Arizona Welcome

Wild horses and wild cats welcomed us to Tonto National Forest.  We welcomed them back hoping for more contact than we ever received. Tonto was in flux, with a passionate volunteer coordinator beginning to release her duties to a newbie we felt a little alone the first few days.  Alone in this lifestyle is never a bad thing!

We set up camp at the fire district property.  The sheriff's horses stabled there, I knew I'd have someone to talk to as Kathy worked her contract job as an investigator.  Frances and I walked when it was less than 100 degrees which was early morning only.  I contacted the school district and got signed up as a substitute and we began our duties as Wilderness Stewards at two of the most popular trail-heads in the area.

After meeting fellow volunteers, we finally found our place and our pace. It was our job to help make visitors make better choices before heading out on the trial. How much water do you have? Please realize the rocks can not only burn but cut your dogs paws let only Gila monsters are known to attack small dogs as prey.  The rattlesnakes will leave you alone if you leave them alone but don't be the third in the hiking single track because the first wakes them, the second, ticks them, and the third gets them.  Please take water there is no shade!

Great friendships were built quickly but a new opportunity lead us back to Texas.

A man may fish with the worm

a refrigerated night-crawler
coaxed out from under a rock
boxed in sphagnum moss
taken to the lakes shore

a small mouth bass
coaxed out from under a rock
sinker, line, and hook
netted and brought to shore

flipping and flopping
enticing a dancing dog
carried and buried by poodle
that hath to eat of a king

Pleasantly Surprised

Between winter storms we loaded and planned our route south from Bear Lake, Idaho.  With more storms expected we decided to drive south on a smaller road which cut back into Wyoming, near Bear River.  We were very happy we did because we were pleasantly surprised, again in our detour.



Although we had just spent several days in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, we had seen no moose.  On this day, galloping through a snow storm was a family of moose beside a long stretch of highway in southwest Wyoming.  Sorry if the photo is grainy, I still had to share. 

Snaking through back roads is always a joy are we were pleasantly surprised.  

Utah

As usual, plans are flexible like our driving directions.  This time the plan to stay near and swim in the Great Salt Lake were set aside as leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) met for their annual international general conference in Salt Lake City.  This time we skirted our planned goal to the east through Evanston, WY and Echo, UT, then south through Provo.  This time our goal was Moab and the Arches held within.

We camped in a motel RV park and watched the sky.  It seemed bigger here.  We could tell we were in the southwest once again.  The morning was coffee and on the road to Arches National Park.  We parked the RV in the visitor center parking lot and explored with the Jeep.  We even found a great Jeep road where we were glad we were not alone as we bottomed out on some rocks and were advised to turn around since we didn't have a beefed up suspension or raised clearance. 

 

Finding a Jewel

With the snow appearing it was time to go.  South we hoped, as we were heading to AZ for the winter. This time, south was where the snow was coming from, so first we headed west.

This was an awesome unplanned detour.  We find the most amazing sights when we open our eyes to the unexpected and this was one of those trips.

The beauty of the Grand Tetons as the seasons change is never captured except in your soul when you experience it first hand. 

When the weather got worse we changed directions, found a place we'd never been and stopped.

Fossil Butte National Monument, aka America's aquarium in Stone was an oasis in the scrub.  

But the snow came again and it was time to get to a campground and wait out the storm.  

Across another state line into Laketown, Utah and then a few miles north back into Idaho we found our safe harbor.  

 The blue-green water of Bear Lake is a jewel to behold.

Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons

Some of you have been waiting for this post a long time.  It's finally here.  We have learned the best time of the year to go to the national parks is the week or two weeks before parks close for winter and we lucked out timing our trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons for mid to late September 2017.

Our campground was nearly empty.  We had three days before they closed for the season.  Everything in the tourist shop was on sale and the weather was beautiful, cool and dry when we checked in.  We detached the Jeep and set up quickly. We were excited to go out exploring right away and weren't disappointed.

Elk

geysers

bubbling blood red mud

more elk

waterfalls and rivers

lakes with steaming geysers

silver-back grizzly

Old Faithful

showing off

rainbow geysers

steamy boardways

bison

ravens the same size as Frances

birds foraging for winter

lots of developed trails

All that before the snow during our departure!