This trip has been a whirlwind and we are already becoming confused about what has happened to us. Fortunately it is raining today and we have stopped to catch up with ourselves. It is also time to catch up with our blog.

We spent three nights in the town of Banff, Canada. It is really a lovely little town, of about 8000 permanent residents, surrounded by mountains in all directions and by Banff National Park for quite some distance. Our campground was just on the fringe of town. Although one might find a vantage point to look down upon the village, we were in deep forest and mountains. We took several day trips, among other things hiking Johnston Canyon and riding the ski lift into the mountains across from Lake Louise (an hour drive north of Banff) for more high altitude hiking.

Dennis in Banff

Banff Street scene

The Bow River in downtown Banff

Our Campground

An Elk who wanted us to know we should not come any closer

Johnston Canyon

Mike at the Johnson Falls

Wild Rose in the woods

The Fairmont Chateau Lodge on Lake Louise – taken from the mountains across the valley

View from our hike on the Ski Trails above Lake Louise

We have spent the last three days at Glacier National Park in Montana. The park is remarkable. Shortly after arriving in the park we saw two bears running across a hillside. We have also seen bighorn sheep, marmots, hawks, coyotes, deer and the furriest squirrels in the lower 48.

 

The scenery is phenomenal: towering mountains with snow-capped peaks, snow melt waterfalls, alpine meadows carpeted with wildflowers, turquoise lakes and temperate rain forests.

 

Tomorrow we leave for Canada. Enjoy the photos! 

 

When we left Rocky Mountain National Park, we drove into Wyoming and stayed one night at Guernsey Lake State Park. It is a CCC constructed campground from the 1930s. It was engineered for Model Ts: very narrow winding road with a speed limit of 10 mph (the signs all said “radar enforced.”) It was very nice, but also engineered for old style camping and we had a hard time finding a spot large enough and level enough for our little travel Trailer. Mike found it had a great swimming hole just below our campsite. We saw many more rabbits and birds. It was very pretty. But it did not photograph well. 

The next day we drove on to Middle Fork Campground in the Bighorn Mountains west of Buffalo, WY. This was our favorite campsite so far. Buffalo was a nice little town. The mountains were wonderful, with snow-capped peaks and dark forests and deep canyons.

Our campsite was next to the roaring Crazy Woman Creek with great trees and few distractions from the outside world.

Many Native Americans thought of crazy people as sacred, and Crazy Woman Canyon and Creek were just that. We hiked, swam, washed, slept like babes, and were ready to face the next day.

For today’s drive, we had not found a reservation campground and had planned to travel to one of the first-come-first-served campgrounds. They were all full. So, tonight, after a 400 mile driving day, we are staying at the Great Falls, Montana, Walmart parking lot. It is free. We got our shopping done. There is 24 hour security. There are the regular distractions of the world.

Tomorrow we go on to Glacier National Park for 5 days.

Our next posting will probably be after the 25^th.

Mike says:

 

I first visited Rocky Mountain National Park 39 years ago. I was 21 years old. I had dropped out of college for the second time and had moved from Massachusetts to Colorado to work for the phone company and become a ski bum. It was also the beginning of an odyssey to find a place where I could be comfortable in my own skin.  That journey would take twenty years several countries and a multitude of states before I settled in Austin, Texas 18 years ago.

 

Returning to Rocky Mountain National Park after so many years I was concerned that it would not be as beautiful and mystical as I had perceived it in my youth. I may have changed considerably over the years but the park remains a place of incredible beauty and peace. I hope you enjoy the photos.

 

 

Dennis at Horseshoe Meadows

 

View of mountains from Horseshoe Meadows

 

Mike at the Alluvial Fan

 

 

Prairie Dog

 

 

Baby Marmot

 

Bighorn Sheep 

 

Snow along the Trail Ridge Road

 

 

 

Forest Canyon Overlook

 

 

Video: Driving along the Trail Ridge Road

 

Coming North from Carlsbad, NM, Mike was able to make a new friend.

Then we spent the night in Villanueva State Park. Villanueva (which Siri pronounces Vil La-NEW-va) is so old that they refer to it simply as a Spanish Colonial village on the Pecos River. 

They know that Coronado came thru here in 1581 or 82 or 83 and one of the brothers in his company founded a mission at some point. It was not named Villanueva until 1890. 

It turns out the Pecos starts in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and flows all the way to the Rio Grande, where it is pretty darn humble looking. But here it was in near flood and beautiful to sit or sleep beside (which we did). 

In the morning we were off to Trinidad, CO. where we will stay only night before pushing on to Rocky Mountain National Park in the Tuesday. 

We stopped in Maxwell, NM to change drivers, and I fell in love with the Post Office. 

There will be more soon from Rocky Mountain National Park.