The weather granted me another sightseeing day on the way home, as long as I took the western route through the Grand Teton National Park before turning north toward home. Heavy winter showers were to be hitting north-western Wyoming and Montana too but Idaho was going to escape them, so the planned route was perfect.
I must have been keen to be underway as I awoke before 4am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to set off early and perhaps extend the day today thereby shortening the final leg tomorrow. As I left the Hampton Inn at Riverton Wyoming, one of the kitchen staff came after me saying I had "forgotten my breakfast" she handed me a brown paper bag and a large cup of coffee before heading back inside. As I sat waiting for the frost to melt from my windscreen I looked in the bag, it had sugar, creamer and a stirrer for the coffee and a Kellogg's breakfast bar, a huge blueberry muffin, an apple and a banana, that got the day off to an unexpectedly good start. My only visual accompaniment for the first hour and a half was the almost full moon and I was thankful for it; there were more deer than you could poke a stick at along that first stretch of road and particularly so when running beside the wind river approaching the town of Dubois. I was required to make only one full on 'emergency' brake application when one of the stupid critters just stood in the middle of the road on a tight bend staring into the headlights, fortunately for both of us I avoided hitting the thing. As I passed through Dubois I saw a sign saying "Scenic Overlook" and thought that might make a good spot to see the sun rise (though when it has to rise over the mountains it's already well up before you see it) anyway, I traversed the steep grade on deeply rutted dirt tracks twisting around and around until I reached the overlook. On stepping out to take a few photos I turned to see a person in hiking gear looking straight at me and waving both arms above their head, back and forth, over and over; clearly something was wrong. As they were some distance away I didn't want to waste time so I bounced my truck across the rocky top and reached the person in a very short time. Once there the woman greeted me with a cheery "good morning" the conversation then moves swiftly on:- "morning" says I......what's wrong? Wrong? she repeats as if surprised by my question, nothing. "but you were waving your arms above your head I thought you needed help" "oh no, I was just exercising, I run up here every morning and do it....thanks for coming to my aid though" "oh.......oh......ok....I'll go back to my photos then" So it went, I bounced my truck all the way back to the dirt road (more slowly on the return) ranting to myself about "what kind of idiot stares right at you and waves their arms back and forth ABOVE THEIR HEAD, on the top of a rocky outcrop at 6:30 am and is then surprised when you rush to their aid. By the time I'm back at the overlook the sun is peeking over the mountains and I'm chuckling to myself at the situation, I grabbed a shot of the sunrise and set off back down the track before she started waving again!! I made my planned route through the Grand Tetons but there is still a huge amount of snow on the ground and it restricts any hiking opportunities in the more interesting sections as most are still closed, I decide to continue my loop and head down into Jackson Hole for lunch. After lunch I continued west into Idaho to take the scenic drive along the Palisades Reservoir before cutting back inland on minor roads to explore the area as I headed north through little towns with big farms and those wonderful empty roads. I passed just west of Bozeman as I returned into Montana and stayed with the minor roads as far as Helena before joining the beautifully scenic I-15 route, north to the town of Great Falls where I found myself a Hampton Inn for the evening. The weather can almost do as it pleases tomorrow, I have only a short ride home (less than 6 hours on main roads) but if the sun is awake in the morning there's at least one more place I could visit on my final run.
2 Comments
Cecil
17/4/2014 01:41:35 pm
Great pics Chris,as usual love the way you composed the scenic shots.
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Chris
18/4/2014 07:37:19 am
Thanks Cecil,
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AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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