We said goodbye to NC in our NoBo 19.6 on May 26, 2021 with the intention of not coming back until the weather was cool again at our mountain home. We returned October 19th, ending a 145 night journey. This write up is about the data from our trip. Just how far did we drive? Total miles:13,655 % of total miles driven towing the NoBo: 53% (7,271) % of total miles driven on interstates: 7% (1,013) One of our trip goals was to avoid interstate travel, which we were successful with. Most of the 1,013 miles we drove on interstates happened on day 1 and day 146 of the trip. The percent of miles driven towing was something I wanted to track to see if we made the right choice between a tow behind and a class C. This shows that we drove about half the time without towing, we saved money on gas doing it this way. Did the National Park Pass save us money? NP's we visited that had an entrance fee: Florissant Fossil Beds: $20 Great Sand Dunes: $25 Colorado National Monument: $20 Dinosaur National Monument: $25 Craters of the Moon: $20 Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center: $16 Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore: $25 Total of fees for above parks visited: $151 NP Pass Fee: $80 The Park Pass saved us $71 dollars just from this trip. Where did we spend most of our nights? National Forests = 66 nights Boondocker Welcome Hosts = 58 nights Harvest Hosts = 4 nights Family = 14 nights Other = 3 nights (Wal-Mart, Cracker Barrel) A major trip goal was to camp for free every night of our trip, which we did! Doing this allowed us to make back a major chunk of the investment we put into our rig in the cost of batteries for solar power, composting toilet, etc. We estimate that we saved $4500 in camping fees. How many natural areas did we visit? National Parks (including Monuments, Lakeshores): 11 National Forests: 8 Bureau of Land Management: 2 National Wildlife Refuge: 1 National Recreation Area: 1 National Monument Heritage Center: 1 State Parks: 11 Natural Areas:4 Scenic Site: 1 State Wildlife Area: 2 State Recreation Area: 1 -We saw the headwaters of the Missouri River and the Rio Grande River. -We saw Michigan and Montana's largest freshwater spring. -We toured 7 caves and entered lava tubes. -We hiked to 34 waterfalls. What were the highest points of this trip? The NoBo's highest drive was the Molas Pass in CO at 10,970'. Our highest camp spot was in Cripple Creek, CO at 9,700'. How many times did we eat out?
We only ate out for 33 meals. With solar power there is a bit of flexibility needed in cooking meals. I needed to know the weather forecast for the day and for the upcoming few days and our current battery storage percentage to plan meals. If skies were cloudy or we were camped in a spot that was shady I'd have to cook meals that used either the propane stove top inside or the propane grill outside. If skies were clear and would remain clear I could go ahead and draw down the batteries by using the stove. But when it was hot I didn't want to do any cooking inside and we tried to eat cool items and grill outside during the cooler part of the evening. We did manage to use the crock pot several times and used the oven quite often. Mostly I cooked with propane. And with our solar set up we never once took the generator out of the back of our truck. We lived totally off of the energy we produced by the sun, the entire trip. How much propane did we use? We had both of our 2, 20 pound tanks filled twice on the trip. Did we ever pay for water? Twice we paid for water. We have a 39 gallon tank in the back of our truck that we can use like a tender and twice we had to pay to fill it up and bring water back to our rig. Both of these pay events were in CO. One time it cost us $4 at a self-serve filling station in CO and the other time the only place we could find to get water was at a state park (we were dispersed camping out in a national forest). The state park let us fill up our tank for just the cost of the $8 entrance fee. Did any parts break or get damaged on this trip? -one rear stabilizer locked up just 4 weeks before the end of our trip -refrigerator cabinet panel and panel beside stove bowed out (both have not broken, Tom trimmed them down during the trip). -refrigerator doors opened during transit twice, making a mess once -screws loosened up on faux diamond plating on back of rig and needed tightening -two leaks appeared in lines under sink the day after we got home I wrote blog entries that cover all 146 days of our trip, broken into sections. If you are interested in reading about our trip, click here.
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We had purchased cave tour tickets for Mammoth Cave National Park online and it was time to head that way. We drove from IN to KY and it was such a pretty ride! We were still seeing lots of cornfields but that changed as we got closer to KY. The cornfields changed to rolling hills, tree farms, a few fields with tobacco plants growing, and old barns with tobacco drying. In KY we stayed with a Boondockers Welcome host in the train town of Millwood. This host has active train tracks in their front yard and told us about how the train is intertwined with his family history. They are also airstream enthusiasts and we enjoyed seeing their 1968 airstream and the 1964 Ford package delivery van they pull it with! MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARKWhen we thought about going to the RV Museum in Indiana I got excited because directly south of there is the largest known cave system in the world that you can explore, Mammoth Cave National Park. I checked the cave tours online and was shocked to see very little few tickets to purchase for the tours we wanted to do and it was four weeks away that we'd be here! One tour that I really wanted to do was completely sold out for the entire week we would be in the area. So this is the ONLY reservation I made the entire trip. Back in mid September I went ahead and purchased tickets online for 4 cave tours. Over two days we spent a combined total of 12 hours underground, walked 10 miles of the passages, and went on one tour that we hadn't done before. We took the Extended Historic Tour, Grand Avenue Tour, Violet City Lantern Tour and Gothic Avenue Tour. I love parts of all of these tours and some of them overlap each other in areas. I love the long winding and tight passageways that are actually slot canyons of the Grand Avenue Tour. On the Historic Tour I love reaching Mammoth Dome and climbing the fire tower to get out of it and the tight and low squeeze called Fat Man's Misery. The Violet City Lantern Tour is like listening to a ghost story the entire way, passing the tuberculous sanatoriums and seeing the place an actual mummy of an ancient Native American was pulled out after being crushed to death. The talk included other mummies found in the cave and other mummies not originally from the cave brought in to be put on display inside the cave early on, all while our only light source came from oil lanterns. Then there was the Gothic Avenue Tour which took us to a part of the cave where early tourists in the 1800's could stack rocks to make monuments or write with candle smoke on the ceiling to mark that they had made it to this cave, just by giving the tour guide a tip. You walk along this section, which is high in one of the passageways of the cave, like in the attic, and walk past some poorly stacked monuments and then some very sophisticated stacks of rocks. Lots of monuments and lots of historical graffiti. In this part of the cave there are also formations: stalactites, stalagmites, columns. But they are all no longer forming and they are an eerie dark brown/black color from all the smoke of torches from back in the day. The way the lighting is done in this area of the cave is eerily neat to behold. There is one room in Mammoth Cave that you can see active flowstones, stalactites, stalagmites, etc. This room is called the Frozen Niagra. Over most of this area, the formation forming limestone is covered with a capstone of sandstone and shale that doesn't weather quickly. If the capstone wasn't there the cave system would look entirely different. Instead it was and is still being formed by underground moving water that dissolved its way through the limestone horizontally. The water table dropped and now the underground rivers are 300 feet lower. The giant rooms left behind, called the domes, once were supported by the water that filled them. Once the water left empty space behind, gravity came in to play and slowly the ceiling/walls could not be supported the way they were so rocks fell until a more stable shape for the voids came about. To learn more about the formation of Mammoth Cave, click here. HIDDEN RIVER CAVEAbout a 25 minute drive from MCNP you can tour what was once the most polluted cave in the nation in the town of Horse Cave, KY. Literally situated in the center of town is the natural cave entrance of Hidden River Cave. This entrance was used as the site to supply the towns water needs. This was during a time when the connection between groundwater and water that comes into the pipes into your homes was not well understood. Everyone dumped everything into sinkholes, the cave passageways, any holes in the ground. Industrial waste and household sewage was included in the mix. By 1943 the cave was not smelling so hot and people stopped getting their water from it. A local looking to solve this problem finally caught the eye of the American Cave Conservation Association and nearly 50 years later, in 1989 clean up was beginning. Today this is considered a conservation success story as just in the past few years cave tours have resumed and the water is finally clean enough to drink again (although no one will). We enjoyed the short cave tour, which is all of about a half mile and has a walkway that goes just a few feet over the river and a 100 foot long suspension bridge across a 50 foot deep canyon, which is the longest suspension bridge in a cave in the world. This bridge allowed for more trails to be put in while the cave was closed due to Covid just last year. Want to see something most people have not seen? Go see this cave! The American Cave Conservation Association also has a small museum here. The museum has the most comprehensive educational displays I've ever seen on water conservation. I learned many new things from reading the valuable information. DIAMOND CAVERNSOn Mammoth Cave NP property is Diamond Caverns but this cave system is not known to connect with the passageways of Mammoth. It is privately own and run, giving tours for 160 years and has more formations to see since it lacks the capstone of shale/sandstone that covers most of the Mammoth Cave passageways. The tour was only 1/2 mile long and took an hour. One of the interesting things we saw was dolomite in the ceiling (left picture above) which looked like the cereal honeycombs. We also got to see another example of what a stalagmite looks like cut off horizontally - all the rings that resemble the growth patterns of a tree. If you are interested in learning about how this cave formed, click here. After leaving KY we headed to an area of TN we had previously visited in spring of this year, on one of our very first shake-down trips with our travel trailer to test out some of the modifications we had made to it. We loved some of the hiking trails in the area and thought it would be great to see them again in the fall. Our last Boondockers Welcome host of this summer/fall long trip was in a tiny town on top of a plateau in TN called Altamont. The day we drove from KY to TN it was hot and muggy. We were still struggling with heat and humidity while in KY and so the days taking cave tours and "hiking" in the 54-58 degree underground were the best way to go. On move day to TN we watched the temperature drop from 82 to 74 as we climbed in elevation from 600' to 1800'! Bliss!! A weather system was on its way also which was going to drop temperatures to their more seasonable range! And it finally did become fall for our last few days as tourists! Savage Gulf State Natural AreaAbout 10 miles from our camp spot were many waterfalls to hike to in the Savage Gulf State Natural Area which is managed by South Cumberland State Park. This is a very steep and wild gorge. The name "gulf" comes from the rivers cutting through the sandstone creating narrow gorges as they drop 800 feet over 5 miles through this area. We saw three waterfalls while we were there. The hike to Lower Greeter Falls was a particular favorite as it involved many stone steps, a walk along the base of sandstone cliffs, and a spiral staircase to descend (and ascend on the way back up). That was new to us, we've never had a hike include a spiral staircase before! The Great Stone Door is a unique hiking experience also! It is like a doorway to another world, what a great place for a movie scene! There are 134 stone steps and a tree about 20 steps down from the top that is twisted. Water drips from the sandstone ledges above you and light would be interesting no matter what time of day you took this doorway. There is a full moon hike ranger-led hike here on October 21st! Wouldn't that be something! Not much fall color happening in TN while we were there at 1800'. The little sumac in the front of the picture on the left was about the best color I could find for that picture! Our overlook views were full of green. And too bad! Tom has red/green color blindness and we found this wonderful Color Blind Viewer (picture right above) - if the colors had been cooperating he might have been able to see a more true image than he's ever seen of his favorite season! We have never seen this before - what a great idea!! Cumberland CavernsOne of the most unique caves we've ever been in is Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, TN. Unique because our tour guide had sworn she had seen bigfoot one night while she walked back from the cave, you can spend the night in a hammock in the cave, you can rent the cave for an event, and you get to see a light show at the end of the tour among the formations. Renting the cave for a wedding venue - Tom and I were like...why didn't we do this when we got married? There is even a huge 6.5' chandelier! Other events happen in this cave like music events. On the 30th you can go hear Murder by Death and see the park staff dressed in costumes. And now......we are HOME! We just arrived and we are so thankful to all of the house guests that were here taking care of our home while we were away! Nebula had to be shoved into the house, he wasn't sure where he was at first! And we did it! It is cool out, we spent the hot part of the year somewhere else (where it was hot too lol).
I'm going to post some trip statistics separately (I'm tired and can't think straight). But as far as goals go, we still camped for free each and every night of the trip. We never plugged in or used the generator. But now we are learning how to live in a house again! Thank you to everyone who has read and followed along during this summer/fall thing. This pumpkin tree is in the heart of downtown Wakarusa, Indiana. We saw many little towns all decked out for fall but this really was outstanding! To be close to the RV Museum and the Forest River Factory that built our rig we chose a Boondockers Welcome host in Shipshewana, Indiana to stay with. I had no idea we would be driving into a bigger Amish center than where we had been in OH. Many Amish and Mennonite left OH and moved into this area of northern Indiana. I was also surprised at the wetlands in this area. In my mind Indiana was just more cornfields but this area is between Lake Michigan and Lake Erie so it had heavy glaciation and is full of depressions that became pockets of water. The St. Joseph River runs through this area also, which is very large. Many beautiful neighborhoods can be found along this river valley. Quilt Garden TrailIn a visitor's brochure we found a Barn Quilt Trail, Quilt Gardens Trail and Heritage Trail. I love the idea of a garden made to look like a quilt square so we decided to go check some of those out. We picked up a map at a visitor's center and visited the site of 8 quilt gardens. Bad time of year to visit them though. Only 3 still had plants, this is very much a summer thing to do! But we enjoyed this so much as many of the gardens were at historical places that were very interesting and we spent the entire day touring places we would not have found on our own. At each site there is a sign that lists the plants used in the garden and gives a little history of the site. For best viewing they really need to be planted at an angle. My favorite (of the 3 we saw) was the Sweet Apples garden. This one had wooden steps and a viewing platform to elevate you for a better angle. Sure would be a fun thing to see all of the gardens in full bloom! Krider World's Fair GardensAlong the Quilt Garden route we found the Krider World's Fair Garden in the quaint little town of Middlebury. Vernon Krider displayed this garden design at the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair and got lots of attention from that. He brought back the blue windmill, toadstools and a few other pieces from that fair and installed them in his gardens here. In the industry he patented and sold the first thorn-less rose. Over the decades the gardens became neglected but the town of Middlebury recently revitalized them and now they are considered a jewel of the area. We enjoyed our walk in this lovely garden. Bonneyville MillAnother stop along the Barn Quilt Tour was the Bonneyville Mill. Still a functioning mill but first established in 1832! We took a free self-guided tour and even got to taste bread made from flour milled here. This is a county park with hiking trails along the Little Elkhart River. Wellfield Botanic GardensAlso along the Quilt Garden Trail we found a great little botanical garden. This is the Wellfield Botanic Gardens in Elkhart. These gardens sit atop thirteen active well pumps that supply water to the two large water tanks (shown in one of the pictures above). The original wellfield was dug in 1884. While we were there a million lights were being strung into trees in preparation for holiday nights in the gardens. Also many metal origami sculptures, part of a traveling exhibition, were dispersed throughout the gardens and made quite a lovely accent to the scenery! RV/MH MUSEUM AND HALL OF FAMEOne of the reasons we came back west (we thought we were done going west on this trip) was to visit the RV and MH Museum and Hall of Fame in Elkhart. We were sitting by a campfire at the pumpkin farm in the U.P. with another couple who were camped next to us in their 35 foot 5th wheel and they told us about this museum they had just visited. We looked at each other and put it into maps. Only 4 hours west from our family's location in OH....we could so do it! Why not! And so, here we were! We spent a couple hours perusing the different parts of the museum. I loved seeing the 1:24 scale model of how RV's are built. I had no idea about the meager beginnings of pop-up trailers and that the teardrop shaped ones so popular today are actually old designs. Truly most of the original, then state-of-the-art trailers looked very uncomfortable, hot, and not very safe. Tom looked at the underside of many and laughed at what he saw, which was usually just wood. Many of the models they had on display you could walk into. I stopped doing that because the floors had soft spots that were scary! And don't get me started on the interior colors!!!! We've come a long way! Forest River NoBo/Ibex Factory TourWhile our NoBo 19.6 was awaiting windows and a refrigerator, at the height of supply problems last year we worked closely with a representative at the Forest River NoBo Factory. We were ordering things to have them on hand for when we would be able to pick her up and begin all of our modifications. We needed help with specific questions like, a roof layout diagram (for solar install), the specific height (for the lift we would do), the list goes on and on. The factory rep was always so helpful, always answered our questions in a very timely manner, even though he must have been going crazy with all that he had to do at the time. We were super impressed! We were able to pre-order most of what we needed so we could begin installing on day 1 after bringing her home, instead of having to wait for those items to be in supply as well. The rep was able to arrange for a tour of the factory that made our beloved 19.6, around this time a year ago, while we were in town. I was asked to not post pictures or give away trade secrets. They have about 150 employees at this factory and while we were there IBEX was being manufactured. The employees were something else, they were moving so fast and they were singing and laughing. It was a very positive and upbeat atmosphere. Even the Production Manager was on the floor hustling about helping. This is manufacturing and why we try not to be hard on Forest River. They are trying to make a product that is affordable and to do that it the process must be efficient. One thing the rep said over and over was that no matter which model of NoBo or Ibex was online the cabinets are modular, same cabinets just put together in different combinations in different models. Another example are the window sizes, windows, slides. All models use the same windows just in different places and combinations. This efficiency keeps build time down, as it keeps the job simpler for their employees, and therefore keeps prices down. One unit takes about 2-3 days to completely build. We pulled our trailer there and gave them a tour of a very lived in product. The reps talked about wanting to come up with a window shield for the front big window while we looked at ours. A video and pictures were taken of my piano-hinged table top beside the love seat couch, which folds down to give the bed more of a "walk-around" feel. They got to see the refrigerator panel all bowed out and they all knew about it. We talked about how we'd trimmed it down once but need to do it again, we just think the piece is cut too long. This is how it went, I think they liked seeing how we made her our own, something everyone does. I could see wheels turning, they are always looking for new ideas and how to capture a new market. We are very appreciative of the special tour we received. We were very impressed with the time they spent with us and the gifts they gave us!! We are happy to be part of the FR family! Next we drove to southern Indiana to a town called Metamora to spend the weekend. We stayed with another Boondockers Welcome host on the paved driveway in front of the metal building that used to house their motorhome. Metamora was platted in 1838 around a canal. Whitewater Canal State Historic Site and TrailThe town of Metamora is situated along the 76 mile Whitewater Canal which also had a 25 mile spur that linked it with Cincinnati, OH to bring passengers and freight into the area. There are many locks along the length of the canal to account for the 500 foot drop in elevation along the route. Towns like Metamora sprang up every few miles along the canal because the horses used to tow the boats needed feeding, passengers wanted lodging, and there was a supply of goods coming and going. A gentle, quiet canal ride was preferred to a rough, dusty stagecoach ride by travelers. Eventually railroads did away with the need for the canals, which were in need of constant repair due to flooding and weather related events. Some of the canals were kept locally to power grist mills, like the stretch in Metamora. Another thing that saved the canal here was the interstate system did not come through where the canal was. As early as 1946 the state of IN was saving a 14 mile stretch of canal here as a historic site. Today you can walk or bike sections of trail along the canal and drive along and stop at signs at specific spots along the state trail. HAUNTED HOUSES OF BROOKVILLEWe enjoyed walking around this cute little town and gawking at the houses all decked out for Halloween fun! Lovely houses, great decor! Are they really haunted? Maybe! Well weather is still a thorn in our side. We had another weekend in the 80's, should be 86 tomorrow! Locals we talk to don't feel the same way, they are happy with the weather and don't feel it is warm. We are winding down to the end of the trip and still wishing for cooler weather. 1- So far, all 136 nights have been free camp spots.
2- No interstates during this entry. 3- Still haven't used the generator. 4- We've met 2 sets of hosts, that's it for this entry. 5- We enjoyed seeing houses decorated for Halloween, many fall displays, Tom has eaten pumpkin ice cream. 6- I'm pretty sure the Whitewater Canal is a lesser known site and all of the places we visited in northern IN are not heavily visited by tourists. 7- Picking up more water bottles, haven't seen shoes or socks in a while. After leaving New London and the apiary, we camped with family in OH for the next two weeks. We are lucky to have family from both sides living close together in the state. We stayed with Tom's aunt and uncle for the first week in Marysville on their lovely old farm. Tom's aunt and uncle have owned this farm for over 60 years. They have raised sheep, wheat and soybeans. Now much of the acreage is under a government prairie grass restoration program to help clean the water running off the land before it makes it to the creek surrounding the property. The tall prairie grasses are lovely this time of year and full of wildlife, including a great blue heron that entertains his aunt by hunting for mice along the edge of the grasses most days. The grasses are also home to chiggers (redbugs) and walks with Nebula are now restricted to mowed areas only. SWEET HARVESTWe went to the most sincere pumpkin patch close to Kenton. You can cut your own pumpkins here and a few families were there with wheelbarrows loading up huge pumpkins! I talked to this pumpkin farmer about the art of pumpkin farming. His face lit up, he loves raising pumpkins. He rotates the field location every year to keep disease and pests down, on a 4 year cycle. He raises pie and jack-o-lantern pumpkins and exotic kinds, with warts and strange colors. He also has gourds of all shapes and sizes, Indian corn, broomcorn, and honey from his own honeybees. I was unfamiliar with broomcorn so I asked him about that. Broomcorn is actually not a type of corn, it is a type of sorghum (grain). Grown historically to make brooms, the seeds are just lovely and can be used for making into wreaths or just decorating with them by hanging the stalks upside down. OHIO CAVERNSIn researching the geologic formation of Ohio Caverns I found a great blog entry that explains it all very well. If you'd like to read about the formation of this cave and gain a better understanding of what it takes to form a cave, click here. Ohio Caverns offers two tours at this time of year. We took the Historic Tour first. This tour took us through the original entry point into the caverns. Discovered by a curious farmhand who noticed water collected in a depression and then drained quickly. This tour focused on the opening of the cave and the work that had to be done to get it ready for tours. As with other tours we liked seeing the signatures with dates of the early workers and tourists, from now over a hundred years ago. This part of the cave also features a knob and tube electric distribution system, except this has insulated wires though unlike the original system which would have electrocuted you if you touched them. Besides the impressive tiger-striping we saw on the Historic Tour the other really cool feature in this cave we saw on the Natural Wonders Tour. Even though these caverns are hundreds of millions of years old most of the formations inside are not that old. The largest stalactite, which they call Crystal King, is estimated to be 200,000 years old. Being young they are still pretty white and somewhat opaque. We are used to seeing formations that are not so stark white and not as see-through. We were hoping the tour guide had a black light and would turn the lights out and give us a real show. But that didn't happen. I think with all the pure calcite we were seeing this would have been something to see! I mentioned it to the tour guide and he didn't know anything about it and thought it would be a cool thing to try. Next we moved to Polk, OH to be near my family for a week. We camped on my second cousin's property. We had a beautiful field to call our home and at night we could see the Milky Way and we got to hear a great horned owl! I enjoyed taking walks down the quiet country road they live on and seeing all the fall colors. The Amish seemed intrigued by our camper, chatting with me a couple times when they saw me outside the camper as they drove past in their buggy. Mohican State Park and Memorial ForestIt was so beautiful during our stay. The temperatures were mild and it was clear and sunny. We took a day to go and see the Mohican River and the two waterfalls in the Mohican State Park. We did a 2.4 mile easy loop along the Clear Fork of the Mohican River to the dam and back to see both the Big and Little Lyons Falls. Both waterfalls were just a mere trickle of water. It is interesting to see waterfalls in this state as well as when they are fully flowing. When there is very little water your imagination runs wild and you get a chance to really study the geology of the rock the water is usually hiding. At the Big Falls I left a small rock I painted for another hiker to find. There was hardly anyone there as it was a weekday, it was quiet and peaceful. One of the things I truly enjoyed about this area were the many pumpkins and gourds for sale on wagons and in little homemade shelters you can find along many of the country roads. Many of the houses up here are decked out with pumpkins and gourds all around the perimeter of the house, adorning front porches, and with stacks of pumpkins up both sides of steps into the house too. With the prices of the pumpkins and gourds being so cheap at privately owned little stands it is no wonder so many people deck out their house in the spirit of the fall harvest! Just as we are leaving the Buckeye State the colors are beginning to really change. We have been seeing Canada geese flying in formations, we wonder if they are preparing for their migration. I haven't seen a monarch butterfly for over a week now, I think they have left. The days of hot weather are over but yet there lacks that fall crispness in the air. From here we are heading west into Indiana to visit the RV Museum and to take a tour of the factory that made our rig. We are hoping the fall colors are going to be impressive there for the next few days before we head south. We should be in the splendor of fall the rest of the way home. 1- So we may have cheated these past 13 nights by staying with family, but we still haven't paid to camp.
2- No interstate travel towing the rig during this entry. 3- This was a close one - we arrived at Tom's aunt and uncle's farm with very little battery capacity, having come from a 3 night stay in total shade. Then the first 2 days at the farm it stormed, dumping 3.3 inches of rain on us. We got down to 0% battery capacity - if it hadn't gotten sunny the next day we would have had to hook into their electricity or break out the generator. We got lucky (again). 4- Well we haven't met anyone new during this entry, but it was great to see family again! 5- Sweet Harvest, homemade pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, homemade apple and ground cherry pie. We went to the Marysville Farmers Market where we bought some delicious apples and got some more from a local stand out in the country. 6- We only got to Mohican State Park and Ohio Caverns, both very well known and visited. 7- We have been slacking these past few weeks on this one, but I did pick up litter along the stretch of road I walked for exercise. From Germfask in U.P. we traveled along the shore of Lake Michigan on US Hwy 2 east to get to the Mackinac Bridge, the only way to get from the upper peninsula of Michigan to the lower peninsula. The weather was great for a major bridge crossing, sunny and not windy at all. We read that on really windy days rigs like ours would be paired with a semi while crossing the bridge. This is a toll bridge, 2 bucks per axle, so we paid $8 to cross. Now that we were across the bridge we were no longer Yoopers. For the remainder of our stay in MI we would be Trolls (under the bridge). We made our way to Traverse City by taking US Hwy 31 along Lake Michigan. Around Petoskey we began seeing orchards and cherry trees. Cherries are a big deal here, this area of MI produces most of the nation's tart cherries! We stopped at an orchard and bought apples and a bag of frozen cherries. I'll make some cherry pie for the holidays! I read up on the cherry business and according to newspaper articles, last year and this year's harvest was pretty low. If you are interested in reading more about the tart cherry business and harvest, click here. On the outskirts of Traverse City we stayed with another Boondockers Welcome host on their beautiful lakefront property. We enjoyed sitting on their dock and the soft grass that became our yard for three days. We chose this location because we wanted to see Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which was a short drive away. The host told us about a great spot to hike, right across the street from their house. It is called Brown Bridge Quiet Area and it is just one section along the Boardman River. We really enjoyed hiking in this location and hardly saw anyone else. Other locals living the in area use these trails for exercise or walking their dog. We read signs at an overlook that explained that the Boardman River was once dammed, used for hydroelectricity. Back in 2006 the dam was decommissioned and removed and the river was allowed to flow naturally again. When we took the 100+ steps down and hiked in the depression that was once the river bottom you could tell something had happened there, it wasn't natural. Now just a ribbon of clear fast flowing water meanders through the wide channel that was once entirely full of water. This creates many, many more miles of shoreline for wildlife. Speaking of wildlife, we encountered black squirrels there. Yes, black! I never knew! I've seen albino, fox, red.....but black? Well, now I know! I didn't get a picture of one but we saw 5 or 6 of them! Sleeping Bear Dunes National LakeshoreAt Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore we hiked out to Pyramid Point to get as close as we could to the two islands that are also in this NL, North and South Manitou Islands. Glaciers left indentations from their weight here also, ground down the bedrock, and filled in the Great Lakes and all the other lakes and wetlands when they melted. The sand dunes that remain are pretty special because they are the biggest dune field on a freshwater system in the world! Those dunes are affected by the strong winds blowing across Lake Michigan. Here you can see a form of sand dunes called perched dunes, which form by wind blowing sand UP on top of glacial moraines (piles of rocks/sand leftover from moving glaciers). Within the park there is also a nice scenic drive to take, called the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. This 7 mile route was planned and built by Pierce Stocking who grew up in the area and loved to walk the bluffs and dunes above Lake Michigan. He knew to get people to love something you have to get them to see it, so he built the road and opened it in 1967, only 3 years before the SBDNL was established. He continued to manage the road until his death in 1976. Following that the NL took it over. At first park staff thought about tearing it out and letting that part of the park return to its natural state. However park staff decided that Mr. Stocking was right, the more people that come and enjoy the park the better. I whole-heartedly agree! This is the reason I write this blog you are reading. How can people care for things they haven't heard about or seen? It is very hard to love something you know nothing about. Then there is the name of this NL. That is completely due to an observation made by the Anishinaabe while crossing Lake Michigan and seeing what they described as a mother bear (on the mainland) and the islands being her two bear cubs. The legend is here if you'd like to read it. The next Boondockers Welcome hosts we stayed with have a 25 acre parcel that was once part of a 100 acre farm in a town called Nashville (we are still Michiganders). While setting up we noticed a stink bug on the trailer window! We hadn't seen a stink bug since leaving the state of NC! We were welcome to walk the mowed paths in the old fields, which I completely enjoyed but Nebula just couldn't ever quite get into. I thought for sure he would be totally happy with the paths but I never know with him! The hostess and I walked the paths together and she told me stories from the past, which I enjoyed very much! One such story was about this old "warming shed" her husband built when their kids were little (left picture above). Their kids loved to play ice hockey on the pond (picture right above) but would get miserably cold. Stories like this make my imagination go wild, the FL girl that I am. It is so hard for me to imagine scenes like that, even after the 6 winters I've experienced in NC now. Moo-ville Dairy Farm with Robotic MilkersWhen we heard that this dairy farm in Nashville, called Moo-ville, was using robotic milking machines and that you can take a tour (oh and you can eat homemade ice cream too) we just had to go see what that was all about. The self guided tour costs $3 per person and was worth it! We were both mesmerized and fascinated by the robotic milking machines which completely take the human out of the equation. The cows go choose when to get milked all on their own, entering the machine as much as 5 times a day to be milked. A transponder around each cow's neck lets the computer know which cow is being milked, the gal gets weighed each time and the amount of milk she gives is carefully measured. Calculations are made to determine her health based on these numbers. The cows choosing when to get milked on their own relieves them of the stress of being herded, moved and handled. Each time she is milked she gets a pellet to eat while the milking process is happening. If a cow enters the milker a 6th time in a day, the computer will not give her a pellet or milk her and she will just have to moooove on out. All milk collected gets chilled and gravity fed from the milking barn down to the creamery where it is turned into yummy products (which we of course sampled). Next we became Buckeyes, leaving the state of Michigan behind. We are making our way to spend a couple weeks with family in central OH. We stopped in north central OH to stay with a Boondockers Welcome host in New London. We decided to stay here so that we could take a day trip to see Lake Erie. This is the only great lake both of us have never seen. e learned so much from these hosts! I am interested in apitherapy for arthritis relief and just plain interested in the life cycle of bees. Our host raises honeybees for honey and to help people relieve pain through apitherapy (by bee stings). The theory behind this as a pain reliever is that getting a bee sting stimulates you to produce cortisol. So instead of going to get a cortisone shot you can get several bee stings at the site of arthritis to get your body to produce the same substance, naturally. The host and I talked about how people come and say it helps them and for him that is a win, whatever the reason. We talked about the placebo effect. We agree that if it works, who cares why! He told me about a book he read called You Are the Placebo, a book I have added to my reading list. Last year his hives produced 350 pounds of honey. For comparison, a commercial apiarist he knows near him produced 60,000 pounds. I'm working on a separate entry about what I learned about beekeeping. Fascinating how much they function like a true democracy. Our host suggested reading a book called The Honeybee Democracy, where an etymologist explains bee behavior through experiments. Another book added to my reading list. Lake ErieWe drove part of the scenic byway on the shore of Lake Erie from Vermillion, OH to Sandusky. What a difference around this great lake! Just lined with house after house after house. There were no lakeshore parks to stop and gain access to the beach until we reached Huron (pictures above). In Huron we stopped and walked out on the pier to the historic lighthouse. At the beginning of the pier walk was a really cool idea! A sign asking walkers to take a basket and pick up litter while they were walking the pier. We've never seen this before, in all of our travels! And since one of our goals is to pick up litter everywhere we just had to participate! So I grabbed a basket and off we went. The pier was really very clean. I picked up small stuff: cigarette butts, a plastic bracelet, a bottle cap, a plastic wrapper. But the basket was not working out well. Sure, if I had cans and big things it would have been great, but the little things slipped through the holes in the basket and I ended up picking up my "treasures" 4 times before Tom just shoved them all in one of his pants pockets. When we got back to the truck I called the number on the sign that encourages pier walkers to take a basket. I talked to a very nice lady, telling her how awesome I thought the idea of the sign and baskets was. She thanked me immensely for my feedback about litter falling through the cracks, she said no one thought about that, they just bought the cheapest baskets they could find and set this project up in two locations as an experiment. She said the reason they started it was the director of the program wanted to thank the citizens he saw that always walk with a plastic baggie and help keep the areas they love clean. He thought maybe visiting walkers could be encouraged to help them out. She said they need to come up with a better design for the basket now that I gave them my feedback. Seneca CavernsClose by our camp spot is Seneca Caverns so we decided to go check it out. There are no mountains, no hills in this part of the state. You just drive country road after country road through endless corn fields to get to this attraction and when you turn in the driveway the building that covers the cave entrance sits between a corn field and cemetery! The story goes that two kids rabbit hunting with their dog lost a rabbit (and then their dog) down a deep hole in the ground on a farm. The kids went in the hole to look for their dog and ended up falling in about 12 feet deeper. They got their dog out and pretty soon everyone from around these parts was investigating, "The Earth Crack". What the kids fell in to was a sinkhole. For 60 years people went in and out of the cave. Then a guy bought it with the intention of getting people to pay to take tours. He was an attorney and sometimes had clients that couldn't afford to pay his fees. He had them literally dig their way out of debt (tour guides joke, not mine). He actually paid them well. We took a 1 hour tour of this cave and it was a bit rustic. There were very few handrails but plenty of rock to hold on to. There were some very steep sections as we made our way down to the water table a little over 100 feet down. Fall is a good time to tour as the water level is low typically and you can go all the way to the bottom section that is on the tour. The cave is much deeper though and no one know for sure just how deep. This cave was different from all the other caves we've been in because it was formed literally by rocks falling underground (along a fault line) called a breakdown or collapse cave. We couldn't think of another cave we had been in that was formed in this way. All of the other caves we've seen are referred to as solution caves, where underground moving rivers of water formed the caves by causing moving sediment to widen, scour, clear out large areas that form large rooms after the water all drains out. We were walking down into the cave bent over in most places with not huge spaces but seeing large horizontal pieces of limestone. In once section you can easily see how the floor you were standing on, made of a giant horizontal chunk of limestone had broken from the ceiling and fallen to become the floor. You can fit all of the pieces of rock back into place in a cave such as this, there are all still there. In solution caves, this cannot be done. For one the pieces could have been washed deeper into the cave. Or they could have been weathered down by rushing, sediment laden water and will no longer fit in their original location just the same. I was listening for the drips I love to hear in caves, drips of water that form speleothems (cave formations like stalactites, stalagmites, ribbons, flowstones, columns, etc). But no drips, it seemed to be a dry cave and lacked speleothems. The tour guide said the largest they've found in that cave are about 5 inch long stalactites. We got to see soda straws that were about 1/2 inch long, which are just baby stalactites in the making. He explained that the three layers of rock and the order they were in were important to the caves formation. The cave had a layer of soft, powdery gypsum on the bottom (same stuff used to make sheetrock), on top of that a layer of rock called dolomite (very typical in cave formations, a type of limestone) and on top of that a layer of limestone. If you are interested in reading more about the formation of this cave, click here. When the water table rose the gypsum that made up the bottom layer would dissolve in the water and over time there would be no more gypsum and the two types of heavy limestone where left hanging on the ceiling of the cave. Finally gravity would win and large chunks of both types of rock would fracture and fall- forming the pockets in the cave that we were walking in. This collapse of rock formed the depression in the farmers field on the surface, the sinkhole that the boys chased their dog and rabbit into. I try to stay away from the cave tours that point out which formations shadows look like alligators or President Lincoln. I like cave tours that show you what the world looks like under your feet and teach you something new. When I walk into a cave and I can focus on the things I see that are different and the tour guide is explaining them ahead of me asking the questions, instead of being cheesy with jokes and formation look-a-likes, I eat it up! If you are in the area, check out Seneca Caverns! CHIGGERSAnd somewhere between Nashville, MI and New London, OH we crossed the chigger line. I've been asking park rangers and locals all summer long if there were chiggers (redbugs) to watch out for. Most people out west don't even know what chiggers are. We got into some in AR but after that we have been chigger free all summer, despite our cat Nebula walking me in all manner of tall grasses and bushes on our daily walks. However our host in New London said that he has gotten into some and others around there do too, but not always. In Nashville, MI, our hosts said no, they never have chigger issues there. I've been wondering when we would cross the chigger line and what natural phenomenon creates this line. Now that I've crossed the line my theory is that chiggers don't live where snow is on the ground all winter long, where once it snows you don't see the ground again until spring. In New London there are places, patches where the trees are thick where this can happen, and areas around Lake Erie where the weather is colder and can keep the snow. But there are also places where the snow only lasts about a month and then the ground is bare. In New London, once it snows they don't see the ground again until the spring. But this is just a theory, I truly have no idea. But now I know about how far south in the east I can go before I have to avoid tall grasses, until after the first killing frost. Nebula and I will have to be careful on our walks from now until then. Our next two weeks we will be visiting family in OH. We are excited to be able to spend so much time with family (Tom and I both have family in OH). Who knows what else we will see while we are in the area! 1- Free spots all along so far!
2- We were on one interstate (we had to) to cross from the U.P. to the lower peninsula of MI on the Mackinac Bridge. So about 10 miles of interstate for this entry. 3- No generator use yet. 4- We have been meeting a lot of new people and have made several new friends! 5- We are loving all the fall decorations on front porches and the wagons of pumpkins and gourds for sale! We ate apples from two orchards and tried apple cider slushies! 6- I think only the Brown Bridge Quiet Area qualifies as a lesser-known natural space. We had never heard of Sleeping Bear Dunes NL but it was quite busy. 7- We are still picking up shoes even!!! What is the deal??? For this next part of our journey we stayed on two different farms with two Boondocker Welcome hosts. We are very much welcoming the cooler temperatures and all the rain we've been experiencing. For us it seems summer and drought are over, finally! The first farm we stayed at is called Constellation Farmstead and was founded Labor Day 2020. We were there to celebrate their one year anniversary with them. The hosts gave us permission to disclose the name of their farm as they are in the process of building an agritourism name for themselves and very passionate about their goals and purpose. This young couple and their family are sitting on 120 beautiful acres that they have big plans for. They plan on living entirely off the land. What they cannot grow or make for themselves they will barter and trade with from others around them. There are about 200 heirloom apple trees on the property, mature maple trees they have already tapped for syrup last spring, fungi in the woods, plenty of wood for burning in winter to keep warm, and lots of land for all the animals they will need along the way. They already have chickens, pigs, rabbits, and while we were there they got some ducklings. We enjoyed watching them move the chickens and pigs to a new feeding spot in the orchard, with a moveable fence that they use a solar powered electric system to keep the predators out. We slept in later than ever on this quiet, lovely farm. It rained many of the days we were there. We did get 2 rain free days. Nebula wasn't very happy here though. It was a bit too busy for his taste and I couldn't quite get him to the woods where the beautiful hiking trails were, he'd get too nervous. But he enjoyed watching the hens feed around the trailer, from the windows and he got caught up on his sleep! Bond FallsBond Falls was one of the prettiest waterfalls we saw in the U.P. Situated on the Ontonagon River just below a dam there are many cascades before a final plunge of about 50 feet. What we loved most about this waterfall is the set of stairs on one side of the main falls that take you right up the side of the falls for an incredible view. Some of the water from the falls washes down the steps and you can even reach out and touch the waterfall! This is very different from our many other waterfall experiences! Keweenaw PeninsulaWe drove the entire Keweenaw Peninsula while we were staying in the area. I thought the signs along the peninsula at scenic points were unique (picture left above) with the horizontal tree crotch hanging on a post. We saw the shore of Lake Superior at many points and it would be rocky in some spots, sandy in others. Our favorite section of the drive around the peninsula was the drive up Brockway Mountain which is a drive back in time. Driving this scenic route it is clear this was built a long time ago and has been neglected. There are old stone walls with pulls offs along the road blocking motorists from driving over the cliffs. The road is in disrepair and the rock walls have not been taken care of. All along the almost 10 mile drive there are signs that say the mountain is preserved as a nature sanctuary. In doing some digging I was surprised to find that indeed this road was built a long time ago, how about 1933 with money from the WPA! We were driving on a piece of history and didn't even know it! If If you are interested in finding out more about this historic scenic route, click here. Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park We drove an hour from our farm camp spot to explore the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park right along the shore of Lake Superior. After paying our day use fee and talking to an employee at the visitor's center we headed to the Presque Isle River section of the park to hike along the river. It was a great choice as we got to hike through some old growth forest, see many waterfalls and small cascades, saw some interesting geology and walked to the mouth of the river and out onto the shore of Lake Superior. The Inland SeaOur next travel day happened to be a weather event! The first expected gale force winds of the season on the lake in our area. When we drove close to the shore we got some great views of an angry Lake Superior crashing into some rocky shoreline. We saw plenty of placid flat water in MN and WI and we were happy to finally see some wave and splashing action! This is why Lake Superior is nicknamed The Inland Sea! We stayed as Boondocker Welcome guests on another farm about 180 miles east of Constellation Farmstead for the remainder of our time in the U.P. This farm sits on about 20 acres and we were greeted with bright sunflowers and pumpkins! Yes, they had a pumpkin patch! And the hostess ran a bake shop also so we got to eat some fresh out-of-the-oven cinnamon rolls! Delicious! I was able to coax Nebula out on a few short walks here but deer sightings from the trailer windows made him nervous! Pictured Rocks National LakeshoreThe Upper Peninsula was once about 3/4 covered in wetlands. Today only about half the peninsula is still considered wetlands. Most of our travel around the shore of Lake Superior we've seen a buffer of some type of wetlands between the shoreline and land. These wetlands provide important habitat and increase the diversity of the species found making a living here. We hiked a 1/2 mile Marsh Trail on a boardwalk at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We saw a muskrat swimming in one of the ponds. There was evidence of beaver activity. It seems you also can't go anywhere along the shore of the lake and not find evidence of past logging activity. At Pictured Rocks you can also see the Log Slide, where loggers built a wooden chute about 300' above the shoreline of the lake. Logs were sent tumbling down this cute to the water below. Today the wooden chute is gone but you can stumble down and back up the path the logs took, if you want a good work out! Even in the middle of the week and after Labor Day Pictured Rocks was a busy place to be. We wanted to hike one of the waterfalls but there was not a single parking space so we drove on. We've taken a boat tour and seen the rocks here before so we just cruised through the entire park by car this time. This is currently a no fee park but it is in the talks to change that soon, due to the increased traffic and popularity and the fact that it wasn't originally laid out with so much visitor impact in mind. Layer upon layer of beautiful sandstone can be seen here, capped with more resistant sandstone that creates the arches and cliffs we see today. The name for this lakeshore is derived from the many colors you can see from mineral stains on the face of the cliffs and the colors of the layers of sandstone themselves. Seney National Wildlife RefugeMinutes from our camp spot was Seney NWR. This refuge is huge, at 95,000 acres and provides critical habitat for migratory birds and is home to a wide variety of plant and animal species. This refuge has a 7 mile auto drive and many hiking trails. Dikes put in place when the refuge was originally designed are now being removed to return areas of the refuge back to its natural state. We hiked the 1.5 mile nature trail at the visitor's center and took the auto drive. We saw many pairs of swans, sandhill cranes, ruffed grouse, great blue heron, Canada geese and unidentified ducks. Being at this refuge reminded me of one of our favorite places to hike in FL, Lake Woodruff NWR, except we didn't see any alligators or venomous snakes here! Here I learned about how we nearly wiped out trumpeter swans but how we successfully brought their numbers back and this refuge played a part in that story. For more on the success story of saving swans, click here. The Big SpringWe visited Michigan's largest freshwater spring called, The Big Spring. This is a first magnitude spring, pumping out 10,000 gallons of water every minute. The water stays a constant 45 degrees so it never freezes. I've been to many springs in many states but I've never been on a self-propelled wooden tethered raft over one before! This one wasn't manned by park staff or anything. Just a sign saying 38-40 people maximum, due to weight limits. The best part was everyone was whispering and super respectful! It was such a cool experience to be with a large mixed age group of people and have everyone so quiet and respectful of the moment! Lake MichiganWe did drive some of the shoreline of Lake Michigan on our way to The Big Spring through the town of Manistique. The lighthouse at the mouth of the Manistique River was nice to see and we walked a boardwalk on the lakeshore. Watching summer fade into autumn is a real joy! We even purchased an electric blanket for our bed. We have a fold up murphy bed and I just can't seem to get warm for the longest time after we go to bed. We have been trying to put the bed down about an hour before we go to bed, realizing it is folding up and staying colder than the rest of the inside of the trailer as it lives near the big window on the front of the camper. But even folding it down earlier, wearing extra layers and putting blankets above and below me, I have been shivering for a few hours each night. The electric blanket, on for just 30 minutes right before I climb into bed, seems to be doing the trick! Hello autumn!! 1- 110 nights of free camping - we will make this entire trip and not have paid for 1 night!
2- Pretty scenic routes up in the U.P. but we haven't been on many gravel roads since we've been staying with BW instead of out in National Forests. 3- Pictured Rocks was pretty crowded but there were locals there too. Pretty much everywhere we went we saw a lot of in state tags in the parking lots. 4- Still finding socks and I picked up another shoe. 5- No generator usage, we are going to make this whole trip without it! 6- We've hiked some but haven't kayaked once. Weather has been a factor (we are HAPPY to see rain though). 7- We found a daily farmer's market in a town near the first farm we stayed at and a neighbor of theirs had a self-serve stand that we got some produce from. We were given fresh corn by our other host right from their own corn field. 8- Seney NWR, deer at the second farm, farm animals at the first farm. 9- Fall colors are just barely starting here. 10- No aurora yet! Well Minnesota was not having a great summer either. With the drought, fires, smoke and heat we left before we thought we would. We had thought we would be staying in MN until about mid September, when the peak fall was peaking and then begin following that peak south. But fall was already beginning due to the drought in mid August and leaves were falling. We decided to leave and head to Wisconsin to see if we could find cooler temperatures, rain, and maybe some normalcy. I didn't have many places that I had to see this entire trip, but one of them was in WI. I had to see a certain set of "sea" caves on the shore of Lake Superior that are part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in WI. We decided to head that way. We found a Boondockers Welcome host that was very close to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and reserved 4 nights with them. We ended up staying 11 nights on their 40 lovely acres! We became friends and were offered a longer stay! The host and I even painted pottery, went rock hunting and shopping together! It was lovely to make new friends and hang out with another couple. They were so very generous! If you've been reading my blog entries then you know I'm pretty crazy about caves. Well I'm also pretty crazy about water and ice. Ever since I learned about the possibility of seeing sea caves in winter with ice I've been watching for my chance to go see them. I wanted to see the caves in the summer and to put in my mind where I'd have to walk across the ice of Lake Superior in the winter to get to the sea caves. And so I paid for a guided tour of the sea caves off Meyer's Beach in the National Park, through a NPS approved outfitter called Trek and Trail, for a 3 hour kayak trip to the sea caves that you can walk to in winter. While I do have my own kayak a sea kayak is pretty much a must for this kind of trip. Lake Superior is nicknamed the "inland sea" for good reason. It is large enough to create its own weather and it does! Sea kayaks are designed to handle waves, with two bulkheads full of air on each end to keep the kayak level and a spray skirt to keep water out. The day I kayaked we had 1-2 foot waves and I was very happy I was in a sea kayak and NOT on my little sit-on-top one. There is no way I would have stayed on top of my kayak, the waves would have constantly knocked me off, and I'm pretty stable on any kayak. Unfortunately we didn't get to kayak into any of the caves the day I was there. It just wasn't safe to do so. But I got to see them. Our guides did let us kayak through a large arch, called Keyhole Arch. That was pretty exhilarating! And the science teacher in me was bothered by the term "sea" caves, as we were on a lake. I just didn't understand why they weren't called lake caves instead. I made my peace with this after kayaking to them on a body of water that very much behaves like a sea and not like a lake. I believe this is actually good, it helps with the awareness that accessing these caves is NOT like just spending a day at the lake. At Meyer's Beach there are two NPS employees set up who have the job of talking to kayakers and encouraging the use of sea kayaks to get to the caves, signing kayakers in and making sure they come back and sign out. A calm, clear day can suddenly turn ugly and kayakers needing help is not uncommon. And this is just the summer issues. The winter is a different beast entirely. I was told stories about local fishermen walking out on the ice at Meyer's Beach to fish for the day to have a storm come up suddenly and break up the ice they were on into pieces. Three fishermen found themselves on a decent chunk of ice, floating off into the heart of the lake and were stranded on that ice for 3 days before they drifted back into a different bay. The last time it was possible to walk to the ice caves was during the winter of 2015. For this to be possible you need calm conditions and really cold temperatures. The beach is not continuous out to the caves. It ends about a third of the way there and then there are steep cliffs into the water. Following the shoreline would be a much longer walk too. A straight shot, across the water is the path to take. While I was kayaking I noticed that the water I was riding on was really shallow. It was about 4-10 feet deep near the cliffs and caves. About 2 feet of that water has to freeze for people to be able to safely walk on it. One storm can produce winds that could break up the ice and there goes the chance to see the ice in the caves. The NPS employees constantly check conditions and set up a rope trail out to the caves when the time comes and open it up to the public. When this happens next time, I plan on being there! I've been watching and waiting. And now I've seen the caves in the summer. I can't wait to see how much different it will look all dressed in white and ice. We did a touristy thing! I know, rare for us! But I was so fascinated by the islands in this national park that I really wanted to see more. Since we don't own sea kayaks we decided to go ahead and play tourists and paid to take an evening Grand Tour of the AINL through a national park approved concessionaire called Apostle Islands Cruises. Many of the 22 islands have campgrounds and it would be so cool to spend a couple weeks (of good weather, that is) sea kayak camping from one island to another. Outer Island has virgin timber, tall trees I'd love to see. Raspberry Island has a lighthouse made of sandstone. Stockton Island has one of the greatest populations of black bears on the continent and I've been told the sea caves there are outstanding and you can hear the sand sing! Basswood Island has a trail to the a sandstone quarry (called brownstone) that I'd love to hike to see. 3 of the islands have sandstone quarries that much of the brownstone of the area comes from. In the towns along the shore we saw such beautiful historic buildings made from this lovely sandstone. The two pictures above are examples of lovely buildings made from this sandstone. On the left is the public library in Washburn and on the right is the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Visitor Center in Ashland. Locals call this area of the shoreline the "South Shore". This is so much different from the MN shoreline of Lake Superior, referred to as the "North Shore". The north shore is all rocky, cobblestone, pebble beaches. And 99% of those rocks are igneous, having most recently in their past been molten. Not so here on the south shore in WI. Most beaches are sand with few rocks. There are some beaches that have rocks but nothing like the pebble beaches in MN where there is NO sand, there the beaches are covered all with rocks and giant outcroppings of bedrock to walk on top of. Here I often get the beaches confused with the ones I'm familiar with back where I was born and raised in central FL. I walk a beach here looking for seashells, wondering why I'm not tasting and smelling salt, wondering if I'll have to dodge beached jellies. How refreshing to NOT be at a saltwater body of water. And swimming here, the water is a bit warmer than the north shore waters and there is no fear of sharks! There are still rip currents to be cognizant of...see this thing is truly the inland sea! If you are interested in the geology of this region, I found this great blog entry by the National Park Foundation...click here. Some of Wisconsin's great state parks..... Amnicon Falls State Park is a lovely place to visit! We've been here before but we've never seen it quite like this, with such low water levels. You really get an appreciation for the amount of water that can flow through here when the water is low. This time I got to swim behind the waterfall, something I would have never even considered doing in the past with the water raging through here! While we were in the area we went to see the tallest waterfall in WI at Pattison State Park. Big Manitou Falls at 165' wins the tallest waterfall award in this state and can be found along the Black River. More sandstone and basalt action going on here to form this river basin and the waterfalls. I was amazed at Little Manitou Falls, I loved the double falls and that you could get to the bottom and sit and ponder life here. Manitou is a Native American word for a spirit. At Copper Falls State Park we got to see 3 different waterfalls and left one to see next time that required an extra 2.5 mile hike. There is also a lovely lake called Loon Lake! We didn't see or hear any loons but I loved the "Loon Alert" sign, which I hadn't seen anywhere else. The falls here are formed on the Bad River. The distinctive "copper" color gave early prospectors the impression that there was copper in them thar hills and a failed attempt at copper mining here from 1899-1902 gave the falls its name. There is a lovely trail along the gorge around the section of the river where you can see how bad this river has gotten in the past! Local Treasures.... About 20 minutes from our camp spot was this hidden gem. While big waterfalls are certainly impressive, the little quiet ones really appeal to me. I adored this little waterfall (I'm standing behind it in the above picture for scale) on Lost Creek. It was an easy 3 mile round trip hike through some lovely forest and past some of the biggest white pine trees we've seen! There was only one other couple there and they left the falls shortly after we arrived so we had this little playground to ourselves. Simply water-ful!! In our local travels we stumbled across the cutest idea EVER. While looking for a bog we happened down a residential road along the shoreline and we saw this "Little Free Rock Library" in front of a house and I had to stop! It appears that two sisters run this little sharing rock station that is set up like those free "take a book, leave a book" libraries we see in many place now-a-days. But instead of books, they fill it with rocks and encourage you to take a rock and leave a rock. Well, I just HAD to participate. My host took me to a beach just inside MI with some great rock painting rocks, called Little Girls Point and I picked up lots of rocks. I painted some and took them back and left them, with a note to the "Rock Sisters" about how awesome I think their idea is, and inspiring too. We will be adding a rock sharing library to our own property in NC when we get home. What a wonderful idea! I think we need more ways to connect and share, especially now. Thank you, Rock Sisters....you truly ROCK this world!!!!! All along the north shore in MN we saw these signs that were about Lake Superior not being for sale and we see them here in WI also. There are also free-flowing public water wells, called artesian wells in many cities along the north and south shore. The signs and wells go together. It seems someone has it in their mind to turn the great tasting water from Lake Superior into a commercial business and people aren't happy with that idea. These public drinking stations are a source of pride for the locals. This can be seen by the elaborate housing built around one in Ashland, WI that is complete with a beautiful glass mosaic inside. For more about this water fight, click here. Our 10 days in WI have been so busy and active. The drought and heat are here as well and our first few days were hot. We did get our first nice rain in 90 days here, just over 2 inches! We also saw August end and felt the temperatures start to settle into a more normal pattern and our heater came on at night again as temps got into the 40's toward the end of our stay. We hadn't seen 40's at night since Jefferson Creek, when we were at high elevation in MT. With the big holiday weekend approaching it is time to say goodbye to WI for now and head to MI to a farm to ride out the holiday. Beyond that, we have no idea where we will end up! Hopefully some place cool and with fall color! 1- 100 days of free camping!!!
2- There are no interstates nearby even! Lots of scenic routes on this peninsula and we took the gravel roads through the national forest as short cuts to get places even! 3- Some of the beaches I found were because locals told me where THEY go. 4- Why are there socks left everywhere? At the beaches, at the waterfalls, at the state parks.....socks! I've picked up socks and lone shoes! Why???? 5- 100 generator free days! 6- Well I sea kayaked but our kayaks have lived on top of the truck these past 11 days. We have hiked LOTS! 7- I've been to 2 farmers markets here and they were small and wonderful! 8- Not as much wildlife here. Nebbie was engrossed with some ants that had wings and were about to fly off. He and I did get to hear barred owls talking on a couple of our walks. A few times we heard loons in the distance too. 9- This part of WI has been dry also so the leaves are falling off due to drought. We hope to be in true fall conditions, soon. 10- I've been bad. I haven't checked the aurora forecast ONCE since we've been here!! Window Covers2021 was our first summer trip in our 19.6 NoBo travel trailer and it was a challenge because of two words. Heat wave. We have solar, we like boondocking best, we (so far) haven't used our generator in 101 continuous travel days (May 26 - Sept 4). We can use the a/c but try not to, except for when the inside temps get above 85. Then we will run the a/c until the outside air temperature is low enough to keep the inside below 85 again. And so with all of that we wanted a way to help keep the inside as cool as possible. One experimental solution was to cover windows that are exposed to direct sunlight. When we set up camp we try to park so that we will get the most direct sunlight on our solar panels and NOT on the sides of the trailer. But as the world turns there is always a window or two that ends up bathed in sunlight. We decided to tackle this problem. We picked up a 4 x 8 sheet of corrugated plastic from Lowe's in a city we were in to make the covers. We already had the velcro we needed for this project. We cut the pieces to fit the windows, making sure to make the covers big enough to cover the black metal frames of the windows as well, as those black metal frames bring heat into the trailer. For air flow between the plastic cover and the window we added two spacers, made of the same corrugated plastic. Velcro is used to attach the cover to the black window frame. To test the idea of the window covers to see just how much they were helping (if at all) to keep the inside of the trailer cool we gathered some data. Since the black window frame and window glass get very hot we wanted to see just how much heat the insulative material of the trailer walls transfer versus the black metal frames and windows. With the data we collected it appears that the trailer wall material is transferring about a degree but the black metal frame and window glass are transferring a huge amount of heat, about 27 degrees! So the walls of the trailer aren't a problem but it is going to be helpful to have those black metal frames and windows covered up. The black metal frame under a cover on a window in full sun is only 4 degrees warmer than if that window was on the shady side of the camper! This data was collected on September 1st in northern Wisconsin. At this time of year and at this latitude we were getting this data. In midsummer and at a lower latitude the data should be even more impressive! Refrigerator StrapsAfter arriving at a camp spot, leveling and setting up the outside then opening the trailer door to the smell of pickle juice and finding a huge mess on the floor under the refrigerator we finally decided it was time to secure those refrigerator and freezer doors. I mean, I had pickles everywhere as an entire jar of pickles broke when the two clear bottom drawers fell out during travel and most of the contents rolled around on the rug I have right there in front of the fridge. We were even lucky that the door closed itself during travel! With a screw we attached nylon strapping to the refrigerator cabinet frame, near the handles for the freezer and refrigerator doors. A pad of velcro was placed on both doors and on the ends of the straps. Now all I have to do is remember to secure them, to add this to my move day routine. Reading LampI've been wanting a reading light to use at multiple places in the trailer. I have been using a headlamp but that blinds Tom. I stumbled across a great little folding LED lamp at Target for $20. It is 120v AC but we wanted to make it run off of 12v DC because of our solar set up with our invertor. If we leave it the way it is, we have to have our invertor on while we use the lamp, which means we'd be using 30 extra watts to run an 8 watt lamp. If we change it to DC we only use the 8 watts required to run the lamp. The reason we got the lamp is because the output on the transformer says it is 12v DC, so we knew we could cut the cord off and make this switch. We decided to wire it into the closet lights for now. But when we get home we will take out the USB port below the closet and put in a USB/12v DC outlet vertically in that space. This way the light becomes portable and can be used in multiple places in the trailer, as needed. TV AntennaWe have been at many places with 0 channels for TV reception. The stock antenna just never did anything much for us. So we decided to go ahead and get a better one. We purchased the King OmniGo. We chose this product because we've read good reviews about it but also because we liked that we could mount it on top of the mast that currently holds our cell booster. This puts the antenna 18' above the ground. The first time we used this new antenna we were able to receive 18 channels and with the stock antenna we got 0. It seems to work well to pick up stations up to 40 miles away. Secondary Trailer Battery ChargerAs summer wanes and autumn is approaching we realized we would be losing precious daylight hours for our solar energy system. Also there were days on our long term trip that were cloudy and rainy and while we could handle a day or two of these stacked up what would happen if we encountered an entire week of cloudy days? To keep with our goal of not ever having to use a generator to top off our batteries or plug in to shore power when available we came up with a back up system. Our 2020 Ford F150 tow vehicle (which we call Li'l Bo) has an inverter we could tap into. Since our solar system is configured in a 24v set up all we needed was a 24v battery charger and an extension cord. Through Amazon we ordered the battery charger and the Boondocker Welcome host we were staying with graciously allowed us to have it delivered to their home, since we were in the U.P. of Michigan and there were no Amazon lockers available. We already carried an extension cord that would work. The battery charger got mounted in the passthrough compartment of the trailer, where all of our other electrical equipment is already mounted. The 24v DC output is wired to the distribution block and the 120v AC input is wired to the truck inverter via the extension cord. A permanent connection will be constructed when we return home to NC at the end of October. This battery charger supplies 8 amps at 24 volts and will provide almost 25% of our battery capacity in a 6 hr drive day. Also if we are stationary we can run the truck to charge the batteries if our energy level gets to zero and we are faced with no free solar recharge. Small Appliance InverterWe found ourselves having to remember to bring the computer to the truck or my rechargeable electric toothbrush or his razor.....things that don't take much electricity but are set up to use 120v which means the inverter in the trailer has to be running while they are charging. And anytime we turn the inverter on we are using an additional 30 watts of energy. By charging these items through the trucks inverter on day trips we were saving ourselves some of our trailer's battery capacity. We came up with a solution to this. We needed yet another inverter.
We purchased a small 100w inverter for $10 from Wal-Mart that can be plugged in to any 12v socket we have in the trailer. This keeps us from having to turn on the inverter in the trailer which would use 30 watts. Using this inverter draws 3 watts, so we have a net save of 27 watts. After leaving the Grand Rapids area we decided to head further north and east. We wanted to be close to the north shore of Lake Superior. We stopped at a Superior National Forest district office in Ely and bought a $14 map of the national forest. We talked with 3 rangers to get the information we wanted. We were encouraged to camp in "Rustic Campgrounds" and given a pamphlet with that information and encouraged to take FS road 170 toward some of these campgrounds. And so we headed off to see what we could find. Rustic Campgrounds, interesting name, but they will do the trick! The definition of a rustic campground is few sites and no serviced (but a vault toilet is in the campground and each site has a fire ring and picnic table). No problem! We finally settled in the Wilson Lake Campground which is nestled between two lakes; Wilson Lake and Little Wilson Lake. There are 4 camp spots in this campground and each site is pretty big and has plenty of tree/shrub cover between each site. The pamphlet said that 2 of the 4 sites would accommodate a 21 foot or longer trailer. We were able to choose from 3 of the sites and all 3 would accommodate us so we chose the one we liked best. And the FS roads into the campground were pretty good! Some spots were a bit washboardy (but we certainly have done much worse roads this summer) but other than that they were excellent. But we did have our biggest mess ever when we opened the door to the trailer after setting up. At lunch I must have left the refrigerator door open. The two bottom clear baskets were on the floor and everything inside them too. Including a jar of pickles that broke. Yes, pickles were everywhere! Most of the yuck landed on a rug, thankfully and it wasn't too terrible to clean up. But we had a pickle smell for a few hours to deal with. Now we will be figuring out an extra way to secure the door of the refrigerator for move days (so hopefully I won't mess up again). This is the second time we had stuff on the floor from the refrigerator but the first time nothing broke (and it wasn't MY fault that time) and it was caught early on in the travel day, which was a good thing as the refrigerator door was still open when we discovered the issue. This time at least the refrigerator door was closed when we arrived. We absolutely loved Wilson Lake and Little Wilson Lake. We kayaked both lakes and got to fall asleep listening to loon calls many nights. There was a trail into the woods that Neb and I took everyday (sometimes 3x a day) and we could hear the loons calling to each other between the lakes. We also saw and heard eagles, saw a beaver lodge and three beavers swimming, watched an adult loon preening and an adult loon catching fish and feeding a young loon. Kayaking was an extra treat because the lake water level was low and we kept hitting rocks that were submerged and would surprise us all of a sudden. There were very few people on the lake or in the campground, it was only full on weekend nights. And yet we hadn't escaped the drought or the heat. Many of our 10 days here were HOT, in the upper 80's. We only used the a/c one day. While I enjoyed seeing an early start to the fall it just isn't the same when it is hot out and you know the reason the leaves are turning color and falling off early is because the trees are stressed from lack of water. The young birches have been the first to change up here and on walks with Nebula we have watched the green paper birch leaves turn yellow quickly and by the time we left many had fallen off. Even the young aspens were beginning to change when we left. In a normal year the color change doesn't begin until around the beginning of September and peak color could be near the end of the month. Near the town of Tofte, about 20 miles from where we were camped we found trailheads to Britton and Carlton Peaks, managed by the national forest. We hiked both trails to get a nice view of the shore of Lake Superior and some cool breezes. Temperatures were in the 70's and both trails involved some elevation gain. Since we didn't have high elevation to escape the heat wave here we did make day trips to the north shore of Lake Superior. The shore of this giant lake is as much as 10 degrees cooler (no place to park the NoBo on the shore though without paying to camp right next to other people) so we spent about four days making day trips to some state parks on the north shore that we had visited in the past and wanted to see again. We were pretty centrally located on the north shore at Wilson Lake and it was only a 15 mile drive on really good gravel roads to get to Hwy 61 that runs along the north shore of Lake Superior. Tettegouche State Park was one of our favorite state parks in the past. We braved the heat and hiked the 3/4 mile trail along the dwindling Baptism River to Cascade Falls. This area of MN is experiencing a drought also and we were surprised at how low the river was. We were wondering if the waterfall would be flowing at all. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it had plenty of water falling along the basalt and rhyolite. After seeing the waterfall we walked downstream to the mouth of the river and out onto a gravel bar. The river was not flowing into Lake Superior due to the drought. The gravel bar was between the mouth of the river and the lake. We sat on the gravel bar, right on the shore of the lake and enjoyed the natural air conditioning. We also hiked another 3/4 mile trail to Shovel Point for some great views of cliffs along the lake. Lake Superior truly is a superior lake. It is the largest freshwater lake, by surface area, in the world. Superior has just under 3,000 miles of shoreline (including islands). This means the lake can create its own weather. We ran into fog one morning in Big Bay and it was still there at 3:00 in the afternoon when we drove back by! The deepest point in the lake is 1,333 feet. The average temperature of the water is 40 degrees! That is where the natural air conditioning comes from and the reason the air temperature can be as much as 10 degrees cooler as you move toward the shore of the lake from inland places. The rocks here are such pretty colors and give us clues as to how the Great Lakes formed. All five of The Great Lakes were formed by glaciers. But before the glaciers scoured out the lake basins there was a major split of a giant continental plate, which is called a rift. It seems Lake Superior could have been an ocean itself if the rift hadn't occurred. Once the rift did occur the chance of an ocean forming was gone and then magma flows filled in gaps and cracks repeatedly. Periods between lava flows occurred where sediments collected and pressed into rock. More magma came up and filled in more gaps, like the diabase found in the Pigeon River to form High Falls, and as igneous rocks called rhyolite, basalt, granite in other places. In the mix are sedimentary rocks like shale and even rocks that chemically changed due to heat and pressure into metamorphic rocks, like gneiss and greenstone. All three rock classifications are found in the mix of rocks on the lakeshore. To read a really great blog entry and see some outstanding graphics of the current theory about how the lakes were formed, click here. My favorite waterfall in MN (currently) is High Falls at Grand Portage State Park. This waterfall isn't terribly tall, about 120 feet, but the rock in the river that forms the falls is very resistant to erosion and weathering and that has given this waterfall it's status as the tallest in the state. The rock is called diabase and it came from the upper mantle, like all igneous rocks do. As a molten rock it intruded the rocks near the surface, which were sedimentary, and since this rock never broke the surface it cooled very slowly. That is the key to making a rock that is very resistant to weathering and erosion once those rocks are exposed to the surface. All the rock that would have been around and on top of the diabase was not as resistant and therefore is now gone. This is a pretty cool place to visit as the Pigeon River as it is the border between the US and Canada. I remember the last time we saw this waterfall I was impressed that I was looking into a different country just by gazing across this river. The water level was down but not the historic (well recorded anyway) low, which occurred in 1977. Being this is the farthest we can go north, we just hit our northernmost waypoint for this trip when we were at this state park. We also visited the Grand Portage National Monument Heritage Center in Grand Portage. The portage is an 8.5 mile trail between Lake Superior and Fort Charlotte on the Pigeon River that bypassed rapids and waterfalls. Voyageurs were required to carry two 90-pound packs of furs along this trail, which fueled the most profitable fur trade operation on the Great Lakes. One of the hottest days we spent on Pebble Beach at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. We sat in chairs in the shade enjoying the views and cool breezes. It was 90 degrees this day, but on the shore it was about 83. I had to swim in Little Two Harbors Bay, right where we spent the day. The temperature of the water where it was shallow was 70 degrees but where the water got deeper it was much, much colder. The road we took to get to Hwy 61 that runs along the north shore of Lake Superior took us right past a hiking trail into Temperance River State Park. This was actually my favorite hiking of our entire stay in MN. While the water levels are way down and we've seen all of these state park rivers with waterfalls that empty into Lake Superior before, we've never seen so much of the bedrock. Low water levels give you a new appreciation for just how much work moving water does. The hike along this river gave us such a great view of that energy. This is the longest river that empties into the lake, running 38.6 miles. Most of its journey is slow and it spreads out wide. But the last 1/2 mile the river level drops 162 feet before the river mouth empties into the lake. That last 1/2 mile is a narrow, tight gorge where cascades, potholes, and waterfalls make the water put on quite a show. In a couple places the water seemingly disappears, the channel is so narrow, dark, deep and inaccessible. We went to a Scientific and Natural Area and next time we are in MN I want to see ALL of these! Since there are 166 of them that should keep us busy! Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center was once owned by a paper company and used from 1941-1971 to store logs on the shore of the lake during the winter until the spring, when they were floated across the lake to a mill in Wisconsin. A forester remained on site until 1978 and planted pine trees where the 14 buildings once stood that were used. Today you see very little evidence of this logging operation. The company gave the property to the state in 1985 and through various restoration projects it is today on its way to being a restored piece of north shore native habitat. Of course the geology here rocks as well!!! You can see some great lava flows out on the point and a really nice pebble beach! It seems we can't shake the pesky heat wave that has been chasing us this summer. Near the end of our time on Wilson Lake we started having smoke issues again. There was a wildfire near us in a town called Isabella and it was moving toward Ely (away from us). Two days before we left we were sad to see a sign on Hwy 61 that the Boundary Waters Canoe Area had been closed down due to the wildfires moving that way. 1- Loving rustic campgrounds - which are FREE!
2- Oh Hwy 61 is very much a scenic route and we're living on gravel roads (very dusty). 3- Lots of MN, WI plates everywhere we go. One of the places we ate it was very much a local bar. 4- There has been very little litter, which we are happy to report! 5- Generator is somewhere in the truck still, we think! 6- Oh, we've kayaked and hiked a LOT!!! 7- I've been to 2 farmers market and my favorite was in a little town called Finland. I got the BEST snow peas (I ate them raw). 8- Cedar waxwings, garter snakes, ruffed grouse, loons, warblers, etc....lots of wildlife. 9- Well we have an early start to fall (due to stress) which we don't really like. 10- Haven't had any aurora encounters yet. "When you have all the time in the world you can spend it, not on going somewhere, but on being where you are." - from the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererAfter leaving Seeley Lake we headed for the Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest south of Great Falls, MT. We stopped at the ranger district office just outside of Neihart to pick up a map the ranger I spoke with on the phone told me about. The parking lot was full of tired firefighters as there was a fire in this forest as well. I was assured that the places suggested to me were in areas that weren't in danger and the smoke wouldn't be terrible. We did it! We maxed out a stay in a national forest (16 days) here along the Jefferson Creek. Our camp spot was right off of Hwy 89 just south of Neihart on FS Road 267. This road is pretty darn bumpy but we were only between a third to a half of a mile down so we didn't have much bumpiness to travel. The creek at our spot was deep enough to sit in up to your chest. When we arrived the days were still hitting the mid 90's with our elevation being just over a mile high at 5982'. That creek water comes from underground and is a chilly 58 degrees of deliciousness. This is one of the ways we stayed cool. Not all days were above average in temperature. Most days were in the mid 80's and we even had a few mid 70 degree days. We had nights in the mid 40's most of the time, with a few still in the 30's and a few in the 50's. We didn't need to use the a/c once the entire time we were here. The wildflowers here were just amazing. We were afraid at first that we'd have too many mosquitoes to deal with like we had in the Ashley National Forest along Ashley Creek. I could see horsetail rushes, bog orchids, willows and I knew the low lying places around us were full of water and should be full of mosquitoes too. The worst we had to deal with were biting flies, we had very few mosquitoes, which I still don't understand. I had fun setting up a camping chair in the mornings before the biting flies were out and drawing some of the wildflowers, just enjoying being where I was. From our camp spot we could walk to this trailhead and hike to see Memorial Falls. It was a cool, shady walk along the Belt Creek up to see both waterfalls. A very easy walk and well worth it! The rocks here at the waterfalls and at our camp spot are quartzite. Freshly fallen pieces are a really pretty salmon color and they have glossy globs of quartz when the sun strikes them just right. This quartzite was once sandstone and it spent a lot of time getting pressed in the crust and heated, but not enough to melt it, just enough to chemically change the rock and make it harder and more dense than it was as just sandstone. In some pieces you can see the layers of very old sand. We were living in the Little Belt Mountains which were formed during the initial rise of the Rockies. These mountains never saw glaciation, they were just too short, and they reminded me very much of the smooth long ridges of the Appalachians. We were surrounded by little mountain ranges with great names; The Crazy Mountains, The Castle Mountains, The Big Snowy Mountains. We drove into the Big Snowy Mountains, which are part of the Helena-Lewis & Clark NF to check out some dispersed camping opportunities but with the drought the creeks were dry and it was very smoky. The ranger I spoke with about the Big Snowy Mountains told me about a trail to see ice caves there, with ice year round. I very much wanted to go but it was too hot, too smoky, and too dry to attempt the 10 mile strenuous round-trip hike. Next time! Being from FL I love springs. I had to see Giant Springs State Park in Great Falls. This spring releases 156 million gallons of water per day. Swimming is not allowed (drat). But it was beautiful to see. A sign told me that the same water I sit in at our camp spot on the Jefferson Creek back in the Little Belt Mountains could surface here in about 50 years. I love it when connections are made! While we were in Great Falls we stopped at the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center. We enjoyed the air conditioning (it was in the mid 90's in the city, back at our camp site it would be in the mid 80's). This is where Lewis and Clark had a 20 day delay on the Missouri River due to a series of 5 waterfalls. They thought it was just going to take a half of a day to portage around them. Being here and knowing how short the summer season is, 20 days is a huge chunk of the summer they had! These falls put them seriously behind! We obtained a map and went off to see these 5 waterfalls for ourselves. We only got to see the Black Eagle Falls. We made it to the Rainbow Dam but the road ended there at a trailhead and, like I said, it was in the mid 90's and this would have been a treeless hike with elevation gains. With the map we had (which we got at the Interpretative center) we could not see a way to get to the other falls. Later I researched and found out there are roads to take (but not the same road and it is a lot of driving back and forth) to reach 3 of the waterfalls. I think that's pretty darn fitting. It shouldn't be easy today to see all 5 of the falls that Lewis and Clark had so much trouble with themselves. We visited Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park in Whitehall, MT. I never know what to expect when we sign up for a cave tour. But I had a good feeling about this one, since it was a 2 hour tour and it started off with a 1/2 mile hike with a 300' elevation gain to the entrance of the cave that had been described by the founders as "the breathing mountain". I would have named the cave just that! Instead it bears the name of the two famous explorers, who never even knew it was there. Indeed just about all named things in this area are connected to their story, it seems. This was Montana's first state park and let me tell you, you need to see it! I've only been on one other cave tour out west, my caving experiences come from the east (and Arkansas) so I was struck by the difference in age, and what that means, in this cave. I'm used to seeing huge columns (for example 45' tall and 243' around) and flowstones that are truly massive pieces of art that are so old, you can't wrap your mind around it. I'm used to huge rooms that are 10 stories high. Well this cave was nothing like that. It did have impressive columns and flowstones but not of any truly massive size. It did have rooms but not large empty spaces. This cave did have tight room after room of formations, just crowded all together and our path went through and over many of them. There was a lot of bending over on this tour and walking sideways. It was so much fun! And then our tour guide told us that this cave was 3-4 million years old and that's when I got to thinking. That is nothing! The caves back east are around 350 million years old, that's why the columns in those caves are gigantic, that's why the flowstones are truly impressive and the rooms so large and spacious. 3-4 million years is just when things are getting interesting! I'd love to see this cave in another 300 million years! If you could ask Nebula I think he would say that the past 16 days have been some of his favorite. We had many home days where we didn't go anywhere and he would ask to go on walks 3-4 times a day. He loved to just go out and sit or lay down in the shade and watch the birds. I was able to take him to rock piles and he loved to climb on the rocks. There were so many new smells, so much tall grass to walk through and I was thankful that I didn't have to worry about chiggers here. Nebula too enjoyed just being where he was. 1- Yup - free.
2- We are not even near any interstates. 3- No reservations needed. 4- The Little Belt Mountains are not a highly known or well traveled part of MT - the caverns were well toured, being close to Butte. 5- Not much litter out in the NF we stayed at. But we did pick up litter in the FS campground one day and along the road we stayed at, and at all the dispersed sites along the road we stayed on, and in parking lots of places we visited. 6- What generator? Did we bring one?? 7- YES - and it was 16 days! 8- In this part of MT farmer's markets are on Thursday evenings. We went to two; one in White Sulphur Springs and one in Three Forks. 9- I loved sitting in the Jefferson Creek. I also tried the Spa at White Sulphur Springs ($10 for the entire day to soak in their 3 sulphur pools) and it was relaxing. 10- We enjoyed the full moon with an orange smoky hue during our stay! |
AuthorLearning and creating from natural inspiration, from our home base of Mountain Cove (our 14 acre woods), traveling the lesser known places of the U.S. and Canada, and anywhere in between. Archives
April 2022
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