10 - Two for one, Idaho & Wyoming, fun things to do!

Panoramic of the Grand Teton Range, notice no foothills! Makes it all the more stunning.

On our journey Northward I couldn't help notice a boyish grin on Dave's face. "What's the matter with you?" I would ask, "Tetons!" was all he would say. It didn't take long to figure out that we were heading in the same direction as Dave's favorite body part....breasts... The Grand Teton mountain range was named by French Canadian trappers and in French, "Grand Tetons" means "Large Breasts" (won't men EVER grow up??????)...

As we departed Utah, we entered Idaho. We decided the town of Idaho Falls would be our basecamp for the next 3 days so before Dave's BreastFest, we would check out Idaho's assets first!

WORLD'S FIRST NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (EBR-1)

In 1951, just outside Arco, ID, electricity was produced for the first time from this research reactor. EBR-1 (Experimental Breeder Reactor 1) was created just to see if this could be done. Today it serves as a museum where people can actually stand right above the reactor's core! Decommissioned in 1964, and radioactive free (thanks to many many feet & tons of concrete), the entire facility is just one speck on an 800,000 acres of land owned by the US Government, who today still carry out research. We were told a submarine engine & part of an air craft carrier are housed on the property. Unfortunately the EBR-1 museum is all civilians are authorized to visit.

Ontop a large lava mound/dune looking over the Craters of the Moon Park

VOLCANISM IN IDAHO?

Who would have thought volcanoes, lava tube and ice formations could be found all in one place? Potatoes yes, but Idaho has a few other surprises to offer you. Here at Craters of the Moon National Monument we were able to walk, crawl through tunnels and throw a snowball. The park is nicely laid out in a one way traffic flow with the scenic stops & trails generously spaced out.  Speaking of space, a lot of Apollo training happened out here since the land closely resembled what astronauts would be trekking across when they landed on the moon. A bit of history: volcanic eruptions started as early as 15,000 yrs ago to as recent as 2,000 yrs ago.

Where we entered...

Where we exited...

WATERFALLS GALORE!




Downtown Idaho Falls, scenic river pathways



Our campground in Idaho Falls runs along the Snake River which feeds half of the electricity to the town by hydro electric means. The weir or weirs (there are 3 turbines), are picturesque along the river trails, complemented with individually designed artistic benches. 

Upper Mesa Falls

We spent half a day driving the scenic byway to Upper and Lower Mesa Falls. A park volunteer mentioned, since we were in the area to get a panoramic view of the area, to head up Sawtail road to almost 10,000 ft. The narrow switchback was almost as exciting as the view from up above!



View from 10,000 ft



OUR BREAST FRIENDS...




Avril, Sue & Paul

 While getting familiar with the local sights before planning our Teton extravaganza we reconnected with Paul & Sue (our new rv friends from Moab) who were boondocking in the Teton National Park. "Boondocking" means camping without any outside water, electricity or sewer connections - you are reliant solely on what your camper brings to the party. Our rv has a generator and big enough tanks to store fresh water and hold waste so we decided to try out boondocking and headed into the BreastLands, um, I mean Tetons!

Mountain highs...

Valley lows...

Upon arriving, we knew we were in wild country: we drove past grazing bison & moose and possibly a bald eagle soaring along the ridge. Catalina also started to exhibit changes in behavior...imagine our dog on crack or some very strong energy drinks! With our campsite teaming in mice, chipmunks, gophers & squirrels, she couldn't keep her eyes & ears on one spot long enough. We also noticed her Australian roots began to show, kangaroo roots... Catalina would literally bounce into the sage brush on all fours diving down on whatever she thought was there only to rebound back up as if on a trampoline and pounce into another bush. 



Just one of many Marmots in the park



As much fun as it was to watch she was at least leashed. It wasn't so much fun when we saw the same thing and her leash was no where in sight...Ugh, an escapee dog high on nature in a campground that runs for miles... Dave got a great workout jogging after her. On the second occasion (yes, it happened again!), Avril was able to nab Catalina's harness 15 min later while she was fixated on excavating a gopher hole. The end result is we now own a shock collar...

One of not so many Moose sightings, the baby is a bonus shot....thanks Sue for taking this!

LIONS & TIGERS & BEARS, OH MY!

Paul & Sue had done their homework for camping in the area by purchasing bear spray (I learned bear spray is more concentrated than the pepper spray that people use on each other). We, being sprayless decided to stay very close to them! This worked out great since Paul & Sue wanted us as "bear bait"...What?!?  Turns out hikers do better in groups of 4 or more since there's a higher chance more talking & noise will be made than with 2 people. We also found the trails to be riddled with roots and rocks so a lot of the time you spent most of your time looking where you were going and so it wasn't a surprise to hear most bear sightings happen within 15 ft in front of you...So our question to Paul & Sue was: who walks in front & who's in the back???

No privacy....sheesh!

The hiking we did in the Tetons was great, we did 2 big hikes that were just over 8 miles. The first hike we had to take a boat across Jenny Lake where we walked up the trails and saw some spectacular waterfalls (called Hidden Falls), then further up to a viewpoint known as Inspiration Point, then further up and into some snow along the Cascade Canyon Trail. Fortunately, the snow was still hard packed enough to walk on top of but soft enough for a few snowball attacks on any unsuspecting husbands!

The Houston Astro's baseball team won't be calling Avril anytime soon!

We came across one hiker who was tenting on the snow and when he woke up and looked out of his tent, there was a big fat marmot chewing on the rubber handle of his walking stick. He even showed us the bite marks! The entire hike was very scenic; we all enjoyed the views, colors & differing terrain.

In front of Hidden Falls

Our second hike was around Two Oceans Lake with a short vertical jaunt halfway up a hill to Grand View point.  Karma must have heard Sue say that the only thing left to see in the park that we hadn't yet was a grizzly... About a third of our way in, we were crossing a bridge and Dave just happened to look behind him and something caught his eye. A moment later he registered the big hairy mass to be a grizzly bear. Fortunately for us he was far enough away and too interested in his food to notice us. The amazing thing is that our trail crossed in front on him by only a few hundred feet. I guess both us & the grizzly had our heads down and didn't take notice of the constant chatter that went on...between Dave & Paul....

Walking along Two Oceans Lake trail

Up Grand View (up 1100 ft), halfway around Two Oceans trail

Close encounters of the grizzly kind...(he's looking down & his head is on the left)

The evenings were just as entertaining, sharing meals with your camping neighbors and sitting out by the campfire.  The Visitor's Center at the Park puts on a great film about the history of the park, at the end of the movie the screen rises up, then the curtains open up showing you the Teton Mountains, front & center!




Apres hiking, we think Sue enjoyed the boat ride back just as much as the hiking!



WHERE TO, EH?

Did someone say "Roadtrip?!?!"

For the first time in a while, we have a plan! We will be heading North into Montana for a couple of days (Helena) and then over the border to visit family in Calgary, Alberta. It might take a while for Catalina to understand the accent but she's a smart dog!!! :)

09 - Paragliding, Utah

SEEKING THE WHOO HOO ELEMENT!




Flyers at North Side, Point of the Mountain


Our travels into Northern Utah led us to the Provo area (just south of Salt Lake City). We established base camp at the Utah Lake State Park and were 20 miles from a world renowned paragliding/hang gliding hill called Point of the Mountain. We decided to check out the local talent the night we arrived. There amongst an assortment of students & flyers, we met Patrick Johnson. Pat's a local who knows the area & it's conditions extremely well, has over 11 years experience, an obvious love of flight, and the willingness to spend over an hour talking to us about the sport, answering all our questions.  It didn't take much convincing for us to wake up at 5am the next morning and start our training.  Dave had a goal to soar off a cliff while Avril just wanted to have fun and maybe get a little flying in...

Dave the kiting master!

So like any kind of training, our schedule for the next 10 days or so would include: wake up at 5am, check weather, confirm winds are favorable and in the right direction, if so, get up and leave around 6am for training. Spend 3 hrs training and sometimes have groundschool in Pat's basement after lesson (you need to complete at least 10 hrs of groundschool). Then spend the afternoon on your own, seeing the sights or napping! Around 5pm head back to see if the winds & crowds are in your favor for more training or simply people watch...In a perfect world with perfect wind conditions 5-7 days is all you need. But in our case it took a little longer due to weather. I have to say the 5am wake up time were getting to me, some days I would hope for non flying conditions just to get more time to sleep!!! 

In paragliding there is a P1 rating which tells an instructor you have completed so many hours and are proficient in handling the wing. All P1 students must be accompanied by an instructor when they want to go out flying. A P2 rating is where the training wheels are off and you can fly without the aid of an instructor. Other ratings like P3 & P4 are just more advanced/competition flying. Initially we were thinking P2 but due to the weather and time needed, we decided a P1 rating would meet our objectives.

Before leaving Texas I had taken some time in getting paramotoring lessons thinking that perhaps Dave & I would get his & her paramotors that would satisfy our aviation fix while traveling around the countryside. Again mother nature wasn't co-operative in March and the winds were too strong for training so I was only able to get 4 hrs of kiting lessons (without the motor) before we left. Dave flew a paramotor 10-15 years ago and so was already ahead of the learning curve. Utah, unlike where we live in Texas, has mountains, so paragliding is easily available. In Friendswood, we sit at 26' above sea level and so unless you were towed, it's a little harder to find good places to soar. But we have our scuba certification and you don't have to live beside the ocean to use it was our rationale... It's always fun to try new things and you just never know....




Does this harness make my butt look big???


We spent a couple of days kiting, just getting a feel for the wing and being consistent in getting clean stable launches into the air. Point of the Mountain has 2 sides, South Side & North Side. South Side is a great area to do toboggan runs where you run down the hill, inflate your wing and get 10-20' off the ground as you glide down the slope of the hill.  You are able to hear your instructor through his hand held radio that is attached to your harness.

My first toboggan run started off with squeals of delight, my landing....well, a little road rash as I landed like a duck! Well at least I now know what NOT to do!!!

DUDE, THAT WAS EPIC!
By my 6th lesson, I was flying higher, longer and with more control. At landing I could feel Pat's smile as he was pleased with his fledgling's progress AND the word epic was used in his critique....so it's official, dude, I'm, like, on my way to earning my wings, man! .... and yes, we met a few of those stereotypical types at the hill; harmless but very entertaining, indeed :)

TANDEMS ANYONE?

During our training we were given tandem rides. I think I got the better end of the deal by going early in our training which resulted in a 2 hr ride. Dave's turn came near the end of our training when the winds started doing their funky thing and not blowing as hard as we would have liked. As a result, his ride was only 15 min, not much lift, mostly sink...kind of like being flushed down a toilet! We had contemplated sticking around for a few more days hoping things would improve but we were also itching to get back to hiking and seeing more areas.

Dave & Pat our instructor!

KENNECOTT COPPER MINE




See those tonka trucks, they are actually 2 stories tall!

 During one of our weathered out days we drove to the world's largest open pit copper mine, spanning almost 3 miles wide and 3/4 of a mile deep.  Monster trucks drive like ants up and down the roads with ore that's been blasted out of the mine (2 blasts a day). Interesting fact, the drivers of these trucks sit 18' above ground and each tire on the truck cost between $18,000-$26,000 and only lasts 9 months! One nice by product of the copper mining is gold & silver. One person we met told us the mine pays for itself through the profits from the gold & silver and the 140,000 tons of ore a day is just gravy...(at the visitors center we didn't find any info. to confirm this).  The mine, discovered in 1903 has about 30 years of life remaining. What do you do with a big hole in the mountainside after you finish mining? One employee told us there are plans to fill it with water and make it into a huge lake! Pretty neat from the top elevation of 8000 all the way down to 4400 ft!


TIMPANOGOS CAVE

Doesn't look so bad on paper.... worth the hike!

We did manage a hike up to Timpanogos Cave one afternoon. To get to the entrance you have to walk a mile & half uphill, climbing 1100 ft in the process. This reminded me of the multiple hikes uphill carrying the wing while in the harness when training. The cave tour ended up being a 3 in 1 cave tour with tunnels connecting all 3 together. The cave keeps a cool 45 degree F (8 deg C) temp all year round and was discovered back in the early 1900's. A fun fact was that one of the caves we went through was discovered by two 14 yr old boys who kept it a secret for over 6 yrs before telling people about it.  I guess this was the start of the "man cave" era!

ONWARD & NORTHWARD

One great advantage to our trekking around is that it is very unscheduled. We are literally winging it when it comes to planning our future stops. For now, we figure we'll venture North of Utah into Idaho & into Wyoming to tour around. We have talked about possibly heading into Canada to visit family so stayed tuned....