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Trip Report: 2 weeks from SF to Yellowstone and back, June 2016

Trip Report: 2 weeks from SF to Yellowstone and back, June 2016

Old Jul 26th, 2016, 12:44 PM
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Trip Report: 2 weeks from SF to Yellowstone and back, June 2016

A friend of ours was having a family reunion in Yellowstone to celebrate what would have been her 50th wedding anniversary (the husband died a few years ago), and invited us to participate. She met her husband while working in Yellowstone in the early 60s, she as a waitress and he as a bus driver. She flew out and the family (some from D.C., some from S.F., some from Hawaii) gathered in the Tetons before coming to Yellowstone. We went by car, camping on the way with the exception of one night in Klamath Falls, but stayed in cabins in Yellowstone.

It took us three days to get to the Yellowstone area, and we stayed one day outside the park as we arrived in the area before the scheduled day of joining the group. We generally avoided the Interstates, although on our first day we drove of SF to Sparks, NV on I80 to avoid congestion crossing California. With traffic leaving SF mid-morning, and other traffic on I80, it took us all day to get to Austin, NV and a nearby National Forest campground.

A note on Google time estimate: Google offers 3 routes from SF to Austin, with a maximum of 2 hours differences (7:29 vs. 5:49) between the longest (451 mi.) and the one we took which was 391 miles long. That is simply not credible. The longer route avoids the Interstate once past the first 50 miles or so, which means that the speed limit is at least 10 miles lower, goes over a higher pass (9,624ft. alt.) in the Sierra than the I80 pass (7239ft alt.), on a road which is narrow and very twisty. In other words, from Sonora to Bridgeport, the speed will not be much over 40 mph, if that, while I80 can be done at speed (65mph) for its entire length, barring traffic tie ups. But for those with time, the CA108 route will be much more scenic.

It was the first time that we have crossed Nevada while it was green. It also meant that we had rain for the 3 days out of four that it took us to get to Yellowstone. In Eureka, NV we were told that this year they had 4 times the normal rainfall, which may be good for the ranchers, but it was our misfortune that we had to pack our tent in pouring rain. Tent camping is not for everyone, particularly if one cannot take the discomforts of occasional rain, high winds, and vault (an upgrade from “pit”) toilets in more primitive campgrounds. The Bob Scott campground ($10 per night, $5 for senior pass holders) is close to the road, but U.S. 50 is not very heavily traveled so that traffic noises are not overwhelming.

We use a 1991 camp guide to locate public campgrounds (we never stay in privately owned ones), but the book is no longer available. On-line information can be obtained by Googling the relevant National Forests: for example: http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fs...ROWSEBYSUBJECT

From Austin we traveled to Craters of the Moon National Monument, arriving there early Monday evening, June 13 (7 hour drive not counting stops). There was only one camp site left aside from the handicap one. No rain here, and after sponging off the bottom of the tent we had a dry tent within 15 minutes. The campground is in the middle of a lava field, hence without shade. It could be unbearably hot in the summer. But its washroom was extremely clean and up-to-date, with a hand sanitizer dispenser. The campground was immaculate with no visible problems. Nonetheless it was to close for the season after the 4th of July weekend for renovation, including resurfacing the roads and walks so that their color matched the color of the lava beds.

https://www.nps.gov/crmo/planyourvis...d-sleeping.htm

When we left the next morning, two-thirds of the camp sites were empty. It probably took us 3 hours to reach Big Springs campground (http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/ctnf/...a/?recid=53759 ) in Island Park, ID, going via Dubois (65 mph on local roads). This campground is in the woods and requires the use of mosquito repellent. The campground host told us that it gets more rain than other campgrounds in the area, perhaps because it is at the base of the continental divide and the clouds lose their precipitation as they are pushed over the mountain. Big Springs is very scenic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Springs_(Idaho) ) and the Johnny Sack cabin is worth a visit. From there it was possible to take a forest road up to the Continental Divide (the road is closed at the very top). We misunderstood the camp host suggestion and on the way back we took a narrow gauge railroad track converted into an off-road track back to Big Springs, not realizing that it is limited to vehicles less than 58” long—basically ATVs.

It rained the next morning, but it looked as if it would not last. We drove off to Harriman State Park, recommended by the volunteer at the Johnny Sack’s cabin. It is in a beautiful area, but the housing is quite ordinary, from what we could see peeking though the windows (it was the first day of the season), a surprise given the money behind this ranch (Harriman, Guggenheim and Jones of the Northern Pacific RR). The ranch was donated as a park to the state of Idaho in the 1970’s and became the first state park in Idaho. From there we visited the Upper Mesa Falls, and went back to the campground. We wiped down the tent, had a late lunch to let it dry out, and then packed up to meet our friends in Yellowstone.

We were 15 persons participating in the extended celebration. For two evening meals we picnicked at the Bridge Bay picnic site; it was close to Lake Village where we stayed and has grills for outdoor cooking. In the morning we had good coffee provided by one of the younger families and communal breakfasts at the Lake Lodge. For the other two evenings we were there my wife and I had an anniversary meal at the Old Faithful Inn and the next night the whole group had a celebratory meal at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel. The Old Faithful Inn meal was a big disappointment; we ordered off the menu and the dishes ranged from mediocre to ordinary. It probably would have been better go buffet style. We should have had our meal at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel, even though it would have meant eating there two days in a row. The menu was more interesting and the preparation was excellent. I recall fried green beans (perhaps too underdone for most tastes) and a rare bison steak, my wife had lamb chops cooked to perfection.

During the day we were on our own. We did not do more than car touring with short walks in part because I am having problems with a heel and must wear a medical boot when walking outside. But we covered most of the Yellowstone figure 8 loop. For those short on time, I would recommend one essential circuit: The road from Old Faithful to Canyon Village. Old Faithful and the geyser area around it will provide a sense the volcanic activity, with more activity visible near Hayden Valley. The circuit provides lake views, river views, Hayden Valley where we saw many bisons, and finally the Yellowstone Falls near Canyon Village. We did not see any bears, but a couple of elks, a fox near our lodging, and lots of bisons. On our way out of Yellowstone we were held up for half an hour or more by a herd of bisons walking along the road between Madison and West Yellowstone, some individual animals wandering on the road itself, then the herd crossing the road, and then crossing back right in front of our car. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7671428492876/ The speed limit in Yellowstone is 45 mph with frequent slow downs because of animals on or near the road.

We left Yellowstone heading back west. We drove into Idaho and stopped for the night at a BLM campground just outside Leadora (pop. 105). I mention this because Leadore has a public park with a couple of picnic tables and even a camp site; this as an example of what is quite common. Small towns in Nevada and Idaho often have public spaces with picnic tables. The town of Dubois, ID (pop. 677) also has a public library, but its hours are limited. But Salmon (pop. 3,112) has a nice public library with computer access, which we used because we have neither cell phones nor computers when we leave home; also true of Idaho City (pop. 459). Similarly in Oregon, Lakeview, (pop.2,294) has a brand new library (counters still covered with protective paper) with computers accessible to the public, including out-of-state visitors. For foreign visitors, looking for such facilities is a good way of seeing a small U.S. town; searching out espresso coffee is another way—rule of thumb: a town of 1000 will have an espresso shop, although I can’t guarantee the quality.

BLM campgrounds are generally less desirable than National Forest campgrounds because they are often located in relatively inhospitable areas. This one was by a stream, but in the open ground near the mouth of a canyon, and the wind really howled through during the night. Our tent withstood the wind with no problems, but it is not designed for such windy conditions and flapped noisily throughout the night. The same thing happened another night when we camped at a BLM campground on the Chickahominy Reservoir in the middle of eastern Oregon. In both cases there was no shade and no potable water—we carry a 7 gallon container just for such occasions. But the Leadora campground had two pluses: We had tried to stay at a National Forest campground, which turned out to be still closed for the season; we would have frozen during the night, as it was high up in the mountains by a lake at the base of a cirque, fed by melting snow. The BLM campground was at a much lower altitude, hence not as cold. The second was that campers recommended that we drive up a quarter of a mile to the canyon to catch a herd of big horn sheep, which we did not see, but we did see a young moose running up a sage brush hill—it was feeding in the stream and I unknowingly spooked it. The other campers (in RVs) were very jealous as they had just spent two weeks at that site hoping to photograph a moose, but were unsuccessful. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7671428492876/

We then camped in a National Forest above Stanley—a beautiful campsite near a stream, in the middle of the forest (no wind problems) with plenty of wood around for a camp fire. Then it was a state park in eastern Oregon, Farewell Bend State Recreation Area—our most expensive campground at $18 per night, but with free showers. The next campground was the BLM campground that we chose because the National Forest campgrounds were 30 to 50 miles north of U.S. 20 and we knew that we wanted to go south and did not want to make such a long round trip (probably on dirt roads).

U.S. 20 through Oregon is beautiful, but I would not want to live there; it has its similarities with U.S. 50 through Nevada. Going south from U.S. 20 on U.S.395 is even more desolate, with very few cars on the road.

We ended up in Klamath Falls, stayed at a motel which had laundry facilities (our first laundry after Yellowstone). Ate at a local brew pub (http://www.kbbrewing.com/ ) which had excellent fresh potato chips, and from the looks of it, fresh string fries; the beer was also very good. We then camped in Lassen National Park, then stayed with friends near Lake Tahoe, and then drove home.

Note: by Googling the mentioned town and park names, one can get a better sense of our itinerary.

Here are the pictures of the trip:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...428492876/show
Michael is offline  
Old Jul 27th, 2016, 12:34 PM
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Thanks for your report and photos. What a bittersweet reunion. We did a 3 week road trip in May from Carmel to Yellowstone and passed through most of those areas except for Oregon and Lassen. It was our first time crossing northern NV and we enjoyed Hwy 50 more than I-80 and also got to drive Hwy 4 for the first time. I agree with your assessment of the food at Old Faithful Inn. My husband definitely did better going with the buffet than I did ordering off of their menu. Enjoyed your photos.
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Old Jul 27th, 2016, 07:04 PM
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Great trip. Thank you!
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