Category Archives: Travel

The Grand Tetons

October 6, 2014 Keevan Leave a comment

8/23/14 – 8/28/14

The Grand Tetons of Wyoming speak loudly.

They’re moody – sometimes appearing furious and angry, other times blissful and full of joy. Every day, they greet their guests with a sense of bewilderment, and only by visiting often and lingering long, can one get to know them.

The many moods of the Teton Mountains.

We spent long hours in the shadows and valleys of their towering auras, feeling the energy of their power.

We walked along the shores of mountain runoff, nourishing the bounty of life.

We visited Morman Row and long forgotten barns.

As always, we loved and enjoyed the wildlife and flora that reap the nourishment from the majestic mountains and peaceful waters.

We paid tribute to Olaus and Mardy Murie…known for their conservation work, which set the stage for the enactment of the Wilderness Act, passed in 1964. They lived, loved, and raised their family among these mountains, as Olaus worked as a wildlife biologist in the area before becoming director of the Wilderness Society. Both Olaus and Mardy were amazing naturalist, writing and sharing their love of all nature. I truly felt their presence, walking around this old homestead and sitting on the front porch. The cabin on the left is the house, the smaller studio on the right was Olaus’ studio, where he was also an awesome artist.

We were sad to leave the magnificent Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem area, and hope to return soon for even more in-depth exploration and study.

A good time was enjoyed by all. Hopefully we can carry forth lessons learned here, and share with others.

❧

Nature, Travel, Van Living

On Top Of The World

September 30, 2014 Keevan Leave a comment

While hanging out in Yellowstone, we explored all parts of the park.

And since Fred is the proud owner of a senior interagency pass, we can come and go into national parks as we please for no fee. Definitely one of the better things that come with aging…being able to acquire and utilize that interagency pass. It has saved us so much money on park fees and camping fees.

We decided to venture into Cody, Wyoming, where we spent the night, restocked up on supplies, and ate a wonderful lunch at this little organic cafe, where the server was not what we expected from Cody, Wyoming. Surprises abound everywhere.

As western themed as this town was, it really was a happening little place, and we enjoyed our couple of days there.

But the main reason for going to Cody, was so that we could re-enter the park through the northeast entrance and journey across the scenic drive over the Beartooth Mountains of the Absaroka Range of the Absaroka Wilderness area in northwestern Wyoming.

And those mountains were another surprise we weren’t exactly prepared for either.

“Ooh-la-la”

That’s how our friend Paul from Seeley Lake described the drive. And that is exactly what we both said, going up and down the switchback road. I didn’t count, but the road must have had at least a hundred switchbacks…most without guardrails.

I have a habit of leaning into the middle of the van, and getting as far over to the opposite side of the cliff as I can, when we maneuver these white knuckle cliff hanging roads.

But, boy oh boy, when we reached the top…

And were above tree line, that crazy road leveled off, and we drove for miles through a high plateau, complete with freezing temperatures, ferocious winds, and remaining August snow drifts.

We felt like we were truly soaring above the world up there, looking down and across at the magnificence of Mother Earth.

Until we slowly descended back down into a valley of calm.

Where the flowers and green meadows drank from the spattered lakes.

Not a bad day’s drive…thanks Paul for telling us we needed to take that trip over the mountain pass.

❧

Nature, Travel

Yellowstone – The Wildlife

Image September 27, 2014 Keevan 5 Comments

8/16/14 -8/22/14

It’s a spectator sport in Yellowstone…wildlife spotting. It’s like winning the jackpot in Las Vegas when you actually get to see the big ones.

Some people set up and wait hours in lawn chairs for an appearance. Others are willing to stand out in the rain in complete gear and huge cameras with their own rain suits covering the glass.

Gotta Scratch - Young Bison — Gotta Scratch – Young Bison

We were lucky, observant, and always searching. We didn’t stand in the rain, or set up our chairs. Fred’s an awesome driver…and doesn’t mind pulling over, turning around, or even dropping me off and later retrieving me if there is nowhere safe to pull over. We take the roads least traveled, and stop often.

We are very respectful of the animals, and super aware of our safety.

The Van sits up high, and I often shoot out the window, using the half rolled up window to brace my camera. Or I can stand on the door step to get some extra height.

Sometimes we have solitude, sometimes there is madness. Even with these chaotic traffic jams that do sometimes occur, all in all, it’s an awesome sport, and everyone wins sometimes.

❧

Nature, Travel

Yellowstone – The Geysers

Image September 24, 2014 Keevan 4 Comments

8/16/14 -8/22/14

A supervolcano!

That’s the story of Yellowstone. While driving and hiking around exploring, it’s hard to imagine that we are actually inside of the caldera of a volcano. The expansiveness of it is too much for this simple brain…but the impressions, colors, and incredible fairyland images were so fun to capture.

The smoking Earth and Nature’s paint pallets reach out in all directions!

Cavernous holes and eerie formations create mysterious landscapes.

Earth Hues concoct impressive color combinations and saturations.

And yes, We did watch the eruption of Old Faithful, the most famous of geysers, which on this day was erupting every 45-90 minutes. We almost turned back when we saw the masses of people and rows and rows of metal shiny cars and RV’s in the largest of parking lots.

I was afraid of seeing nothing but backs of heads, but we now learned travelers about these things, just walked right up past the grandstands, and like pro’s, sat on the edge of the viewing platform, with legs dangling over the sides with other photographers and serious science nuts, to get our front row seats.

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A little bummed that the sky was not a blue background sky, but all was still impressive, and the theatrics were beautifully performed and synchronized.

❧

Camping, Nature, Travel

Yellowstone – The Grandeur

September 23, 2014 Keevan 7 Comments

8/16/14 -8/22/14

We thought we would pass through Yellowstone on our way to the Grand Tetons. Just kind of drive through.

But we kept hanging around.

After camping along the Yellowstone River, north of Gardiner, we entered the park early in the morning to secure a campsite at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Roosevelt Arch - North Entrance — Roosevelt Arch – North Entrance

Misssion accomplished, we set off to explore.

Neither of us were prepared for the vast and immense open vistas and miles and miles of raw, natural untamed wilderness we entered into.

The winding rivers and glowing sunsets…water everywhere!

Lewis River; South Yellowstone — Lewis River -South Yellowstone

Lush green meadows and marshes.

And the necessary tragedy of forest fires.

Even the burned area from forest fires are mysteriously beautiful.

Signifying new growth and rebirth.

With the stately presence of dead timber, new soil, new food, new habitats.

The day’s end…

Next we check out the geysers… ❧

Nature, Travel

Jake And Maggie

September 15, 2014 Keevan 3 Comments

8/16/14

As we left Bozeman, Montana, on our way to Yellowstone National Park, we passed by a huge sign advertising an up close and personal experience with Grizzly Bears.

Fred’s typical response of “Do you want to stop?” was met with silence. I had images of cages of bears behind bars and expensive admission prices; it really wasn’t my cup of tea, as I don’t like seeing wild animals in confinement. But he pulled in and just as he started talking to the woman at the entrance booth, my phone rang and I was consumed with a conversation with our daughter, so really missed his entire conversation, and before I knew it, we were in the lot, parked, and walking around.

Meet Jake and Maggie.

Somewhere between west Glacier and Bozeman, after becoming insatiated about Grizzlies, I picked up this book “In The Presence of Grizzlies” by Doug and Andrea Peacock, which is an excellent book about the world of Grizzlies. Thanks to these folks, (an excellent highly recommend book by the way) I’ve learned just how complicated the Human / Grizzliy world is, politically, environmentally, and financially.

Without writing an entire essay on the subject, let’s just assume that Bozeman Grizzly Encounter is a pretty reputable place where they rescue grizzly bears from very unfortunate circumstances. These bears cannot be turned back into the wild, without getting themselves shot, so I guess this is a good solution. The bears are on display for short periods of time, well fed, have a reasonable environment to hang out in, and seem to have good spirits. (Yes I believe these intelligent animals do indeed have spirits.) The place is purely educational, costing $7.00 each, which goes for care and food.

Although I could have stayed for hours and hours watching these guys interact, we only met Jake and Maggie, as the other bears came out on a rotational basis, and we needed to get on the road before it got too late.

I had another entire memory disk of photos of Jake and Maggie, actually standing up on hind legs, wrestling with each other, and displaying incredible bear posturing. That disk unfortunately became corrupted when the card reader got banged and fell out of the computer during transfer. At least I did switch cards while there, so Jake and Maggie still live on in my photo collection.

❧

http://www.grizzlyencounter.org

Campervan, Camping, Nature, Travel

Lakes, Rain, And Gentle Souls

September 10, 2014 Keevan Leave a comment

8/13/14-8/14/14

Time for a nice easy drive down the highway. We followed 83 south through Montana, winding down the mountain, spending a quiet, peaceful, and restful night at Swan Lake. In the morning it was just a jaunt across the road to the lake, where we strolled around the beautiful pedestrian pathway watching the glass smooth lake come alive.

Mid-day we drove a few more hours to Seeley Lake. On the way down, there was definite smoky haze in the air as we we were heading straight for a fire area…But when we arrived, rain had started falling, the air was crisp and clean, and the campground was practically deserted. We set up our awning, sat on the van porch and watched the puddles form, until it became a downpour, at which time we came inside and cozied up for awhile with our books. A few hours later, the sun was out, and people everywhere exited their tents, trailers and vans to walk wherever they could walk. Life was fresh and renewed. The deer came out to graze and the birds and squirrels again took up their search for food.

River with reflection of trees and clouds in the sky — Clearwater River Near Seeley Lake

Seeley Lake was peaceful and quiet, so we decided to stay put for a few days. We were immersed in nature and beauty, and continued meeting interesting and inspiring people.

Paul, for instance touched our hearts. This gentle person with a huge soul kept us company, provided us with much valuable travel information, gave ups tips on which roads to take for the best experiences, and inflamed a torch that has been lit in us, about planning a trip next summer to Alaska and the Yukon! We shared thoughts on politics, the environment and most excitingly about the Absaroka Mountains, which we were soon to make our way over the top of.

Green marsh with river winding through it — Clearwater River Marsh

Pulling away from Seeley lake, after exploring a few back roads, we passed by the Bob Marshall Wilderness area.

Green meadows, miles of vast uncluttered land, and huge mountains in the background. — A Tiny Glimpse of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area

Thank you Bob, for being the visionary you were.

highway signage about the bob marshall wilderness area — Bob Marshall Wilderness Area

Butte, Deer Lodge, and Dillon. We camped in Boulder Creek Campground along a little used winding road. We followed some of Lewis and Clark’s trail, and saw rocks the Sacagawea played underneath as a young girl. There is much history in this area.

A Nice little rainstorm over the mountains to light our way and we landed in Bozeman for the evening.

Rain coming down from the clouds over mountains. — Driving Through The Rainstorms

Next post, we meet more unexpected acquaintances, of the four legged kind. ❧

Nature, Travel

Waterton Glacier Peace Park – Part 2

September 5, 2014 Keevan 1 Comment

Leaving Waterton

I just can’t help taking shots of these vast open spaces and majestic mountains uncontaminated with modern agricultural and industrial debris. The feeling of remoteness brings me peace. I could breathe in the beauty forever!

As we were driving on the road heading south through the park one evening, there was a digital sign on the road saying “Slow Down, Foxes on rodeway.”

Sure enough. They were there. One evening we caught this little Red, hurrying home with some dinner. And the next day, this sweetest little gal (I assume) was just waiting to be photographed!

A few last memories of this beautiful Canadian Park before crossing the border again.

Back Into Glacier

Many Glacier (A named area of the park) brought many mountains but few glaciers. Most of the glaciers in the park have melted away. At one point there were 150 named glaciers on the mountains, now there are suppose to be 25 glaciers left…we didn’t see that many. If the current warming trend continues, predictions are that by 2030, there will be zero glaciers left in the park.

Two Medicine road brought us no campsites, but did bring us another Grizzly. This fellow was gently galavanting his way around this lake, until he realized numerous “human creatures” were watching him from above, and then he lit out of there like nobody’s business.

America’s last really wild creatures. I hope we can find room in our hearts to make room for their habitats.

On that note, we left the park, and finally found our camping spot, right on top of the Continental Divide, in a sweet little forest service campground.

All of nature is not large and vast.

And some is right under our noses.

Feeling a bit humbled and awed. ❧

Campervan, Nature, Travel

Glacier-Waterton Peace Park – Part 1

September 2, 2014 Keevan 2 Comments

8/8/14 – 8/9/14

Mid-day entry into Glacier National Park. Too late for morning sun, and the haze was pretty bad from those devastating fires over west in Washington. But still plenty of gorgeousness and awesomeness along the “Going to the Sun” road. And some beautiful clouds to enjoy too!

As it was the weekend and we couldn’t find any camping inside the park, we just kept going out the east entrance and decided to head up to Waterton National Park, the other half of Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park, the only national park that encompasses two countries, and is looked after jointly by both the American and Canadian National Park Services.

Although we didn’t take any ranger led hikes, there are opportunities to go on hikes that are actually led by both American and Canadian park rangers co-jointly.

We love Canada. And Waterton was just exquisite.

After staying one night in a motel in the quaint little town of Cardston, we found ourselves in the park the next night late in the evening, and of course there was again no camping inside this park either on a weekend, but…being in the cool little Keevan, we silently slid into a parking lot right in the middle of downtown Waterton Village, laid our heads on our pillows and slept soundly, waking early to enjoy the peace and calm of the village before most of the other campers got moving around.

Oh, and while driving into the village at the dusk of evening, we did indeed spot our first Grizzly grubbing around on the hillside. My how beautiful it was.

Next post we meet more Grizzlies….

❧

Nature, Travel

North Through The Bison

August 31, 2014 Keevan Leave a comment

8/6/14-8/7/14

We slid into Missoula, Montana, on a hot sultry afternoon, to replenish a few necessities, namely dog food!

Then there was the customary gas up, and groceries, along with getting a couple of small propane bottles for the camp stove, before hitting a book store, and finding a “Benchmark” road and recreation atlas for Montana. Love these maps!!!

We traveled west back along I-90 and off into the National Forest to find a campground for our first real official night (many more to come) of camping among the Grizzlies. This campsite was pretty remote with lot’s of Bear Warnings everywhere, but, well, when in Montana, do as the Montanans do.

We’ve learned to be neat, clean, and secure, and actually have found it to be enjoyable knowing that our neighbor could be an 800 pound Ursus arctos horribilis.

The night was uneventful, so we left the campground and headed up to our first stop, The National Bison Range. We took a lovely 21 mile gravel road loop that meandered up, over, down and around hills, bluffs, forests and stream beds. Most of the wildlife (there was much more than just bison) was busy being wildlife and staying sheltered, but we did have fun. The scenery and landscape was Beauty to Behold.

Dirt road to drive through range. — Road To Wild Bison

Barely saw this mother black bear chasing her two cubs up the hill after playing in the pond. The cubs were faster than mom, so they didn’t get in the picture 🙂

Or…I was too slow to capture them.

Enjoyed these Whitetail Deer – we are used to Mule Deer, so thought them just beautiful, flashing their white tails as they crossed the meadows!

Savored the sight of Bison on the hills, and a few old lone Buffs, staking out their wallows.

Leaving the range, we continued up toward Kalispell, crossing through the Nine Pipe Wildlife Refuge just as the daylight was going behind the mountains.

We were a little sidetracked by the refuge, so only made it as far as a Wallmart Parking Lot in Polson for this dreamy night.

I’m once again way behind here on this blog, so forthcoming will be posting a few more photo galleries of the parks we’ve visited, and some of the sights we’ve seen, so I can get a little caught up.

❧

Keevan Soul

Category Archives: Travel

The Grand Tetons

On Top Of The World

Yellowstone – The Wildlife

Yellowstone – The Geysers

Yellowstone – The Grandeur

Jake And Maggie

Lakes, Rain, And Gentle Souls

Waterton Glacier Peace Park – Part 2

Leaving Waterton

Back Into Glacier

Glacier-Waterton Peace Park – Part 1

North Through The Bison

Traveling and Living Simply in a VW Van