This is our next to last day here in beautiful southeastern Idaho.  We packed most of our outside things today—if an outside storage compartment door opens, things will fly everywhere as we have it packed so tightly.

There was so much snow this past winter that we thought it would last through the year, but it has finally melted.  Though there has not been a frost yet, in fact this has been the hottest week of our stay at Red Rock RV Park, the meadows and forests are beginning to take on the colors of fall.

The mountains in the background and the meadow in the foreground in these two photos show how much difference a month+ makes.  The one on the left was taken on July 22 and the one on the right was taken August 26.

At lunch, we walked down to Meadow Vue Ranch to see some of the Montana Cutting Horse Association show.  Cutting horses are bred and trained to cut cattle out of a herd and keep them out.  On ranches, this was done to separate sick cows, weaning calves, etc.  Though these horses and riders were not up to the caliber I used to watch at the American Cutting Horse Association in Fort Worth and cutting horse shows in Guthrie, OK, they were good nevertheless.

On our mile walk back to the RV park, we were able to photograph two peregrine falcons in a nearby tree.  There are four that seemed to inhabit the area, and we’re sure they feed on the ground squirrels, voles, and other critters in the meadows.  We can hear them call from inside the motorhome as they circle the fields and forests looking for prey.

Kay left early this morning, driving to an area where moose have allegedly been seen, several times, on Red Rock Road.  She parked and waited and watched, and in her words, “No stinkin’ moose”.  So, inventive as she is, she did the next best thing and drove into West Yellowstone where she knew there were moose, with their steely looks, and took photos.  Also, today was supposed to be Christmas in West Yellowstone, with sales and good bargains—pshaw.  First of all, tomorrow, August 26 is “Crazy Daze” in West Yellowstone, and no one seemed to know about this being their “Christmas”.  Second, there are to be no substantive sales—just junk they cannot otherwise get rid of.  Kay was able to buy some things for Ridge, the new grandson due for his coming out in middle October, including a stuffed moose, elk, and wolf—all for his room’s alphabet shelf.

It sputtered rain all morning, mixed with clouds and wind, impeding our other outdoor activities.  After the “not to be” sales in West Yellowstone, it was pretty much a do nothing day.  We did pack some things, including our fishing rods and reels, waders, vests, float tubes, and such, readying for our departure towards home in a day or two.  We sure can carry a lot of stuff in our little motorhome.

As an aside, we anticipated temperatures in late August to be much milder, with highs in the 60s and lows in the high 30s, but this last week has been the hottest since our arrival here.  The weather forecast does show a significant decrease in temperatures beginning next week—after we’ve departed.

After a lazy morning, I was visiting with RVers down the “street”, looked up, and saw a small herd of cattle being driven down Red Rock Road towards the Meadow Vue Ranch headquarters.  The ranch headquarters is just about a mile from us, and is among our favorite places to walk.  It is a working cattle ranch that also hosts kids from 8 to 18 in the summer for ranch camp where they hone their equestrian skills and even their rodeo skills.  On Wednesday and Sunday evenings, the ranch puts on a rodeo featuring the kids and serves a great BBQ dinner for $25 per person; when we called for reservations a couple of weeks ago, they had already closed for the season.  Anyway, I digress.  There were several cowboys and at least one herding dog moving the cattle.  Kay checked their website and discovered that they are hosting a cutting horse show beginning tomorrow through Saturday.  We knew something was up because when we were walking yesterday, we noticed 3 large temporary structures being erected to stable at least a hundred horses.  Apparently this is an annual event, and riders and cutting horses gather en mass.  It is open to the public at no charge, and vendors are present with food, etc.—absolutely amazing considering it is in the middle of nowhere.  Regrettably, I don’t have pictures of the cattle drive as the camera I took photos with uses a different kind of card than can be read by either of our computers, and I forgot the card reader!  We’ll go to the “cutting” tomorrow and post pictures.

Kay had been wanting to fish the Gallatin River inside Yellowstone National Park, so after lunch and naps, we loaded our fly fishing gear and made the hour drive to about Mile 24 on Highway 191, pulled into a turnout, donned our waders, and headed for the river.  It was a great spot, and we found a couple of small pools, but about the same time as we entered the water, storm clouds began rolling in, accompanied by thunder and wind.  What few insects we saw disappeared with the wind, and we had to fish blind.  For Western rivers and streams, it is important to “match the hatch”, and apparently we didn’t.  After about an hour and a half, we called it quits, and headed back to the RV park.

P.S.  It has been warm here the last couple of days, with highs in the mid-80s.  This is unseasonably warm for here, particularly in late August.  At least the humidity is low.

It seemed like just a few days ago that we arrived here at Red Rock RV Park with meadows full of blooming wildflowers and snow on the mountain peaks.  Just in the last few days, almost all the flowers have disappeared, the meadows have turned the amber color so prevalent in autumn, and the last vestiges of snow are quickly melting—to be gone probably before we are!  Ranchers are disbursing their cattle and horses, and locals are working overtime readying themselves for the approaching winter expected to come in about 6 weeks.
My allergies are giving me fits, and some days I have almost no energy.  But, it’s difficult to stay inside when the environment is so enticing, and the weather so agreeable.  During one of my times outside, I heard an elk bugle twice.  In yesterday’s entry, I forgot to mention that I saw a young bull elk on the way out to fish Hebgen Lake; perhaps it was him.
We let the morning get completely away from us, then drove a few miles to a grocery market in Island Park, providing us an opportunity to make some phone calls.  It was there we heard the news of the east coast earthquake near Nan and George’s house, so we called every number we had to check on their well-being.  Their return calls and emails indicated they were okay, with no property damage—praise God!
Some fellow RVers had told us of a playhouse in West Yellowstone, the Playmill Theater.  We purchased tickets, online, to one of their 3 productions, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and arrived to wait in line for the 8:30 PM show.  Were we ever surprised at the quality of dancing, singing, and acting—it was awesome!  We both really enjoyed the production, and highly recommend the theater in West Yellowstone if you’re ever in the area during the summer season.
It was almost 11:30 PM when we arrive back at the RV Park, but we slipped in without making too much noise, closing the door on August 23, 2011.

Really early this morning, about 7 AM our time, I left for Hebgen Lake to fish the gulpers with longtime friend, Mike.  He and I used to fish the Norfork and White Rivers quite often, and I was really looking forward to fishing with him.

We met at the turnoff from the main highway, and visited for about 30 minutes, catching up on families and friends.  After donning waders and getting our “boats” ready, we worked our way across the Madison Arm to hunt for rising fish.  Mike saw a fish working, and stealthily rowed towards it, waiting for a gulping pattern to develop.  He made the cast and immediately hooked-up with a chunky 20+ inch rainbow.  After several more minutes, he again spotted rising fish, worked his way toward them, and made a precision cast, and wham, another beautiful rainbow.  As the day wore on, he repeated this several times, and it reminded me so much of duck hunting back in the river bottoms and sloughs of Arkansas.

The rest of the day was rather anti-climatic, but out here, the weather great and just sitting outside reading or watching people is a wonderful pastime.

Today, we were off to church at what seemed like first light (actually it was 9:15 AM), our last visit to West Yellowstone Community Protestant Church before we begin traveling back home.  The message today was an extension of last Sunday, Do the Right Thing—because God Loves You.  It was very brief, and we took communion afterward.  We have really enjoyed attending this small church.  The pastor is actually their youth minister, substituting until they find a fulltime pastor, but he’s been in this capacity for about a year now because money is tight in this seasonal resort town.  He definitely has a heart for God.

This afternoon was Bunko time at Red Rock RV Park, and to warm up the mostly ladies group played Left Center Right.  Kay won $5 for the afternoon’s effort, leaving us a little gas money on which to return home.

We’re down to about 6 days left here—after today—and though we’re anxious to return home, we will miss new friends, great weather, and the myriad of outdoor experiences that are available.

We didn’t see much of Grand Teton National Park last Friday, and decided to return for a more thorough look—our last one of the trip, and maybe our last one forever—lots of other places to go and things to see and do.  We got a fairly early start, and stopped for breakfast at Pond’s Restaurant in Island Park.  We thought it was near impossible to mess up breakfast, but neither of our eggs were cooked to order as both servings were grossly overdone.

We made a stop in Driggs, Idaho, for some photos.  Driggs is informally billed by many as the new Jackson Hole for the middle class.  By the looks of some of the houses, we have to believe that we’re in the lower class!  There is a small ski resort nearby, and lots of cutesy shops, stores, and restaurants, all boding a Western theme.  Many of the new buildings, like the US Bank and Wells Fargo Bank have incorporated the theme in their structures.

As we began ascending the Teton Pass, several runners were ascending as well, and the race continued all the way to the top, and back down towards Jackson Hole. A few young women were leading the large, mixed group of runners, and were far ahead of the others; way to go, girls!  We drove through Jackson Hole, and it has changed, and grown, tremendously since the last time we were there  10 years ago.  From Jackson Hole, we entered Grand Teton National Park, and drove the easterly road north, enjoying new to us scenes.

As we continued driving, we turned east onto a road neither of us had ever traveled, then north, to drive Mormon Row, and passing a small bison herd.  Mormon Row was the sight of several Mormon homesteads, now abandoned, and all had spectacular views of the Grand Tetons.  Practically all visitors were taking photos, and we even saw a couple of artists painting the farm scape.

From Mormon Row, we drove to the westerly road running north through the park, stopping to take photos of these scenic mountains.  At the north end of Jenny Lake, we found a picnic table for lunch, and after eating, hiked String Lakes to Leigh Lake, and return, about 2 miles.  Along the way, we saw all ages of people canoeing, kayaking, tubing, boarding, and otherwise enjoying the lakes.  In addition, there were many hikers, like ourselves, enjoying the great afternoon.

By then, the building thunderstorm has just about overtaken us, and we headed for the car and Colter Bay Visitor’s Center.  Despite a light rain, we toured the Indian Arts Museum at the Colter Bay Visitor’s Center.  Both of us had had enough road trip by then, and began the 3 hour drive north and west to the RV park, detouring only briefly to make the Firehole Lake Drive, one of only a very few that escaped us this summer.  The thermal features were great, but so much has changed since my last visit near 20 years ago, that it lost some of it’s glitter.

We arrived back at the RV park about 8:30 PM, ready for a quiet evening.

The last few days have found me feeling nauseous with a headache, and unusually low energy.  Couldn’t figure it out for the longest, but finally concluded it was an allergic reaction to the unending supply of dust, smoke from campfires, and flower and tree pollen.  After all, it is early fall out here, and the same thing happens at home if we’re outside for any length of time.  Oh well, an Allegra everyday, and a couple of Tylenol occasionally will keep it from worsening.  So, today makes the second day I’ve stayed in and around the RV park.
As a consequence of the above, Kay drove to Idaho Falls today, by herself, for some “Kay time” and “big city” shopping.  Our little motorhome, and we really like it, can get awfully small directly in proportion to the number of consecutive days we stay in it, and so far, it’s been over 5 weeks.
While Kay was gallivanting about, I walked between 4 and 5 miles to make up for yesterday.  It was early enough that the temps were still in the low 60s, making for a pleasant outing. 
When Kay returned, we joined three couples from Albuquerque around their campfire, and enjoyed some pleasant conversation.

Summer here (at least late July and August this year) has been very pleasant, temperature wise. The highs during the day tend to be in the 70s and then the low 40s at night. But, 70 isn’t really cold at this altitude, about 6500 feet, because the sun is hot—we’re closer to it. There’s always a breeze and sometimes in late afternoons, a small rain shower blows through, kind of like Florida. I love watching the aspen leaves blowing and the blue spruce are beautiful, also.

When we first arrived, the wild flowers in the fields and pastures were in full bloom and we loved watching the birds and bees weaving through them. Our favorite bird watching has been the Sandhill Cranes. They have long necks and kind of resemble geese in flight, but they make these unusual noises flying—I think they are talking to each other.

Cows are all along our road to the highway. We’re five miles off the road on the south shore of Henry’s Lake and part of the land belongs to the Forest Service. At any rate, the cows roam freely on forest land, and private land also. So, I have to ‘slow this pony down’ when I’m booking it out to the highway, cause cows don’t move out of the road for just anybody and when they’re munching on the grass right by the road, they may move across the road in an instant. So, it pays to be cautious. I’ve been on a tangent to see the moose that munch on fireweed along our road. Many people in our RV park have seen them, but not us. I slow down and search the woods every time I travel the road, but no luck. I think there’s a mom and at least one calf. One resident has taken several pictures which are in the office so at least I know what to look for. Finding a moose in Yellowstone is very difficult. We’ve seen almost every animal there except the moose, big horn sheep, and mountain goats.

We’re in the Island Park area of Idaho, which is in the eastern part of Idaho; just 10 minutes from the Montana border and 22 minutes from West Yellowstone and Yellowstone NP. When we’re leaving the park traveling toward West Yellowstone we’re actually in Wyoming, then just before the entrance/exit to the park we enter Montana, then we travel west for approximately 15 minutes and we’re in Idaho. So, suffice it to say, we’re state hopping most days! There are supposedly only 250 some odd full time residents of this area; but, there are thousands of beautiful cabins and homes here for vacationing, I guess. Many hardy souls may come here in winter for snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. I just can’t imagine having a $400,000 piece of property and only visiting it a couple weeks a year. Island Park may be the longest incorporated city in the country—over 34 miles long. It’s a ‘drive’ to go anywhere or do anything—run to the grocery (16 miles round trip); go out to eat (20 miles round trip); go to fish (10-60 miles round trip); go to small town for shopping (44 miles round trip); go to large town for shopping (100 miles one way). Norfork doesn’t seem as remote as it once did.

They do have mosquitoes, flies, and even horse flies (probably because we’re right next to a pasture). But, they are SLOW! It’s quite easy to swat them and kill them; maybe it’s the altitude that makes them slow. Whatever, I’m grateful! The bugs were worse when we first got here in mid-July and if we sat outside much, we would light our Thermocell—one of the great inventions of this century. These last few weeks, we haven’t needed to use one. Winter is probably 6 weeks away here, and the varmints seem to be slowing down.

We have some yard pets. I’m not sure what they are called. They look like ground squirrels with very short tails. Our neighbors called them gophers. We’re not sure what they are but they are very active and have 3 major tunnels between our RV spot and our neighbors. They eat grass and entertain us with some of their antics. They are kind of like our hummingbirds back home—playing king of the mound, don’t mess with me, etc.

The waters here—rivers, lakes, and streams—are fairly high because of the amount of snow they had this year (snowmelt) and that affects fishing. Also the sun warms the waters and that puts the fish down and they are more lethargic. There are more rivers, streams, and lakes to fish around here than you can shake a stick at. I’m not sure if one lived here full time that one could fish all of the waters available in a 50-mile radius. So many choices; so little time.

We have enjoyed walking or hiking every day, with so many trails, roads, and drives. With weather like this, who wouldn’t? We finally stayed up late enough last night to go outside and check out the stars. Everyone talks about how many there are out here and how bright they are. Well, they don’t have any light pollution. We weren’t that amazed; I guess because at Norfork we have a huge night sky with no light pollution.

This has been a good place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live here. I wouldn’t even want to own a cabin here. It’s a little too isolated for me. I love the RV because we can go to so many different places and aren’t locked into one place. I also wouldn’t want the responsibility of a 2^nd home to maintain, clean, and update. I wouldn’t be interested in having property that could be used as ‘rental property’ either. Too many headaches with property management.

We have enjoyed the peace and serenity and slower pace. I would recommend this RV park (Red Rock RV Park) for that reason alone. The owners and workers have been great. We have enjoyed the potluck parties; I haves enjoyed the card games—Left, Center, Right and Bunko. It would be even more fun if we had other friends with similar interests who RVed with us.

The biggest plus of this trip has been the leisurely sightseeing we have been able to do in Yellowstone National Park. We have seen more of the park; more animals; and not been rushed. It’s been like a fine meal that we have savored each course at our leisure. Donald’s been here 5 times and this has been his favorite time. Mine too; and it’s my third trip here.

Well, if you’ve a hankering for vast plains and mountains, rivers and lakes, high altitude (certainly higher than AR), lots of gravel/dirt roads, snowmobiling in winter, cooler summer weather/yet sunny, rural/mountain remoteness, and want to be close to Big Sky and/or Yellowstone NP, you might want to consider Island Park, Idaho. A beauty all its own.

Our RV Park, Red Rock RV Park, has one of the best web pages I’ve ever seen. Just put www.redrockrvpark.com in your web browser and look at the pictures, maps, info, etc. You can see it vicariously.

The gulpers at Hebgen Lake awaited.  Arriving at the access point about 9:30 AM, two vehicles were already parked.  I parked along side the turnout road, donned waders, grabbed rod, fins, and float tube, and walked down to the lake.  There were already 7 people in the area I fished yesterday, all wading.  I kicked out a couple of hundred yards, and watched and waited.  It was reminiscent of duck hunting, where hunters would wait for a flight of mallards sailing through the air, responding to the wail of the duck calls, finally helicoptering down into the decoy spread.  The fly fishers eagerly awaited the baetis hatch and the resulting gulping fish, all with rods pointed straight up, ready to cast a a second’s notice.  Often times, the gulpers will establish a pattern, and the idea is to anticipate their next “gulp”, cast a fly there, and hope for a strike.  Today, there was a great hatch, and you can see some insects in the bottom of the photo, but few gulpers.  I didn’t get a fish, nor even a look, and didn’t see anyone else catch fish.  It was a short morning, and by 12 noon, most of us were off the water.

While I was fishing, Kay walked Red Rock Road, passing by several aspen groves, watching grazing horses and cattle and a couple of peregrine falcons soaring in the almost constant breeze.  The breeze, in combination with low humidity and mild temperatures, make this an ideal climate for summer.

We’re beginning to wind down, trying to fit in all the activities available to us before we leave, as we anticipate our trip home.   We enjoyed the rest of the evening with a game of “Hand and Foot” and the last of our Sam Elliot movies, The Desperate Trail.