Today (5-12-10) we visited the Ashley Valley Food Pantry and gave a little help. It’s a well-run, well-organized food bank in Vernal, Utah. They have the real advantage of lots of community support (unlike Green River), including several bakeries who donate food to them. They have quite a large food bank with lots of refrigerator and freezer space, which is good considering the amount of baked goods they receive. They has just run a postal service driven food drive and gotten 4000 pounds of food donated! Yet, with this huge influx of new food from the community of around 11,000 here, everything was well sorted, clean, and organized. Nice job, Ashley Valley Food Bank! Feeding people is good work.
It’s time to move on, going north today (5-14-10) up to Flaming Gorge. It’s not far but we don’t really know where we’re going to stay, off into the great unknown again. Traveling is fun! Hopefully we’re not bringing too many mice with us, the trap and cat have caught nearly 10 in our stay here. The owls certainly get their fill, but there’s not enough hawks and foxes and weasels around to keep that population in check, apparently. Anyway, it’s time to move on again and to spend more time serving and volunteering in new communities, now in Wyoming.
Flaming Gorge, as is well documented, is simply gorgeous. The drive up the pass was slow and windy, but not a problem. The old truck is still holding his own! We had several views of the gorge from above, but we didn’t stop for very long. We have some miles to cover and we need to find a place to sleep for the night. We keep heading north and a little west, up through the town of Manila on the border… and on in to Wyoming at last! The Gorge is now to the east of us. We drive down a side road, looking for a place to pull away from the road, maybe with a view, for the evening. We drive for a few miles, have a hard time turning around, but there’s really nothing we can use here. It’s still afternoon so we’re moving, north again. We made it through Green River (Wyoming, not Green River, Utah although it IS the same Green River running through both). Finally we see Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge and decide to pull in there (Seedskadee is a mispronunciation of the Shoshone name for the river Sisk-a-dee-agie, or ‘river of the prairie hen’). It is a 27,230 acre refuge on the Green River, developed because of the huge expanse of wetlands destroyed by the formation of the Flaming Gorge dam and the Fontanelle Dam which is upstream from Seedskadee NWR. Fontanelle destroyed the annual flooding cycle of the Green which of course created a major challenge for the riparian habitat and all the species that depended on it. The NWR now creates the different flows of water and still waters of different depths for the huge variety of wildlife that calls Seedskadee home. The dirt road to the NWR is about 5-8 miles, and we have to go slowly. When we arrive at the NWR we see a large sign indicating NO CAMPING. It’s now too late to go further, we need a place to call home for the night, so we pull the MVU on to the BLM land that is adjacent to the NWR and park right outside the entrance. Good enough! We take a brief hike in the gorgeous sunset and see trumpeter swans and Canada geese in the river, and a porcupine in a small cottonwood near the river, as well as countless smaller birds all around. Life abounds here.
Paul took an early morning walk today (5-15-10), it is simply too gorgeous to NOT take a hike and drink in some nature. There’s a sheepherders wagon on the horizon, we saw another on the way in. There are white pelicans in the Green River, basking together, Canada geese on some big stump piles, hollering at the intrusion of man, hawks and ducks, maybe an eagle, a pair of trumpeter swans, a blue heron on a huge nest at the top of a large cottonwood across the river, and an immense cascade of smaller birds, blackbirds especially. It would be great to stay, to float the river and see the local moose, to go in to the uplands and see sage grouse in spring, to really explore, but we are on the move. At least we have the morning to enjoy, and enjoy we did! Indigo drove on the way out and a bit on the highway, just to get a feel for what it’s like to tow the trailer. There were very few people on the roads here. But the pronghorn antelope where everywhere! Wyoming has stunning wildlife. Driving in the middle of the day we saw pronghorn antelope, mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, eagles, a feringous hawk, sand hill cranes, and more. Wow. The highway sidles up to the Hoback River and we follow that into Hoback Canyon. The river is strange, flowing towards the mountains instead of away. The canyon is stunning and huge, we stop at a campground that is not open, but not gated off and choose a spot right on the river. Nice! There is NO phone or internet signal here, it will be a quiet night for us. We hiked the river a bit, explore some beaver ponds and listen to the ruffed grouse drumming, and even get to see a male strutting a bit. The nights are still chilly, but not quite freezing, we are still riding that edge of cold, cold weather.
We wake next to the Hoback River (5-16-10), highly enjoying the view and vibe of the area, but with NO signal, we cannot stay. Even for free. We head in to Jackson Hole, about 20 miles north, and get our first on-network and full strength phone signal in weeks. ATT has lousy coverage in Wyoming and Utah. The area is jaw droppingly gorgeous. We walk around the town a bit, looking for a coffee shop with internet (it’s Sunday, so no library is open). None open. We finally find a bagel shop and get done what we need to get done. After stopping at the large visitor center and talking with the forest service people there, we decide to keep heading north, up Gros Ventre (‘grow vaunt’) canyon, east of Grand Teton National Park. The Tetons defy description, the draw to this area is certainly obvious. The town is very nice, but touristy and expensive, but the nature is the big thing. On Gros Ventre we immediately see a herd of bison. Wild. Then, after a few miles, another herd with the Tetons in the background, creating one of the most dynamic photo ops in the world. Just another day in the Tetons! We head for several miles up the road, stunning views (and tourists) all around. We stop at the first campground, it’s open and charging, they suggest heading up further. We had researched a place called Atherton Creek and decide to head that way, more miles up and east, and further and further from phone signal again. Ugh. After a few more miles of stunning nature and fewer and fewer people, we finally come to Atherton camp, right on the Slide Lake (in 1925 a 50 million cubic foot slide of rock dammed the river, creating a lake, in 1927 the dam partially broke, wiping out the town of Kelly downstream, but the lake still remains with the river still flowing). We drive around he camp, deciding on a location… and get a tiny, weak little signal, but a signal. We have phone service! The park is closed, but accessible, which means free camping. We finally chose a site and devoured the beauty of the area. Just a hint of the Tetons to the west, a huge farm across the lake, and nature all around. We’re in heaven. There is a camp host trailer but no camp host, and a camp host spot with no one, but the hookups are working. Hmmmmm…… We hear more ruffed grouse drumming and actually get to observe a male doing his stuff. He doesn’t seem to even notice us, just a few feet away. Indigo spies some elk coming to water near the trailer. We like our neighbors.
(5-17-10) Indigo sets up camp at the camp host site where she can get signal and power, it’s the most beautiful office in the world. We’re looking for clients in Jackson, hope we can find some work. Paul does some chores around home, then takes a lovely walk in the mountains to the north of the lake. Flowers abound, especially the lovely smelling flox, and yellow violets. Paul walked very quietly to a small marsh up in the hills and found a sand hill crane on a nest. What a site! It’s nice to spend a day in this area, it’s a natural wonder and very relaxing. As evening approaches, we’re a little worried about the cold. Our battery is holding out, but not great and we need to dump eventually. Indigo called the forest supervisor earlier, she said it was fine for us to stay in the park until it opens on the 20th. So, tonight we decide to move over to the camp host site, just so we have power and sewer for an evening, we’ll move back to our other spot in the morning in case this camp host comes and we’re gone. NICE to have hookups again! We see the other camp host is there and she’s about to clean bathrooms, so we go down to introduce ourselves, so we don’t look like some freeloaders at the camp host site. Although in a way, we are! We help her out with the bathrooms, she has a lot of work to do, it looks very much like we can stay here, in the camp host site (the person who usually comes here is not coming this year) for a few more days. Which is perfect, cold weather is coming, we need the hookups! Plus we can work here and help out, since volunteering is what we do. We will have more details tomorrow. Sometimes the path opens up in front of you, you just have to keep stepping ahead.
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