The Great Northwestern Loop

We've been back from our "mondo loop" for less than a week. All we'd seen and done is still soaking into our spirits, mixed in with the daily struggles and joys we experience. For example, yesterday was an MD Anderson day. I wrote in my journal...

21-Aug @ MDA
Edna has her semi-monthly CAT scan again today-- She's had so many that her body has grown allergic to the contrast, so she had to take steroids last night to try and counteract that, but the steroids create their own smaller discomfort. Sitting with her waiting for them to take blood from her chemo- shrunken veins (Chemo shrinks tumors sometimes, but it also shrinks other things as well.) I begin to feel the old familiar sense of dread ... that I would rather be somewhere else.

And then it dawns on me: We were! My mind goes to various unconnected memories of The Big Loop.
I read the above to Edna and she described similar thoughts that she had been having. Edna describes her way of thinking like this, "I try to let the good thoughts float on top of the bad ones."

May all of our good thoughts float atop the bad thoughts.

Back to the journal...
It is time, then, to begin the trip report.

Who would admit to thinking...
"I would rather not spend time with the people who love me most.
"What my business associates think is more important than what my handicapped son thinks.
"I know my wife is not going to live forever (nor am I); still, and all, I would rather risk future regrets than make present sacrifices to be with her."
But how do we behave?

Thank God for Edna's cancer. It is the lens that focuses our attention on what is really important.

In Texas

Our loop didn't really get started for about a day and a half; that's almost how long it took to leave Texas. I journaled:

23-Jul (Finally) Left @ 5:45 p.m. for Palo Duro Canyon. Have heard thunder and seen lightning to the North.

We had to get to Utah for a business meeting by Monday morning, so that is why we left Thursday afternoon. Along the way, we had decided to stop off at a couple of Texas State Parks, Caprock Canyons

and Palo Duro Canyon.


(Palo Duro is described by TPWD as "the Grand Canyon of Texas." Well, we'll allow as how everything isn't necessarily bigger here, y'all!)

The main attraction for us is that these parks are close by and we're hoping to return for long weekends in the future.

Caprock Canyons was also Edna's first taste of covering rough terrain in the truck. Here's some video she shot:

Edna gets dirty

Canyonlands, UT

We got to Canyonlands NP on Saturday evening, after the visitor center was already closed. Without realizing it, we were setting a pace that would continue throughout the trip-- It had only been 51 hours since we left Spring, TX!

Even before we made it into Canyonlands, the scenery was, shall we say, "enhanced" compared with Tejas...


The road to the park entrance gave us no inkling of what the park was to look like...


The lateness of our arrival, coupled with the weather...

...made it somewhat difficult to accurately record the beauty that surrounded us, not that we didn't try. (Note Robert with his phone camera, below.)

Here is one shot that gives the feel of the place, even though it was taken outside the park, I believe.


One the way out I noticed a sign describing a short hike to see a Puebloan granary. Edna was a little nervous about leaving the safety of the truck, but decided to try. It was the first time in over a year she had ventured away from paved, level ground. Here's my brave soldier...


...and what we saw:


The excitement of the find trumped the fear of the trip and also set the stage for more hiking in the days to come. Our "Mondo Loop" would turn out to be even better than I had hoped...

The Arches

We spent our first evening of "The Loop" in a non-photogenic way, in Canyonlands Campground, Moab UT. Edna slept on the "pull out couch" so she could be close to the "facilities" overnight. Robert stationed himself on the inside edge of the upper bunk, and I climbed over him to take the remaining space over the cab. Supper was a shared prime rib special in the restaurant next door.

Sunday was to be devoted to Arches NP.

The morning weather was a continuation of the dampness and occasional electrical discharges we experienced in Canyonlands.

We saw arches...

...and towers...

...and balanced rocks...


As the weather was pretty grim and we were getting a little restless stuck inside (we even ate our lunch inside the camper, as I recall) I began to survey the park map for something else to do. I thought I found a scenic loop to drive, like the one we found in Caprock Canyons...


Since I was driving and trying to read a map (nothing wrong with that combo, right? ) I failed to read the fine print on the map--

Because of soft sand on steep grades, vehicular travel is recommended only from north to south through this area. Stay on designated roads.

No, Mark, this was NOT a dirt road...

Arches, con't.

Here is a funny little video composite from my perspective, then Edna and Robert's, and then back to mine again. As you listen to the part Edna shot, notice that the usually taciturn Bobby got a little outraged by the loud banging noises coming from beneath the floor where his feet were.

Arches Off-road Video

After that, Edna started coming unglued a little. I had to think fast, because there wasn't any real way to turn around and get out of there. I decided Edna (and Robert) was mostly feeling a loss of control over her personal safety-- if she could get back some control, she might do OK.

I had gotten out of the truck again to survey the terrain and thought, "Wouldn't Edna be able to do this?" She had already shown her ability to scramble over rocks the day before in Canyonlands, and she loves problem-solving.

I went back to the truck and said, "Sweetie, it would really help a lot if you could sort of go out in front and guide me over the rocks and stuff-" Out the door bolted Edna!


Now Robert was able to move to 'shotgun' so he was happy, too. We spent the next four hours rock crawling through 'only' thirteen-and-a-half miles of jeep trail in our stock F250||Hawk combo. What an exciting afternoon!

The aftermath...


One other thing that bears mentioning was this vehicle we saw in the Visitor Center parking lot:


The fellow has a website; it's www.rigert.com

Edna swore she'd done her first and last off-roading. I thought to myself, "Not if I know Edna."

Very nice report , S Utah has to be one of the best places. Think I may stop there on the way back from the Alpine Loop event!

Thanks, John. We had so much to see we need to go back out again soon. Next time we're going to see mostly people instead of things. ;-)

Salt Lake City

We left Arches NP and beat a hasty trail to Salt Lake City, so I could be at work Monday. We hotel-ed it Sunday night so I could clean up before meeting with colleagues in the morning.


After a long day sitting around jawing about antennas and such, we camped on Antelope Island in Great Salt Lake.


Now we didn't need to be anywhere in particular for another three weeks.

Mark, Edna and Robert- Glad you all got home safely. Sounds like it was a good trip and it was nice connecting with you. Thanks for the pic of Palo Duro, it's been on my list for a while. Barney

Mark, Edna and Robert- Glad you all got home safely. Sounds like it was a good trip and it was nice connecting with you. Thanks for the pic of Palo Duro, it's been on my list for a while. Barney

Spoiler!

If you're coming to P.D, you'd best not without letting us know first; to a Texan it's right in our backyard!

Yellowstone

The motivation for "The Loop" began over a year ago, at a less happy time. Edna, Robert & I had been on our way back from visiting Edna's family in the Rio Grande Valley. Something was seriously wrong with Edna, although we didn't know it at the time; we just knew she was badly constipated or something. When we go back to Houston, we stopped in at MD Anderson to get her checked out. They checked her in instead: she needed major surgery and a long convalescence while learning to live life with some unpleasant adjustments.

I tried to inspire her with plans of visiting Yellowstone "someday," a place that seemed impossibly far off in space and time. In an effort to make such an implausible idea more plausible, she (and I) added other stops to our dream trek. While Edna slept, I planned and executed a remodel of the Hawk that would allow us to be more comfortable on the trip, as if it might actually happen one day. After missed opportunities, e.g., the Pigfest, we would hope all the harder for the trip we'd make "someday."

Slowly, hesitantly, Edna's health returned once more. We started spending time away from the security of MD Anderson in the Spring. Returning from one such trip, even though Edna spent two days in the hospital while Robert and I had to sleep without her in the Hawk, Edna began to draw the map of her mondo loop.

Being called to Salt Lake City for work made it real, but Yellowstone was always the inspiration point.

Edna wanted to come in from the South and go out through the North. She wanted to come up through Wyoming to get there, passing through Jackson Hole and the Tetons to make our approach.


En route I spotted the first of many Four Wheel Campers parked along the way and stopped to snap a shot.


We hadn't risen too early that morning at Antelope Island and we'd taken our time getting underway so by the time we finally made Yellowstone it was after nightfall. The camp grounds at the South end of the park were all full. Our back-up plan was to camp outside the park in Bridger-Teton National Forest, but construction delays put the last camping area I saw more than an hour's drive back South (with another hour or more the next day to get back into the park). We decided to activate "Plan C": We would stay in a rented lodge in Lake Village and then camp two more nights at a reserved campsite in Grant Village.

The first thing we wanted to see Wednesday morning was (of course) Old Faithful.


We immediately noticed two things:

1. A lot of people had the same ideas we did.
2. It was very cold.

Our new plan was to spend Wednesday travelling around the West Thumb || Canyon Village || Fishing Bridge loop, Thursday travelling the Norris || Mammoth Hot Springs || Roosevelt loop and then spend Friday catching anything we might have missed.

But I made the following journal entries...
29-Jul

Old Faithful

Predicted high temp: 59
Predicted low temp: 32 - 39

YS is all tore up with construction. It's packed also. Edna's getting frustrated with all the driving. (We can't get out and hike.) She's going to cancel the two nights' reservation we made for the Grant Village campground. Then we'll go see the Mud Volcano and backtrack to the North Entrance.

It looks like we'll be sleeping in the [Gallatin] National Forest tonight. (whoo! hoo!) On to Mud Volcano
(I prefer camping in the woods, while Edna prefers camping at campsites. Edna's idea of 'boondocking' is a Wal-Mart parking lot.)

Even that didn't work out. The noxious "Mud Volcano" made Edna sick to her stomach, and then she had to walk all the way back around to the truck to sit down. Edna was too tired and sick for me to even think about trying to take her where bears might be, so we camped close to the highway that night in Montana.


It was also stinkin' cold outside. We used our catalytic heater that night for the only time the whole trip. When we started (and ended) the trip we also used the Window A/C in stinkin'-hot-outside-Texas. Talk about extremes! Inside the Hawk we stayed snug-ly smug!

Here is some video I shot: Fire Hole Lake

Aw Mark, 59 and 32-39 is just a cool spell for a Montana summer, keeps us from getting all sweaty and everything. Actually, Yellowstone weather is notoriously unpredictable, being perched on the Continental Divide like that. A couple of years ago I took a mid-May motorcycle trip down there. I froze my a** off on the way down, then rode around the park in a t-shirt in 70 degree weather. I always keep my down vest handy here.

This is the best trip report yet! The videos add so much more to the experience. I'm glad to hear Edna did some adventurous stuff (even if she doesn't realize yet how much fun it was).

I look forward to the rest of it.

Montana

We decamped and headed North for Glacier NP. It didn't really bother us that Yellowstone was not what we expected because we were having such a grand time just travelling through the country. Our breakfast stop that morning typifies the grandness in the mundane.

My journal entry:
30-Jul
Breakfast in Wilsall, MT @ 9:00 a.m. Americana to the max. We're the only three in the place everybody else doesn't know.

Signs on the wall:
"Preserve the wolf- Take him to a taxidermist"
"Don't screw with Montana"
"I'm comfortable with my opinions"

I squelched the urge to photograph the scene. Taking pictures of people as if they were on exhibit is just too crass. Here is a shot of the town though.


Edna's route had been designed to avoid interstates when possible. She had us going through the Lewis and Clark National Forest, where we noticed a large percentage of the trees appeared to be dying.


We stopped at a Ranger Station so Edna could inquire. She learned about mountain pine beetles. According to the ranger this insect outbreak has been worsened because recent winters haven't been cold enough to kill many of the beetles. They are causing a fire danger as well as causing the direct release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the dead trees rot.

Earlier, we had been in communication with realbtl who advised us to enter Glacier NP from the East, so we camped on Lower Saint Mary Lake.

I journaled:
Camping in Babb, in not-yet-refurbished-but-open-anyway "Chew Blackbones Campground" that looks like it has been reopened after a long dormancy; no hookups, no toilets, but no crowds either. We camped right on Lower Mary Lake. It poured hard and leaked into the camper.

Yellowstone is great, off season You didn't mention mosquito's Nice loop!

South edge of Yellowstone, probably North end of Tetons

Yellowstone summer

Mark you and yours just lift my spirits. Thank you.

It wasn't the mosquitoes nor the weather, you guys; it was the highway construction. Everything's a 45 minute wait to get rolling again. At least people are working, I guess.

P.S.: We weren't the only irate ones there...
P.O.'d residents...

Great stuff! Ditto on the video supplements.

Glacier NP

Although we didn't realize it at the time, our attitudes changed when we got to Glacier. Getting to Yellowstone was achieving a goal. Driving though Glacier, we were slowing down and experiencing leisure. Since there was no place "we needed to be," we could just be...







In this place was more than a mere continental divide--
Glacier National Park sits at the headwaters of the North American continent. From Triple Divide Peak water flows north to the Hudson Bay, west to the Pacific Ocean and south to the Gulf of Mexico.


This is why some have named Glacier NP "the crown of the continent."

More Glacier photos...