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!!! :)