MichelleEver have one of those days where nothing goes the way you plan? Every once in a while I have one of those sneak up on me. Since I needed to be in Washington before Oct 18th (for my RV diagnostic), I planned my route via Boise to visit my sister before winter. My first stop was in the northeastern corner of Wyoming to see Devil’s Tower. I stayed in a nice campground about 25 miles away for one night and planned to see Devil’s Tower the next morning on the way to my next stop. I didn’t get up quite as early as planned so was a little later getting started up the road. Even then it wasn’t that late when I entered the park. The drive out there was very pretty and so was the last 5 miles to Devil’s Tower Visitor Center (lots of deer). However, when I got there the parking lot was completely full including the RV spaces. This was an unusually small parking area for such a popular site. Once I went around the loop and found all the spaces taken, I had no choice but to drive back down the road to the entrance. Luckily there were several great pullouts where I got pictures of Devil’s Tower. I was sorry to miss walking the trail around the base of the tower, but felt it was best to waste no more time going up and down waiting for a spot to open. This is where it would have been very handy to have an e-bike. I could have parked down below and ridden the 5 miles to the top with minimal effort.
I drove on to my next destination of Buffalo, WY where I planned to spend 2 nights exploring the area. I needed propane and water; and I planned to boondock at a recreation area just north of Buffalo. I was able to get propane but as always it is so hard to find drinking (potable) water to fill the tank. I stopped at every place I could think of for water but couldn’t find any and I was literally out of water. Plus, many places were closed because it was Sunday in a small town. In addition, the temperature was quite a bit warmer than forecasted, being 91 degrees instead of 84. As I drove out to the recreation area I realized there were no trees for shade and it was definitely too hot to be in the sun. There happened to be an RV park near the area so I pulled in and decided to stay the night ($40). Although there was nothing really wrong with the site, it was weedy with no shade and right next to the highway! It did have the necessary water I needed to fill my tank, and electricity to easily run the air conditioner. Most of the other RV’s in the park were long term tenants with lots of junk around their places. I guess I shouldn’t complain, but it’s hard to spend money on a place like this in comparison to the places I’ve stayed for free. OK, I have to admit that having a few Pronghorn walking through camp was pretty exciting!
I decided to stay only one night there and drove 30 miles down the road to Sheridan where I camped at the Fairgrounds at $20 for the night. This included electricity to run the Air Conditioner. This was handy to town and preferable to the RV park for sure. I spent the rest of the day looking around town and shopping. Sheridan is a beautiful city of 17-18,000 people. A nice size, a beautiful vibrant downtown, nice big parks, and most of the amenities you might want. I could see myself living here if it wasn’t for the brutal winters. This is another place an e-bike would have been handy. There were bikes lanes all over and also a paved bike/walking trail that wound through town and out into the country.
Next stop was Big Timber, MT at the Otter Creek Fishing Access area which had several free camping spots. I scored big time on this one with a site overlooking the Yellowstone river. It was so peaceful and comfortable here that I decided to stay 2 nights and rest up. Oh and it had great cell service too! I could have stayed longer here. As I was driving out I noticed a couple of things. As a kid, we would regularly see certain types of things as we camped or traveled, but as an adult in a large urban area you just don’t see these two things: 1) Multiple large herds of deer in the fields; and 2) mile long freight trains! I love things that bring back great memories of being a kid.
When I bought my RV in Alabama and drove it home to Washington, I passed through Livingston, MT just north of Yellowstone Natl Park. At the time I drove through I wished I could stop and linger but couldn’t. This time I stopped for a couple of hours to look around town. Livingston has a nice Rotary Park all along the main street and there is room to park along the curbs even for an RV. There were many nice historical brick buildings as many of these town have. There were some shops here but I was glad to see that many of the buildings had every day types of businesses that kept the downtown alive. There were all sorts of restaurants and breweries here as well. Livingston had one of the better historic housings areas with wonderfully restored Victorian style homes. The streets were well kept and yards better kept than other towns I’ve driven through. In talking with one of the shop owners, she said that Livingston and many other surrounding towns had been growing. Livingston grew by 15% last year.
As a kid I grew up hearing my parents and grandparents talk of camping together along the Lochsa River (pronounced Lock-saw) in Northern Idaho. I don’t believe I ever saw this area and have always wanted to see what all the hubbub was about. My Dad was quite the fisherman and apparently the Lochsa held a goldmine of fish! I took Hwy 12 out of Missoula, MT and up over Lolo Pass into Idaho. Wow, Wow, Wow! A gorgeous drive every mile of the way especially with the fall colors. There is always a creek or river following along the side of the road (hmm, that’s probably the other way around); first Lolo Creek, then Lee Creek, then the Lochsa River. The Lochsa is popular with white water rafters and floaters. However at this time of the year (October 1st) the river is very shallow. Still lots of water, but it is hard to imagine there being enough water for rafting Class 3 & 4 rapids. This area is mostly pine and fir trees but there are stands of cottonwood and aspen along waterways. I noticed large stands of Larch trees as well, just starting to turn color. It’s hard to imagine this area covered in snow since the days were warm and sunny still. I stayed one night at the Five Mile Fishing Access area which was right next to the river, however it was only about 50 feet from the highway and was very loud during the day. The 2nd night I found a camping area just a few miles down the road that was much further away from the road and the river louder to drown out that noise. This was a gorgeous spot and I decided to stay 2 nights. All along Hwy 12 there are hiking trails but I didn’t have time to explore this time around.
I finally left that area and continued on toward Boise. My plan was to camp along the Payette river south of McCall ID, but again the day did NOT go as planned! I had a wonderful lunch stop at McCall where it was warm and sunny with beautiful fall colored trees. Within 10 miles down the road there was road construction that delayed me about 30 mins; and not much further than that a bad accident closed the highway. ☹ Many people were taking a dirt road that wound through a wooded vacation home area and past where the accident happened on the highway. It was a bumpy, twisty road, but it wasn’t too long before I was back on the highway. Unfortunately, an hour was lost while sitting at a stop before they closed the highway and we all turned around. At this point I was quite behind where I’d planned to be. There were 4 campgrounds that I had identified along the river as potential places to stay the night. These were all forest service campgrounds and their website said they would be open until later in October, however all 4 were closed when I arrived at each one. Big Sigh! At this point I decided to continue on and once I was an hour away from Boise I decided to just keep going. This turned into a 10 hour day and I was exhausted! So although full time RVing is great, there are some days that have their own agenda!
