Wednesday 9-21 Idaho Falls - South Tourist Park

Camping at Idaho Falls

We woke up to a little warmer temperature, it was in the upper 40s. Before I went to bed I turned on the heater, which made it very comfortable. When you wake up to temperatures in the 30s and 40s it's cold but once you start moving around you get warmed up.

I made pancakes for breakfast. Then we got the Minnie ready to go. We left around 8:30. Our next destination was Idaho falls. It's was 70 miles down the road. The drive was through a mountain pass and on a two lane highway. Larry has never driven this highway before so it was exciting for us. The drive was very nice we saw a lot of golden fields of freshly cut wheat. The fields were rolling hills and it was pretty to see. We saw a lot of cattle and some of them were calves. I dozed off a few times. It was a relaxing drive.

When we arrived at Idaho Falls we stopped at the local Walmart. Larry wanted to pick up a couple of tools just in case he needed to work on the belts again. I have these cheap lighters to light the stove and oven and they sometimes work and other times you have to click it a few times before it lights. We found a rechargeable electronic lighter, it has a probe that does the lighting. We picked up a few other things while there. 

Before leaving Walmart we filled the Minnie with gas because it was the cheapest gas we have seen at 3.99 a gallon, most places are 4.59 a gallon. 

Idaho Falls has a city park for campers called South Tourist Park. The park was about 5 miles away. We arrived at 12:00. We had no problem finding a site. The sites are dry camping but they have a picnic table and fire ring. There are a few people who look like they have been here a long time even though the signs said 14 days. The restrooms have running water but are very old and have one toilet. You can run your generator anytime except from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. The park is very pretty with a lot of trees and the river flows next to it. 

The Snake River 

After setting up the Minnie we had lunch. Then we relaxed with a book. I walked around the park for a half hour. Then I did some steps in place because it started to sprinkle.

I finished reading A Splendid Ruin: A Novel by Megan Chance. It was a good book. I started reading A Divided Inheritance by Deborah Swift.

After dinner the rain came in for a little while. It was very steady. It stayed around all night and into the morning. I ended up doing 11,138 steps, which put me in 6th place in my group. For the week I have done 65,500 steps, which put me behind by 9,500 steps.  

 

Tuesday 9-20 Mike Harris Campground

 Welcome to our home

After three glorious days in the Grand Teton National Park it was time to move on. 

We woke up to another brisk morning. We didn't need to turn on the heat when we went to bed because it was 70 degrees in the Minnie but when Larry woke up he turned it on because it was cold. I crawled out of bed at 7:30 and made pancakes. We turned on the furnace to get the chill out of the air. 

After breakfast we got the Minnie ready to go and I did a dumpster run. We got the Minnie off its blocks. Larry put them away. We were on the road.  

The drive to Jackson was gorgeous because we had super views of the Tetons.

Over the years the Minnie has had a belt squeal issue when it is started, it's caused by one of the belts slipping on the pulley. Years ago Larry removed the crankshaft pulley and had it sand blasted, that mostly fixed the issue, once in awhile it would squeal for a second or two. The squeal returned after Larry replaced the belts last spring. Using a pumice stone he roughened up the pulley and the squeal went away. Well, it is back and worse than ever, in the mornings when he starts the Minnie it will squeal for a minute or more before it stops, a bit embarrassing and not good for the belt. So we stopped in Jackson to get a few things to work on the problem.  

We went to Target and bought a pumice stone and some alcohol, Larry parked away from the store and removed the belts, using the pumice stone he again roughed up the pulley, cleaned up the belts and pulleys and then put everything back together. It took about an hour and a half and the squeal is gone. It will return but maybe this will last until we get home and Larry can do a more permanent repair. He did try to locate a new pulley but Ford has discontinued it and none of the normal parts places can get one.

Afterwards we walked over to the Subway and brought a Spicy Italian sandwich for lunch. We took it back to the Minnie and shared it. Then we were back on the road.

Our destination was Mike Harris Campground in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. It was 20 miles from Jackson. The drive was very nice. It went up over the Teton mountain and down it. The Aspen trees are starting to turn their fall colors. 

We got to the campground around 2:00. We entered at the hike and bike parking area for the trail. There were two roads to two different campgrounds. We took the road straight ahead and it took us to a dispersed campground. We turned around and took the road to the left. Both roads are dirt. The road we took was only .25 mile but it had a lot of potholes. Larry is a great driver, he just took his time avoiding as many has he could.

We had no problem finding a site and there were no camp hosts. We parked the Minnie by the bathroom. Larry went to the neighbors and asked about paying. They told him that the host left Sunday, they had locked up the bathrooms, turned off the water and and chained up the dumpster. They even removed everything from the bulletin board. The last time we were Idaho once these things were done at the National Forest campgrounds you could stay for free. Larry had read online that this was still the practice. Some of the campgrounds will eventually get locked up and others they leave open for hunters to use.

It's a great campground with a lot of trees. Each site has a lot of privacy. The sites have a fire ring, a grill stand, picnic table and a pad for a tent. It has a lot of bathrooms.

Camping at Mike Harris Campground

For dinner we barbecued sausages. Afterwards I walked around for an hour. I walked to the main road and around the campground. While walking I saw a few bicyclists and a couple guys riding horses. I said hi to other campers. I think by the end of the day the campground was about 75% full. Then I stepped in place to finish my steps. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.         

  

Monday 9/19/22 Hiking String Lake Loop

 

Grand Teton National Park

We woke up to another cool morning with the temperature in the 30s. The difference was there were no clouds. 

I crawled out of bed and Larry was bundled up under a blanket in front of the heater. I asked him if he was cold, he said just a little. It was 63 degrees in the living area of the Minnie. I got dressed and made pancakes. I'm so glad to have a stove because we can't run a generator in our loop. 

After breakfast we got the Minnie ready to go to our next hiking adventure. It was 7 miles away. Once everything was secured we left our site. We drove the main road to the road where the trailhead was. Larry looked at the road and said no way. It wasn't RV friendly. So we changed our plans, we decided to go to Jenny Lake area which was about 20 miles down the road. 

The ride to Jenny Lake was beautiful. We had a clear morning so you could get great pictures of the Teton Mountain Range. We pulled off at a overlook area and I took pictures. 

Jenny Lake is a very popular area because lots of trails start there. The parking area fills up early. We arrived around 9:30 and the main parking area was full. We went to the picnic area, where there were some RV parking places. There was only a couple of vehicles there. We parked the Minnie and got ready to go on the hike.   

We found a way to get to the trail from the picnic area. We walked clockwise because Larry thought the climb up the mountain would be less strenuous. The trail took us around String Lake for 4 miles. As we hiked we had to use some boardwalks and a couple of bridges. We saw outstanding views of the Tetons and the lake. We hiked up 275 feet in elevation. We stopped occasionally to catch our breath and look at the scenery. In 1999 they had a fire in this area and the forest is starting to come back. When we walked in the open areas it got warm but when we walked in the trees it was cool. I wore a sweat shirt and a lite jacket. The jacket came off once we got in the open. One young guy was hiking and told us he was coming around us, which was very nice. When we met people on the trail and it was narrow we found a place to let them pass. We needed the rest. We were about halfway through the hike when we met three ladies on horses. The leader told us to com on down and they would wait. Larry told her we needed a rest and we had a great place to stand. The horses were very beautiful and the ladies were very friendly. We saw a couple of people on stand up boards paddling on the lake. When we were almost done we saw people kayaking on the lake. At the beginning of the hike we didn't see a lot of hikers but at the end we saw a lot of hikers. Everyone was very friendly and had big smiles on their faces. We had a super hike.

The bridge that took us across String Lake

Horseback riding in the Tetons

 

Kayaking and climbing  on a rock in String Lake

 

String Lake

By the time we got back to the Minnie it was busy. The picnic area parking lot was filling up and there were rangers directing traffic and making sure people were parking in the correct spots. We were going to have lunch there but it was so busy we decided to go back to Colter Bay Village.

After having lunch we went back to our site. We spent the rest of the day relaxing with a book. We love our Kindles because we don't have to carry paperbacks or hardbacks books with us. 

After dinner we walked around for about a half hour. We walked to the village and back. When we got home I walked around for 50 minutes. I walked A through E Loops twice. As I walked around I said hi to the other campers and saw two deer and a field mouse. Then I finished my steps in place. I ended up doing 27,100 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group. 

We had a wonderful day.

Sunday 9-18 Hiking Heron Lake Trail & A Ranger Hike

 

Grand Teton National Park

It rained during the night and into the early morning. By the time we got up the rain was gone but some clouds were still hanging around. 

We woke up to a cold morning with the temperature in 30s. Larry had turned on the Wave 3 heater before he went to bed and he closed the curtain where the kitchen is. Getting up it was a little chilly, about 63 in the living area, the bathroom and kitchen were quite a bit colder since the curtain was closed. After getting dressed I made pancakes for breakfast.

After breakfast we decided to walk the trails around the campground. Some of them are closed because of construction. We ended up hiking about 5 miles. We started by hiking to the picnic area and beach where we picked up the lake trail which goes along the lake. Because of the drought the lake is very low, many of the coves are empty of water. We saw beautiful views of the Tetons. We saw a group of five deer, two of them were fawns. While walking around where the marina use to be we met a couple who were looking for the trails. Larry told them where they were. We walked the trail to the village and picked up the Heron Lake and Swan Lake Loop Trail. The Swan Lake portion was closed but we hiked to Heron Lake, about 2 miles. We hiked the trail to where the construction trucks were and continued up the hill. It was a very steep hill but once up the hill it flatten out. I had to stop a couple times going up the hill to get my breath. We wore a lite jacket but after climbing the hill it came off. The trail took us through the forest of pine trees. When we got to Heron Lake it was empty. We saw a couple of huge beaver dens in the middle of where the lake was suppose to be. Around the lake there was beautiful pine trees. The couple met up with us again there. There was a loop trail but we decided to return via the trail we came on. We walked with the couple a bit and talked with them. The hike back was easier because a lot of it was down hill. We met a few people just starting their hike. We walked through the village to get back to the Minnie. We had a nice hike.

One of the does

 

The group of deer

Heron Lake

After lunch we walked over to the visitor center for a ranger led hike. There were sixteen of us on the hike and the ranger's name was Allie. The hike was 2.2 miles and took about 2 hours. She took us on the lake trail. We stopped a few times so she could talk about the lake and the Tetons. She explained that Jackson Lake was down because of the drought. The lake was man made and Idaho built the dam. Last year when the drought got bad Idaho pulled a lot of the water out of the lake to irrigate crops. The hike was very nice and went through the trees and along the lake shores. As we hiked we saw people on the beach and a couple of people kayaking and a wake board boat. The group stopped occasionally to enjoy the scenery and learn about the Tetons. As we looped around the lake and headed back to the visitor center we saw the group of deer Larry and I saw in the morning. We stopped and took pictures. Allie said that this was the first time she saw the deer. We had another great hike.

Mount Moran

The hiking trail

The group of deer

 

Our ranger guide Allie

In between hikes we rested and read. 

For dinner I barbecued sausages. 

After dinner we walked over to the amphitheater for a ranger talk. The ranger who gave the talk was Elizabeth. It was a short talk on Mardy and Olaus Murie and her contributions to conservation. It was a real good talk and Elizabeth presented it super.

Elizabeth

When I got home I finished my 27,000 steps. This put me in 5th place in my group for the week with the total of 184,601 steps.

We had a super day.              

Saturday 9/17 Grand Teton National Park - Colter Bay Campground

Overcast day

We had a cool overcast day. 

I woke about 7:00 am because I figured Larry wanted to get an early start. We were going to Grand Teton National Park which was only 95 miles away. We had an English muffin and a protein shake for breakfast. When we have a travel day I put a small snack bag together.

After breakfast we got the Minnie ready to go by putting things away. Then we walked over to the dumpster and got rid of our trash. On the way out of Palisades Dam Campground we stopped by the dump station, we hadn't dumped the tanks for 10 days so the black tank was getting full. We were on the road by 8:00.

The drive was very nice through the mountain pass we had taken a week ago. We drove two lane highways. When we got to Jackson, we stopped to at the Smith's store and filled the Minnie with fuel. Then we did a little grocery shopping. After putting the groceries away we were back on the road. We had to go through Jackson and it was very busy. They had an artists competition, each artist had a couple of hours to paint something about Jackson. Then their art goes to auction. Once we left Jackson the traffic wasn't bad at all. There was a bicycle trail, that went from Jackson through Grand Teton National Park.

Before we got to the main entrance we stopped at Moose Visitor Center. It was very busy. Larry got a map of the park from a very nice man. Then we walked around the visitor center and looked at the displays.

Moose Visitor Center

Afterwards we drove a few miles to the main entrance. When we got to the gate we were waved through because we had a Senior Pass so the entrance was free. We drove through the park. The drive was very nice. The clouds were starting to move away so you could see the Tetons. They are gorgeous, on the top of the peaks you could see glaciers. The scenery was prairie and forest. 

When we got to Colter Bay we stopped at the village. We parked the Minnie and had lunch. After lunch we went across the parking lot and paid $5.00 a piece for a shower. The shower was one of the best ones we had. The shower head worked great and the temperature was perfect. If it got too hot you just had to turn it down. When we finished our showers I went to the laundry-mat, which is in the same building as the showers. Larry went with me to got me started. Some of the machines you can use credit cards to pay. For a load of clothes to wash cost $4.00, to dry it cost $2.75 for 42 minutes.

After the laundry was done we checked in at the campground. It was very easy Larry just had to give the host our site #. He told us where to go and gave us a map. We were all setup by 3:30.

For the next three days we're going to be without power. In the loop we're in we can't run a generator either but hopefully we get sun and we can get solar to keep the battery charged. We do have internet.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing.  

After dinner Larry and I went on a half hour walk around the campground. We walked four of the five loops. We were starting on the fifth loop and it started to sprinkle. The rain didn't least long but it dropped the temperature to the high 40s. I ended up doing 20,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group.

We had a great day.          

Friday 9-16 Rainy Cool Friday

 

Doing the happy dance

The rain came in last night and stayed around most of the day, it wasn't a hard rain and it did stop a couple of times. The temperature was in the low 50's, that along with a bit of a breeze made it quite cool.

We couldn't do our morning walk because of the rain so we stayed in the Minnie reading. At lunchtime we had chili, it was a perfect day for it.

The rain had stopped so after lunch Larry and I went on a half hour walk to the boat ramp and around the campground. There were a few boat trailers in the parking lot but not as many as normal. Before getting to the boat ramp we met a lady and her husky, he was very friendly so we had to say hi. She thanked us for paying attention to her dog. Larry went back inside and I continued walking around for another half hour. I talked to the camp host. 

I was going to walk a little longer but it started to sprinkle. We spent the afternoon reading.

For dinner we had a baked potato. After dinner Larry and I went on another walk to the boat ramp and around the campground. While at the boat ramp we saw a couple of eagles chasing after a gull. It looked like they were mad at it, possibly it took a fish they thought was theirs. We watched the eagles for awhile. Then we walked around the campground. Larry went inside and I walked around for another hour and a half.

For dessert I baked the rest of our pumpkin spice cookies.

By the end of the day I got my 26,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.

The day started out with rain but it ended up being a beautiful Friday. LIFE IS GOOD!!!

Thursday 9-15 Fantastic Day

 

Camping in the National Forest

We had fantastic day. 

We started out by walking for about an hour in the dispersed camping area. The other day when we were walking we thought we saw elk tracks, we were wrong, they were sheep. We found that out this morning, there were hundreds of them grazing in the dispersed area. We saw two dogs protecting the herd. We were amazed at how many sheep there were. They were all over the place. People camping there came out of their RVs to watch them. We walked very close to them and they didn't run off and the dogs didn't think we were a threat so they didn't do anything. We also saw a couple of horses. The dispersed area is huge and has a lot of great sites. As we walked we saw school buses converted to RVs, trailers and RVs. After walking around the dispersed area we walked the main road over the bridge back to the Minnie. When we got to the bridge we watched people launch their fishing boats. Today there were two people in each boat. We watched one boat go under the bridge. After crossing the bridge we stood on the bank and watched the eagles (maybe osprey) and hawks fishing. One hawk flew around us a little bit with a fish in his claws. It was a big fish. He showed us the fish and then dropped it in the bushes on the bank. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture but it was cool to see. We had a super walk.

Horses

 

Some of the sheep

 

Eagle or Osprey?

 

 One of the herding dogs

Rain was predicted for the afternoon so after lunch I browned up some sausage on the grill for our dinner. When I finished I walked around the campground for an hour and talked to the hosts. I wanted to get some of my steps in before the rain. As I was walking the weather was talking to me with thunder. It didn't rain until I got back.

The rain came in about 2:00. It wasn't too hard and didn't last too long.

After dinner Larry and I went for a walk to the boat ramp and around the campground for about a half hour. When Larry went inside I walked around for another half hour to get my steps. I ended up doing 27,000, which put my in 4th place in my group. 

Before the rain came I said bye to our neighbors from California. After the rain a few more people arrived. One in the non-power sites by the river and three more in the power sites by us. It's not even close full. I guess because if you don't have the Senior pass it cost you $17.00 for non-power and you can go to the dispersed area for free. 

We paid for another two nights because it's suppose to rain tomorrow and later tonight.