My Trails

It has been raining a lot. I guess that is good as I head west into Washington where fires still burn. Northern California is still in bad shape and most who live there hope they get some rain soon. Mother Nature surly influences my journey while I try to evade the devastation she is causing with fire and flood in places I’ve passed through.

I have fallen into a creeper mode the last couple of days. Yesterday I drove only 50 miles and today even less. I probably spent more time exploring some forest roads than I did on the highway. Every time I would find a possible camp I would lose cell signal. I finally found a spot two miles from Troy, MT, with cell and sun.

I may not move for a couple days. The border of Idaho is only 10 miles west and Washington state not a great distance further. My plan is to head towards Cascades National Park. I was thinking of exploring up into Canada but that opens up a whole new set of issues. Banff National Park will have to wait.

They figure that by 2030 all the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone. I guess it’s a good thing I decided not to wait until I’m 85 to see this park again.

The campgrounds are expensive but also the best place to set up a base to see the park. I came in on a Thursday and was lucky enough to find a spot in one of the campgrounds. Some of the campgrounds are already closed and more will be after Monday. I have to say that this park is really nice and I’m enjoying my stay here.

On the first day I arrived I drove to check out another campground near the entrance of the park and was surprised to find a good cell signal there. It was too late for me as I had already put my money in the pipe at the other camp. Then I stopped at the Visitors Center and read some of the signs about the park before heading back for the night.

The next morning I walked a nature trail and hiked a couple miles up a trail to Avalanche Lake. I didn’t make it all the way to the lake because I didn’t have any water and was afraid I would become thirsty if I kept going. In the afternoon I jumped on Honda and headed up “Going To The Sun” highway.

Going To The Sun highway tops out at 6600 feet at Logan Pass, not very high compared to a lot of the passes in other parts of the country, but I have to say it is one spectacular, awesome drive to the top. The road is closed for several months in the winter and I read that they sometimes have 50′ to 70′ drifts to plow in the spring to open the highway.

Vehicles over 21 feet long and 8 feet wide are prohibited up the road. Even driving a small car or motorcycle you need to pay attention and not be distracted by the views. I was glad to be on a motorcycle.

I discovered that Minnie is not charging the house batteries while I drive. Not sure what is wrong but I arrived with low batteries and there are too many trees here to get sun on my panels. I have run my generator a little but it is so quiet in this little campground I hate to break the silence. I’m hoping the charge problem is just a fuse and can be fixed easily.

Great Falls, Montana turned out to be an expensive visit. As I entered town I saw a McDonald’s ahead, and being that i have not eaten a burger in several weeks, turned down the side road to park. I thought I would turn around and park heading out to make my departure easier. While making a uturn I got too close to the curb and cut one of my back tires.

It is nice in a way that there are duals on Minnie because it allowed me to drive to a tire store about 5 miles away. The tires on the back were old anyway so I replaced all four. New tires, groceries, gas, propane, laundry, and a movie, all helped to drain my bank account. I will have to save for a while now.

I hope I can get out of here in the next couple days. With all the rain over the last week, and pickup trucks driving back and forth across this muddy spot in the road, I’m a little concerned about making it out. When it is dry you can sometimes straddle the ruts, but if it is slippery, you will just slide right down into them.

I never expected this much traffic over the holiday weekend. I talked with a couple guys on ATV’S and they said it is bow hunting season and these trucks are probably hunters. He said a lot of them are too lazy to walk so they hunt from their pickups. I saw one pickup filled with guys in camouflage clothing go by my camper at least 20 times yesterday.

With all the cloudy weather over the last few days, it has been a struggle getting a good charge on my batteries. My generator just doesn’t put much juice into the batteries like my solar does.

And to make matters worse, it has been cold. Every night drops into the 30’s. Two nights ago we even had a layer of snow and hail. This means that my heater runs a few times in the night, using up what precious juice I have stored during the day. Once, when I awoke in the night to check things out, I ended up starting my generator at 3 am so as not to kill my batteries. During the day I use my catalytic heater, which uses no electric, but I don’t trust it overnight.

I’m not sure where I will go now. I would like to run up to Glacier NP for a day or two but it will depend on various things. This is the time of year to see National Parks because the crowds are gone. I wanted to jump over to the Pacific Coast and slowly move south but a more direct route back to AZ may be wiser. It is certain I will have to move soon because the tanks are full and the cupboard is bare.