Tetons, Bears, and Old Faithful

We arrived in the Tetons on Saturday night and amazingly were able to camp in the park. We went to a visitor center to get trail maps and again with the bear shpeel they tell you only here they want everyone to carry bear spray. Ok ok- We listened and got the spray and al that. So Sunday morning we are heading up to a high mountain lake called Ampitheater lake and some guy comes walking down the trail and says "Hey guys just want to let you know a couple of bears are on the right 30 seconds up the trail" So we walk 30 seconds and sure enough to the right in the field I saw 1 big ass bear. Bruce says he saw 2 but we didn't linger because eye contact is not a good thing. Sorry no pics to share- you will just have to take our word for it. We continued on with our hike the lake was amazing and these are some high peaks for sure. Monday we drove through Yellowstone and saw the old faithful complex. It was very developed and disneyworldish. Today we plan to hike a spectacular loop called Paintbrush Canyon in the Tetons. We are going to backpack and camp in Backcountry wilderness so when we got our permit we also got a bear canister. No food in trees in the tetons it must be locked in a bear safe vault.
No pics today our internet connection is to slow but I will post some soon.

Craters of The Moon

We headed toward wyoming and passed Craters of the Moon National Park and decided to stop and check it out. As it turns out lava is pretty awesome. We saw flow, tunnels, spout holes and caves. The colors were really varied and very rich. We stayed in Idaho Falls- in a hotel had some well deserved showers and today we head for The tetons.

Sawtooth Wilderness

We spent the last two days hiking a circuit in the Sawtooth Wilderness. We passed several fairy tail lakes and crossed a few high and somewhat scary passes. This circuit had several river crossings with high-ish water so we had to take off our shoes to pass. The water was glacial melt so it was damn cold. Fortunately the air was quite warm so we enjoyed the
rivers. No sign of bears yet but a whole lot of mosquitos. Some pics of the Sawtooth Wilderness below. Now we are heading to Yellowstone and the Tetons .

Bacpacking in Idaho

We made our way from washington state to Idaho an headed for the Sawtooth Mts. Idaho is amazingly beautiful. I never really thought about Idaho until I was driving through it. The whole state is mountains, lakes and pristine rivers and parks. We decided to try out backpacking at sawtooth lake. We hiked up to this glorious lake and camped beside it. Bruce was responsible for hanging our food high up in a tree to keep bears from harassing us in our tent. I guess he did a good job because we were not harassed and our food was still there in the morning. Tomorrow we plan to do another backpack overnight near Lake Petit. I am posting some pics from Sawtooth lake.

Olympic Peninsula and Yakima

We drove up to the Olympic Peninsula from Portland and camped on a misty beach. It was very grey and drizzled the whole time. The beach had huge wood chunks that looked like gigantic bones. We ate some really tasty smoked salmon and drove on to Yakima where we camped. Today we drive through Washington States wine country.

Willamette Valley and Portland

We started our day with some laundry at the nice hotwire hotel. Then we made our way up the Willamette Valley and did some wine tasting. Amazing pinots and gorgeous views all day. We then made our way to Portland where we are staying with my good friend Jamin. We had great food and company and now we are off to Washington and the Olympic National Park. I am posting some pics of Jamins chickens.

Northern California and the Oregon coast

We made our way up the coast and saw some huge redwoods. We stopped at a winery in Humboldt county and tasted some amazing wine. Then we headed up the coast and ended up camping in a coastal campground in Oregon. Today we drove on and tasted some amazing wines in the Willamette Valley. Oregon wine is excellent. We are staying in a groovy hotel via hotwire tonight and seeing my friend Jamin tomorrow in portland. I am posting some pics of the big trees, the beach and some vineyards.

Oakland and the California Coast

We Made it to Oakland Sat morning and met up with my old friend Kathy. We got to see her new place and meet the very kind folks that she lives with. Went to an amazing farmers market and chatted with the family she lives with . Such a cool town with great food everywhere. we left and headed up Highway 1 on the coast. Very windy roads for a very long way. Amazing views thw whole time. We camped on the beach near Westport. It was misty and windy. We had some fantastic wine and slept to the sound of waves. Sorry no pics our camera battery died and we had no access to power till this morning when we had breakfast a a cool cafe in Humboldt county. we are headed Redwood National park.

Yosemite

We made it out of Mammoth lakes with a new power steering pump. We headed on to Yosemite. The road in is a 9945 foot mountain pass. It was beautiful and cool. We drove through and camped on the other side in the Stanislaus National Forest. We are heading to Oakland today to visit my grade school friend Kathy:) I am posting some pics of Yosemite.

Mamouth Lake

We left Inyo national forest and noticed a power steering fluid leak. We stopped in Mamouth lake and had it checked out - guess what....we need a new pump. (thanks death valley we are three for three.) We found a really nice guy who is going to fix it tomorrow and then we will head for Yosemite. Meanwhile we are going to check out mamouth lake which is a much nicer and cooler ( temp wise) than our last car fix it town.

Sierra Nevada Mountains

We escaped Ridgecrest Mon afternoon with new wheel bearings and a new alternator. We headed to the Inyo National Forest which is on the North side of Kings Canyon. This place is amazing. Some of the best hiking, scenery and camping of the trip so far. On Tues we went on a 10 mile hike in to the Sierras and it was so beautiful that we decided to do another 13 miler today. If you love to hike these mountains are the best. There is so much diversity in the terrain, rock formations, colors and plants. It is very different from the New hampshire mountains we usually hike. Oh yeah the huge drop offs were a little scary but hey what can you do?I am posting images from our hikes, campsites and some really amazing mountain flowers. The flowers are so delicate quiet and exquisite at the same time. I have never seen so many types.