Cruising the Mickelson Trail

 Monday, August 28, 2023

We arrived in Hill City, South Dakota yesterday. We stayed at the same campground as last year which we think is by far the best campground ever…that is why we’re here again. Last year our site had an outdoor kitchen with wine fridge. This year we went for the creekside spot with our own deck and gas firelplace. Of course we brought our favorite neighbors with us - Gary and Karen - who are right next door. 

Another reason why we like this campground is that it backs up to the Mickelson Trail which was a Burlington train route in the 1800’s. The train quit running in the 1980’s and in 1991 a group of outdoor enthusiasts, with the help of then Govenor George S. Mickelson, began turning the old track into a trail for hikers, bikers, etc. The first segement of the 109 mile trail was finished in 1998 but unfortunately the Govenor died in a plane crash in 1993 and never got to see the Project completed. Don and I ventured just a few miles on it last year with the vow that we would come back and do more. 

And do more is what we did today! Gary and Karen brought their ebikes and we set out to ride from our campsite to a ghost town called Rochford which is half way between where we are staying and Deadwood. It was a beautiful trail with lots of bridges and four old train tunnels. The path is not paved but is made out of crushed limestone. However it is well maintained and is easy to ride on. Rochford was a little farther than we thought - about 25 miles(!) but we were determined to have lunch at the Moonshine Saloon which is the only thing open in Rochford. 

The Saloon is old, the floor is slanting, and is rough around the edges but the food was great! I had chicken wings right out of the smoker which were delicious. It was busy too because it is also poplular with the biker (motorcycle type) crowd as well as adventurous tourists. It was weird though because when we arrived our phones changed to a different time zone. We asked the waitress about this and she said it is because our phones were pinging on a central time zone tower…so I guess you can say that we had lunch in the future!

After “fueling up” we got back on our bikes for the long trip Home. Even though the ebikes dIdaho make it easier, almost 50 miles takes  a toll on the old joints and butts (who designs those bike seats anyway?!). Needless to say it was Happy Hour when we finally drove up to our trailers! 

It was a fun day but maybe next time we don’t go so far….!

The train tunnels were cool - literally and figuratively

Gary ready for the tunnel

One of the many bridges

We had to go through a few livestock gates

The Moonshine Saloon

A beautiful trail

Karen coming out of a tunnel

We saw some wild turkeys

Happy Hour at last!

Don, me and Gary

Kayaking in Lake Easier Than Highway

 Saturday, August 26,

2023

Yesterday we were back on the road again with the newly repaired (well almost) trailer, bikes and now kayaks. We are headed to the Black Hills with our friends Gary and Karen from Cheyenne. We went with them last year to South Dakota and loved it so much that we’re going again.

However, the boys have been trying to fish the Miracle Mile in Wyoming since April. That guided float trip was canceled because of rain and muddy water so they rescheduled it for June but that trip was canceled also due to rain/mud. They decided to try again in August so we tacked this trip onto our South Dakota trip  and stay at Alcova Lake which is near the Guide headquarters.

As we were driving to meet our friends in Wyoming, a woman passed us on the interstate and pointed to the back of our trailer which is never good. We took the next exit to check things out and  a truck driver stopped and told us that we lost one of our “canoes” a couple miles back - definitely not good!

We took the frontage road back looking for where it was and saw a man walking along the highway. He told us that he had stopped to drag a kayak off the highway. We fessed up that it was ours and by the time we turned around and returned, he had the kayak on the frontage road and was waiting for us. There are nice people in this world! He did admit that his original thought was, “my daughter needs a kayak!” Whatever his motivation, we were sure appreciative of his over the top help. The kayak had only some scrapes on the bottom and it looked like it was not hit by a car which we were thankful for. It was raining pretty hard so people probably weren’t surprised to see a kayak cruising along the highway!

By the time we got to the lake we had great weather and all was good.

Early this morning, the boys left for their long awaited fishing trip and (much later) Karen and I prepared to take our kayaks out on Alcova Lake. After Herculean efforts to pump Karen’s kayak up - mostly on Karen’s part- we shoved off. As much as I love to hear Bear whine, I decided to leave him in the nice air conditioned camper. Yes, he likes kayaking as much as biking!

We kayaked down a canyon and it was very pretty. Unfortunately, many motorized boats like to venture down the canyon as well so we definitely caught a few waves! It was very fun though. I did use the kayak that had ventured down the Highway and it did fine- no leaks!

When we got back to the boat ramp, we were greeted by a group of thirty something men barbecuing by their trailer and they asked if we wanted to stay for lunch. We decided they had had too much beer or needed help with the dishes to be asking two “mature” ladies to join the party so we declined!

It turns out that the Miracle Mile was out of miracles today and only a few fish were caught. Don and Gary had fun though and enjoyed the experience.

Locking this one down again!

Alcova Lake

Karen is ready for launch

Entering the canyon

No leaks!

The one that didn’t get away!

Home Again

 Monday/Tuesday, August 21/22, 2023

We sadly had to say goodbye to our Wyoming friends on Monday morning and made the long journey back to Colorado. We decided to land in Grand Lake so that we could water the trees and check on the DD Lodge rebuild. It was a long (8.5 hour) trek. I’m sure glad that Don likes to drive!

Somewhere after our gas stop near Rawlings, one of our side trailer windows shattered and we didn’t discover this until our stop in Walden. We added this to our growing list of “things to fix” on the trailer. Unfortunately I’m sure we won’t get an appointment at our RV repair shop until October or November. In the meantime we will close the window off with plastic and look like Colorado hillbillies for the rest of the season. 

It is nice to be back in Grand County but I sure wish that we could have relocated some of those abundant trees from the Pacific Northwest here!

Our baby trees are doing pretty good although something (deer,moose?) randomly pull the tree cages out and chew on the flags but thankfully not the trees. Voles are a bigger problem in that they dig tunnels under some trees and we have to dig them back out. Sometimes those rascals pull the tree down into their hole. I guess that’s why we planted over 100 trees!

The rebuild is going great and the builders are working their hardest to get everything done on the outside so they can be working on the inside this winter. All of the windows are in except one big sliding door, the garage has been dry walled and ready for texture. The plumbers are trying to finish the basic pipes so they can then start on the in floor heating. It’s a busy place.

As I’m writing this Don is busy negotiating the potholes on Berthod Pass! They finally started repaving it yesterday. They better look in all the holes before they cover them up because there might be small vehicles in some of them!

We had a very fun trip but it’s good to be home. However, the fun isn’t over for we leave for another adventure on Friday. Stay tuned!

Bummer!

Windows in!

No this is not a painting but a view from our DD Lodge bedroom!

This Ponderosa planted last year is doing great!

Wyoming Hospitality

 Sunday, August 20, 2023

We woke up to a little rain this morning. Don tried to fish a little but nothing was biting so he didn’t fish long.It looked like the rainy weather was pretty socked  in here so we were glad that we weren’t staying.

Our goal today was to drive to Thayne, Wyoming where our good friends Karen and Gregg live as well as their daughter, Morgan, husband David and little boy Odin.

It was rainy and overcast most of the way so we couldn’t see the back of the Tetons as we drove through the beautiful Swan Valley but it was still picturesque.

We arrived in the early afternoon just in time for Don to get to help Gregg and David unload the logs they gathered to prepare their wood stash for the winter. 

Karen and Gregg have such a cute place! We had visited them a year ago last April and visiting now in the summer was even more special. They have wonderful views and Karen and I had a great afternoon visiting on the porch while the guys went fishing. Thayne is located near many great places to camp and fish including Teton National Park. 

That evening, Morgan, David and almost 2 year old Odin came over for a delicious dinner. Wonderful food, conversation, and 2 year old antics made for a great evening!

P.S. There is a menagerie of pets at the Kinnes household including a barn cat named Ike. Bear tried his hardest to figure out what he was and to get a rise out of him. Ike, however is a very cool feline and took great pleasure in just being close enough to bother Bear!

Our dear friends Karen and Gregg. Wish you were closer!

My pal Odin

My pal Karen!

Who knew she had such a green thumb!

Enjoyed the views from their deck 

Very few berries get in the basket when Odin is around! He loves fruit!

A very special group of people♥️

Montana Fishing

 Saturday, August 19, 2023

Ok this is going to be a short and boring post. 

We had a big travel day today from Spokane to Dillon, Montana. We were ready to get out of the smoky haze and finally got clear skies when we entered Montana. It was a shame that we couldn’t appreciate the scenery of  Coeur d’Alene, Idaho which was only a few miles from Spokane. I guess it is the elite place to go (kind of like Aspen) and there is a beautiful lake there…or so they say..nothing is beautiful in a smoke cloud!

We got off to an early start- early for us- so that we could get to Dillon by early afternoon.Many years ago when the kids were little, we camped at the KOA in Dillon on our way to Glacier National Park. Don has been dreaming of the epic 2 hour fishing experience that he had there on the Beaverhead river ever since. 

As soon as we got set up he headed to that magical hole right there at the campground. (By the way, it isn’t a KOA now but just the Beaverhead Resort.) He was not disappointed and had a fun afternoon of fishing including a story of the big one that got away..

In the meantime, Bear and I went for a walk and found the dog park. Normally we don’t go to dog parks because we don’t trust Bear to not pick a fight with a bigger dog - which is pretty much every dog. No one was there so we went in and I found that he really doesn’t get it. He stayed right by me the whole time. Sadly, if his big sister was with us she would have showed him what to do.

Yep, other than watching the Broncos lose by one point that was our day!

The great fishing hole - but don’t tell anyone!

From Hops to Smoke

 Friday, August 18, 2023

It was nice and cool this morning which was a wonderful change from yesterday’s heat. Before hitching up we decided to check out a place called Johnson’s Orchard which is supposed to be the place to buy fruit. It is in the town of Yakima so this gave us a reason to see what the town is like too. 

Yakima proper is a nice town and is much greener than the outskirts. The store was smaller than I thought but had great looking produce so we stocked up on some fruit and threw in some chocolate chip cookies for good measure.

On the way out of town, our GPS took us through more orchards and past some crops that I had to google what they were. There were fields and fields of it. Turns out it was Hops. I shared a photo with our friend Taylor and he confirmed that this area grows most of the US Hops. I believe it!

As we got closer to our Spokane, Washington destination, we saw smoke plumes in front of us. According to the Internet it was a wildfire that was started by a semi-truck that caught fire. The fire was not near us and not where we were going but the smoke sure was. It followed us all the way to Spokane and the KOA where we set up was pretty much socked in. It was also super hot so once we were all set up, we cranked the air conditioner (so glad it is working!!) and sat inside like all of the other campers in the park.

Later that evening, it cooled off enough to sit outside awhile but it was still pretty hazy. There was a nearby bike trail but between the heat and the smoke we were not motivated to ride it. 

P.S. This KOA has a few little sculptures that Bear was confused by. In fact he barked at Big Foot. He’s a funny little dog..

Johnson’s Orchard

Fields of Hops!

They grow Hops on V-like structures 

A site we did not want to see

Bear meets bears

He did not like the looks of this guy

Hey kitty!

Smoky..glad we’re only here one night

Gravity is Our Friend

Thursday, August 17, 2023

It was a travel day today. We said goodbye to the Olympic Peninsula and headed toward our destination, Yakima, Washington. There aren’t many freeways where we are - mostly two lane curvy highways. We did go through Tacoma which is very close to Seattle but not close enough for heavy traffic.

When we got Enumclaw, we thought about getting gas but the tank was more than half full so we continued on….Well,  Enumclaw is a ski town so the road out of town is your typical two way mountain road. Don’s gut was saying, “we should probably turn around and get some gas” but he ignored it so up and down we went on this remote highway. It was beautiful with gorgeous views of Mt, Rainer, Mt. Rainer National Park and Snoqualmie National Forest. However, we became distracted from the view by the  gas gage that was rapidly moving south. As we ascended what we hoped was the last pass, we counted on gravity to take the wheel…and it did! Luckily the last 25 miles or so was downhill which saved us as we coasted into the awaiting remote gas station with 2 gallons to spare! This gas station counts on paying its mortgage from people like us. It was the best $6.09/gal of gas we ever bought! The moral of this story is trust your gut - it usually is right.

After all that green, Yakima seemed a little brown but there were also green orchards everywhere. It really reminded us of Palisade without the grand mesas. In fact, Yakima is known as the Palm Springs of Washington. Our campsite is next to a golf course but unfortunately we did not bring the golf clubs. Instead we discovered a winery right up the hill from us so after we set up we headed for the hills. 

The Wilridge Winery is on top of a hill filled with orchards - apple, pear, apricot and grape vines. In fact this winery grows an impressive number of different grapes. We tasted their Estate Bordeaux Reds (my favorite was their best seller Malange Noir) and their Dessert Wines (we loved the Estate Muscat Blanc). It was such a peaceful place even though it was busy with a women’s group and yoga going on. Bear did not think it was peaceful because he got his first glimpse  of  chickens and was pretty sure they were going to kill him! 

I’m so glad we randomly picked Yakima as our overnight stop. Pay attention to where your fruit comes from - it’s probably from here!

First good glimpse of Mt. Rainer

Mt. Rainer from the top of a pass

Awww….gas…!

Apple orchard in Yakima

Vineyards and orchards at the winery

Wilridge winery porch

Very scenic tasting room

Chicken coop of killers (Bear’s impression)

A nice night for tasting

The winery’s map of grapes that they grow

Apple boxes ready for harvest to start

A “Barbie” sunset in Yakima