Week 105 - Wandering in the Wilderness - 08-17-2008

Majestic Moments from Multiple Places,

We headed south from Wyoming, thinking we were going to Salt Lake City and St. George, Utah. Then we checked with Weather.Com which indicated that it would be 105-107 for the next week. At that point, we turned east and went through Soda Springs, ID and then Montpelier, the capitol.

We have had afternoon thundershowers ever since Montana as evidenced by the photo of Palisades Reservoir in Idaho. Our campground was just below the Palisades Dam.

After a night in Palisades, ID, we went through Idaho Falls and Blackfoot then ended up spending the night at the Pocatello, ID Elks. Our GPS showed a big lake ahead so we turned that way to camp for a night. It was Bear Lake. Beautiful homes dotted the hills around the lake. The homes must be vacation or retiree homes, as the nearby towns have only a few buildings. The Caribbean-blue waters of Bear Lake are nestled high in the Rocky Mountains at the Utah-Idaho border. Water skiing, swimming, scuba diving, and sailing are favorite activities. Bear Lake, created by an earthquake, is one of the largest natural lakes in the Western United States.

The trip from Bear Lake through Utah, Wyoming and Northwest Colorado was mile after mile of high desert sage brush. But right in the middle is an oasis called Little America, WY. It has a cute little hotel, gas station and repair shop, where we got our oil changed. That was the extent of the town but it proves that with water and electricity you can build anywhere.

We left there and went through Vernal, Utah hoping to find our friends, the Youngs, who we had visited in 2001. But we didn't have enough info to find him. Vernal is a lovely town with flowers everywhere.

Then on to Colorado and cooler weather. We spent a night in Craig, Colorado, then two in Steamboat Springs. It is a place we would love to return to and explore further. We went to Strawberry Hot Springs and soaked in the natural hot pools (recommended). They have ski runs that you can practice on during the summer.

Four miles from Steamboat is Fish Creek Falls which drops 283 feet. This property was a land grant to W. Williams in 1901. It changed hands six times until 1980 when a California group bought it for development. Bob Adams, a local resident, wanted to save it for public access and purchased the property with the intent to trade it for less valuable forest service property. He passed away one year later, but his heirs completed the trade.

From Steamboat on Hwy 40 you reach 9,426 feet at Rabbit Ears pass. The fog was moving fast. When we stopped to wash the windshield for a clear picture, you could have seen the "ears". By the time it was clean, it was fogged over.

Reaching Silverthorne CO, we stopped over at the local Elks. We met Bob and John who filled our ears for hours of tales of Silverthorne and Dillion, which border one another. The buildings of Dillon were dismantled and moved to the current site of Dillon and to Frisco, Breckenridge and Silverthorne. The Dillon Dam completed in 1963 created the Dillon Reservoir that supplies the water to all of Denver and its outlying area. Overnight we had thunderstorms that blanketed the surrounding mountains with snow. Wow!

Next we head in to the Denver area to visit friends and relatives. Yeehaa!

Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from Aug 2008