So here it is, the last post. I'll have to admit that I was not looking forward to ending the blog, but it's hard to be anything but grateful at the close of such an amazing journey. So, with a bit a of a heavy heart, here it is, the last leg of our trip.

We visited Rocky Mountain National Park the way everyone should, serenaded by John Denver.

We saw more wildlife in this park than on the entire trip! But sorry to disappoint you Mama T, still no bears.

 At this point I would like to take the time to mention some of the reasons we will miss living in the woods:

   -spitting our toothpaste on the ground
   -dumping our pasta water on the ground
   -not being required to wear makeup (or in Marc's case, shave)
   -all the fresh air
   -feeling fit and strong and tan
   -wearing a shirt for the third day in a row because "Hey, it  
    doesn't smell that bad yet!"
   -the exhilarating feeling of driving to the next destination

Our first elk sighting!

"Rocky Mountain high, Colorado."

We drove Southeast along the edge of the National Park into Roosevelt National Forest. Down a nerve-testing rocky dirt road we found a hidden gem of a campground, Rainbow Lakes. At 10,000 feet elevation this was our highest campground yet. It is a wonderfully maintained area, no surprise to us since it is managed by American Land and Leisure. We have to give a hand to these guys. Every campground we have been to on our trip that was managed by them was immaculate!

We decided to do ourselves proud on our last hike and make it a long one- fifteen miles! We took the Arapaho Glacier Trail directly behind our campsite and hiked to the lookout at over 12,500 feet in elevation.

This was a tough hike, but absolutely worth it. The views were breathtaking and so was the altitude!

 As we ate our lunch and stared in awe at what is left of the Arapaho Glacier we considered ourselves lucky, we had definitely left the best hike for last.

After a couple of nights at Rainbow Lakes we drove to Boulder to see an old friend of Marc's at the Twisted Pine Brewery. This is a great local Brewery with flavorful craft brews and tasty food, the Veggie Pizza in particular.

Our last stop of the trip was in Denver where Scott and Katie very graciously put us up in their guest room. Although we were bummed about the trip ending, we had a great time with them! Thanks for showing us around Denver guys!

 I got the chance to go rock climbing in the Rocky Mountains. It is much more difficult with no nicely color coordinated routes to follow!

For all the help along the way we want to give a a big thank you to:

- All our family and friends for being supportive of our dream

- Big Agnes Tents- Steamboat Springs, CO

- Coleman Appliances (40 year old stove and still kickin')

- Fred and Suzi Dow for all the insight on NF Campgrounds

- America the Beautiful Pass (without which our trip would've been a bit more expensive)

- All of our new friends with their many good suggestions

- Bass Pro Shop- We're glad you made it out to CA!

- J.R. and Courtney, Robert, Shari and Howard, Scott and Katie for a much needed warm bed

- Justin (you know who you are)

- E-Trailer- Wentzville, MO

- And of course, all of our loyal readers!!!

And then, and only because our bank accounts would not allow us to continue any longer, we went home.

In our two and a half months on the road we (well Marc actually drove the entire way) drove 10,000 miles through thirteen states visiting ten National Parks, fifteen National Forests, and five State Parks, and it was a priceless experience. We are grateful beyond words for the opportunity to complete this once in a lifetime journey. 

The Australian Aborigines called it a Walkabout, the Native Americans called it a Vision Quest. These cultures believed they could find what they were looking for in nature, and now we must agree.

Driving away from our little cabin in the woods we saw a group of deer, ten in total, on the side of the road. We’ve never seen so many together like that. It was a beautiful send off from Montana.

Our next destination was Yellowstone National Park. We didn’t plan on spending much time there but wanted to see the main attractions, including Old Faithful of course.

Enough said.

Beehive Geyser

While waiting for Old Faithful to live up to its name we visited the Visitors Center. There was an announcement for the Beehive Geyser that was about to erupt. This not so famous geyser shoots higher into the air than Old Faithful and sounds like a jet engine when it does. It was quite a show!

Old Faithful

While our pictures of Old Faithful don’t really do it justice (I was filming for the best part of it), we were still more impressed by the Beehive Geyser.

From Yellowstone it was on to Grand Tetons National Park. Our drive through was gorgeous but the sky didn’t want to cooperate, it was very hazy and difficult to really see the grand peaks.

We made our way South through Wyoming which in of itself was worth the drive. With sparkling rivers around every turn and open land for miles, a song came to mind, “Home, home on the range…”

In the quaint town of Pinedale we stopped at the Ranger Station for the Bridger National Forest and learned of a little campground not far off the main drag. Fremont Lake Campground is made up of a big beautifully shaded area on the shores of the gorgeous, crystal clear Fremont Lake. All for $12 a night, this campground definitely made the list of places to which we will return.

 We spent the very warm Wyoming afternoons soaking up some rays and snorkeling in the ocean-like coves of Fremont Lake, and cooling off with some over-sized ice cream sundaes and chocolate malts.

 

Marc fought me on including this picture, but how could I deny you the pleasure of seeing this?

So I was forced to add this ungraceful picture of me as payback.

On our way into the campground the day before, I saw a sign for the Wind River Rodeo Series. I knew my Texas boy couldn’t resist a good old fashioned Rodeo. So off we went to my very first Rodeo!

It was a thrilling night of bull riding and barrel racing. I’ve never seen so many real life cowboys. We loved it! If only we had the type of camera made for capturing the action of a 2,000 pound bucking bull. This is truly the way to experience the real Wyoming.

After our wonderful stay in Pinedale (really all the civilization you need!) we dropped down into Colorado.

Along with all the beautiful places in the U.S. we've also realized that there are a lot of places that look like this...

fortunately there is always someone selling fireworks nearby... and a sign restricting the use of fireworks.

We stayed just outside of Steamboat Springs in the small campground of Dumont Lake, which was more a large hole than a lake as it was being drained for maintenance.

This is very beautiful country, exactly how I pictured Colorado to be. Our campsite was nestled in a pine forest next to a field of colorful wildflowers. 

We got ourselves cleaned up and ready for our last National Park of the trip. (sigh) 

Laundry day.

                          Rocky Mountains here we come.

Not to worry, we are still alive and on the move! We have realized during our time in Montana that the majority of the state is a T-Mobile dead zone. It’s been a little over a week since our last post and we are now driving through our third state since then. We have seen some of the most beautiful landscapes of our trip over the last eight days and it was difficult to pick our favorite pictures, but we did our best.

So last we left you we were heading into Idaho for a quick stop before Montana. The width of the state of Washington is quite a drive and it was dark by the time we arrived at our prospective campground right across the border in Oldtown, Idaho.

We hesitantly traveled down a back gravel road in search of the campground and almost decided to turn around before we stumbled upon it. No matter how quaint a campground may be, they all look a little spooky at night. So we went to sleep hoping things would look better in the morning.

They did, much better! The Albeni Cove Campground is run by the Army Corps of Engineers and is situated on the banks of the Pend Oreille River directly upstream from the dam. It is a wonderfully run little campground, only thirteen sites, and has the cleanest bathrooms we’ve seen so far. (At this point we are not hard to impress, but it truly was very clean.)

We spent the day playing with the doggies in the water. It was wonderful!

Max was not happy with me for beating him in a game of Farkle!

The next morning we headed out early in search of a National Forest Campground just outside Glacier National Park.

Somewhere back in Oregon we started stopping at promising looking pawn/antique/thrift stores (there are a ton to choose from) to look for a used bike for Marc. Four states later we found a winner!

The South Butt Pawn Shop in Montana had exactly what he was looking for. We even managed to fit it on the back of the Jeep! 

Ha ha!

The area surrounding Glacier NP is stunning. We drove down the West side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir looking for an available campsite in one after another full campground. No dice!

Our grumbling bellies getting the best of us, we finally stopped at a day use area on the water to have a swim and cook some dinner. By this time we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would most likely be sleeping in the car that night. Then nine miles West of West Glacier we found Timber Wolf Creek Resort. The office was open late, the tent sites are reasonably priced, and the owners are Midwesterners! This was a great find.

Hungry Horse Dam

Our last resort Day Use/Dinner Area

The drive into the park through the thick fog the next morning was beautiful. We stopped for some coffee and famed Huckleberry Pie. It made quite a tasty breakfast!

Oh my my, Huckleberry Pie!

Throughout our trip everyone we met who had been to Glacier National Park had raved about it. One guy simply put it, “It’s the kind of beauty you can’t explain to another person. You just have to see it for yourself.”

It is true. The grandeur of this park literally takes one’s breath away. Our drive along the Going to the Sun Road took us through a whole range of emotions.

Looking over the river at one point I turned around and started laughing out loud, not able to believe the spectacular sight behind me. The wild and pure beauty of the mountains also has the ability to bring tears to your eyes. 

We took nearly one hundred pictures in the park, but don’t want to bore you all with a dozen scenery shots. 

Even Max and Lucy appreciated the beauty, and the wind!

We were on such a high that we decided to keep on driving. Going on the recommendation of a fellow camper we pulled into Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park in Southwestern Montana.

This is a beautiful park with a very open, almost desert like feel to it. It sits in a valley next to the Jefferson River and surrounded by towering bald mountains.

We enjoyed a pleasant, yet hot, seven miles hike in the park the following day. 

Next we were off to our Forest Service Cabin. We found it online and reserved it (I know, so unlike us) ahead of time for three nights.

Wall Creek Cabin is located eighteen miles South of Ennis, MT overlooking the crystal clear Madison River. It has an amazing view of the Madison Range to the East which made for beautiful sunrises.

The Forest Service provided directions to the cabin on their website. It did require some effort and about half an hour of driving on bumpy gravel roads to get there. 

It is a primitive cabin, no water, no electricity, bunk beds, and a wood burning stove for heat. In other words, it was luxury accommodations!!

The cabin is located adjacent to the home of a real life cowboy and his wife. Our second day there they went out onto the range with their four horses and six dogs and didn’t return before we left. 

Our little home.

Cowboy Scott and his wife leaving for the range.

We did find that we had trouble sleeping the first night. We realized how accustomed we’ve become to sleeping in the tent. It was also a bit warm, definitely too warm to use the wood burning stove. Who knew it was so hot in Montana?

We spent our days at the cabin drinking wine, eating way too much good food, and swimming in the Madison River. Marc taught me how to split wood like a champ.

We even managed to get ourselves off our camp chairs on the porch and onto the Hyde Creek Trail for a short hike. 

Our hideout from the sun at the Madison River

A storm threatened to ruin our day but the blue sky won out!

Our first rattlesnake sighting!

Our luxury water closet

I found a horseshoe on our hike. Lucky? I think so.

One of the highlights of our stay was reading the entries from the Wall Creek Cabin Diary.

It was so interesting to read about other people’s experiences at the cabin. We recorded a bit of our story before we left as well.

With just a few more stops before we have to think about traveling back East, we are starting to get a little anxious. How ever will we adapt back into civilized society?!

Although our trip is winding down we still have some beautiful places to see before we head home. So we better get going!