It's time to head home.
Not in a straight line and not on roads we have previously traveled.
First up was a visit to Sun Valley, ID. The drive out of Mountain Home and into the mountains was much more dramatic that I had expected but merely a glimpse of what Sun Valley views would offer.
The campground I had picked for the night was under over 2 ft of snow which was foreshadowing of the next few days. We made the most of the plans that needed to change with a pizza and glass of wine at Enoteca on Main St, Ketchum. Then back down the mountain to Picabo on Silver Creek for a fire and some star gazing. Too bad the creek is closed to fishing during the month of May!
We planned our next few days as follows:
Camp in Crater's of the Moon NP one night
Camp at Island Park, ID and fish Henry's Lake one night
Camp in West Yellowstone four nights to explore Yellowstone without dragging our camper.
Due to the obscene amount of snow, our days went like this:
Crater of the Moon open for walking only. Campground under snowpack. The contrast between the snow, black lava rock and the blue sky was stunning! Kept driving...
Idaho Falls was not interesting enough to stop, so we head north towards Island Park, but we'll stop at the first open camp spot. Hahahaha. Here's what we saw:
So as a last resort, we stayed in the parking lot of the local Marriott.
The bright spot was we saw our first moose as we crossed Henry's Fork for dinner.
On to Yellowstone. By now, we have caught on that there will be no camping in West Yellowstone so we load up Grover and head into the park. This is my first time to this amazing place. I would recommend everyone to visit and although there was no camping open, the early spring was the perfect time to see the open parts of the park. Less people, lots of animals and the dramatic snowy scenery made it so memorable for me.
After a long day of site seeing our lodging that night became a concern. We decided to head out the north entrance by Mammoth hot springs. No one told us about the temporary road out the North Entrance. Take a listen!
Ok, so we now understand that is the permanent road - wow!
Here's the temporary road that is even worse. We have come to understand that rain mid June last year had serious consequences all over Montana. Locals just call it, The Flood.
I stuck the camera out the window as we were coming down. This is what was below.
We made it into Gardiner, found our campground next to the Yellowstone river. When I mentioned to Eric that I'd like to go back to Yellowstone to see more of the park, he told me in no uncertain terms that he was NOT driving on that road again. Now what to do for the remainder of the week?!?
See you on the road!
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