After our long circuitous road trip yesterday, we used today to recover.  And, it was party time again, every second Saturday afternoon on the deck.  Most of the morning was spent cataloging photos, making an entry into the blog, and backing up the hard drive.  Kay experimented with a Crock Pot dump cake, and it tasted real good, but didn’t look so hot—almost like the results one gets “baking” in a microwave.  We joined other RVers attending the party, most of whom spend the season here, and enjoyed a great potluck smorgasbord.  Afterwards, a lively game of Left Center Right was played and Kay lost more of our gas money; we may not be able to make it home!

We watched Rough Riders last night, or at least part of it, and I did it again.  This was supposed to be a Sam Elliot movie, but was about Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, and Sam Elliot had only a minor role.  When we put the DVD in, Kay asked why it said Part Two, and I thought it was because it was the second movie DVD in a set of 3; it was, but it wasn’t.  It was actually the second DVD in a two-part movie.  It doesn’t seem to matter as we’re getting used to watching the end before the beginning!  What a concept.

Seems like the older we get, the later we get started!  This morning it was 10:30 AM when we headed south, driving in the shadow of the Grand Tetons in Idaho through Tetonia, site of one of the original rendezvous’, and Driggs, before ascending the Teton Pass, and descending near Jackson Hole, WY.  Southeastern Idaho is an agricultural area with lots of potatoes, wheat, and other grains being grown in the wide-open spaces.  As we approached the Tetons, it became apparent that the area was also becoming a resort mecca, with HUGE houses and condominiums dotting the hilltops.  We bypassed Jackson Hole—been there, done that—and drove toward Grand Teton National Park.

Grand Teton National Park.  This small national park has many beautiful vistas of the Grand Tetons, some with meadows in the foreground, others with either Jenny or Jackson Lake in the foreground.  We were surprised to find a significant bicycle trail extending from the southern terminus to Jenny Lake, and many park visitors were taking advantage of it.  Grand Teton National Park is best taken advantage of via hiking the many trails along the lakes.  Our aggressive schedule today did not allow time for hiking, so we just drove through, and headed north to visit the remaining areas of Yellowstone National Park we had not seen on this trip.

Yellowstone NP, Lewis Lake Drive.  Despite signs saying “No construction delays”, we found ourselves at a standstill soon after entering Yellowstone NP, waiting about 30 minutes for the pilot car to lead us through re-surfacing the roadway.  Then, it was slow going for the next several miles, even after the pilot car left us.  Because of the traffic, we were not able to stop and take in any of the sites along the way; and, our already tight schedule had just become tighter.

Yellowstone NP, West Thumb and Grant Village.  Our drive took us to West Thumb and Grant village where we stopped to view the West Thumb Geyser Basin.  I can’t recall ever stopping here before, but Kay says we had, but that it looked different.  This was an interesting area, and very scenic, with many of the thermal features in or near the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake.  By the way, Yellowstone Lake is quite large:  20 miles long, 14 miles wide, and 430 feet deep.

Yellowstone NP, Bridge Bay, Lake Village, and Fishing Bridge.  Next, we drove through the Bridge Bay, Lake Village, and Fishing Bridge area, mainly to see Fishing Bridge, and the only “full hook ups” RV park inside Yellowstone NP.  Fishing Bridge is known for the wild trout spawning spectacular that occurs most of the summer; we didn’t see any activity there.  In olden times, the bridge would be lined with fishers taking advantage of these spawning fish, but the bridge was closed to fishing in 1973.  The “full hook up” RV park had some vacancies, surprisingly, but was “naturally” not as aesthetic as those in a more natural setting; the gravel lot reminded us of those in Canada and rural Alaska.  We did see a few cow elk in the campground areas.

Yellowstone NP, Hayden Valley.  Continuing north, we walked the Mud Volcano trail which climbs onto a ridge overlooking the Yellowstone River.  The thermal features were different, as they were comprised of sulphur-laden, hot bubbling mud.  As we began departing the parking lot, traffic came to near complete stop.  We inched our way forward to find a herd of bison along and crossing the road, stopping all traffic in either direction.  Several of the large males were dusting themselves, and we saw one rubbing against a 12-inch tree so furiously, that he destroyed all the limbs up to about 6 feet, and tore the tree, roots and all, from the ground.  Though I knew down deep that they were strong, I was overwhelmed by the raw power of these beasts.  This “bison jam” lead to another just up the road, again with traffic at a near standstill.  After witnessing the bison uprooting the tree, we kept our windows shut as we passed them, fearing the worse!  A bit further up the road, traffic again came to a standstill.  Kay asked, and folks along the road said a grizzly bear had been spotted on the far side of the river.  We were lucky to find a parking spot in a turnout, and found the grizzly sow and one of her two cubs with our binoculars.

We observed the bears for awhile, and began our long trip back to the RV park, passing through Canyon Village and Norris before coming to another standstill.  For another 30 minutes, we inched along the road thinking there had been an accident, but to our surprise another small herd of bison had opted to use the road as well, and wouldn’t budge since there were steep slopes on either side.  Finally, we made it to Madison Junction, then to West Yellowstone, and to Red Rock RV Park at 10 PM, the beginning of quiet hours!

Today was a quiet day around Red Rock RV Park, with more and more vacancies, and folks coming and leaving after only a night or two; the wildflowers are disappearing, ground squirrels are beginning to hibernate, and fall is in the air!  After some tough wading and fishing the last couple of days, we took the day off and just hung out, using the time to clean both the motor home and the car.

Dusty.  Many of the roads here in the west are gravel, one doesn’t really need air conditioning so we use fans in the motor home and the car windows are down when we drive, so dust is everywhere.  Thus, we are constantly dusting, vacuuming, and mopping the motor home, and dusting and vacuuming the car and dumping fine gravel off the floor mats—part of the price we pay to spend the summer out here.

Bugs.  Can’t remember if we mentioned bugs, but we have sustained mosquitos and flies, seemingly by the thousands.  When our new friend and neighbor, Jack, was here, we sat out more, and noticed the bugs more, but they are still here.  The Thermocell keeps the mosquitos at bay, but the flies bite and leave a fearsome sore; sometimes biting multiple times and leaving several sores.  And when the Thermocell is not around, like when we fished the Gibbon River on Wednesday, mosquitos experienced a huge buffet meal on the tops of my hands; the bites still itch.

Prices.  We assume prices are high because this is so close to Yellowstone National Park.  Gasoline is outrageous, being 30 to 40 cents higher than in Bozeman or other areas somewhat away from here.  We wrote about fixing flats—$35 here in Island Park/Henry’s Lake, only $10 in Bozeman.  And groceries are a bit higher too, though not bad.  Flies at Craig Matthews’ Blue Ribbon Fly Shop in West Yellowstone were very reasonable at $1.79 each, but the Henry’s Fork Angler prices their flies at $2.59 each.  We didn’t check out their fly tying materials, but suspect similar price differences.

Westerners Love Their Outdoor Recreation.  It was a bit surprising to find signs in town that caution drivers that snowmobiles are on city streets, and ATVs as well.  Many people who stay at Red Rock RV Park bring their ATVs, all sorts and sizes, and explore the many state recreation areas and US Forest Service roads.  It’s common to see ATVs traversing streets and roads in most of the towns; ATVing is big here.  We understand that in the winter, snowmobiling is huge and the primary means of local transportation.  Families tend to clan together as well—perhaps part of their Mormon culture—and we’ll see 3 or 4 RVs come in and occupy a common area, most with ATVs in tow.  Boats, inflatable rafts, individual pontoons, and float tubes are at almost every RV parking site.  With the abundance of lakes, both manmade and natural, these come in hand for fishing which is huge out here.  We thought fly fishing in Arkansas was big, but it does not compare to here, and state and Federal officials place a high value on protecting this resource; if only we had the same degree of state interest in our fly fishing!  And lastly, RVing is very popular, or so it seems, as almost none of the RV parks had vacancies until a week or so ago.

Obviously, we really like it here, but wouldn’t want to live here; there are too many other places to see and things to do, like the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Northern California, Oregon, and Washington coast, northern Idaho, the great Southwest, and perhaps even the northeast.  And we’ve found that 4 weeks is just about our limit, and we’re ready to move on, and we’ve been away from home 4 weeks today.  Don’t be surprised if we come home early!  

A slow morning was followed by lunch at a far out-of-the-way restaurant, Boondocker, in Island Park.  The food was excellent.  We followed lunch with a trip to the Island Park Dam and Lake, the start of Box Canyon, and Henry’s Fork Anglers in Last Chance, ID.  Henry’s Fork Anglers is owned by Mike Lawson, and I had the opportunity to spend some time with him and the late Gary Lafontaine at a Southern Council Conclave in Mountain Home in 1999.  He just happened to be in the store and I said a quick hello.  We found prices in his store, though, exceedingly high compared to Blue Ribbon in West Yellowstone.  We wanted to fish the Henry’s Fork just to say we had, but one of their employees told us that the Henry’s Fork was too warm and we should go north for dry fly action.

We drove back to the RV park for our fishing stuff, then headed north, opting to fish the Madison in Yellowstone National Park.  The water looked benign enough, but the current was very strong, and there were very few hatches and NO rises.  I struggled with wading, and after a half hour, we drove upstream to water that appeared a bit more quiet.  We again only saw a few hatches, and one rise, though last night about 7:15 PM, caddis were coming off like crazy.  I fished it hard for a half hour or more, fighting the current the whole time.  And, it was much warmer than expected.  Picking up again, we drove further north to the Gibbon which we fished yesterday, and fished it real hard.  Kay had one miss under a cut bank, and I didn’t have so much as a look.  The river, set in a few scattered trees in a large meadow, looked awesome, and late in the afternoon there was a good caddis hatch; perhaps it was the clear sky today, as opposed to an overcast sky yesterday, but we had no significant luck.

Today was going to be the day.  Finally, we decided to fish, come heck or high water.  Actually, one of the great things about fishing the rivers out here is you don’t have to worry about reservoir releases for generation.  But, you do have to worry about wild animals—grizzly bears, bison, and elk!
As our day began, we enjoyed a great 3-mile walk to Henry’s Lake and back.  Upon returning to the RV, we printed out some affidavits for both Idaho and Montana, as part of an ongoing legal mess regarding our neighborhood back home.  After readying for an afternoon and partial evening out, we drove to Island Park to seek a notary public for the aforementioned affidavits, but could find none.  Changing directions, we drove to West Yellowstone to First Security Bank, found a notary public, and signed the papers—at no charge.  Then to the post office for mailing.  Legal stuff sure gets in the way of having fun.
A rendezvous was taking place on the outskirts of West Yellowstone, and went there hoping to see mountain men and women, Indians, horses, trade goods, fiddle playing, and all the other things that might have been included in an real-to-life, authentic rendezvous. After reading all the historical fiction books about the fur trappers’ rendezvous, I was disappointed as this one only seemed to be about selling stuff, none of which we needed (one exception—Kay bought a handmade butter bell). 
Driving back into Yellowstone National Park, we found that they were paving the road from West Yellowstone to Madison Junction, with loose gravel everywhere.  We finally made it past Madison Junction, and turned north to near Gibbon Meadows, a place Kay had identified earlier as one she wanted to fish.  We began by fishing from the bank of the Gibbon River, but soon discovered there were too many mosquitos and that to really fish the Gibbon, we would need to wade—so it was back to the car to don waders.  We had a great afternoon, with several hits on a hopper, and even more on a caddis.  Only two fish were caught—a brookie and a brown.  Fishin’ Journal details follow.
TIME:  4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
WEATHER:  Partly cloudy, breezy, low 60s
WATER CONDITIONS:  Clear, cool, and from 2 to 4 feet deep
LOCATIONS FISHED: Gibbon River, immediately downstream from Gibbon Meadows
ROD USED:  7’ 9” 2 wt Winston
FLIES USED:  #10 Dave’s Hopper, #16 Tan Caddis
HATCHES:  Dark Mayfly, Occasional Caddis
OTHER:  I fished with Kay.  Received several hits on both the hopper and the caddis, but only caught fish on the caddis.  There were a few rises, but fish were typically laying under the cut banks, though most of the bites were in slow water a couple of feet from the seem between the slow and fast water. 

Today marks the start of our 4th week here at Red Rock RV Park; my, how time flies.   Kay “needed” a cut and color and visited a “beauty” shop in West Yellowstone about mid-morning, while I walked to Henry’s Lake and back.  After a late lunch, a nap, and a brief rain, we drove to the Upper Coffee Pot Rapids of the famed Henry’s Fork River looking for hatches, rises, and access.  Just outside the RV park, we spotted a mule deer doe with twins, both still with spots; even the little ones have long ears!

We parked at the Upper Coffee Pot Rapids campground, and hiked the Henry’s Fork riverside trail downstream for about 3/4 of a mile, and only saw a few hatches—caddis and a brown colored mayfly—and even fewer rises, and even fewer fishers.  We finally met a young fly fishing family, and the father said the fishing had been slow, and the fish small; he was using a beadhead fly, but didn’t know the pattern.  As we began driving back to the RV park, rain began falling—seems like an every afternoon sort of thing—forcing us in the rest of the night.

After two long days on the road, we awoke to a bit of normality this morning; it was good to sleep at “home” snuggled under the down comforter, with the welcoming aroma of fresh brewed coffee when we awoke.  The church we’ve been going to is hosting the Gideons this morning, and we opted to play hooky—and we don’t miss church very often.  We used the time to catch up on washing/drying of clothes, reading and responding to emails, posting the blog beginning from last Wednesday, and editing and posting new photos to the web album.  By the way, Kay is becoming quite a good photographer, and we’re using more and more of her photos in both the blog and the web album.

We finally got “caught up” with our chores a little after noon, but clouds began rolling in from almost every direction.  Mid-afternoon saw a ferocious thunderstorm with pea-sized hail covering the ground.  When it cleared, and the sun came back out, we did our daily 3-mile walk.  Just about all the wildflowers along the RV park road are gone now, and as we walked up the mountain a bit , saw that most of the wildflower blooms were beginning to wane, with the exception of fire weed.  As we rounded a bend and came upon a small meadow, we spotted a female mule deer that we had seen in the same area on prior walks.

Clouds began forming again, but rain held off long enough for Kay to start Bunko.  How the players remained dry on the patio amidst the rain and wind is amazing, but when it comes to Bunko…

The Centennial Saga.  We watched another installment of Centennial.  If you’ve been reading the blog, you may remember that we had trouble with the old DVD player, and bought another when we first arrived.  Centennial was a Christmas gift Christmas before last, and one of my all time favorite mini-series.  We thought we had watched the whole thing, but questioned each other about gaps in the story.  After the last DVD was played week before last, Kay asked to see the box, and exclaimed that she didn’t remember us watching some of the episodes.  We popped a DVD back in the player, studied the screen real close, and detected a very small green box around the segment to be played; we had to look real close to see the box, and otherwise, the menu said simply “Play All”.  Well, it didn’t mean play all, it meant play the segment with the tiny green box around it.  Gosh, did I ever feel like a fool!  So now, we’re catching up watching the “other half” of Centennial, and it makes a lot more sense.  We’ve not missed television too much, mainly in the morning to catch up on news and happenings, and Kay misses Brian Williams on the NBC Evening News.  We do have the mini-series, John Adams, and several Sam Elliot westerns waiting in the wings.

This road trip is a vacation from vacationing!  Seriously, the trip to the canyon area, Roosevelt Lodge, Lamar Valley, Red Lodge, and Bozeman was a bit too much for one day, so we spent the night at Roosevelt Lodge.  It is a rustic old place, with a log main dining room and lounge, and log cabins that offer the most basic services—a bed with clean sheets, towels, ceiling and bedside table lights, and a wood burning stove—no insulation, but clean and we share a bath house with other guests just like most campgrounds.
After a full day yesterday, I hit the bed early and awoke a couple of hours later to the sound of a mouse rattling some papers.  Said to heck with it, and went back to sleep.  It was chilly when morning broke, so we started a fire and it quickly heated the little cabin.  When Kay got up and went through her stuff, she found that the mouse had been in the peanut butter and crackers, and multi-grain bars.
We dressed, but it was too early for coffee in the dining room, so we headed for Tower Falls, the remaining major attraction in the area that we hadn’t seen.  At 6:30 AM no one else was in the parking lot, and we had the falls to ourselves.  At slightly less than 100 feet high, it seemed a bit small compared to the magnificent centerpiece falls of yesterday.  Our return to Roosevelt Lodge to checkout found the coffee to be strong and hot, just the way we like it.
The Lamar Valley awaited us, and as we arrived a few hardy wildlife watchers were already plying the road looking for grizzlies and wolves; they were not to be seen.  We drove towards the northeast entrance, but were stopped by a herd of bison crossing the road, allowing us to get up close and personal.  There were hundreds of them scattered across the fog covered valley, with lots of young calves born just a few weeks ago.  We traveled through Cooke City, and stopped at Silver Gate for breakfast.
After the late breakfast, we began Kay’s first trip on the Beartooth Highway—Charles Kuralt named it one of his top 10 drives in the US.  The road gradually wound up the mountains with meadows gently falling away on the downhill side.  Even the switchbacks were somewhat passive.  Many lakes and small snowfields dotted the landscape, and there were lots of motorcycles on the road as the Sturgis rally is going full bore and this was just a short day trip for attendees.  As we topped the pass, and began the descent into Red Lodge, Montana, the switchbacks were more perilous and the sides fell away abruptly. We drove into Red Lodge about noon and the western town was packed with tourists.  It’s a neat town, but has grown and become much more touristy than since my first visit almost 20 years ago.
Troubled by a Verizon cell phone charger that would not charge, a front tire with a slow leak, and the need for groceries, we drove north, then west to Bozeman for a stop at Costco, and Walmart.  Costco was packed and people were everywhere, but we got the tire repaired at $10 rather than the $35 at Henry’s Lake, bought some DVDs and paperbacks, and a few groceries.  At Walmart, Kay found a charger for my cell phone and I was once again able to communicate with the world!  We drove through the Gallatin Canyon on our way back to the RV park, and probably passed old friend, Mike, fishing just north of Big Sky.  We gladly arrived back at the RV park about 7:30 PM, ready to be “home” once again.

We decided early on to be deliberate in our visits to Yellowstone National Park—taking our time to see as much as possible, and as thoroughly as viable.  Prior to today, we still lacked the canyon area, Lamar Valley, and the Yellowstone Lake area.  Also, we wanted to spend at least one night at Roosevelt Lodge, sit in the big rocking chairs on the front porch, and eat in their dining room.  Then, we would spend some time in Lamar Valley, “hunting” bears and wolves with binoculars, drive the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge, on to Bozeman for some shopping and “big city” chores, and back to Red Rock RV Park.  We chose this particular time to do the trip because we were finally able to find a vacancy at Roosevelt Lodge!
Our first stops were at Running Bear Pancake House for breakfast, the car wash for a MUCH NEEDED wash, and the gas station for a fill-up.  While waiting for breakfast, I was able to reach my brother, Ronnie, on the phone, and we were able to talk briefly (I love you, brother, and look forward to seeing you in early September).  As we drove through the park, we stopped briefly at Canyon Village to make some last minute phone calls and send emails letting folks know where we were and would be the next couple of days.  The crowds were down today, and made visiting the park a bit nicer.
Lower Falls and Upper Falls.  Much of the area along the  South Rim Drive to viewing areas for both Upper and Lower Falls is closed due to recent bear and bison activity; it was not too far from here that one visitor was killed a few weeks ago, and another was mauled just a few days ago by grizzly bears.  There were several viewing locations along the road, but the best and best known is Artist Point.  The first time I brought Kay to Artist Point to view Lower Falls, 308 feet high, she began weeping because of the overpowering beauty.  This is still one of the most picturesque places in the park, and regrettably, photos do not do it justice.  (Please see the web album for more photos of Yellowstone National Park; I’ll try to put a link at the end of this daily entry.)  After departing Artist Point, we stopped at Uncle Tom’s Point to view the Upper Falls, 109 feet, a bit anti-climatic.  Re-crossing the Park bridge over the Yellowstone River, we stopped to walk to an observation point on the very brink of Upper Falls.  It’s a bit scary seeing the millions of gallons of water dropping over 100 feet, hearing the roar, and feeling the vibrations while on the viewing platform.
We began the one-way North Rim Drive, stopping to hike the steep trail to Brink of Lower Falls; the trail dropped some 600 feet, with over 10 switchbacks.  Fortunately for us, there were many places to stop and rest.  It’s difficult standing on the precipice and not having some fear, wondering who designed the platform, and what would happen in the event it failed.  From here, we could see Uncle Tom’s Trail and Artist Point.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  Even more awesome from the Brink of Lower Falls platform, at least to us, was a spectacular view, complete with rainbow, of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, up to 1200 feet deep and 4,000 feet wide.   Depending on the sun, the canyon has many shades of golds and browns, giving it its name, Yellowstone.  As we made our way along the North Rim Drive, we stopped at Lookout Point where I took a side trail, steeper and dropping as much as the one to Brink of Lower Falls, to the Red Rock viewing area.  Further along North Rim Drive was Grand View, and Inspiration Point, though Inspiration Point was closed for trail repair, and at this point, we had received just about as much inspiration as our legs and tired bodies could stand.
Dunraven Pass and Roosevelt Lodge.  We left the canyon area of Yellowstone NP, and drove northward towards Roosevelt Lodge, crossing over Dunraven Pass at 8,859 feet.  On the drive down, we stopped at one of the turnouts and were fortunate to see a grizzly bear foraging in one of the far meadows.  Interestingly, a number of elk were laying down within relatively close proximity to the bear.  This is one of daughter Jenny’s favorite viewing areas and she has seen bears here on every visit.  It began raining during our stop, and tired from all the walking, we drove to Roosevelt Lodge, checked in, and sat on the porch in their big rocking chairs.  Dinner was okay, but not up the standards our memories had enticed us to believe—after several visits, memories of meals at this place left us imagining that the food was going to be spectacular; it was not bad, just okay.
Lamar Valley.  With a couple of hours of daylight left, we drove to Lamar Valley with hopes of seeing bears and wolves.  We spotted a grizzly bear on a far mountain peak with our binoculars, and watched it feed for about 30 minutes.  Then, someone stopped to say that a wolf was trotting near the road.  We drove a short distance to another viewing area, anticipating where the wolf would appear, and were rewarded with a close-up view.  The almost black wolf stopped at a 4-day old kill, retrieved the remains, and sought a place of solitude to enjoy a meal.  For us, this was a real treat, and particularly since we were able to photograph the wolf.

Here’s the web album link:  https://picasaweb.google.com/DunnGoneTravels/Idaho201102?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIyBlc3Wn9WGuwE&feat=directlink

P.S.  Today was a bit sad as we said good-bye to new friend, Jack.  Jack was our neighbor at Red Rock for the last couple of weeks, and tried to coach us in getting the satellite hooked-up.  Formerly from the Gary, IN, area he is a full timer, and has criss-crossed the country a few times, always seeking good weather.  He knew a lot about northern Arkansas, having camped there several times.  He made a “to die for” cherry cheese cake.  Jack, Kay, and I visited several times a day in our shared common space, and he introduced Kay to the Strongback folding chair (strongbackchair.com); it offers tremendous back support.  So long, Jack, and we hope to see you on the road again.  Safe travels, and God be with you.

No vertigo!  Guess Kay’s threat to do something today scared it away.

Wade and Cliff Lakes.  After a slow start to the day, we drove to a couple of alpine lakes near the Madison River Valley in Montana just a few miles west and north of Red Rock RV Park.  We turned off the paved highway onto a gravel road, followed a sign giving wrong directions, and retraced the drive to the point of the sign.  Finally figured out where to go.  As we drove through the high desert, the though of alpine lakes escaped us.  Then, as we began an unexpected descent, Wade Lake appeared with it’s varied hues of blue and green.  The US Forest Service campground was full, and there were many families enjoying the crystal clear lake.  Kay talked to some fishers and though they didn’t fly fish, indicated that there were prolific hatches in the afternoons and early evenings—food for thought for future trips.

Just a short distance “up” the road, we came to Cliff Lake, a sister lake to Wade Lake, though not quite as heavily used, perhaps because there were fewer campsites, and access was poorer.  It, too, had the varied hues of blue and green, and we could easily see the bottom through its clear water.  Who would’ve thought these alpine lakes existed in high desert.

Sawtell Peak.  We returned to paved roads and US Highway 20 for a short drive to the access road to Sawtell Peak.  Sawtell Peak is on the Centennial Mountains just behind our RV park, and has a number of FAA antennas located on it.  The drive was fairly gentle the first 90 percent, all on gravel, meeting several other autos and ATVs coming down the mountain, then we began some serious switchbacks to the top.  Kay made it just great, with a relatively low “pucker” factor; she has come a long way with taming her acrophobia since we first met.  At the top, the views were spectacular, with snow on several mountains around us, and the shimmering surfaces of Henry’s Lake, Island Park Lake, and the entire surrounding area available before us.  As I walked around the peak, I was surprised to find that the eastern side of the mountain was a sheer drop-off, and I backed slowly away!  Our return down the mountain brought an unexpected view of a female mule deer laying near the edge of the forest, and lots of wildflowers peaking in their blooms.

Our return to the the RV park brought an end to the day’s road trip, but it was a good one, and we were able to mark a couple of things off our “things to see and do while in Idaho” list.  As usual, early evening brought winds and a brief rain, though the roads, mostly gravel, are still dusty.