August 2019 Scottsbluff Nebraska, site of the combined Old West Balloon Festival and the U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championship. One group, the national guys, fly competitively completing all sorts of assigned tasks to earn points. They take off twice a day, when the weather permits, and make target drops at a location where the public can watch. Wow they can dive and rise with great accuracy. It is great to watch. Mass ascensions don’t happen ‘til weekend and we need to be moving by then. We do stay one extra day to see a night glow of about 50 balloons. Humpty Dumpty and Marvin the Martian are here along with lot of beautiful racing balloons.
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument protects a giant bonebed
discovered in a long-buried watering hole.
Dated at approximately 19 million years ago, based on ash layers above
and below the bonebed, the layer contains hundreds of mammal skeletons. Scientists theorize they died in mass as a
result of a drought. Many animals,
mostly herbivores, gathered at the few remaining pools, grazed off all nearby
vegetation then died of malnutrition once there was no food close enough to the
water. The bones were buried in the
remnants of the muddy pool. Interesting
scientific theory is set forth and the skeletons are amazing. They have pieced together the lives of
predators/scavengers and their role in this event as well. Worth a visit even if it is really off the
beaten path.
Another cool find in the area are the spiral tunnels of an
ancient beaver-sort of. He lived on/in
the ground not water and in colonies sort of like prairie dogs. The tunnels eventually filled with fine
wind-blown sand and over time became sandstone in the shape of these amazing
spirals. Quite the puzzle for the
geologists for a while.
We just had to see it. Created by a family it is said to be a replica
of Stonehenge in scale and shape. A picture
says it all! Check out what cars are used
in this work.
There have been some pretty entertaining additions through the years. The Fourd Seasons…symbolic of wheat through its growing phases. Carsules..time capsules buried by various classes. Chimes. A Carnastoga Wagon.
Not in the Nebraska of my childhood memories. But they are all here, we have seen them. Forces of wind and water have worn away some
500 feet of ancient high plains leaving only these isolated spires and
towers. Chimney rock, courthouse rock,
jail rock and the granddaddy of them all Scotts Bluff. This south west corner of Nebraska is dotted
with famous formations along the Oregon Trail that have marked the way for
First Nations peoples, trappers, explorers and settlers moving west. Pretty impressive way-finding skills. We can manage to get turned around even with
a garmin!
As for the auto tunnels, the drive to the summit in
Scottsbluff National Monument passes through three of them, the only three in
Nebraska. Cool. Even on a hazy day the view from the summit
is amazing. We make our way back down
via Saddle rock trail with switchbacks across the shear faces and even a hand
carved tunnel through one section. We
get a close up look at the 10 million-year timeline captured in the layers of
rock exposed along the cliffs.
Wildflowers are pretty impressive too.
The Plains light house, it is 55 feet tall and made of
native stone built by the Veterans Conservation Corp in the late 30s. It never housed a light but does offer a great
view of Lake Minatare. I would not have expected to find it but it looks good
here.
A surprise adventure added to our trip across WY. Out of nowhere a 3 year old tire with 30,000
miles on the right front decides it is time to blow-out. The good news, we are
on a lonely, lightly trafficked stretch of I-80 in WY. The bad news, we are on
a lonely, lightly trafficked stretch of I-80 in WY. It is good because there was plenty of room
to get the whole motorhome & trailer quickly off the side of the road with
only limited damage to the rest of the RV.
It is bad because help could be far off.
Also good news, we renewed the Good Sam Roadside Assistance in May so
one call and help arrived pretty quickly.
We are back on the road in ”just” 3 hours. Cost to us was a new tire and installation, Good
Sam covers the service call and mileage.
There is a little bit of fender inner-liner damage and the
stainless-steel wheel cover now has a scalloped edge. The fender will take a little fiberglass
repair and I may be able to straighten the wheel cover. Much better outcome than it might have
been.
Seemingly endless rolling plains are perfect terrain for the
high speed, open country favoring, prong horn.
Clusters of females and their young gather in the grassy folds and lone
males dot the higher ground. I love the
challenge of watching for them!
Did you know, there is a Lincoln Memorial in Wyoming? It marks (actually used to mark before it was
relocated) the high point of Lincoln highway(US 30) at the summit rest area on
80 west of Laramie. Who knew?
Radium Hot Springs is actually inside Kooteney National Park
just an hour south of camp and we plan to take a quick soak as we continue our
move south. Change of plans, it is too
hot. We opt instead for a stroll through
town and a dip of a different sort, ice cream.
Manicured lawns and golf courses provide too much temptation and draw
the local herd of big horn sheep down out of the mountains right into
town. A dozen or so rams pose along the
highway then move into a shady place to relax for the afternoon. It is hard on traffic but great to watch.
We are hauling kayaks and that gets us caught in the snare
of aquatic invasive species check points.
Did you know: they have trained dogs to detect zebra mussels? K9-Major usually works this section of 93 in
BC. She/he is off today but we get
her/his card…not only finds mussels but helps detect illegal bear parts,
missing persons, firearms, and other evidence.
She has a peer, Kilo, both work as official conservation officers.
Mother Nature is amazingly resilient. Our stroll along the fireweed nature rail loops
gives us another look at how the wild has recovered from massive wildfires in
2003. Lodgepole pine with a thick
understory for the first century then Engelman spruce that have slowly grown in
the lodgepole shade take over and crowd them all out. Fire can interrupt at any time and it all
starts over again. Forests chart change
in centuries, amazing and a bit dwarfing for mere mortals.
It is Heritage Day Holiday weekend in the western provinces
so many Canadians are out enjoying the parks and great weather. We hang out an extra day in Cochrane with
hopes that a move on Monday will allow us to find a first come first serve site
at our next stop, Kootenay NP Marble Canyon Campground.
We get to Marble Canyon by 10AM and find a just right site
without any trouble, nice. After a quick
set up we hit the trails. Bridge
construction blocks direct access to the Marble Canyon trail so we have to
backtrack from Paint Pots trailhead just a few kilometers up the road. We follow along the bank of the Vermillion River
and through a 2003 lightning strike burn area.
New pines are now 10 – 15 feet tall and the slopes are blanketed with
wildflowers and berries. It is perfect
bear country. We do see scat on the
trail but no actual bear. Two miles into
the hike we come to the mouth of Marble Canyon. A short climb brings us up close to the
frothing waters of Tokumm Creek and the magnificent slot canyon it has formed
as it slices through the bottom of Prospector Valley. We crisscross the chasm on log bridges as we
make our way to the top of the falls.
Roaring water, near vertical canyon walls, towering peaks above us; it
is a great walk with spectacular views.
Surprisingly, we have it nearly to ourselves today. Guess maybe that extra couple miles at the
start weeded out lots of folks.
It is still early so we check out the Paint Pots too. First Nations Peoples collected red/ochre
soil as pigment for all manner of painting; body, clothing, teepees, and rock
painting. Later prospectors collected,
dried and ground the red soil for other markets. Today this vivid red soil is disturbed only
by hikers as we walk beside trickling streams, still pools, and marshland to
admire this remarkable place.
Happy feet. I cool my
toes in the very cold Vermillion River.
