The 1911’s do Reuben Run 7

[1911]

The 1911’s do Reuben Run 7, And find a little more adventure than sought

First, some “before” pix

The first 2 ½ to 3 days of this event are supposed to be uneventful. Eat up a lot of miles to get to the good stuff. The “extra”, minor though it may be, adventure starts right off the bat. Planning a mostly camping trip that starts on a three day weekend gets a little tricky. Many campgrounds demand a 2 or 3 night minimum. None of the first 3 nights stays are anywhere near my first choice spots.

We start out a little late, headed to Hardin Ridge State Park, a little south of Bloomington, Indiana. Shooting up I-26 we expect heavy traffic through Asheville, being the Saturday before Labor Day. Just before Hendersonville the gridlock starts so I bail off the slab. The plan is to use the Blue Ridge parkway to by-pass Asheville. We get over to the BRP and do just that, pleasantly, but not until we’ve navigated through the Hendersonville Apple Festival

Once we’ve cleared Asheville we run an anti-interstate route to get us around Knoxville that takes us through Hot Springs NC and Bean Station Tn, where we take the only picture of day one.

This may be the prettiest sky of the whole trip.

We roll into Hardin Ridge a little after dark and start looking for our campsite. After about three laps around the loop that our site is supposed to be on we dismount at the bathhouse to get out the flashlights and take a closer look at the campground map. The campsite numbers take an odd jump in numbers every time I think we’re getting close. As soon as we dismount we see the sign and trail. I’ve mistakenly booked a “walk-in” campsite. It’s about a ¼ mile hike to the site. It’s going to take a lot of trips to get all our stuff to the site. I walk down to check it out. I have a brainstorm on the way back. I unhitch the trailer and push it down the trail to the campsite. At least it’s secluded and quiet. It’s been a hot sticky day. Getting the gear to the campsite has been somewhat of a workout. After a late dinner and a shower we enjoy a hot sticky night on top of the sleeping bag.

We get an early start to day two, before the rangers catch us with a trailer at our campsite. We plan to spend night two at Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska. This day starts well enough. A lot of it looks like this

We enjoy lunch in Mark Twain’s shadow, Hannibal Mo

and then move on toward the night’s camp.

I’d been in touch with forum member Twisted Cricket, picking his brain about the area, when planning this night’s lodging. A week out he’s warned about the weather and GENEROUSLY offered an alternative in Omaha. And boy, did he call it. About half way across Missouri we run into the edge of the storms and start looking at the radar. There’s flash flood warning boxes on top of Indian Ridge SP and big yellow and red blobs between us and Omaha. On night two we camp out at a motel in Chillicothe Missouri.

We make it to night three’s stop smoothly and actually get the tent up and dinner on the stove before sunset, or at least as the sun sets

The summer at home hasn’t been terribly hot but it has been super-extra humid. I’ve been sweating through my belt for months. Our first cool dry night of the trip, in Douglas Wyoming is REFRESHING. It’s like eating a four pound York Peppermint Patty. I think you can buy those things at Cracker Barrell. Tuesday morning breaks…..um…..brisk

On the way in Mrs1911 saw a Jackalope statue that she wants a picture of so as we leave Douglas we stop by to get one. It’s at a rail museum. We check out the place and learn that Douglas is the Jackalope capital of the world.

And then we continue west. As we get our first eyeful of the Grand Tetons, smoke and haze from summer fires makes the scene just a tiny bit less breathtaking than I suspect it would be without the fires. It’s something we’ll be dealing with the whole trip-just adds a little adventure.

More to come

 

[philter]

That trailer is the cat's meow. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Great looking trip, thanks for sharing!

~G

 

[hppants]

Tickle me in.

Looks like you guys are stepping up your camping game a bit. Thumbs up!!!

After those curves post hot springs, Im afraid the apple festival would have been too hard to totally resist. Clearly, there was room in the trailer for at least a small bag of fugis. Mad discipline, you too!!

 

[Bugnatr]

IN! Nice report so far and I enjoyed meeting and visiting with you two at the Ruben.

 

[Fontanaman]

Looking forward to more of this trip report. The Teton's look pretty clear in that photo. Hopefully you didn't travel where the air was rated as unhealthy. Forest fire smoke was pretty bad in the Pacific Northwest this year.

 

[1911]

So the first three days were about big mile days past corn fields and cattle range to get to the good stuff. That done, we’ve got better than four days to meander through three parks on the way to RR7.

Tuesday we wander about Grand Teton a little, set up camp, and then hang out at the beach (Lake Jackson) as the sun goes down. Mrs1911 likes the beach better than anything.

Wednesday, it’s some more Tetons and then into Yellowstone.

I put a little effort into getting a goodbye shot of Lake Jackson, but I forget to turn off the GoPro and the accidental shot comes out better. Hate it when that happens.

We bed down at Grant Village Campground, within sight of Yellowstone Lake. Seven of the next eleven days we’ll wake up in a tent with the temp at 40 or below. Ahhhhhh! After the MUGGY summer at home this is nice. A warm sleeping bag, with a warm SO, on a cool night, after a good days’ ride, is a great place to be. And a hard place to leave, but nature’s call and the promise off hot coffee motivate.

As I hang out to watch the sunset

Mrs1911 is distracted

As Mrs1911 stays warm and comfy in the bag, I shiver as I snap sunrise pix.

We catch some of Yellowstone that we missed last trip, like The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

And plenty of wildlife on the way out.

The exit through Beartooth Pass is….. exhilarating.

So much so that half our party took the time to add another layer

 

[1911]

We spend Thursday night in a cabin at KOA Livingston, right on the Yellowstone River.

It’s laundry day. Mrs1911 finds conversation in a young lady that has just come from Glacier NP. She’s been backpacking the area, solo. I can’t imagine how worried her parents are.

Friday afternoon finds us in Glacier. Though we ride through the valley of smoke, we still take pictures.

Going-to-the-Sun-Road is closed at Logan Pass due to fire. This we knew a couple days out. The campgrounds on the east side of the park don’t take reservations at this time of year. St Mary Campground, right at the entrance to Glacier NP is full. The primitive camps deeper in the park have spots available. Little Miss Backpacker, back at the KOA, told Mrs1911 that the camps deep in the park were getting heavier than normal bear traffic because the fires to the west are driving them out. Doesn’t scare me

but Mrs1911 says to move on. So KOA St Mary it is.

Overnight the wind has shifted and there is even rain in the area. As we leave St Mary we are treated to the clearest skies over mountains yet this trip.

And then we make a run for the border.

 

[El Toro Joe]

Incredible pictures, and RR...thanks for sharing

 

[twistedcricket]

I’ve been looking forward to this RR for a while. Really enjoying the great pics and details!

Too bad the weather kept you from the State park in NE, but it’ll be there if you venture this way again!

 

[1911]

I had reservations about adding the Canada part of this trip. We’ve got some pretty darn good mountain, glacier, prairie, lake and river scenery here in the US. If Canada’s mountain scenery isn’t significantly different or better, would it be worth the added time and expense?

We roll up to the customs booth with no wait. The nice young lady at the window looks at our passports and asks a few questions. I’ve got a couple for her. What’s the Canadian equivalent of WalMart and where is it? Mrs1911 has been researching horror stories about crossing the border with dangerous contraband, like fresh fruit and OTC pain killers that are Rx only in Canada. So, we left home with only what we thought we needed to get us to the border as far as consumables go. We trashed what we hadn’t used up. The nice customs lady told us that when Canadians wanted to shop somewhere like WalMart, they went to……WalMart. Then she told us where the closest one was, in relation to Tim Horton’s

Our first day of moto in The Great White North treats us to a lot of Canadian agriculture. Fresh cut Alfalfa is one of our favorite smells.

Our first Canadian night is spent in Red Streak Campground, just outside Radium Hot Springs.

On our run back down to Radium HS for breakfast we run into a slight delay. There’s a traffic ram.

We don’t get too far into Banff NP before my question about whether the Canada leg of this trip is worthwhile is answered. IT IS-and how! The run up through Banff and Jasper on this day is a couple hundred kilometers of stunning wonder. The Canadian Rockies are Rocky Mountains at a whole new level.

Too bad We couldn’t find a scenic spot for lunch

After lunch: Athabasca Glacier

It’s just a little hike up to the glacier, says the sign, one kilometer with a thirty-three meter gain in elevation. I’ll blame the stopping to catch our breath on the riding gear and the altitude.

For perspective, note the people in the lower left corner

And our bike right down there next to the RV on the front row

See it now?

How about now?

Before mounting up I put my boot in runoff that will eventually end up in the Arctic Ocean.

I was close to leaving my mark in the Arctic Ocean by another means but Mrs1911 nixxed that (plus it was cold and I was pretty layered up).

After Athabasca it’s on the our camp for the next two nights, a cabin at the KOA right outside Jasper.

 

[1911]

Whenever we talk about vacations, Mrs1911 always brings up the beach. Monday’s highlight is Maligne Lake, and a little wildlife.

Duck

Elk

KOA sunset, with rainbow

Tuesday we pack up and head back down through Jasper and Banff. The day starts out a little cold and wet.

The forecast for Wednesday calls for 10-20 centimeters of snow in the area. I’ll take “wet”. Gives us an excuse to start the day off at Tim Horton’s.

We do get a peek of blue sky.

And a Givi full of glacier

We stop by Lake Louise on the way out of the park.

And then it’s time to head south.

The whole Banff/Jasper folder:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/151982254@N07/albums/72157699096659682/with/44539181794/

 

[dcarver]

Great RR! Thanks for taking time to post!

 

[Gen2Jockey]

Thanks for sharing. Great report and pics.

 

[jblanken64]

Great pics. My son and I toured Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier a couple of years ago, albeit by car. It is spectacular country.

 

[1911]

Thanks everybody for following along so far and the for the nice comments.

And because I lack willpower, a couple more Canada pix before we get back to the states

 

[Mihalis fjr]

Great ride report with wonderful pictures!!Thanks for sharing!

 

[1911]

Leaving Banff there are big ideas and some good looking routes based on suggestions from escapefjrtist in the Zumo. When we get to Revelstoke we decide to continue west instead of turning south towards Arrow Lake. We’ll need more days in this trip to take advantage of all George’s suggestions. Save something for next time, spend the night in Kelowna, not far from the border.

Wednesday morning we stop at the last Tim Hortons before you get to US customs. Hortons is packed. US customs isn’t nearly as pleasant as the nice young lady that let us in Canada. We repack our gear and head for the North Cascades Highway and one of my favorite signs.

Many small towns have banners and signs expressing appreciation for firefighters and we pass a few fire camps, vast expanses of equipment and tents.

It’s dark and drizzling and chilly when we set up housekeeping at White River Campground, at the foot of Mount Rainier. I really like this place. Too small for big RVs with generators. No artificial light. Rushing water white noise. When the sun peeks through the trees in the morning it sure looks good and feels nice.

The rangers at the White River station check the webcams and tell us that the Sunrise visitor center situation looks a little cloudy. But they tell us that Rainier makes its’ own weather and that the weather would likely change by the time we get up to it.

Looking back down at White Rive as we climb up to Sunrise and noting that the weather certainly HAS changed.

Use your imagination to see Rainier towering over this Black Cherry beauty

It’s a good thing we stop along the way up and get a couple pix like this, or we’d have no pix of Rainier at all.

After we leave Rainier we brave FS25 and FS99 to get a look at Mount Saint Helens. And here it is.

We get clear skies and dry gear crossing the Columbia, Cresting Rowena, and then cruising some high desert as the shadows get long. The sun is set and the moon is out when we roll into LaPine and the Reuben Run crowd.

Rain, fog, obscured scenery, rough roads-shouldn’t we be at least a little bummed out? I try to be disappointed but it’s no use. This stuff is FUN.

 

[Fontanaman]

Nice you got to enjoy the Rowena Curves not many people know about this bit of twisty road with lots of history. Enjoying the report.