kind of a "church thing" nothing like following two hundred people on a dirt two-track who appeared to be not so friendly...but, that's another story.


Thanks Dirk,

High Ridge Road is a great example of the need for digital map backup of any area one wants to explore. My ID Benchmark (2010 edition) doesn't show FS 110 connecting FS 112 (Lime Creek Rd) to FS 111 (down Leaton Gulch).

Interesting you mention the family you encountered. We encountered several truckloads of what we later learned were "Handcart Company" reenactors while following BLM Road 2302 across a long segment of the Mormon Trail near Atlantic City, WY in July 2015. In each case, the male driver was the only one to speak and make eye contact. Each did so with a matter-of-fact expression and tone of voice and without smiling. Once we determined why they were there and that they were essentially on a pilgrimage-type mission, we figured they were more-or-less fundamentalists with strict rules about communications with others. We did hear banjo music a couple of times, however!

Thanks for the info!

Foy
 

DVD

Adventurer
My (fanciful) hypothesis for the family we encountered is that they were "preppers" (I think that's the term for people who will be ready for the zombie apocalypse) going to check expiration dates on their food caches. They certainly behaved the same as the "Handcart Company" reenactors you described, but if I were going from point A to B, I'd travel in the nice valley instead of on the ridge. Also, the females were all wearing jeans.
Some of the odd folks you meet in the middle of nowhere certainly give interest to explorations.
 

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