Montana Trip 2014 - Part II

This is the continuation of a trip my dad, friend Jacob, and I took at the end of July.

Day 3

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The next morning we headed northwest into the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.  I don't have any photos, but both Jacob and my dad mentioned this stretch of road was one of their favorites of the trip.  We finally felt like we were on vacation and the stress of getting ready for the adventure slowly slipped away.  We passed quite a few sheep, and their sheepherder, on curvy mountain roads.  One picture I wish I had taken was of a dog that was guarding the sheep.  He was huge, and as we passed by he gave us a look of "Keep movin' buddy..nothing to see here!"

We reached the small town of Kamas, UT and stopped for breakfast.  The theater, and movie it was playing, made it feel like we had gone back to the 1960's.

  This was supposed to be a simple picture of food porn.  I can't help but see it as a failure of navigation. You'll notice the stop light at the end of the road.  We had a great breakfast and sipped our lattes not realizing that we were supposed to turn left at that light to head out of town.  We finished up, and just continued down the road, _away_ from the light.  I didn't realize our mistake until we hit the next town of Oakley and my wee brain lit up a little red light and said..."umm this isn't right".  At which point we had to drive all the way back here and hang a left.  Moral of the story..don't fall in love with your breakfast to the point where you forget where you're headed.

Heading east, out of Kamas, we ascended back into the same mountains we had visited earlier that morning.  I decided it was finally time for some sight seeing and we made our first stop at a scenic area:  The Provo River Falls.

Always tough for me to pull over on a ride.  I want to make mileage, but at the same time you want to take in the sights and sounds from each state.

I can imagine when this area floods I'd be underwater where I was standing.

A rare sighting of Bigfoot wearing protective gear.

A few miles down the road we stopped again to check out Bald Mountain, and the view from it's pass.  If we had the time I would have liked to hike to the top.

The view from the lookout wasn't half bad though.

A little more to your left...no a little more....

We continued north and crossed over into Wyoming, grabbed some gas in Evanston and broke a few rules.  That's right it takes more then a sign to get rid of us!

The road took us northwest, back into Utah.  Here I am on the shores of Bear Lake.  It's the second largest freshwater lake in Utah.  Someone has been reading Wikipedia.  Can you name the largest??  If you said Great Salt Lake you lose.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Cafe Sabor in Garden City.  By chance my mom, sister, and niece were passing through town at the same time!

While we took in some lunch they ran across the street for some raspberry shakes.

Kaitlyn hanging out with the local band.

From Garden City we headed north and finally split from my mom in Montpelier, ID.  They headed east to go visit Jackson Hole, while we headed north to go tackle a few more mountain passes.  Spotted this crew at a gas station in Soda Springs, ID.  There was an additional child inside with the parents but she rode in the back as well.  Once the kids saw us taking their picture they started waving.

Just west of the Caribou National Forest we spotted our first rain clouds.  I pulled over to throw on my rain gear which only took 5 minutes.  My dad had to dig his out of water proof bags which involved 32 straps to be untied.  By the time his gear was on, and bags strapped back down, the rain clouds had moved on.  No kidding!  From then on he was required to store his rain gear in a more accessible location.

A few hours later we rolled into the Teton Valley RV Park in Victor, ID.  After spotting the cabins Jacob thought it would be nice to a take a night off of setting up a tent and asked how much.  There was only one left. What can only be described as a eminent domain situation, somehow my dad snagged it.  You can see Jacob and my tents just off to the left.  My mom and sister arrived a bit later.

Home sweet home, for a night at least.

I think the beard is freaking them out!  Run! Run, while you still have a chance!

While we were setting up camp the owner of this bike pulled in.  I thought my dad was loaded down!  We asked him how much he thought his rig weighed.  He said it was somewhere around 1000lbs.

Later that night we drove into town and had dinner at the Timberline Bar & Grill.  Be careful of Belgian Ales named Lucifer. 

More to come...

BONUS PICTURES.

My niece requested more pictures of her.  So here you go Kaitlyn.

Pictures on Navajo Bridge.

Only You....can pose with Smokey.

I believe this was at a Oregon or Mormon Trail museum.  Wagons Ho!

Channeling her inner bear!